WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:10.720 You see, something's going to happen. What's going to happen? 2 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:27.039 From ancient myth and sacred art to new age healing 3 00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:30.679 and cutting edge science, few concepts bradge so many domains 4 00:00:30.719 --> 00:00:34.240 as the human error. The very word rror comes from 5 00:00:34.320 --> 00:00:37.920 Greek meaning breath or breeze, evoking an invisible essence that 6 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:42.520 surrounds life. Across cultures and centuries, people have described a 7 00:00:42.600 --> 00:00:46.359 luminous emanation or energy field around living beings, a halo 8 00:00:46.399 --> 00:00:49.960 of sanctity, a vital force, or a subtle body of light. 9 00:00:50.920 --> 00:00:55.759 Is it a literal glow, spiritual symbolism, a physiological illusion. 10 00:00:56.920 --> 00:01:01.240 In this episode, we journey through folklore, religion, medicine, mysticism, science, 11 00:01:01.320 --> 00:01:04.200 and psychology to illuminate the many paces of the ore. 12 00:01:05.079 --> 00:01:07.799 We will encounter the golden haloes of saints and Buddha's, 13 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:12.200 the chakras and she of Eastern traditions, the otic force 14 00:01:12.239 --> 00:01:16.280 and astral light of occultists, the ghostly flares of Kerlean photography, 15 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:19.879 the ultra weak biophotons of living cells, and the skeptics 16 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:24.400 laboratory where our readers meet blind tests. Each one reveals 17 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:28.439 a new dimension, from sacred radiance to scientific research from 18 00:01:28.519 --> 00:01:32.719 personal perception to coarse cultural phenomena, inviting you to decide 19 00:01:32.760 --> 00:01:36.359 what the aura ultimately means. Neither dismissing the believers nor 20 00:01:36.439 --> 00:01:39.079 shine from the evidence. Let us explain the ore in 21 00:01:39.159 --> 00:01:43.200 all its colors. Long before or Is enter the vocabulary 22 00:01:43.239 --> 00:01:46.560 of spiritual healers, the idea that wholly a charismatic persons 23 00:01:46.560 --> 00:01:51.480 shine with an otherworldly light was widespread a religious art 24 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:55.840 of East and West. Halos, nimbuses and orioles encircle the 25 00:01:55.840 --> 00:02:00.120 heads of saints Bodusatuus, and emperors to signify their inner sanctity. 26 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:04.799 In Christian iconography, for example, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, and 27 00:02:04.840 --> 00:02:07.799 the saints are traditionally depicted with a gold disc or 28 00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:12.639 radiant crown, a visual metaphor for divine grace. The Eastern 29 00:02:12.759 --> 00:02:16.439 Orthodox speak of the uncreated light of Mount Tabor the 30 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:20.599 light of Christ's transfiguration, holding that truly holy persons may 31 00:02:20.639 --> 00:02:24.240 witness or even admit this divine light through intense prayer. 32 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:28.240 This Taboric light is not a physical glow, but the 33 00:02:28.280 --> 00:02:32.240 actual energy of God manifesting in the material world, according 34 00:02:32.280 --> 00:02:36.039 to Palamite theology, and is considered uncreated of a different 35 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.159 essence than any created luminosity. In the Bible, we likewise 36 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:43.360 find Moses descending Mount Sinai with his face shining so 37 00:02:43.400 --> 00:02:47.120 brightly that he veiled himself, an encounter with God's glory 38 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:51.960 cavode that left a residual ore. The Hebrew term cavode 39 00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:56.759 itself denotes weighty glory or radiance, understood as the visible 40 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:01.400 presence of Yahweh. Jewish mystics later spoke of the shikina, 41 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:07.120 or indwelling divine light. Other ancient cultures had strikingly similar notions. 42 00:03:07.879 --> 00:03:11.000 In Zoroastrian Persia, the king or hero was said to 43 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:15.159 possess the kavaruna or far in later Persian, a mystical 44 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.479 radiant force granted by Hora Mazda God to legitimate rulers. 