THE AURA and the SUBTLE HUMAN ENERGY FIELDS By dr. Lawrence Wilson I highly suggest reading it

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Life can be thought of as cells, blood and bones. However, life is actually much more than this. The human body is but the physical manifestation of what may be called an electrical, non-physical energy field. This is the subject of this article.
The halo of Jesus. Everyone has probably seen an aura in portraits of Jesus of Nazareth. The aura is much easier to see around saints and holy people because theirs is much brighter than those of average people. Jesus is often depicted in paintings with a halo or a light around his body and especially around his head. This is the aura and nothing more or less.
Some Christians don’t want to read about the aura because they are told it is “occult” or “esoteric”. It is nothing of the sort. If you feel that way, then by all means do not look a picture of Jesus, because the good ones always show him with his halo and his aura because it is beautiful.

Definition of the aura. This is the glow around all physical bodies, human, animal and plant. It is the evidence that life is not merely physical, as some believe, but is much more. By understanding this, you will gain a much greater appreciation for yourself and for others, and it will make you a much wiser person.
Some people can see the aura, and some artists have drawn it quite accurately. Some electrical machines can detect it, but not many.
The aura is composed of many components. In this article, I will just discuss a few of the most important ones:

1. The condition of the body’s seven energy centers. These are spinning vortices of subtle energy that are lined up along the midline of the body, from the groin area to the head. This is the subject of a separate article entitled The Energy Centers.
2. The level of development of a person. Human beings can develop themselves mentally and spiritually by various means. The concept of development is discussed in other articles such as Introduction To Development on this website.
3. A person’s overall state of health.
4. Temporary conditions such as one’s thoughts, feelings, and state of rest or fatigue.

HEALTH AND THE AURA

A healthy person has a brighter aura. One’s race, skin color or religion has nothing to do with this. A healthy person also usually has an aura that is more beautiful, whiter, and lighter in color.
The aura of those who are ill is usually dull, darker, muddy looking, and often has a greenish or yellowish tint. Near death, the aura almost disappears because it is so dark and small.

THE AURA OF BABIES

The aura of babies is unique because it is always somewhat bright and cheery-looking. However, on earth this does not last too long. Usually by the time the baby is three years old, the aura has faded in brightness and dulled in luster.
This is always due to the use of vaccines, bottle feeding instead of prolonged breastfeeding for up to 3 years, and due to giving babies antibiotics and other medical drugs. Interestingly, if a baby is breastfed, then the baby’s aura always remains excellent until breastfeeding ends. This is just one reason to continue breastfeeding for 3 years, or even more if the baby wants it.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND THE AURA

Development of the aura. Everyone has an astral body, even young babies. In those over about the age of 10 to 30, the etheric body develops to some degree in everyone. This is a more advanced subtle energy field, or energy body. It develops as one uses the mind for constructive purposes and as a person overcomes hardships by using the brain rather than by “getting by” using cunning, or cleverness or brute force or laziness.
Upper subtle body development. In those who meditate and live properly, as taught on this website, even more subtle and more amazing energy bodies also develop soon after the etheric body develops. This is the first step toward the advanced state of human life that is possible for human beings on planet earth. When this occurs, a person is said to be developed.
This simply means that one has developed all of the subtle human bodies that are possible for a person who lives on planet earth. This is a wonderful achievement that few accomplish, although it is well within the realm of possibility for anyone in the Western world who is reading this article. It simply requires following the rules and ideas set down in the articles on this website.

Early development the most difficult. In fact, the hardest part of developing the advanced aura and subtle bodies is the beginning, by far. It is like trying to blast off in a rocket and escape the earth’s gravity – the hardest part is getting out of the lower atmosphere. Once you are free of that, the rest of the trip into outer space is easy.
This is exactly how it is with what is called mental or spiritual development. Overcoming the initial resistance and inertia of the physical body takes years in most cases, which is why most religions suggest studying hard and following all the rules, even if you do not understand them. Then, once one has overcome the inertia of the physical body, development becomes much easier.
In earlier times, one almost had to enter a monastery to initiate the process. Today it is not as hard, however, for many people because people are wealthier, which means they have more time in some cases. Also, websites such as this one are available that can guide a person step by step, in a way, that was not available in earlier days when one needed a personal guide. This is still required in the advanced stages, but not for the earlier ones that are of interest to most people. The advice on this website about diet, lifestyle, and more will suffice.

