Aura Colors and Meanings: The Complete Chakra Guide

Q: How do I see my own aura?

Sit in soft, even light against a plain pale background, relax your focus rather than staring, and look slightly past your hand for thirty seconds or so. Note that a pale afterimage around a fixated object is also a normal feature of vision.

Have you ever sensed a soft energy or luminous force around a person, object, or animal? In aura tradition, each color in that field is read as a signal about mood, temperament and inner state.

The short answer: aura colors are traditionally mapped to the seven chakras — red to the root, orange to the sacral, yellow to the solar plexus, green to the heart, blue to the throat, indigo to the third eye and violet to the crown — with each color standing for a cluster of qualities such as drive, creativity, confidence, compassion, calm, intuition and spiritual awareness. These meanings come from a spiritual tradition, not from measurement: no controlled study has shown that auras can be seen or photographed. This guide covers what each color is said to mean, where the idea came from, what aura cameras actually record, and how to explore it sensibly.

Aura Colors and Their Meanings at a Glance

Aura color	Linked chakra	Traditionally associated with	Full guide
Red	Root (Muladhara)	Vitality, drive, survival, physical energy	Red aura
Orange	Sacral (Svadhisthana)	Creativity, sociability, emotional warmth	Orange aura
Yellow	Solar plexus (Manipura)	Confidence, intellect, optimism	Yellow aura
Green	Heart (Anahata)	Growth, balance, compassion, healing	Green aura
Blue	Throat (Vishuddha)	Calm, honesty, clear communication	Blue aura
Indigo	Third eye (Ajna)	Intuition, insight, inner knowing	Indigo aura
Violet / Purple	Crown (Sahasrara)	Spiritual awareness, imagination, vision	Violet aura
Pink	Heart (Anahata)	Love, tenderness, emotional healing	Pink aura
White	Crown (Sahasrara)	Purity, clarity, a sense of protection	White aura
Gold	Crown (Sahasrara)	Wisdom, generosity, inner strength	Gold aura
Black	Associated with blockage rather than a chakra	Exhaustion, grief, guardedness — or, in some readings, protection	Black aura

Most people do not have a single color. Readers usually describe a dominant shade with others moving through it, and the mix is said to change with mood, health and circumstance rather than staying fixed.

What Is an Aura?

Every living thing, including people, animals, and plants, is said to have a faint energy field around them called an aura. It is also called the spiritual body, bio-field, energy body, or auric field. The aura cannot be seen with the unaided eye, though some people report perceiving colors, frequencies, and patterns in its light.

In the tradition, the human aura is made up of fine layers that project outward from the physical body and can extend up to several feet. The astral, celestial, emotional, mental, and physical planes are among these layers. The physical body, along with our emotions, thoughts, and spirituality, are each said to be represented by a different layer.

What Does an Aura Look Like?

An aura is usually described as a sphere or halo of light surrounding a person’s head or torso. Some people report a bubble of light; others describe a soft glow or bursts of color instead. Descriptions vary widely between observers, which is itself worth noticing — two readers looking at the same person frequently report different colors.

You may also have seen aura photographs taken with a specialist camera, or smartphone apps that generate one. What those devices actually record is covered below, because it is not what most people assume.

Where the Idea of a Colored Aura Comes From

The halo is ancient — sacred art across many cultures ringed holy figures with light long before anyone spoke of an “aura reading”. But the specific idea of a color-coded field that reveals personality is much more recent, and it has a traceable history.

The Theosophical Society did most of the work. Charles Leadbeater’s Man Visible and Invisible, published in 1902, presented color plates of human auras with each hue assigned an emotional or moral meaning, and the book he wrote with Annie Besant, Thought-Forms (1901), did the same for emotions. Those illustrations are the direct ancestor of every aura color chart in circulation today.

A parallel strand came from medicine. Walter Kilner, a physician at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, published The Human Atmosphere in 1911, describing a haze he believed he could see around the body when viewing it through screens stained with the dye dicyanin. He hoped it would prove diagnostically useful. It did not, and the effect is generally attributed to the optical properties of the screens themselves.

One detail is worth knowing because it is so widely misunderstood: the neat rainbow mapping of seven chakras to seven colors is a modern Western synthesis, not a classical Indian one. Traditional Tantric texts describe the chakras with specific petal counts, seed syllables and colors that do not line up with the rainbow order at all. The version in most aura charts was assembled in the twentieth century, largely through theosophical writing and its later New Age inheritors.

What Aura Photography Actually Records

Two different technologies get confused here, and neither photographs an energy field.

Kirlian photography

Named after Semyon Kirlian, who developed the technique in 1939, this places an object on a photographic plate in a high-voltage electric field. The result is a striking colored halo — a corona discharge, the same class of effect as St Elmo’s fire. It is real, repeatable physics, and it responds to moisture, pressure, and the voltage used. A damp fingertip produces a bigger corona than a dry one, which accounts for a good deal of the apparent variation between “readings”.

