An Aura Reading in Chinatown

For those of you not in the know, my birthday was a couple of weeks ago - on Sunday, 2 July, I turned 27. And I did quite a lot for it, including many things I hadn't yet done or seen in New York City, from finally visiting Historic Richmond Town in Staten Island and the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx, to seeing "Indecent" with my roommate. (Which was excellent, and I highly recommend it for anyone who happens to be in New York before it closes in August!) But as of a few days ago, I still had a bit of birthday money left over.

I'm not used to having extra money. I do tend to try to live frugally. But since it was from my birthday, I wanted to do something with it. Something unique, something I'd never done before, something completely self-indulgent and slightly bizarre.

So I made my way to Magic Jewelry in Chinatown to get my aura photographed and read. Because why not?

Behold, my aura

I went in with an open mind and no expectations other than expecting to pay the $20 they charge. I don't know a lot about auras or chakras or the like - these things are not part of my own spiritual practises, personally. Even now I still don't know what I believe. But I wanted the experience, and it did not disappoint.

Magic Jewelry is a tiny store, packed to the brim with mostly crystals and mystic-looking charts on the walls in Chinese. In one corner of it is a chair that I was directed to, with two metal spots to rest one's hands on. The boxes are connected to the camera, which prints out a photo instantaneously like a polaroid. I don't know about any science or magic or what have you behind any of this, mind you, and I certainly don't know the proper terms for any of this, I'm just calling it as I saw it.

I watched a girl go ahead of me. Her aura was almost entirely pink, so I was expecting mine to be one colour as well. Yellow, maybe. Imagine my surprise when it came out looking like that. I was amazed - still am, tbh - at the psychedelic array of yellows and reds and oranges and purply-pinks in my aura photo.

But what did it mean?

Well, according to the woman who helped me, the warm colours indicate I'm a passionate person, and when I really want something I get impatient and prefer not to wait. (Which is... true.) She also noted that my aura indicated I'd had a busy week. (Also true) According to my aura apparently, I am focused primarily on my career right now, and she specifically mentioned that I've been waffling back and forth on an important career decision for months now, and that the anxiety I've been feeling over it is affecting my energy levels. She encouraged me to go for it, that I already know the right decision and it will pay off if I just do it.

Now I'm being purposely vague here because this specific career decision is not something I'm ready to go public with just yet, but rest assured this woman read me like a book regarding it. How did she do that? I still don't know. I was surprised. I'd been expecting her to tell me what she thought I wanted to hear, but that wasn't the case at all.

So. Am I believer? I'm still not sure. But would I do it again? Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes and yes. I've never experienced anything like it before - and I now have this sweet photo!

If you ever have the opportunity to have your aura photographed/read, I encourage you to try it out with an open mind, whether or not you believe in this stuff. I mean, just to say you did. You know you're curious about it.

-Nym