Sequence of development. At first, the higher bodies take form, but are not active. This is called the process of development and is the most important part of the process. It usually takes people their entire lifetime to do this part of the process.
Once development is over, a period of time elapses while other changes occur in the body. Then, at a certain point, each of the higher bodies slowly fills with light energy or certain particles that activate or “glow” the bodies. This means the higher fields or bodies are now usable and “turned on”. This is the basic sequence of development and evolution of a human being.

Advantages and benefits of development. These are many and primarily include a longer life and better health. However, since the mind is developing itself to a high degree, it brings with it a calmer personality, a sharper mind. A better memory and many other aspects of the personality develop as well. One will have more abilities, more talents and more intuition than before. At a point, one can access guidance, for example, and begin to communicate telepathically, which brings us to the next level of evolution of a human being.

Further development or evolution. As one continues the pushing down exercise, and continues to live and eat properly, first the etheric body grows very large and its color changes from a bluish haze to a bright yellow when it is fully developed. Then and only then the upper bodies fill with light or energy. This is an important sequence of events that signifies that a person is really on his or her way toward development of the highest potential that a human being can achieve on a planet.

SEEING AND UNDERSTANDING THE AURA

Seeing the aura. The aura can be seen by some people naturally. They usually describe a sort of glow or energy around every living person. A dead person would not have much of an aura, although every object, even a rock or a tree, definitely has an aura, as it is a property of all matter on earth. It is a physics property in this sense.
The very barest rudiments of the human or other auras can be measured and photographed using electro-photography or so-called Kirlian electro-photography after the Russian who invented the basic technique. Kirlian was a photographer who could naturally see the aura, even in a photo. All photos, even on computers, show the entire aura, which is interesting since no one is trying to photograph it there.
Dr. Kirlian found a way to place objects or a person’s hand, for example, in a strong electromagnetic field or high-voltage field that emphasizes just certain aspects of the aura. One can buy such setups on the internet, for example, for a few hundred dollars or less. One can also construct one at home, as it is not that complicated to design a basic aura camera. With this setup, the glow of the person’s aura or that of the object is easily seen on photographic paper.

The size of the aura. The aura of a person or object actually radiates indefinitely, but it weakens in strength based on the square of the distance from the radiating object. Thus, with most people for example, it is only visible for a few inches around the body. If one is further away than this, it is too weak to view without special equipment.
The aura, however, is far more than the glow or radiation of an object. In living beings, the aura reflects ALL of the activities of the person, from his thoughts and emotions, to the food one is digesting, to the state of health and the state of the energy centers and much more. It is so much that it causes information overload. Therefore, I will focus on just the basics in this article.

Aura expressions. While few can see auras, everyone feels them to some extent when they interact with others, in particular. Some also feel them when they enter a building or location, perhaps, or at a party or a bar, perhaps. We all may describe people as "warm", "cold", "intense", "bubbly", "hard", "soft", "strong", "weak", "open" or "closed". A peek at the aura would reveal these traits actually exist in the energy field of the person. In other words, these feelings are real at some energetic level. They are not figments of the person’s imagination.

COMPOSITION OF THE AURA

The aura is actually composed of layers that are superimposed on top of each other to form the total picture or glow. Discerning all these layers is almost impossible, but I want to mention some of the most important of the layers.
The first and innermost layer is composed of the astral or emotional body. This is the lowest of the subtle or esoteric energy bodies of which human beings are composed. It is a body that is shared with all the animals, but not the plants. Plants only have a physical body, although it is possible that a plant could develop a rudimentary astral body. Emotions are a trait of animals and human beings, but not of plants.
The astral or emotional subtle body or energy field, since it is not really a body, occupies about the same area as the physical body. It consists of emotions such as anger, rage, fear and others. In some people, it is very small in size, barely fitting over the area of the physical body. In other people, it grows very large, as much as five times the size of the physical body. These people are the emotional ones. The growth of this body or field indicates that the person lives much more in the emotions than in the intellect, for example.

