BY SOPHIE E. MOSS
An "aura" is a rainbow-like, kaleidoscopic, electromagnetic field of energy that pulses around the physical body and is attuned to our emotions, health and external circumstances. It is a technicolor dream coat of many layers: the etheric body, astral body, mental body, higher mental body, spiritual body and the casual body, each of which together give the impression of a blending together of colors and light around the skin and is, essentially, an extension of the physical self.
Each of us have auric fields that interact with one another, which explains why we sometimes get those inexplicable gut feelings—such as when we say "I have a really bad feeling about this". This is our aura doing its job. Our auras can be drained of their potential by a plethora of people and situations: toxic relationships, unfulfilling jobs, family problems, and the every day experiences of twenty-first century life.
They can also be affected by the universe. Remember when you felt impatient and uninspired earlier in the year? It will probably have been something to do with Mars Retrograde and its effect on the equilibrium of our energies. This past couple of days, I had felt intense, scattered and wildly emotional, and I realized it corresponded with the recent Super Moon, the night where the moon was closer to Earth than it had been in over twenty years, resulting in a moon fourteen per-cent bigger and thirty per-cent brighter, a stargazer’s dream.
Basically, my aura was feeling weakened by both my life and the wiles of the universe, and I knew it was time for a cleanse. If you’re feeling aurically drained, over-emotional, stressed, uninspired, pissed off at the moon, affected by the Perseid Meteor Shower or just in a general rut, it might be time to consider cleansing your aura to return it to its full, rainbow potential. As such, I made a list of quips and tips you can do to help return your body, mind and spirit to its centre.
1. Take a walk in the rain. Forget where you have to be, what you have to do, and who you need to be and just give yourself to a rainwater cleanse. This will allow nature to bathe your aura and neutralize any negative, harmful energies that have interfered with it. As you feel the rain on your skin, imagine your stresses and worries dripping away from you as though water droplets. Remember, though: do not take a walk in a thunderstorm. Not only is it dangerous, it will cause an almighty auric funk.
2. Cleanse your aura by smudging it with healing herbs. Smudging refers to the burning of herbs in traditionally shamanic practices, where the smoldering herb releases a smoke carrying the particular properties of the herb, allowing it to bathe and cleanse the aura with its particular correspondence. When we feel our auric energies are of a lower, more negative vibration, we can smudge our aura with the smoke from herbs with healing properties, such as sage, juniper and lavender.
Light your smudge stick and pass the smoke over each part of the body, starting with the feet and up to the legs, torso, back, sides, arms, hands and finally the neck, face and head. Feel the smoke sweeping and traveling over the different parts of your body, allowing the herb’s properties to cleanse the Higher Self and, as it does, mentally release any negativity from your auric energy.
3. Take a cleansing bath. Cleansing baths are useful tools for purifying the aura of any negative potential, particularly eucalyptus, sea salt and lavender baths to calm the body, mind and spirit. Soak for at least ten minutes, and once out, watch as the water drains from the bathtub, mentally visualizing all auric nasties going down the drain with the water. If your auric vibrations are particularly low, I recommend a salt-water bath for best results.
4. Visualize the auras of others. Take time out to imagine the auras of other humans, and even plants and animals. To nurture and strengthen your own aura, mentally imagine auras emanating from other life forms–visualize either a kaleidoscopic rainbow of colors circling the life, or an intense, bright white light. Note what colors you see and how they make you feel.
5. Surround yourself with positive energies, and keep your aura close to you. It’s important to be aware of the people/situations that drain our energies and debilitate our auric potential. Therefore, it’s integral for your wellbeing to limit your exposure to the situations that feed off your aura as much as possible to keep it healthy and nourished.
Also, you must remember that, as creatures coexisting, our auras cross, connect and interact—meaning that we pick up on others’ energies (both positive and negative). This is why it’s important to keep your aura close you. To do this, simply imagine it tightly surrounding you: compact and impenetrable. This way, your aura crosses less with others’ and makes it less vulnerable to outside forces.
6. Surround yourself with sunlight. Spending as much time in the sunshine with nature is, for the aura, like honey to a bee. Sunlight is known to nurture, feed and expand the aura whilst nourishing the senses, leaving you feeling happier and both more energetic and optimistic. Go and play in the sunshine.
7. Lastly, try and strengthen your aura with a simple exercise. Find a quiet, alone spot and lay down. Allow your body and mind to relax–let go of life’s noise and centre in on yourself. Imagine your aura (its rainbow of colors and all) seeping right into the corners of the room, leaking out, lapping the walls. Now, slowly suck it back into yourself until it is circling but inches from your skin and impenetrable to external forces. Repeat as many times as feels right. Do this again, but only let your aura travel a short distance from the physical self (perhaps a few meters) and, when you feel ready, pull it back into yourself as before.
Again, repeat this as many times as you feel you should. Finally, imagine your aura compact, impenetrable, pulsating, a rainbow of colors. This is your energy at its most intense. Practice doing this frequently. Repeat this exercise for at least one month and note the changes in your mood, perceptions, emotions and every day experiences as a result of your strengthening auric senses.
Sophie E. Moss is a human, dark witch and literary maven. She graduated from Cardiff University in the summer of 2015 with a BA(Hons) in Journalism.