Now that you have an understanding of Type, let’s explore the topic of Aura.

We often hear people talking about auras when they’re discussing the chakra system of eastern traditions, metaphysical or esoteric practices, or New Age movements.

They are usually described in terms of health and vitality, spiritual energy, and color.

Human Design reveals 4 different kinds of Auras:

  • Closed
  • Open
  • Focused
  • Sampling  

  Each of these 4 auric qualities corresponds to one of the 4 Types, and determines how we are designed to interact with others and make decisions.

You can read a brief description of your Aura in the Discover Your Design eBook on pages 7-12.

Watch Ra discuss Auras in one of our most viewed Youtube videos:

Edited Transcript:

In the new age, the term aura is used all the time. I see it in the newspapers, I see it constantly being associated with the impact human beings make, but so little about the aura is really understood. Most assume that the aura is an energy field given off by the form, rather than seeing the aura as a full expression and a controlling agent of the way the form is going to work. We do not have the same auras, as you will see.

The first thing to understand about the nature of the aura is how big it is. What you get to see through the mechanics of Human Design is how easily you are conditioned by another human being when they enter into your aura. If you stretch your arms out in either direction from your body, and imagine they could be twice as long as they are, and you form a sphere all the way around your body, this is fundamentally the extent of your aura.

Now, aura does fluctuate, but it's also something to grasp about the nature of aura: It is not hindered by walls or floors or ceilings. The reality is that when you’re standing in a room in an apartment complex, and you have a common wall to share with a neighbor, as you stand beside that wall, your aura is penetrating into the other space. Not only is your aura penetrating into the other space, but obviously can be deeply impacted and conditioned if somebody is in that other space, and they're connected to your aura.

One of the things about entering into this process of discovering yourself is understanding how important it is to protect your aura, particularly when you are sleeping. This is one of the main recommendations of Human Design, when you start experimenting with your Strategy & Authority, that you sleep in your own space to protect your aura from conditioning.

Now, auras are not the same at all. What we get to see in Human Design mechanics is that there are four Types:

  • Manifestor
  • Generator
  • Projector
  • Reflector  

  And each of these Types expresses themselves through their aura.

The Manifestor has a closed and repelling aura. What that literally means is that the moment somebody comes towards a Manifestor, their own aura is pushed back. It is one of the reasons life can be rather difficult for Manifestors, particularly Manifestor mothers dealing with young children. The reality is that the closed aura can result in a reaction from others that really is not accurate.

The inability to approach a Manifestor doesn't mean the Manifestor is unapproachable. But it is expressed in the aura, and you cannot change that. You can become aware of it as a Manifestor, and in becoming aware of it you can take so much of the burden of your social dynamic off of your shoulder.

If you're a Generator, you have an open and enveloping aura. This is the most powerful aura that we have. Generators are the key to life on this planet, they literally generate the life force of the planet. And as such, they have the most penetrating, in that sense, of the auric fields.

A Generator will envelop anyone who steps into their aura. This openness in the Generator is also a vulnerability. In being so open and enveloping, you take in deeply those you allow into your aura.

Next we come to the non-energy Types. (Projector and Reflector)

The Projector has a penetrating aura. It is a specific gift of theirs because their ability to recognize the other is rooted in how their aura penetrates the other, literally to their G Center, to their core.

Yet at the same time because their aura is so focused, it means they are deeply vulnerable to conditioning while they are focusing. It also means that, when we are looking at the difference between a Generator and a Projector, we see that a Generator aura can take in many beings at the same time, while the Projector aura is only designed to deal with one person at a time.

And finally, we come to the Reflector, and we come to this sampling aura, what I like to call the teflon aura. The way the Reflector experiences the world around it is to take samples to discover what is out of place, what doesn't work, what is different.

Type is not simply a matter of looking at the Strategy and Authority that arises out of the graphical piece of paper. It's about recognizing that your Type is alive in your aura itself, and the way your aura operates is impacting everyone you're going to meet in your life. In so many ways, it is your aura that is defining you as a being. It is what, in essence, the other meets.

To be aware of the aura that you carry, to understand what it means to be one of these Types, and to take advantage of the Strategy and Authority that is there, this brings the great refinement in life, and the transformation. And it's always about the other.

When dealing with aura, we’re dealing with how we connect to the other, and the way we are experienced by the other. So many auras are chaotic in how they operate because the beings themselves are not correct. Follow your Strategy and Authority, and enjoy the power inherent in your energy field.