Women have larger astral fields. Women, for example, and even female animals, have far larger astral bodies than men and male animals, in general, though not always. There are very calm women, but not many. Thus, the astral body is governed by one’s emotions and one’s emotional state and tendencies.

Color of the astral field. It varies in color depending on the mood and appearance of the person’s emotional makeup at any time. A person’s emotional energy influences its color and intensity greatly. The absolute color of the astral body is not fixed. It varies from a deep tan or grey in those who are very emotionally depressed, to a light green or even blue or purple in those who are healthier on the emotional level.
It will vary from moment to moment and from day to day. Before the menstrual period, for example, the astral field of most menstruating women shifts from green to a more reddish color. This is due to more emotional disturbance at this time of the month that most of them feel. It actually has to do with more estrogen and more copper in the tissues at this time of the month. While it may seem strange, by observing the aura of the astral body or field, one can tell quite a lot about a person’s nutritional state in this manner.
Most people have a dominant color of their astral body. The most basic interpretation of the colors are as follows:

1. Red equals anger or a response to danger. Most people on earth have a red astral body. This is because anger, fear and responding to danger are the most common situations, emotionally, especially for young women and those over the age of fifty-five, also. Anger, in this regard, may be described as the emotion associated with thoughts and feelings that are not in harmony with one’s spiritual development. This means that when one thinks thoughts that are not spiritual in nature, one will become angry.
Those who are older than about 30 and less than about 55 often lose the red color and go more toward a greenish color, especially the men. This is the color of harmony with one’s life. Love, when it manifests in the emotional body, is a green-colored astral body. People in this age bracket have often settled down a bit, so their aura feels and looks more settled and greenish. Red is the color of disturbance and anxiety, as well as anger.

2. Yellow equals caution. A yellowish color of the astral field indicates a cautious person who is usually emotionally repressed to some degree. While red is emotion felt and expressed, yellow in the aura of a person is frequently associated with fear, anxiety, and depression or turning the anger inward. This is much better for relationships, but not for one’s health or for one’s spiritual development of the subtle higher bodies. It strongly inhibits this development, in fact.
Yellow is also associated with illness in the physical body. It corresponds, in part, to problems with the liver, which often occur when the emotions are repressed. One may become a little yellow in appearance, pale or sallow, for example, and some of this is a reflection of the influence or effect of the aura upon a person’s skin tone or color.

3. Orange is associated with fear. Orange in the aura is common as well in people who are physically ill. Orange is also common in those who are full of rage, but not anger. Rage is more subtle and pertains to the quality of knowing what is right but not able to express it or live your truth.
A more beautiful shade of orange, however, may indicate positive change in a person’s emotions. That is, when the color orange appears very strongly, it usually indicates that while the person is ‘ill in spirit’, meaning not that happy, the person is also moving in the right direction away from red and toward green and the higher spiritual colors of the astral body.

4. Green is the color of balance in the aura. It is unfortunately not very common. It is more prevalent in boys and men, especially those that have “succeeded in the world”. By this I mean those who have established themselves in a profession or job, and perhaps have a family, friends and some financial security. It is less common in women because most women are less secure and more prone to worry and fear. It is also less common as people age because aging on earth is frightening for most people. They are not sure when a heart attack or cancer will strike, or if one will lose a lover, partner, job, house or other symbol or aspect of physical reality.

Christians and the astral aura. Christians often have much more green in their astral aura, especially the young women. This is a powerful sign that this particular religion gives young women a certain peace and love that they truly need and want. Just being married, even to a good man, does not do it as much.
Green in the aura is also a spiritual symbol, as it were, indicating that these women want a spiritual lover, not just a physical one, and that the figure of Jesus or God supplies that love. It is a truly lovely sight to behold, in fact. Such women, and some men, stay calm under pressure, even if the situation is terrible. This greatly benefits their physical health and even explains some of the miracle healings that occur at Christian revivals and rallies that one sees on television, for example. In short, green is a wonderful color.
Green in the astral field also may pertain to the heart chakra, and implies that this chakra is developed, at least to some degree. However, this is not always true because the other energy centers can radiate a greenish color if they combine correctly.

