In the corner of a sleek jewellery store in Covent Garden, underneath a ceiling bedecked with candy floss coloured pampas grass and dangling crystals, I am about to see my aura. My hand is pressed against a metal sensor that will apparently measure my heartbeat, temperature and the electrical charge in my body. The camera will then capture my aura - my electromagnetic shield, if you will, or my “vibe” in Gen Z-speak - in a splash of colours across a polaroid portrait.
When I am handed the photograph, I feel a little disappointed. My face is surrounded by a haze of sickly yellow-ish lime green. I was hoping my aura would be… prettier?
But Rachel Aquino, who heads up ecommerce at The Alkemistry, is quick to reassure me that although my aura appears to be the colour of cowardice, it actually just shows how incredibly creative and charismatic I am.
“Green is all about creative expression - it means you are into learning, getting information and constantly open to new experiences,” she tells me. “The yellow is very bright. It’s a very optimistic colour. It’s high energy, very positive - the type of aura that people can feel. In your group of friends, you are the one bringing the upbeat energy.”
This flattering psychological profile certainly makes the photograph’s £35 price tag a little easier to swallow. If I want to, I can also purchase a ring, necklace or bracelet from the Alkemistry Auric range - 18 carat gold, threaded with coloured silk to showcase the colour of my aura and ranging between £195 and £795.
Aura photography has its roots in the Victorian craze for photographing objects in complete darkness in an attempt to capture their energy on film. A century of trial and error resulted in the AuraCam 3000, a clunky camera invented by Californian entrepreneur Guy Coggins in the 1970s.
The subject places their hands on sensors and an algorithm translates the data into specific hues predetermined by Coggins and a team of clairvoyants. The first exposure captures the person’s likeness, the second exposure superimposes the colours of their aura around their face. Aura advocates believe that these colours correspond to the colours of the chakras, the energy points that run along the spine according to Hindu and yoga traditions. Each colour has a meaning - for example, red indicates groundedness while blue represents intuition and spirituality.
Green is all about creative expression: it means you are into learning and open to new experiences
While these luminous energy fields may once have been the preserve of sage-waving hippies and the new age crowd, auras have been enthusiastically adopted into the slick world of wellness and that means that they are now big business.
The high priestess of wellness herself, Gwyneth Paltrow, ahead of the curve as usual, was showing off her aura back in 2015. Pop star Lorde emailed an image of her own scarlet electromagnetic field to fans ahead of the release of her album Solar Power. Apparently, her red aura radiated power, artistry, and raw, carnal desire. In the song Bejewelled, on her latest album Midnight, Taylor Swift referred to her own “moonstone” aura. And when Kate Moss came out with a scent for her cosmetics range Cosmoss, she didn’t call it anything as pedestrian as perfume. It was an “aura mist”, dah-ling.
Meanwhile, social media is lit up with swirls of green, orange, indigo and pink as users share their polaroid portraits and expand upon how the splashes of colour represent their mood and character traits (the hashtag “aura reading” has racked up 107m views on TikTok).
But why stop at a photograph of your aura? Salons now offer “aura manicures”, where technicians will painstakingly paint your nails the same dappled colour palette of your aura. For example, Shian Nails in Dalston will also incorporate your aura into your shellac; Colour Riot Nails in Shoreditch offers a range of aura manicures including watermelon aura, aura french nails (a mix of a classic french manicure and the trademark hazy aura colour) and even barbie aura nails.
Beauty influencers, too, are showing off their “aura blushes” (see above) which entails patting lots of different coloured cream blush on to their cheeks before blending them all together into an aesthetically-pleasing flush. Similarly, “aura eyeshadows” have taken off on the platform. Lottie London has brought out the Love Aura palette while Make Up Revolution launched a Crystal Aura Forever palette which features shades with names such as Stabilise, Achieve and Harmony. The fragrance industry is also getting involved. Three months ago, beauty retailer Sephora hosted an event where guests had their aura photographed and were then matched with a perfume based on their energy. The retailer also offered customers an online quiz where they could match their mood to a fragrance, but helpfully pointed out that as an aura is made of several colours, it would perhaps be best to purchase multiple perfumes.