45 00:03:20.199 --> 00:03:24.000 This glory was an invisible yet palpable aura of righteousness 46 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:27.919 that conferred divine right and insured just rule. If a 47 00:03:28.039 --> 00:03:31.919 king fell into falsehood of cruelty straining from cosmic truth, asha, 48 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.120 he was believed to lose his or grace and with it, 49 00:03:35.240 --> 00:03:38.719 his mandate to rule. The Iranian epic kings were literally 50 00:03:38.800 --> 00:03:42.080 followed by a luminous tale of glory, a concept so 51 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:45.560 embedded that later Islamic rulers in Iran also claimed a 52 00:03:45.639 --> 00:03:50.840 sort of inherited far. In ancient Mesopotamia, the related idea 53 00:03:50.919 --> 00:03:54.360 of milam referred to a brilliant terror or radiance clothing 54 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.120 the gods and hero kings. An Akkadian rulers inscription might 55 00:03:58.159 --> 00:04:04.280 describe their fearsome milam emin from his person, overwhelming his enemies. Indeed, 56 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:08.400 Mesopotamian and Persian law envisioned a shining or a sanctifying 57 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:13.479 kings and temples, a divine radiance kavarna associated with rightful power. 58 00:04:14.680 --> 00:04:18.800 In Polynesian culture, mana is an invisible spiritual potency that 59 00:04:18.839 --> 00:04:23.360 can pervade people, places, and objects. Mana is often described 60 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.279 as a supernatural force or energy that one can accumulate 61 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:29.480 or be blessed with. A chief or hero is high 62 00:04:29.560 --> 00:04:33.279 in manner, effectively surrounded by a potent field of spiritual influence. 63 00:04:34.120 --> 00:04:37.439 While mana is not usually visualized as light, it functions 64 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:41.480 like an aura, an intangible force that signifies power, authority, 65 00:04:41.560 --> 00:04:45.800 and divine favor the Polynesian heroes. Mana can even be contagious, 66 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:48.439 rub off on those around him, or reside in his 67 00:04:48.519 --> 00:04:52.959 personal artifacts. In Hindu and Buddhist law, we similarly hear 68 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:56.839 of great sages or deities glowing with tijas splendor or 69 00:04:56.959 --> 00:05:01.199 probra or. Early Buddhist text described the Buddhists body as 70 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:05.240 emanating a halo of light. Buddhist art across India, China, 71 00:05:05.319 --> 00:05:10.079 and Japan abundantly features mendolas, full body halos, and crania halos, 72 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:15.279 each colour coded with specific meanings. In Tibetan Buddhism, halo 73 00:05:15.480 --> 00:05:20.040 iconography became elaborate, flaming orioles around wrathful deities, rainbow colored 74 00:05:20.120 --> 00:05:23.560 rings around compassionate ones. All these serve to communicate the 75 00:05:23.639 --> 00:05:26.959 spiritual radiance of enlightened beings. As one scholar put it, 76 00:05:27.360 --> 00:05:31.000 halo serve as potent symbols of divinity, virtue, and authority 77 00:05:31.040 --> 00:05:36.240 across the verse cultural contexts. Notably, such radiance isn't reserved 78 00:05:36.279 --> 00:05:39.680 only for deities and royalty. Folk traditions often hold that 79 00:05:39.800 --> 00:05:44.279 ordinary people can shine under special conditions intense prayer, trance, 80 00:05:44.439 --> 00:05:48.839 or moral purity. Medieval Christian mystics like Hildegard of Bingin 81 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:53.079 reported seeing luminous vapors around persons, interpreting them as individual 82 00:05:53.240 --> 00:05:58.040 soul light or health state. Hildegarde herself in her illuminated manuscripts, 83 00:05:58.240 --> 00:06:03.360 painted human silhouettes filled with cosmic circles of light. In Islam, 84 00:06:03.600 --> 00:06:06.720 Sufi saints were sometimes said to exude a neur light, 85 00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:11.360 especially at their death. In an intriguing cult cultural parallel, 86 00:06:11.720 --> 00:06:15.079 Tibetan Lamas who achieve the rainbow body or believe to 87 00:06:15.120 --> 00:06:18.920 literally dissolve into radiant light at death, leaving only hair 88 00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:23.120 and nails behind. This rainbow body phenomenon has been recorded 89 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:27.079 into modern times. In Tibet, witnesses describe the physical corpse 90 00:06:27.120 --> 00:06:29.639 shrinking and a rainbow like or a filling the room. 91 00:06:31.800 --> 00:06:36.560 Tibet's datchin teachings hold that through advanced practice, togal one's 92 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:40.000 flesh is ultimately transmitted into a body of light, often 93 00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:42.759 accompanied by lights and rainbows in the sky as the 94 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:47.439 ad depth material form disappears. Such stories show how deeply 95 00:06:47.480 --> 00:06:50.439 the aura concept as a bridge between material and spiritual 96 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:55.399 runs in human imagination. Whether called halo, glory mana, or 97 00:06:55.480 --> 00:06:58.199 rainbow light, the idea is that an inner essence can 98 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:02.439 shine outward, visible to those with eyes to see. While 99 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:06.720 halos conveyed sanctity and religious art, the Eastern mystical traditions 