5. Blue is not often seen in the aura. Blue is the color of the fifth chakra, primarily, and is associated with advanced development of the higher emotions such as creativity. In most people on earth, the astral aura does not have much blue in it because most people are not sufficiently developed. However, when it is seen, it indicates a superior emotional development in which a person is trying to share love with others. This is a very noble emotional state, seen, for example, in figures such as Mother Theresa of India who died not too many years ago. She was unique in this way, but there are now quite a few on earth who live mainly to love others, and they will have some blue in their astral auras.

6. Indigo and violet are rarely seen in the aura of a person. The reason is the same as the reason why blue is a rare color of the astral aura. Most simply have not developed enough. However, these colors do occur a lot with some people who are very spiritually oriented. Once again, these people are becoming more common on earth. These are people for whom the emotion of love and related emotions such as compassion are in ascendance. These individuals are gifts to humanity and are to be revered when found.

THE ETHERIC AURA BLENDS WITH THE ASTRAL AURA

In those who are of age 10 to about 30 and older, another aspect of the aura begins to appear. This is called the etheric body or etheric energy field. This usually does not begin to develop until the twenties, and often not until the age of age 29 or 30.
The etheric body marks the beginning of the spiritual ascent of a human being toward full mental and spiritual development. Most animals and plants, for example, do not develop much of an etheric aura or etheric field. The etheric body has to do with development of the higher brain centers. These govern the impulses of goodwill, compassion and overarching emotions associated with advanced spiritual truth such as we read about in the great teachers and leaders in the Bible.
If one reads the Bible or other spiritual texts, the etheric body will develop much faster. This is the best reason to attend church or read the Bible, although it will help one learn many other lessons as well. The name etheric body is given because it is not exactly mental or emotional, but something more ethereal, although it is related to mental effort, in fact, mainly.

Colors. Basically, the color of the etheric body is a bluish haze, close to sky blue. It finally becomes a bright yellow color when fully grown. When this mixes with the astral color, the mixture is often a greenish blue if a person is in control of his emotions. If one’s etheric is very well-developed, the mixture is more bluish, while a poorly developed etheric produces a more greenish mixture.
In those with a poorly developed etheric and an emotional nature, the color is often more reddish, due to the color of the astral body. Rarely, the etheric color is a purple, indicating a more advanced soul development and very relaxed emotions. In the aura, it usually appears blue because it blends with the green of the astral body if a person has controlled his emotions well.

Pulsing of the astral and etheric bodies. The etheric body pulses bright to dim yellow once every two to four seconds. Its shape is like that of a human with a very long midsection and rather short legs and short arms. It has no genitals, as these are not part of its structure. However, it is very connected with the human genital orgasm. The pulsing of the etheric body corresponds to the pulse of the genital orgasm in people over the age of 30. In those under 30, the pulse has to do with the astral body pulsation.
This is a complex topic, but it has to do with opening of the aura during copulation. This is part of the attraction of sex for many people. Sex actually allows them to open to higher learning for a few minutes. However, usually this fact is not used to advantage at all. The partners are too focused on pleasure or sensation to even think about anything else at this time. However, in times past and, in the future, this aspect of sex will be developed in some conscious couples.

Size. The size of the etheric aura depends on how developed the etheric body is. This, in turn, depends upon the quality and nature of the person’s thoughts and spiritual level of thinking and action. In almost everyone over 25 to 30 years old, the etheric aura is small, about the size of the human body.

Advanced etheric development. In most people, the etheric body does not become very large. Usually, it is small, barely extending a few inches beyond the physical body. This is as far as most people go in their development during their lifetimes. However, much more is possible, and roughly 10,000 people a year progress beyond this state.
In those who follow a nutritional balancing program faithfully, and do the pushing down exercise each and every day for at least an hour or so, the etheric body grows very large (both tall and wide). This is very unusual on earth. When this happens, the etheric envelope or field can easily grow up to about 50 to 60 feet tall and a few feet thick.
It retains the general shape of a human body, although at times in its development it appears somewhat distorted with the legs short and squat, and the trunk longer. In this regard, it can appear as a kind of monster. It also has no genitals, and no eyes or nose, although it has a small mouth.

