Add A Touch Of Color To Your Life

Have you ever seen a rainbow? A real after-storm one, so rich against the background of lavish wet greenery and freshly-cleared blue sky. The seven divine colors our eye is able to perceive, plus about seven hundred derivatives of the main specter, that is shades, may serve to inspire or depress us, influence our health, and attest to our personal or traditional preferences.

Colors arise as a result of light dispersion, each color having its own vibration frequency and emulating its own energy perceived by the human eye and analyzed by the brain. Color beam oscillations vary in intensity to such an extent that there are cases of the blind demonstrating the ability to distinguish the colors of the objects they touch.

Colors provoke our emotional and mental response based on personal or cross-cultural differences. Thus black is considered a mourning color in Europe and America, while in the East the symbol of mourning is white. We know that ancient Egyptians wore certain colors depending on their occupations and whereabouts; early Indian civilizations of America applied colors to influence moods. The latter, in their turn, are provoked by the state of the internal organs of human body (e.g. "spleen", or melancholy was long considered a result of spleen disorders).

According to esoteric teaching, colors emulate energy, and each color corresponds to a specific chakra and influences the parts of the body this chakra is "responsible" for. Thus we seem to be "multicolored" inside, with each organ being protected by a certain color.

This principle underlies the new trend within alternative (or non-traditional) medicine named color therapy, or chromatherapy. Of course, it is difficult to judge if rubbing in oils of different colors would do one good owing to the colors and not oil properties. However, there is a grain of truth in the attempts of color therapists to define a person's traits of character in connection with his/her color preferences, which may be psychologically (but not cross-culturally) true. There are even attempts to suggest color diets that are of course well-grounded from the view-point of variety and balanced consumption of foods (and perhaps not colors), which is true physiologically.

Whatever the pros and cons, we shouldn't deprive ourselves of the joy of seeing life colored. We hope the guide below would add something to your perception of life and yourself.

RED – energy, joy, blood, fire, triumph and activity.

The color of the 1st chakra.

Symbolics : encourages to achieving goals, adds strength and self-assurance. The symbolism of red widely varies in differing cultures, starting from danger and prohibition, plus communism and anarchism, in the Western hemisphere, through to death and malice in Egypt, and finishing with joy and marriage in China. Thank god, there are no cross-cultural differences as regards traffic lights!

Physiology: stimulates adrenal glands, helps those suffering from anemia, blood composition and blood circulation disorders. Red and purple are considered beneficial for male and female potency, so add a touch of these colors to your sexual life.

Diet: red foods (tomatoes, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, pepper, etc.) fill us with energy, improve assimilation and remove toxins.

ORANGE – warmth, energy, pleasure.

The color of the 2nd chakra.

Symbolics: emanates joy and helps one to get rid of negative emotions. The color of Epicureans associated with physical emotions and enjoyment.

Orange makes people more sociable, optimistic and creative; it generates new ideas. Combined with green, makes optimistic interiors and produces tonic affect.

Physiology: stimulates appetite (preferred color of fast-food restaurants), supports the immune system, improves blood circulation. Orange is considered favorable for physical and mental growth.

Diet: orange-colored foods such as carrots, oranges, peaches, apricots, melons, pumpkins, sea-buckthorn, maize stimulate digestion.

YELLOW – self-esteem, self-confidence, wisdom.

The color of the 3rd chakra.

Symbolics: spiritual light and wisdom, on the one hand, and egoism on the other; imperial power in China, and sun-related gods of ancient Greeks, Egyptians, Incas and Aztecs.

Physiology: supports the nervous system, stimulates the liver and intestine. The color is considered to intensify brain activity, developing thinking. Owing to its purifying properties it positively influences the skin. Being the color of gods and emperors, yellow raises one's self-confidence and helps to cure nervous diseases.

Diet: yellow plums and raspberries, alycha, bananas (especially associated with high spirits), lemons, yellow apples and pears, millet, cheese stimulate thinking and should be consumed during intensive studies.

GREEN – calmness, balance and harmony.

The color of the 4th chakra.

Symbolics: relaxation and spiritual freedom, harmony and love, compassion, acceptance and security. Imparts high spirits if combined with orange. Cross-cultural variation: green is the color of Islam, one of the least tolerant religions.