100 00:07:06.759 --> 00:07:10.839 developed a full anatomy of the unseen body, chakras, meridians, 101 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:13.560 and winds to explain what an aura is and how 102 00:07:13.560 --> 00:07:18.360 it works. In yoga and tantra, spanning Hindu and Buddhist practices, 103 00:07:18.639 --> 00:07:20.879 the human being is understood to have not just a 104 00:07:20.959 --> 00:07:25.720 gross physical body, but layers are sheets khosas of life, energy, mind, 105 00:07:25.800 --> 00:07:30.079 and bliss. The second of the five classic kosas is 106 00:07:30.079 --> 00:07:33.319 the prana maya kosa, literally the body made of prana, 107 00:07:33.759 --> 00:07:37.680 which Yogic stages equate with the vital energy field permeating 108 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:40.959 and surrounding the physical body In essence. This is the 109 00:07:41.040 --> 00:07:45.199 Yogic term for the aura. Prana in Sanskrit means both 110 00:07:45.319 --> 00:07:48.600 breath and life force, and the prana maya sheath is 111 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:53.160 nourished by breathing exercises and meditation. Yogis map out thousands 112 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:57.040 of subtle channels noddies through which prana flows, forming an 113 00:07:57.079 --> 00:08:00.480 etheric circulatory system parallel to the nerves and blood vessels. 114 00:08:01.079 --> 00:08:04.399 The chakras, meaning wheels of the majority energy centers where 115 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:08.000 the knadis converge, typically numbered as seven along the spine, 116 00:08:08.319 --> 00:08:10.480 from the root chakra at the base to the crown 117 00:08:10.560 --> 00:08:13.399 chakra at the top of the head. Each chakra is 118 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.160 said to spin and radiate its own frequency of energy, 119 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:20.560 often associated with the color in modern interpretations. The aura 120 00:08:20.680 --> 00:08:23.399 in this model is the composite radiation of the chakras 121 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:27.480 and product currents, visualized as multicolored layers of light extending 122 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.879 just beyond the skin. This concept first appeared in the 123 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:35.360 Upanishads over two thousand, five hundred years ago. The Tatria 124 00:08:35.480 --> 00:08:42.080 Upanishad described the five interpretating coosas Anamaya food body, physical prana, 125 00:08:42.120 --> 00:08:48.000 maya breath, energy body, man Omaya mind vision on Amaya consciousness, 126 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:51.919 and Anadamaya bliss. The subtle body proper begins at the 127 00:08:51.960 --> 00:08:55.360 prana layer, which breathes life into the physical and reconnects 128 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:58.759 it to the higher mental and spiritual layers. Later yogic 129 00:08:58.840 --> 00:09:01.759 texts elaborate is set system of vital winds and drops 130 00:09:01.799 --> 00:09:04.879 that move through the body, and tantric Adepts learned to 131 00:09:04.919 --> 00:09:08.320 control these to induce altered states or even paranormal powers. 132 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.480 For example, by meditating on a chakra in certain mantras, 133 00:09:12.600 --> 00:09:16.600 a yogi could supposedly awaken kunalini, a dormant energy coiled 134 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:19.440 at the base and send it coursing upward through the chakras, 135 00:09:19.480 --> 00:09:24.159 dramatically expanding the aura and consciousness. Tantra and Vajrayana Buddhism 136 00:09:24.240 --> 00:09:28.360 especially delve into subtle body maps. They identify central channels 137 00:09:28.360 --> 00:09:32.519 and side channels, and numerous chakras with varying schemas. Some 138 00:09:32.600 --> 00:09:35.559 text lists five, six, or eight chakras instead of seven. 139 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:39.799 Despite differences, all agree that mastering the flow of subtle 140 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:44.399 energy leads to extraordinary spiritual attainments, essentially by refining the 141 00:09:44.480 --> 00:09:48.919 aura or energy body. In Tibetan Dagen, for instance, there 142 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:51.440 is a talk of luminous channels in the heart and 143 00:09:51.480 --> 00:09:55.559 skull that, when purified, cause the practitioner's body to emit 144 00:09:55.679 --> 00:09:59.919 light and ultimately achieve the rainbow body. It's important to 145 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.240 note that traditional texts did not use the English word aura. 146 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:07.919 They spoke of Prana Teja's ojas et cetera and luminous halos. 147 00:10:07.919 --> 00:10:11.440 In religious imagery. The explicit idea of a colored human 148 00:10:11.480 --> 00:10:16.559 aura owes as much to modern secretism as to ancient doctrine. However, 149 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:20.639 these Eastern concepts provided a ready framework when Western esotericists 150 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:23.679 and later New Age writers tried to explain or are 151 00:10:23.720 --> 00:10:27.639 seing they borrowed the chakra scheme and kosha layers heavily. 