The etheric double. As it grows, it also develops a double or second field or body. The main one stands upright when one is standing up. The feet also may extend a little below the surface of the earth.
The second etheric field or etheric double is upside down. If one is standing up or sitting, the head area is below the surface of the earth, while the feet extend upward into the air above the person’s head. The two etheric bodies overlap at the knees, roughly. Thus the fully developed etheric body is a double body with one right side up and one upside down. This has to do with physics. It is a duplicate body in space and time.
The developed etheric body has some other strange qualities, such as that it is always upright with respect to gravity, even when a person is lying down. The reason is that the etheric body is not tied to the physical body nearly as much as it is tied in to the gravitational field of the earth.
Another interesting fact is that the etheric bodies or fields join with the physical body at the heart area. This is important, at times, for identifying colors or the aura.

Monadic development. The etheric body is really the beginning of the development of what is called the monad or independent human being who is less dependent upon the physical plane of existence and more of a physics creation or object in space.

Energy centers on the etheric body. At first, the etheric body develops its own set of seven basic energy centers. When fully developed, however, each etheric body just has one energy center shaped like a star tetrahedron. A star tetrahedron is just two tetrahedrons, with the point of one of them facing upward and the other with the point facing downward. Some star tetrahedrons have the two tetrahedrons joined at their bases, while others intersect halfway up their length. It is quite a beautiful structure either way.

PART II. THE HIGHER OR ADVANCED SUBTLE BODIES

The three lower fields or bodies are the physical, astral and etheric. These are the most common bodies or energy fields that most people can develop on earth. However, there exist many other subtle energy bodies of fields that one can develop. Various books use different names for them, and they are extremely interesting. The ones I will discuss in this article are:

1. The blue tube or blue body or field.
2. The top and bottom spherical bodies or fields.
3. The oval or causal fields.
4. The whole body or culmination sphere.

Fuller evolution of a human being. While most people will never develop these subtle energy fields or bodies, anyone who follows a nutritional balancing program (but not other healing programs that I know of), can develop them, at least to a certain degree. The only indication you are doing this may be a feeling of increased solidness or sturdiness of the body. Souls all have these advanced bodies to a degree, by the way.
Together, they represent the development of the full potential of a human being, with powers and abilities that one reads about in books such as the Bible and particularly in the book, the Life and Teachings of the Masters Of the Far East by Baird Spalding, Autobiography Of A Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda, and some others.
These levels of development, however, are very difficult for people in the West because of all the distractions and difficulties with the physical body, which is also very unhealthy in almost all cases. In fact, today this lack of health seems to be a major stumbling block for Western people due to their horrendous diets and such problems as polluted air, water and other types of contamination. These basically poison the physical body and limit one’s ability to progress this far with mental and spiritual development. Now let us discuss the advanced or higher subtle bodies or energy fields.

1. THE BLUE TUBE

Size and shape. This field appears as a bluish tube of light about 250-280 feet in diameter that stands up vertically when a person stands up, sits or even lies down. In other words, it aligns with the earth’s gravitational field, as does the etheric field.
The top of the blue tube is at the exact height of the head of the upright etheric field or body. The bottom of the blue tube is at the exact height of the upside down etheric body underneath the surface of the earth if one is standing on earth.
The diameter of the blue tube also aligns perfectly with the inside of the tube touching the outer edges of the etheric or double body. The color of this energy field remains a pale bluish color throughout its development.

Meaning. The blue tube is the gateway to higher development. That is, it is needed in order for one to develop the other higher or advanced fields or bodies. It is still rare upon planet earth, although the number of people developing it is increasing slightly as more people hear about nutritional balancing science and follow this path of development.

2. THE TOP AND BOTTOM SPHERES (ALSO CALLED THE MENTAL BODY BY SOME RESEARCHERS)

Size and shape. This field has two parts. It consists of two spheres, each of which is about 280 feet in diameter. They are located at the top and the bottom of the blue body described above.
Another way to place them is that they are located just past the top of the heads of the two etheric bodies. This means that the bottom of each sphere touches the tip of the head of one of the etheric bodies in space. If one views the etheric bodies as the shape of a man, one right side up and one upside down, the top and bottom spheres look like two large balls or spheres sitting directly on top of the heads of the two etheric fields.

