The first time I heard about aura readings was back in 2013. I had just started my first job after college in Miami, Florida. Our office was blissfully located on Lincoln Road in South Beach. I was young, eager, and juggling as much as humanly possible.

I was trying to find myself in my new city and navigate the corporate world at the same time. It was exhilarating, but I was also moving a million miles a minute trying to soak it all in.

One night, after work, I was walking down Lincoln Road running an errand. Outside on an H&M, a frantic woman yells “miss, miss!” and tries to stop me. Naively, I stopped and turned towards her to see what she wanted.

She told me that I had a massive aura, and she could feel before I even got to her. She said that I was taking too much on, moving too quickly, and I really needed to slow down. She was speaking to me out of genuine worry, but at the time I just thought she was crazy.

I nodded and thanked her for the information. I lied and said I intended to relax a bit. Relax? Me? Nope. Once she walked away, I laughed anxiously and called my mom. “You’ll never believe what just happened,” I told her.

Not shockingly, my mother told me this random woman was probably right. Weeks and months later, she’d continue to reference this moment whenever I was feeling overwhelmed. I brushed off the moment for years.

What Are Aura Readings?

An aura, the way I see it, is the energy force that surrounds us and is constantly changing based on how we’re feeling in the present. It’s invisible to most but visible to some (like the woman who stopped me on Lincoln Road).

For those who can see it, it’s colorful and usually correlates with the colors of our seven chakras. If one color is more vibrant than another, it means a particular chakra (associated with that color) is more active, or another chakra is under-active. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, catch up on what chakras are and how to know if your chakras are balanced.

While most of us can’t see auras, we can all feel them if we’re aware enough.

Have you ever met someone who literally feels like sunshine and you’re immediately drawn to them? Their aura, or their energy, is likely radiating positivity that you’re innately attracted to.

On the flip side, have you ever met someone who seems like they have a cloud hanging over their head and carry sadness in their wake? That’s their aura releasing negativity and a sign that they have some things they need to work through.

Our auras can change daily, much like our moods and emotions. We are continually evolving, and so is our energy field. We’re quite literally a rainbow of possibility!

As lovely as that sounds, sometimes it’s not as easy to shift our energy, and it requires a lot of work. Depending on our underlying issues, we made need to do something as simple as meditating or something as complicated as changing the way we think about certain aspects of ourselves. The next time I heard about aura readings wasn’t until 2017 - the year I started to tap into my spiritual side. In August of that year, I went to my first psychic after a shitty breakup.

While a lot of what the psychic said resonated with me, the thing I remember most is that she told me I had a dark and negative aura surrounding me. This darkness I carried was what held me back from everything I wanted in life. That’s a terrifying thing to hear, especially for someone who’s struggling and reaching for hope in any way she can. Of course, I took this with a grain of salt after she tried to sell me a $150 candle ceremony to rid me of my dark aura.

I didn’t know a lot of spirituality, but I knew it would take more than candles to heal what was in my heart. So this, in a beautifully strange way, was what kickstarted my entire spiritual journey.

I started looking for ways to brighten my life, connect with my higher self, and get grounded again. I learned so much about myself in the months and the year afterward. Today, I’m a completely different person than the sad girl sitting in the psychic’s dirty living room.

My Aura Readings

Recently, I jumped back on the aura readings train. Magic Jewelry, a spiritual jewelry shop tucked away in Chinatown in New York City offered aura readings and I went to get a picture of my aura. I had read about it on “Jezebel” and “The New York Times” and was naturally very curious to see what it was all about.

I went with a friend during our lunch break on a Wednesday in December. Once at Magic Jewelry, we had a short wait while a group of six friends (who got there before us) got aura readings.

Once it was our turn, we sat down (one at a time) in a chair and placed our right hand on a metal sensor. We were then instructed to look up at a camera ahead of us while the aura readings sensor snapped a picture of our aura.

We checked out the store’s inventory while we waited for our photos to develop. Once they were ready, the woman who worked there walked us through both of our aura readings photos. My aura photo is on the left and was a beautiful, bright red. My friend’s aura reading, on the right, was a light medley of purples.

The shop employee took her time to explain what our aura readings meant. She told me that it was a good thing that it was a bold red versus being light or murky. When a color is murky, that means you have to work on the underlying causes associated with it.

For me, my red aura symbolized that I was grounded, safe, and confident about having what I needed to survive in life. The red coloring correlated to my root chakra, the chakra of security and grounding between your physical self and the earth.

The shop employee also explained to me that it was the ideal time to take up a leadership position, that I had done a lot of work building up my confidence, and that I was in a place where people would be drawn to listen to me. Oddly enough, I was leading my very first workshop that night. My friend, who was attending the workshop, felt the same serendipity.

My aura reading motivated me and gave me the confidence I needed to go into my workshop. I knew my aura wasn’t dark and negative in the present after all. I was rooted in my potential and ready to shake things up a bit.

So, now that you have my full history with aura readings, how can you leverage this within your life? Hopefully, my experience has opened up your mind to the energy that you emit and feel around you. If you’re still a skeptic, here’s an alternative take on it.

What Are the Benefits of Aura Readings?

Recently, Whitney Goodman, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Miami, Florida and founder of @SitWithWit on Instagram, got an aura reading in Sedona, Arizona.

Sedona is a highly sought-after spiritual destination primarily because it’s known to have several vortexes. A vortex is an area of concentrated energy rising from the earth. It’s said that people can feel a range of sensations (like tingling or the ground vibrating) when they encounter one. Those tapped into their spiritual side may experience more profound effects.

Whitney's perspective on aura readings and her experience in Sedona helps shed light on how to apply readings in a helpful way. “I had my aura reading in a really cute shop in Sedona. The screen lit up immediately with a lot of yellow and the man informed me I was a “controlling person with a lot of people to forgive.” As a mental health clinician, I know our thoughts can change the structure and function of our brains. Whatever I focus on and reinforce is likely going to become true.

Humans also tend to look for proof of their own negative thoughts. If you believe something and the reading reinforces it, well then it must be true. I believe these readings and alternative practices can be extremely powerful and helpful if we apply them in the right way. Would it really improve my day if I sat around thinking about how controlling I am? No.

But I can use this information to think about ways that I may be trying to assert control in areas of my life and a little forgiveness can’t hurt! Like anything in life, aura readings really can mean whatever you want them to. I always encourage people to listen objectively and consider them as an opinion - not fact. This attitude will help you use the information in the most helpful and constructive way.”

Coming from a mental health professional’s perspective, you can see how some spiritual stuff is tied to mindset and our internal power to change the circumstances around us through the power of thought. While no spiritual tool or practice should be used in place of mental health care, they can potentially be good additions to help you elevate your life and connect to your higher self.

Protecting your aura comes down to self-love. Be kind to yourself and empathetic to others. Be aware of how you’re feeling and acknowledge when you need some healing. Love yourself and engage in well-informed self-care. Remind yourself that everything is fleeting, and life is too short to attach ourselves to negative energy we pass by in our everyday lives.