152 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:33.519 Yogis themselves do describe experiences of seeing light. Some advanced 153 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:37.200 meditation manual say that when prana is concentrated, it produces 154 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:39.720 a glow, or that the aura of a yogi becomes 155 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:42.799 visible to others as a golden halo aura of peace, 156 00:10:43.639 --> 00:10:47.200 and Buddhist jaytaka tales to Buddha's previous spirits are often 157 00:10:47.240 --> 00:10:50.879 recognized by an aura around him. Even in China and Japan, 158 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:54.519 a long standing belief holds that great spiritual cultivators can 159 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:58.799 develop a bright chi field visible as light. For example, 160 00:10:58.879 --> 00:11:02.720 Chigong masses sometimes depicted with a radiant chi energy enveloping 161 00:11:02.759 --> 00:11:05.759 their body, and some practitioners claim to see a chi 162 00:11:05.879 --> 00:11:10.879 aura around their teachers. Thus, through chakras and prana, Hindu 163 00:11:10.919 --> 00:11:14.440 and Buddhist traditions articulated in Anatomy of the Aura, giving 164 00:11:14.519 --> 00:11:18.600 later generations a rich terminology for the subtle body. Modern 165 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:21.840 yogis will casually refer to cleansing their urror or aligning 166 00:11:21.879 --> 00:11:26.480 their chakras, concepts rooted in these ancient teachings as one 167 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:31.000 holistic texts nicely summarized, the yogic subtle body has thousands 168 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:34.799 of subtle energy channels nadis that convey subtle breath prana, 169 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:38.960 and these determine the characteristics of the physical form. By 170 00:11:39.039 --> 00:11:44.200 working with this energy body, one's aura is strengthened and balanced. 171 00:11:45.840 --> 00:11:49.919 While India spoke of prana and chakras, Chinese traditional medicine 172 00:11:49.919 --> 00:11:52.679 and Daoist practice developed their own model of the body's 173 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:57.240 energy field scentered aren't she and its dynamic transformations. In 174 00:11:57.279 --> 00:12:00.840 classical Chinese medicine, Chi is the vital and nat circulating 175 00:12:00.879 --> 00:12:03.840 through meridians that connect the internal organs with the surface 176 00:12:03.879 --> 00:12:07.919 of the body. Health is defined by the smooth, balanced 177 00:12:07.919 --> 00:12:13.240 flow of chi, illnesses by blockages or imbalances. Notably, Chinese 178 00:12:13.240 --> 00:12:16.519 physiology recognizes a specific layer of chi at the body's 179 00:12:16.519 --> 00:12:21.960 exterior called wheat chi, usually translated as defensive chi or 180 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:26.360 guardian shee. The wii chi is essentially an energy ore 181 00:12:26.399 --> 00:12:29.519 that protects the body from external harm, be it pathogenic 182 00:12:29.559 --> 00:12:34.840 influences like wind, cold, or metaphorically any invasive negativity. As 183 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:38.159 one source puts it, weed chi guards the body like 184 00:12:38.200 --> 00:12:41.679 an orea. It circulates on the surface, especially in the 185 00:12:41.720 --> 00:12:45.360 skin and muscle layers, creating a shield against illness. If 186 00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:48.720 the ch is strong, evil chi such as contagious factors 187 00:12:48.759 --> 00:12:52.960 or cold drafts, cannot penetrate. If weak, one becomes prone 188 00:12:52.960 --> 00:12:56.679 to infections or fatigue. This is why traditional Chinese doctors 189 00:12:56.679 --> 00:12:59.960 pay attention to the quality of a person's skin tone, 190 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:02.639 fling of warmth or cold at the surface, and even 191 00:13:02.679 --> 00:13:06.080 phenomena like a boundary between body heat and air all 192 00:13:06.120 --> 00:13:10.679 seen as manifestations of wi chi integrity. Practically, this cheek 193 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:14.559 corresponds to the immune and autonomic responses. It is daytime 194 00:13:14.720 --> 00:13:18.480 active yang energy governed by the lungs. In traditional Chinese medicine, 195 00:13:19.159 --> 00:13:22.799 it circulates on the periphery fifty times every twenty four hours, 196 00:13:23.279 --> 00:13:27.000 warming the flesh and forming a buffer zone. Ancient medical 197 00:13:27.039 --> 00:13:29.360 texts describe it as the chie that dwells in the 198 00:13:29.399 --> 00:13:34.559 skin and flesh, protecting against outside invasion. This sounds very 199 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:38.679 much like an energy field emanating just beyond the body. Indeed, 200 00:13:39.080 --> 00:13:42.879 modern practitioners often explicitly likened this chie to an ore 201 00:13:43.840 --> 00:13:47.360 and acupuncturis oraticle notes. Even in traditional Chinese medicine, the 202 00:13:47.360 --> 00:13:49.759 wi chi field is known to have a boundary that 203 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.279 extends past the skin, and its purpose is to offer protection. 