I want to get my aura photographed.
It sounds very woo, maybe magical, maybe a rip off.
The best-case scenario is it works, and I found out the true color or colors of my energy, which is cool as fuck. The worst-case scenario is it’s a scam, I’m out $40, but I still get a pretty Polaroid.
I must do it. I won’t get my hair cut because I say it’s too expensive (and kind of too intimate?), but I’ll pay to see my aura.
What color is my aura? I wonder for weeks before I plan to go. I keep thinking red. Because I’m an Aries, bold, passionate, fiery.
I ask my therapist if she’s ever done one, and she says yes. Her aura is aqua. I ask her to guess mine. Green, she says.
I ask Ely what color she thinks I’ll be.
I literally have no idea; how do you know? she asks.
I watched a video on how to see your aura, I say, and it says to hold your arm in front of a white wall and just stare into space until you zone out, then you’ll see a color surrounding your arm.
I hold my arm up again her white wall.
I think I see yellow, I say, but it could just be my skin reflecting.
When we arrive, there’s an intense person sitting in the waiting room. Very friendly, looks you straight in the eye, and doesn’t look away. Repeats your name, so you feel seen, and all of that.
I don’t trust anyone that nice, Ely says.
When it’s time to do it, I realize that holding very still for 10-15 seconds is harder than you think, and I tell that to the person taking my photo. You did great, they say. I’m sure they say that to everyone. Is there a wrong way to get your aura photographed? Maybe I should’ve moved, I’d look ghostly and ethereal.
You have a very bright aura, they say.
Everything from the ears and up represents your headspace. Mine is mostly yellow, which means I’m energetic, optimistic, confident, at home in nature. The edge is orange, creative, check.
The right side is the expressive side, and mine’s red: passionate, sensual, honest, self-confident, which mostly feels true, except the confidence part, as of late. You’re a natural leader, they say. Hmmm, ok.
The left is the receptive side, and mine’s green. The photographer says that means I’m receiving a lot of healing energy currently. I hope it’s true. Lately I’ve been digging deep, trying to finally come to terms with grief and self-doubt and all the shit since my Mom got sick. And before.
I wonder if anyone has gone in twice in one day, I say to Ely as we walk back towards her car. Like to see if it works? She asks. Exactly.
I don’t really believe it, she says, though yours seems kind of accurate. I wonder what color yours is, I say.
Black she says, but I think it’s pink.