Aura cameras

The portrait-style aura cameras found at wellness fairs work on a completely different principle. Developed from the 1970s onward, most notably by Guy Coggins, they take biofeedback measurements — typically galvanic skin response, the same skin-conductance signal a lie detector uses — through hand sensors, then map those readings onto a preset color scale and composite the result around your photograph. The colors are generated by the machine according to its own lookup table. Nothing around your body is being imaged.

That does not make the picture worthless as a keepsake or a prompt for reflection. It does mean two cameras with different scales will hand you different “auras” on the same afternoon.

What Is an Aura Reading?

An aura reading is a form of psychic reading that seeks to recognize, describe, and interpret the patterns, colors, and textures said to make up a person’s aura. A reader will use their intuition to perceive and interpret those hues, and may also use a camera or other device to produce an image of the field.

Readings are typically offered as insight into a person’s emotional, mental, and spiritual state. Although reading auras is not supported by scientific evidence, many people value the reflection and the language a reading gives them for something they were already feeling. An aura reading is not a substitute for qualified medical or psychological care, and any reader who offers a diagnosis is going well beyond what the practice can support.

The Aura Colors and What They Signify

A person’s aura is usually described as a mixture of hues with one color predominating, and it is said to shift in response to emotion and experience. Each color below links to a fuller guide if you want to go deeper.

Red

Red symbolizes vibrancy, vigour, and passion. It is connected to the root chakra at the base of the spine, and is associated with physical needs, survival, and safety. People described as having a red aura are said to be commanding and to show leadership. In traditional readings a muddied red is sometimes linked to anger or exhaustion — but color is not a health indicator, and nothing in a reading should stand in for medical advice.

Read more: Red aura meaning and personality.

Orange

Orange is a symbol of zeal, imagination, and sociability, connoting warmth, enthusiasm, and an open heart. It is connected to the sacral chakra below the navel, which stands for sexuality, emotion, and creativity. A strong sense of humour, emotional equilibrium, and harmony are the characteristics traditionally attached to an orange aura.

Yellow

A yellow aura stands for knowledge, insight, discernment, and communication. It is associated with the solar plexus chakra above the navel, which relates to confidence, strength, and self-worth. A person with a yellow aura is described as analytical, imaginative, and intelligent, and as being at their best in situations that call for quick thinking and clear expression.

Green

Green represents growth, harmony, and balance. It refers to emotion, love, and relationships and is connected to the heart chakra. People with green auras are described as giving, considerate, loving, and caring, often with a strong attachment to nature and to animals, and with nurturing or healing qualities.

Blue

A blue aura connotes emotional depth, tranquility, and peace, and is linked to intuition and a strong sense of purpose. It is connected to the throat chakra, and so to truth, expression, and communication. Sensitivity, empathy, and heightened awareness are the traits traditionally read into it.

Indigo

Indigo represents deep inner wisdom and spiritual insight. An indigo aura is associated with a connection to higher dimensions and with perceptiveness. It is connected to the third eye chakra, situated between the brows, which is associated with perception, creativity, and imagination.

Violet and purple

Violet is a symbol of independence, intelligence, and knowledge, and is connected to the crown chakra at the top of the head. A violet aura is associated with wisdom, illumination, and understanding. People with violet auras are described as contemplative and spiritually developed, sometimes with innate healing ability.

Pink

The pink aura stands for love, compassion, and emotional healing, and carries a softness and warmth. Empathy and a deep capacity for love are the traits attached to it, along with a wish to establish peaceful connections.

White

White symbolizes purity, clarity, and spiritual enlightenment, and is connected with a sense of protection and a high vibrational state. People with white auras are described as luminous, uplifting, and highly conscious. It is one of the two colors readers most often call rare.

Gold

Gold is read as a sign of wisdom, generosity, and inner strength, and is often described alongside white as an uncommon color. Where white is read as clarity, gold is read as warmth and earned understanding — the color of someone who has been through something and come out steadier.

Black

Black is traditionally read as depletion, blockage, or exhaustion, and is associated with misaligned or blocked chakras. Readings often describe low spirits or grief. It is worth saying plainly that a color cannot tell you what someone is going through, and a black aura is also read by some practitioners as protection or gathered strength rather than anything negative.

Less common aura colors

Beyond the main set, readers also describe turquoise (linked to healing and clear feeling), silver (linked to intuition and abundance), gray (read as fatigue, caution or a period of transition), brown (read as groundedness, or as being weighed down) and rainbow auras, said to be the rarest of all. These have less settled meanings than the main colors and vary considerably between traditions and individual readers.

How to See or Sense an Aura

Three approaches are commonly taught. None requires equipment.