204 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:58.120 Pathogenic factors can enter in when our wichi is weak. 205 00:13:58.919 --> 00:14:02.440 Chigonghill is speak of strengthening the chi field to become 206 00:14:02.519 --> 00:14:06.679 less affected by other people's negativity or environmental stress, a 207 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:11.639 concept identical to fortifying your aura. Techniques like chief fill 208 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.320 building and medical chigang involve visualizations to expand one's energy 209 00:14:16.360 --> 00:14:20.600 bubbles several feet out, sometimes using sweeping our motions to 210 00:14:20.759 --> 00:14:25.559 seal the aura. In one exercise, practitioners imagine five colored 211 00:14:25.559 --> 00:14:30.159 beasts phoenix, turtle, tiger, dragon snake emerging from their organs 212 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:33.399 to whirl around and form a cocoon of protective energy 213 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:38.000 encasing the body, a striking parallel to Western magical practices 214 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:42.360 of creating a protective circle or shield of light. Chinese 215 00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:47.600 metaphysical texts also describe extraordinary auras around masters. There are 216 00:14:47.639 --> 00:14:50.279 tales of sages whose chi was so abundant that people 217 00:14:50.360 --> 00:14:53.159 could literally see a light around them or feel their 218 00:14:53.200 --> 00:14:57.519 presence from afar and kung fu legends, a great master's 219 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:00.399 eternal energy is visible as an aura that can last 220 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:03.879 objects at a distance, whether or not such claims are 221 00:15:03.919 --> 00:15:07.639 taken literally. The language of an energy radiance chi field 222 00:15:07.799 --> 00:15:13.399 enveloping the body is commonplace in diagnosis. Practitioners may speak 223 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:16.879 of sensing a patience, or by hand a warm or 224 00:15:16.919 --> 00:15:20.320 cool sensation a few inches off the skin. The concept 225 00:15:20.399 --> 00:15:23.600 of chi itself is sometimes glossed as a matter energy 226 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:27.720 that can manifest visibly, like heat shimmers or bioelectric sparks. 227 00:15:28.559 --> 00:15:32.080 Some Taoist alchemy texts mention an inner radiance that eventually 228 00:15:32.120 --> 00:15:35.639 shines outward as a halo around the ad depth. Modern 229 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:39.000 experiments in China even attempted to photograph or measure this 230 00:15:39.080 --> 00:15:43.879 chi emanation, for instance, using high voltage photography, a variant 231 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:48.240 of Curlyon technique to capture the corona around acupuncturist's fingers. 232 00:15:49.639 --> 00:15:53.320 Science aside, in traditional Chinese medicine, the aura is an 233 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:57.480 accepted reality, not an ethereal ghost, but a functioning part 234 00:15:57.559 --> 00:16:02.080 of physiology that one can tonify with herbs, acupuncture, or 235 00:16:02.120 --> 00:16:07.679 breathing exercises. One classical diagnostic principle says healthy zang chi 236 00:16:08.039 --> 00:16:12.720 true chi keeps out illness when the wee chi aura 237 00:16:12.759 --> 00:16:17.000 is strong, one radiates vitality. When it fades, one literally 238 00:16:17.039 --> 00:16:21.080 looks or a less pale, listless skin and is easy 239 00:16:21.159 --> 00:16:25.600 prey to disease. In some Chinese tradition teaches that we 240 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:29.600 are not solid, isolated bodies, but luminous emitters of life energy, 241 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:34.480 continuously exchanging chi with the environment. The aura is simply 242 00:16:34.519 --> 00:16:37.559 the name for the outermost dynamic layer of this energy, 243 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:42.960 our first line of defense and connection to the world. 244 00:16:43.039 --> 00:16:45.840 By the eighteenth to nineteenth centuries, as the Age of 245 00:16:45.919 --> 00:16:51.039 Enlightenment science blossomed in europe An unlikely fusion emerged. Occultists 246 00:16:51.080 --> 00:16:53.720 and some scientists began searching for a hidden energy that 247 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:58.120 animates living things, essentially a physical explanation for the ore 248 00:16:59.519 --> 00:17:05.160 seen hundreds, German physician Franz Anton Mesmer captured public imagination 249 00:17:05.400 --> 00:17:09.160 with his theory of animal magnetism. Mesmer proposed that a 250 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:13.519 universal magnetic fluid permeates all organisms and can be manipulated 251 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:17.480 