Psychic Sisters - the London brand founded by Jayne Wallace, Kim Kardashian’s clairvoyant, which has a permanent home in Selfridges - has gone one step further with a range of sprays (£14, superdrug.com), that purport to cleanse your aura and promote feelings of stability, relaxation and security. Each spray comes with its own affirmation - “I am healthy, calm and relaxed” for example - and customers are instructed to “spritz around your aura and chant the affirmation ten times to bring instant ease and peace of mind”.
Elsewhere, fashion designers have hopped on board the trend with Jonathan Anderson at Loewe for SS22 sending models down the catwalk in dresses featuring a hazy swirl of colours reminiscent of the soft glow of an aura photograph. Labels Off-White and LaPointe have also adopted the dreamy highly-saturated gradient print in previous collections.
In Alkemistry, Aquino hands me my polaroid in a leaflet explaining what the colours and the positioning of the colours mean, Aquino tells me that the jeweller has been offering aura photography for a year but has seen the service rocket in popularity only recently. “It has got more popular recently because of TikTok. It’s a big trend right now.”
“It is also something new for people to do rather than just eating or drinking,” Aquino adds. “It’s a fun thing to do.” She is aware of the cottage industry that has sprung up around auras. “It has segued into a lot of other services and products and it is commercialising it a little bit but it’s also allowing people to access aura readings as well. It’s quite daunting to get a full-blown aura reading.” Typically, aura readings are conducted by a clairvoyant or psychic and delve into your mindset and current emotional state, “so this,” she says referring to the jeweller’s photography service - which comes with a minimal reading though leaving with a pretty picture to share on Instagram - “is a nice way for a person to try it out.”
Aquino thinks the key to aura reading’s appeal, as well as the tangible nature of the photograph and how easy it is to share on social media, is the light-hearted enjoyment it offers. “It’s fun. A lot of these types of services are quite heavy and intimidating.”
She tells me that a wide array of people have come in for aura readings - and, curiously, not just humans. “We don’t have a particular demographic. We have people from all age groups, all walks of life, all careers. There are some people who have their aura read religiously, some people who’ve never done it before - mums and daughters, mums and sons, groups of friends. We do animals as well, dogs and cats...any animal with four paws that can fit on the sensor.” She’s Lost Control, a wellness shop in Hoxton that offers aura photography and readings, has also found itself inundated with people who want to have their pooch’s aura photographed.
It is also something new for people to do rather than just eating or drinking. It’s a fun thing to do
Is this the next frontier in the world of aura photography? Capturing the energy field of your canine or feline companion? Will we soon see a polaroid of Gwyneth Paltrow’s German Shepherd, Nero, surrounded by clouds of colour denoting its mental state and character traits? I wouldn’t bet against it.
Top spots to have your aura read in London
The Alkemistry
This female-founded jeweller on Floral Street in Covent Garden offers aura photography and is happy to snap the auras of children and pets as well. You will receive a polaroid portrait as well as a guide explaining the colours and colour positioning of an aura so you can interpret your own. Aura photography for one is £35, and they have a deal where you can get two aura photographs for £50. The cost is fully redeemable if you decide to purchase an item from the Auric range of jewellery - rings, necklaces and bracelets inspired by the concept of the aura.
She’s Lost Control
This well-curated wellness shop in Broadway Market offers crystals, tarot decks, skincare and aura readings. The aura readings take place Thursday to Sunday and are held in a separate room with an aura reader who will help you understand how the colours, patterns and shapes reflect your present experience. A standard aura reading is £35 and a bespoke option, for £45, includes a crystal pairing recommendation “so that you can walk away with the tangible tools to take your reading beyond the session and materialise the insights uncovered into your daily existence.”
Aura Photo Clinic
Based in the city of London, the Aura Photo Clinic claims to be one of the UK’s leading aura specialists. It offers aura photography and a reading as well as other mind, body and spirit treatments such as reiki and pranic healing. You will leave with a photograph of your aura as well as a personal “aura report” explaining what the colours signify and analysing the energy in each of the seven chakras picked up in the portrait. The clinic also offers aura cleansing courses, aur workshops as well as talks and lectures on a range of new age topics.