Color. The top and bottom spheres or mental field is a yellowish or golden color when it is fully developed. Until then, it is a pale yellow color. It is very beautiful to behold, but people on earth cannot see it except perhaps for a few of the more developed ones.

Meaning. The top and bottom spheres confer greater mental abilities for a person. These include more memory capacity, the ability to think faster and clearer, and others.

3. THE OVAL OR CAUSAL BODY

Size and shape. The oval body is the next body or field to develop. It is in two parts, and each is in the shape of a horizontally elongated sphere or an oval.
One of the oval bodies sits just atop the top sphere described above. The second oval body is located just underneath the lower sphere of the top and bottom spheres described above.
The oval bodies are about 500 feet wide and about 300 feet tall. Thus they are much wider than the top and bottom spheres described above.

Meaning. The oval bodies are sometimes together called the causal body in some books. Their significance is they cause many types of abilities and powers to develop in a human being. These include the ability to communicate telepathically, to be able to see the aura to a degree, and others. They also confer a longer and healthier life in almost all cases.
When this subtle energy field fills completely, a person is more at peace, more powerful within, more centered and grounded, and more in tune or attuned to guidance and the truth about the world and about all things. These are among the benefits of developing the causal field or oval energy body.

3. THE WHOLE BODY

The next energy field or subtle body to develop and to fill is called the whole body.

Size, shape and location. This body or field is one very large sphere. It is located exactly around the physical body. The whole body just touches the outside of the two oval bodies above and below the physical body. It is at least 1000 feet in diameter, or about one fourth of a mile. It will actually grow much larger than this later on during even more advanced development of a human being.

Meaning. The whole body is so named because it is all encompassing and whole. It, too, confers a longer life and greater health and well-being for anyone willing to develop it.

THE BODIES THROUGHOUT THE LIFE CYCLE

First octave. From age 0 to 7, a child is mainly an animal and physical being. The main and almost the only active body is the physical body. It is a time of great physical growth and development, and some mental developmen [link to drlwilson.com] as well.

Second octave. From age 7 to about age 14, the physical development continues, but emotional development increases, as does mental development. In some children, the etheric body begins to develop at this time. In other children, the etheric does not develop until later.

Third octave. From age 14 to about age 21, sexual development occurs fully, and many children become sexually active on earth. The etheric body may begin to develop at this time, although in some people this does not occur until age 30 or older.

Fourth octave. From age 21 to about age 28 physical development is usually complete, but emotional and mental maturity should continue. In many people, the etheric body begins to develop at this time.

Fifth octave. From age 28 to 35 the etheric body often develops, if it is has not already started to develop. Everyone must pass through an astrological milestone called the Saturn return, which is difficult for some people, as one must review one’s life to this point and make important decisions for the future.

Sixth octave. From age 35 to about age 42, etheric development should continue, although in many people today their health is so poor that it stops around this age. We sometimes call these people grannies because they are somewhat old before their time. Many people today at this age already have chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease, adrenal exhaustion, or others.

Seventh octave. This is the age of 42 to about 49. Etheric development should continue here, but it has usually stopped and will not develop any more during this lifetime.

Eighth, ninth, tenth and the octaves beyond. Etheric development, and the development of the other subtle bodies should continue, but today this is very rare. The human bodies and in some cases the souls are too damaged by improper food, not enough rest, infections, nutritional imbalances and poisons in the air, water and food supply.
As a result, most people have “passed their prime” by this time, and the rest of their lives is a slow downhill spiral leading to death of the physical body. This is sad and avoidable if one follows a nutritional balancing program, which will prolong physical health and life throughout the life cycle.

This is a brief introduction to a large subject of what is sometimes called esoteric anatomy and esoteric physiology. The intent of this article is to explain that human development is very specific and precise, and follows precise stages. Unfortunately, this knowledge is not well known in the West, particularly, or people would eat much better and take much better care of their bodies and minds.
For more on the stages or octaves of life, please read Life Stages on this website.