The Emotional Body, the Second Layer

The emotional body is, in the seven-layer aura model of modern esotericism, the second layer, lying just beyond the etheric and associated with the feelings and emotions, often described as more fluid and coloured than the etheric, its shifting hues held to reflect the emotional state of the person. In the scheme popularised by Barbara Brennan and rooted in Theosophical subtle-body doctrine, each successive layer is subtler and extends further from the body than the one before, and the emotional layer is paired conceptually with the feeling life much as the mental layer beyond it is paired with thought.

The idea descends from the Theosophical "astral body" of emotion and desire, itself an adaptation of older Indian subtle-body teaching. As with the whole aura model, this is a concept within a modern belief system rather than a demonstrated structure; auras have no scientific basis, and the layer is described here as part of an esoteric tradition, with no medical or diagnostic claim attached to it.

Sources Hands of Light: A Guide to Healing Through the Human Energy FieldBarbara Ann Brennan with Rainbow Body: A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to BrennanKurt Leland