For other meanings, see Aura (disambiguation).

An Aura is an optical effect wherein gas or dust surrounding an object luminesces or reflects light from the object.

The visual disturbance seen by about half of all migraine sufferers is also called aura.

Sufferers of repeated seizures (called epilepsy) often have a telltale sensation, often a strange light or unpleasant smell which comes before the actual seizure, called an aura.

Paranormal "Aura"

Some people believe that there is a visible energy field, called an aura, that can be seen or otherwise sensed around living beings—especially around humans. In Hindu cosmology, there are multiple fields and these are interpreted as kosa of pranic energy. Auras reflect the spiritual and physical nature of a person. For example, a dark bluish to black area supposedly seen by psychics surrounding the chest is indicative of lung cancer. Auras may be attributed to biologically based electromagnetic fields.

These energy fields are sometimes claimed to be documented by a rare form of photography called Kirlian photography. However, these claims are vigorously denied by skeptics about paranormal activity. James Randi, for example, has for many years (as of 2004)—as part of an effective self-promoting publicity stunt—offered one million US dollars to any person capable of repeatedly detecting auras, and no person has ever stepped forward to successfully claim the prize (though at least one has tried and failed). The task would involve the aura reader to stand on one side of a room with an opaque partition separating them from a number of slots which may contain either actual people or mannequins. All that would have to be done is that the aura reader would have to consistently be able to tell which were real people and which were not. As no one has completed this in Randi's controlled environment, it is not known whether or not Randi would actually pay up the money if it was accomplished.

See: Aura analysis, biophotonics

Figurative Meaning

Figuratively, an aura refers to the character of concepts/issues/phenomena surrounding a particular topic. eg: "The discussion had an aura of casualness".

The Marxist cultural critic Walter Benjamin also used the term "aura" to refer to the feeling of awe created by unique or remarkable objects such as works of art or relics of the past. According to Benjamin older cultures can generate auras around particular objects of veneration, while capitalist culture has the opposite effect, causing the decay of the aura due to the proliferation of mass producion and reproduction technologies.

See also

• Qi
• Qigong

External links

• The Amazing Randi web site (http://www.randi.org)
• Auras in the "Skeptic's dictionary" (http://skepdic.com/auras.html)
• Kirlian Photography in the "Skeptic's Dictionary" (http://skepdic.com/kirlian.html)