All studies indicate that the aura some psis can see is merely an energy halo caused by the interaction of the outer surface of a person's psyche with the surrounding astral environment. This energy halo is not light, nor is it anything along the electromagnetic spectrum. Because the psi is "seeing" it, however, she attaches a "color" to particular patterns - a delusion which is extremely hard for them to shake.

Futrhermore, although most psis in our studies have had extremely complex theories of the relation of color to personality, health, destiny and more, these theories have no common elements outside of cultural prejudices for particular colors, and, what's more, have been shown consistently to be inconsistent with reality. In the course of 200 studies, our test subjects consistently gave different colors for the same person, misread people, etc. The only constant was that they were definitely seeing something.

This is not to say that perceiving auras is useless. Our study indicated a few areas which the psi sense appears to remain correct on:

Detection - Our test subjects were able to spot, without concentration, anyone in their field of vision, even when cloaked. The only way to avoid being seen appears to be by hiding behind something, particularly metal or living objects. Wearing metal close to the flesh appears to have minimal effect: we estimate that the aura extends about 10 cm away from the skin surface, so even leaning against a wall that is less than 10 cm thick will allow the psi to "see" you through the wall. With concentration, our strongest psi demonstrated the ability to spot people standing eight feet behind three foot thick plaster walls (wood and metal cut this distance down considerably).

Identification - Psis were able to recognize people that they were very familiar with by aura sight alone. However, they could not explain what elements they recognized the aura by.

Health - There are some weak indications that the health of an organism can be guesstimated by aura sight alone, with concentration and time.

Astral Travellers - This psi sense can spot astral travellers easily, often through many layers of wood and metal walls; according to our test subjects, someone who is "out of their body" resembles a small sun.