for healing. He believed disease was due to blockages in 252 00:17:17.559 --> 00:17:20.640 this invisible fluid, and that by moving his hands near 253 00:17:20.680 --> 00:17:24.880 a patient making mesmeric peszis, could restore the harmonious flow. 254 00:17:26.119 --> 00:17:29.640 Mesmer's dramatic cures and hypnotic seances in the salons of 255 00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:33.759 Paris led to the term mesmerized. He spoke of an 256 00:17:33.799 --> 00:17:37.799 animal or of fluid emanating from healer and patient, linking 257 00:17:37.799 --> 00:17:41.240 it explicitly to the concept of an energy field enveloping 258 00:17:41.279 --> 00:17:46.759 the body. As one theosophical glossary later summarized, Mesmer's fundamental 259 00:17:46.799 --> 00:17:49.599 idea was that there resides in a man a power, 260 00:17:49.920 --> 00:17:53.480 an odic force, or nerve energy which can be projected 261 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:57.160 by the will and directed to heal or harm. All 262 00:17:57.240 --> 00:18:02.880 people possessed this in varying degree. In short, Mesmer rebranded 263 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:06.880 the old age ore in quasi scientific terms, sparking both 264 00:18:06.920 --> 00:18:12.720 scientific investigations and a paranormal subculture of transhalers. Following Mesmer, 265 00:18:13.119 --> 00:18:16.519 others attempted to find or measure this life energy. Around 266 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:20.960 the eighteen forties, Barren Carl von Reichenbach, a distinguished chemist, 267 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:26.559 conducted extensive experiments with sensitives physically sensitive individuals in dark rooms. 268 00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:29.799 He claimed to have discovered a new force, which he 269 00:18:29.880 --> 00:18:33.559 named the odic force after Odin, a vitalis energy akin 270 00:18:33.640 --> 00:18:38.160 to electricity or magnetism that emanated from magnets, crystals, sunlight, 271 00:18:38.400 --> 00:18:42.920 and notably the human body. Reichenbach's sensitives reported seeing colored 272 00:18:43.000 --> 00:18:46.200 lights around the poles of magnets, around certain chemicals and 273 00:18:46.279 --> 00:18:49.839 around the fingertips and heads of human subjects in total darkness. 274 00:18:51.079 --> 00:18:54.559 For instance, they described a pale, flame like aura extending 275 00:18:54.559 --> 00:18:57.920 from the body, with different colors blue, red, and et cetera, 276 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:03.160 depending on various factors. Reichenbach noted parallels to the Asian 277 00:19:03.200 --> 00:19:06.160 ideas of prana and chi, but he emphasized that odic 278 00:19:06.200 --> 00:19:09.279 force was not exactly like breath. He thought it was 279 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:13.759 related to electromagnetism, perhaps what we'd call electromagnetic field of 280 00:19:13.799 --> 00:19:16.640 the body. He documented that only about one third of 281 00:19:16.640 --> 00:19:19.799 people could see these aura like emissions, and only after 282 00:19:19.920 --> 00:19:24.920 long dark adaptation hours in a pitch black room. Despite 283 00:19:24.920 --> 00:19:29.519 his meticulous approach, mainstream science was not convinced. Critics labeled 284 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:34.920 odic force as unfalsifiable or the product of imagination. Nevertheless, 285 00:19:35.200 --> 00:19:39.799 Reichenbach's work gently influenced the esoteric scene. Believers in odic 286 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:42.680 force said it was visible in total darkness as colored 287 00:19:42.720 --> 00:19:47.559 ours surrounding living things, resembling the Asian concepts prana and ch, 288 00:19:48.559 --> 00:19:52.559 albeit constructed as a biomagnetic field. This was essentially the 289 00:19:52.640 --> 00:19:56.000 nineteenth century attempted to put aura on a scientific footing. 290 00:19:57.119 --> 00:20:02.480 In parallel, spiritualism was surging with transmedians clairvoyance and our 291 00:20:02.559 --> 00:20:07.160 readers becoming popular. Many mediums describe seeing lights around people 292 00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:11.359 of spirits, calling it the person's magnetic aura. Theosophy, an 293 00:20:11.559 --> 00:20:15.200 esoteric philosophy founded by Helena Bolovotsky in eighteen seventy five, 294 00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.599 synthesized Eastern ideas with Western occultism and gave us much 295 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:24.279 of the modern aura vocabulary. Blovotsky wrote an isis unveiled 296 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:27.680 in other works, that what Reichenbach observed as the odic 297 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:31.359 light was indeed the astral light of the Kabbalists, a 298 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:36.200 universal ethereal substance that records all events, a concept akin 299 00:20:36.279 --> 00:20:39.839 to the Akashic records. She distinguished between the oric fluid, 300 00:20:40.039 --> 00:20:43.160 the actual emanation of vital atoms and energy from the body, 301 00:20:43.559 --> 00:20:48.240 and the oric light