Physiology: influences the heart and regulates arterial pressure; favorable for the nervous system and the lungs. Helps to remove stress and headaches.

Diet: green fruit and vegetables such as cabbages, vegetable marrows, grapes, green apples and pears, avocados, green peas, onions and herbs add plenty of vitamins in any case. Let's hope for their specific potential for curing our headaches.

BLUE – tranquility, authority.

The color of the 5th chakra.

Symbolics: immortality in Ancient Egypt, time in Ancient Greece. People preferring this color are considered self-assured and authoritative. Paradoxically, on a line with the aristocratic "blue blood" notion adopted in France, the color has been "monopolized" by the world homosexual community who have already deprived us of the charming poetic word "gay", making non-native speakers of English think twice while choosing adjectives.

Physiology: being also a symbol of water, blue may be regarded as a refreshing color that is indispensable to overall rehabilitation.

Diet: the nature created the only omnipresent blue element our very existence depends on - water, its unique character being emphasized by the lack of natural blue foods.

VIOLET – intuition, spirituality, authority.

The color of the 7th chakra.

Symbolics: elevated spirituality, tranquility, relaxation, pacification. Violet has long been monopolized by Catholicism, with an amethyst ring being an indispensable attribute of bishop's order. However, cross-cultural differences manifest themselves in this case, too: the French royal court used to wear violet as the color of mourning dominating royal funeral processions.

Physiology: violet is considered to be instrumental in enhancing the process of thinking and raising one's spirituality. The color supports the central nervous system and the brain, and favorably influences one's psychic state.

Diet: egg-plants, beats, dark plums and grapes are said to bring relaxation and tranquility, being instrumental in fighting insomnia.

WHITE – purity, neutrality, joy and ... death.

Symbolics: the white armistice flag has an inequivocal meaning all over the world, as well as the white dress and veil symbolizing purity and innocence of a bride. On the other hand, white used to signify monarchy in France (white royal lilies), being recognized as the color of joy and festivities in Egypt and that of death in Asia.

Psychology: human drive to hygiene associated medicine with white (purity), while the nature created snow as the standard of this color. Persons preferring white are considered to be optimistic, well-balanced and positive.

Physiology: perhaps there is something in this color that may bring harmony and balance to the systems of our organism improving its functions and changing it for the better.

BLACK – fecundity, fertility, renovation, death, occultism.

Symbolics: being originally related to fertility (black soils), this color became closely connected with religion, and Western civilizations regard it as part and parcel of mourning and funeral ceremonies presupposing religious rites. Instead of being associated with strict discipline (uniformity of dress and behavior characteristic of church, army and business), the color is even nowadays connected with black magic, witchcraft and the like, with black animals (especially cats!) being regarded as devil's "representatives".

Psychology: as there is little evidence as regards the physiological effect of the color, based on its symbolism and, moreover, on the vast phraseology existing around the black-white dichotomy in most languages, we would argue that, besides its occult (or hermetic) semantics black may be regarded as a symbol of discipline, independence and stubbornness when manifested in human preferences. Indeed, there is strict discipline in the succession of fertility cycles as our mother nature is stubborn in alternating the constant flow of seasons in a regular succession.

Diet: here come the wonders of human color perception. We tend to call all dark foods black though natural black foods are not widely spread. Most of the foods labeled black turn out to be brown or violet.

BROWN – clarity, honesty, compassion, prudence.

Esoterically connected with the so-called "third eye".

Symbolics: imparts clarity to human life, makes one honest and prudent, and thus more perceptible.

Physiology: the color is considered to be multifunctional; it controls the thyroid gland, positively influences mental and physical abilities, improves eyesight and hearing.

Diet: brown-colored foods such as brown bread, "black" or "white" coffee, tea, cacao, buckwheat, etc., are indicated for the treatment of eye, ear, nose, skin and lung disorders.

We did not intend to write a medical or occult treatise. Nothing of the kind! Colors are part and parcel of our existence and their vibrations influence us no less than any other vibrations arising and existing within the Universe. So why shouldn't we enjoy the rainbow and the seven hundred or so shades we are lucky to be able to perceive. In the future they say man will be able to distinguish a 12-color specter…

By Olga Dimo and Silvia Sofronie (ULIM)