1. Using soft vision

Soften your focus rather than staring. Observe the space around a person or object without fixing on it, and use your peripheral vision by looking slightly to one side or just behind them. Many people report catching a faint hue or shine. A plain, pale background and even lighting make it easier.

2. Using intuition

Pay attention to what you feel rather than what you see. Move your hands slowly around a person or object and notice any change in sensation. Some people prefer to close their eyes, concentrate on the breath, and let a color come to mind; a color chart or pendulum chart is sometimes used to help name it.

3. Using touch and temperature

Rub your hands together briskly, then draw them apart and move them slowly towards yourself or another person. Practitioners describe noticing changes in pressure, warmth, or tingling as the hands approach what they identify as the edge of the aura.

One honest note that will make you a better observer: a pale halo around a fixated object is a normal feature of human vision. Stare at something against a plain background and the visual system produces an afterimage and a slight edge glow on its own. Knowing that does not spoil the practice — it just means the first faint outline you see is not automatically evidence of anything.

What the Evidence Actually Says

It is worth being straightforward, because being straightforward is more useful than being vague. There is no scientific evidence that auras exist as a detectable field, and no controlled test has shown that anyone can perceive one. The standard test design is simple: a reader who can see an aura around a person should be able to say which of several identical screens that person is standing behind, since the aura is described as extending beyond the body. Readers have not performed above chance under those conditions.

There are ordinary explanations for much of what people report. Afterimages and edge effects account for faint outlines. Synesthesia — in which one sense reliably triggers a percept in another — has been proposed as an explanation for the small number of people who consistently report seeing colors around others, and some of those individuals do experience color associations across other domains too. And a great deal of the felt accuracy of any reading comes from the same effect that makes horoscopes land: descriptions general enough to fit almost anyone feel personally specific.

None of that requires you to abandon the practice. Plenty of people use aura work the way others use journalling or a tarot deck — as a structured prompt for noticing how they actually feel. That is a reasonable thing to do with it. What it cannot do is diagnose illness, predict events, or tell you something factual about a person you have not met, and anyone charging you on that basis is selling something the practice does not deliver.

Frequently Asked Questions About Aura Colors

What do aura colors mean?

In aura tradition each color is linked to a chakra and to a cluster of traits: red to vitality and drive, orange to creativity, yellow to confidence, green to balance and healing, blue to calm communication, indigo to intuition, violet to spiritual awareness, pink to love, white to clarity, gold to wisdom and black to depletion or protection. These are traditional associations rather than measured properties.

What is the rarest aura color?

Practitioners most often name white and gold as the rarest, with silver and rainbow auras described as rarer still. There is no register of aura colors and no way to count them, so treat rarity claims as folklore rather than statistics.

Can you change your aura color?

Within the tradition, yes — the aura is said to shift with mood, health, rest and environment rather than being fixed for life. That is why two readings of the same person months apart often differ. What actually changes is your state; the color is the metaphor placed on it.

Are aura photos real?

Aura cameras are real devices, but they are not photographing anything around your body. Most read galvanic skin response through hand sensors and superimpose colors onto the portrait using a preset scale. Kirlian photography, often confused with it, records a corona discharge produced by high voltage — a well-understood electrical effect that changes with moisture and pressure.

Is there scientific evidence for auras?

No controlled study has demonstrated that anyone can perceive an aura. Where readers have been tested under conditions that remove ordinary cues — for example, identifying which of several screens a person is standing behind — results have not exceeded chance. This is why aura work is best understood as a reflective practice, not a diagnostic one.

What is the difference between an aura and a chakra?

A chakra is described as an energy center at a specific point in the body; an aura is described as the field around the whole body. Modern aura color charts borrow the seven-color chakra scheme, which is why the two are so often discussed together.

Can an aura reading tell me about my health?

It should not be used that way. Aura readings are not a medical assessment and cannot detect, diagnose or rule out any condition. If you have a symptom that concerns you, see a qualified clinician — and treat any reading that offers a health verdict with real caution.

How do I see my own aura?

The usual instruction is to sit in soft, even light against a plain pale background, relax your focus rather than staring, and look slightly past your own reflection or your hand for thirty seconds or so. Many people report a faint haze. Note that a pale afterimage around a fixated object is also a normal feature of vision, which is worth knowing before you interpret what you see.

Explore Each Aura Color in Depth

Each color has its own full guide covering personality traits, relationships, career tendencies and how the color is said to shift.

You may also find these useful: how to read an aura, step by step, and the aura discovery test.

Aura exploration works best held lightly: as a vocabulary for self-reflection and a prompt to pay attention to your own state, rather than as a measurement of it. Read the colors as a tradition with a real history and a genuine following, notice what resonates, and keep medical questions where they belong — with a clinician.