its astral reflection. According to Bolovotsky, 302 00:20:48.359 --> 00:20:51.880 the uric light, or that which Reichenbach calls ode a 303 00:20:52.000 --> 00:20:55.559 light that surrounds every animate and inanimate object in nature, 304 00:20:56.079 --> 00:21:00.240 is the astral reflection emanating from objects, its colors, denovading 305 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:04.640 the qualities and characteristics of each. This remarkable statement essentially 306 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:08.759 asserts that everything has an aura, even inanimate matter, but 307 00:21:08.799 --> 00:21:11.440 the human aura is the most complex and brightly colored, 308 00:21:11.559 --> 00:21:16.400 reflecting our emotional and moral nature. Theosophical authors like C. W. 309 00:21:16.680 --> 00:21:20.319 Lead Beater and Annie Bissan then elaborated a detailed doctrine 310 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:23.960 of the human or lead beaters nineteen oh two book 311 00:21:24.119 --> 00:21:27.759 Man Visible and Invisible contained color plates of the aura 312 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:31.920 in various emotional states, murky reds for anger, flashes of 313 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:36.000 scarlet for sudden shame, clear greens for sympathy, blue for devotion, 314 00:21:36.119 --> 00:21:39.960 and so on, with illustration of chakra energy vortices in 315 00:21:40.039 --> 00:21:43.920 vibrant hues. They describe the aura as consisting of multiple 316 00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:48.839 layers or bodies interpenetrating one another. The etheric double, a 317 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:52.440 pale bluish energy matrix exactly coincident with the physical body. 318 00:21:52.680 --> 00:21:56.599 The etheric double, a pale bluish energy matrix exactly coincident 319 00:21:56.640 --> 00:22:00.359 with the physical body. The astral body. Emotional aura usually 320 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:02.960 shown as extending a few feet out and full of 321 00:22:03.000 --> 00:22:06.480 swirling clouds of color that change with mood. The mental body, 322 00:22:06.920 --> 00:22:09.799 more refined aura of thought, often depicted as a bright 323 00:22:09.920 --> 00:22:13.680 yellow radiance around the head, for intellectual activity and higher 324 00:22:13.720 --> 00:22:17.920 spiritual layers. These ideas were borrowed by Eastern Sutratma life 325 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:23.039 threat concepts but adapted. Theosophists insisted that trained clairvoyants could 326 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:27.200 objectively see these oric layers. For example, Annie Bissan and 327 00:22:27.319 --> 00:22:30.000 Lead Beater, in their nineteen oh five book Thought Forms, 328 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:33.160 not only claimed to perceive thought auras, but even attempted 329 00:22:33.200 --> 00:22:36.400 to categorize the forms and colors that different thoughts produce 330 00:22:36.480 --> 00:22:39.799 in the are. A loving thought, they said, produces a 331 00:22:39.799 --> 00:22:44.119 pink cloud, a sudden fear, a gray explosion, spiritual aspiration, 332 00:22:44.240 --> 00:22:47.000 a blue cone, and so on, in effect creating a 333 00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:50.680 color language of the ura. By the early twentieth century, 334 00:22:50.960 --> 00:22:55.440 Western occultists treated the aura as a given. Organizations like 335 00:22:55.480 --> 00:22:59.680 the Rosicrucians and very metaphysical schools taught exercises to strengthen 336 00:22:59.720 --> 00:23:03.160 ones or like visualization of a protective white light or 337 00:23:03.279 --> 00:23:07.880 egg around the body. The are also entered popular culture. 338 00:23:08.400 --> 00:23:12.400 Early psychic researchers photographed medians during seiences and reported string 339 00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:15.839 mists or lights on the plates, though many such photos 340 00:23:15.880 --> 00:23:20.519 were later debunked as tricks or double exposures. Notably, Rudolph Steiner, 341 00:23:20.519 --> 00:23:24.839 who founded anthroposophy, also spoke of aurrors. He described children 342 00:23:24.880 --> 00:23:27.920 and animals having precolored auras, and taught that education and 343 00:23:28.079 --> 00:23:32.200 art could uplift the aura of the soul. By nineteen eleven, 344 00:23:32.680 --> 00:23:36.359 doctor Walter J. Kilner, a British physician, even tried to 345 00:23:36.440 --> 00:23:40.640 medicalize or reading, using tinted screens to view patient's energy fields. 346 00:23:40.759 --> 00:23:43.480 We'll talk about that later on. Thus, in the span 347 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:46.200 of one hundred odd years, the ore went from a 348 00:23:46.240 --> 00:23:50.319 mystical religious symbol to a subject of quasi scientific inquiry 349 00:23:50.559 --> 00:23:55.440 and an explicit focus of Western esoteric practices. The Theosophical 350 00:23:55.519 --> 00:23:57.920 Society and its offshoots get a lot of credit for 351 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.400 its diffusion. He built of ridge between East and West, 352 00:24:01.759 --> 00:24:05.599 introducing terms like chakra and kama rupa desire body into 353 00:24:05.640 --> 00:24:08.640 Western occult language and solidifying the notion of the aura 354 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:12.720 as a layered colored field that reveals character. Later New 355 00:24:12.759 --> 00:24:15.519 Age writers like Barbara Brennan, author of Hands of Light, 356 00:24:15.960 --> 00:24:19.319 drew on this theosophical framework, describing the aura in seven 357 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:24.200 layers corresponding to health, motions, mind, and so on. In short, 358 00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:27.880 the Western esoteric tradition by the twentieth century treated the 359 00:24:27.920 --> 00:24:33.359 aura as an objective reality, electromagnetic, psycho spiritual emanation that 360 00:24:33.440 --> 00:24:38.480 could potentially be photographed, measured, and utilized, Anticipating what technology 361 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.559 and science might attempt. The desire to see the aura 362 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:45.720 with one's own eyes, or at least with cameras, led 363 00:24:45.759 --> 00:24:49.440 to some ingenious experiments over the past century. An early 364 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:53.480 attempt came from doctor Walter John Kilner, an electrotherapy physician 365 00:24:53.720 --> 00:24:58.240 at Saint Thomas Hospital in London. In nineteen eleven, Kilner 366 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:01.759 published a Human Atmosphere, one of the first Western medical 367 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:06.160 studies of the ore. Rather than relying on clairvoyance, Kilner 368 00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:09.160 wanted a device to make the ore visible to ordinary sight. 369 00:25:09.759 --> 00:25:12.640 He devised viewing screens and goggles treated with a cold 370 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:16.359 tar dyed called dicianin, a substance that filters out much 371 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:19.880 of the visible spectrum. By peering through dicianin screens in 372 00:25:19.960 --> 00:25:23.400 dim light, Kilner reported that most people could eventually discern 373 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:27.799 a faint emanation around the human body. He distinguished three zones, 374 00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:31.960 a dark layer hugging the skin, the etheric double about 375 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:34.799 one eighth of an inch thick, a more luminous inner 376 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:38.519 or following the body's contours about one inch thick, and 377 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:41.839 a delicate outer or extending several inches outward with a 378 00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:45.440 hazy boundary. In healthy individuals, he said the ore was 379 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:50.039 uniform and very fine, whereas in the sick it appeared dull, contracted, 380 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:54.559 or with gaps. Kelner even claimed different illnesses produced specific 381 00:25:54.759 --> 00:26:00.039 or abnormalities, suggesting a diagnostic application. For example, he he 382 00:26:00.039 --> 00:26:02.680 observed that the aura of a paralyzed limb was shrunken 383 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:05.759 compared to the healthy side, or that emotional upset caused 384 00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:10.240 temporary flares of uric intensity. Kilner's work caused a minus sensation. 385 00:26:10.799 --> 00:26:13.839 Here was a respectable doctor suggesting the human energy field 386 00:26:13.920 --> 00:26:17.640 is real and visible. He hypothesized the ura was likely 387 00:26:17.759 --> 00:26:21.480 ultra violet radiation just beyond normal vision, and he noted 388 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:24.400 that the Diecian and dye might work by sensitizing the 389 00:26:24.440 --> 00:26:28.000 eyes to UV, although staring through the die for long 390 00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:31.079 periods made his eyes ache, and he warned others not 391 00:26:31.160 --> 00:26:34.279 to overdo it. With practice, he could dispense with the 392 00:26:34.319 --> 00:26:38.759 apparatus and still perceive the aura dimly. In nineteen twenty, 393 00:26:39.119 --> 00:26:42.400 he even published a revised edition retitled The Human Ore. 394 00:26:43.119 --> 00:26:46.880 His findings dovetailed curiously with the theosophical teachings of the time, 395 00:26:47.359 --> 00:26:53.400 and indeed, theosophist authors eagerly cited Kellner as scientific validation. However, 396 00:26:53.920 --> 00:26:57.599 Kilner himself tried to distance his research from spiritualism. He 397 00:26:57.640 --> 00:27:03.000 focused on medical and physiological aspects. Unfortunately, follow up studies 398 00:27:03.000 --> 00:27:05.920 were not kind. The British Medical Journal in nineteen twelve 399 00:27:05.920 --> 00:27:09.359 reported failing to reproduce Kilner's results and concluded his aura 400 00:27:09.799 --> 00:27:12.480 might be a mix of after images and optical effects. 401 00:27:13.440 --> 00:27:17.720