Colour is such a wonderful medium to work with and it can be used in so many different ways.
It was an Arab physician and disciple of Aristotle, Avicenna (980 – circa 1037), who advanced the art of healing. He used colour in treatment – insisting that red moved the blood, blue or white cooled it, and yellow reduced pain and inflammation – prescribing potions of red flowers to cure blood disorders, and yellow flowers and morning sunlight to cure disorders of the biliary system.
Avicenna wrote also of the possible dangers of colour in treatment, observing that a person with a nosebleed, for example, should not gaze at things of a brilliant red colour or be exposed to red light because this would stimulate the sanguineous humour, whereas blue would soothe it and reduce blood flow.
Theophrastus Bombasts von Hohenheim (1493 – 1541), known as Paracelsus, who attributed his understanding of the laws and practices of medicine to his conversations with witches (women who were primarily pagan healers purged by the church).
Paracelsus regarded light and colour as essential for good health and used them extensively in treatment, together with elixirs, charms and talismans, herbs and minerals. He used liquid gold to treat ailments of all kinds, apparently with a good deal of success.
Enlightenment, science and healing
After the Middle Ages, mysticism and magic were overtaken by rationalism and science. By the eighteenth century, “enlightenment” had taken on a new meaning.
By the nineteenth century, the emphasis in science was exclusively on the material rather than the spiritual with the focus on the material physical body, ignoring the mind and spirit
In 1876, Augustus Pleasanton published Blue and Sunlight, in which he reported his findings on the effects of colour in plants, animals, and humans.
Edwin Babbit’s The Principles of Light and Colour was published in 1878; the second edition, published in 1896. He identified the colour red as a stimulant, notably of blood and to a lesser extent to the nerves; yellow and orange as nerve stimulants; blue and violet as soothing to all systems and with anti-inflammatory properties.
Healing with colour is rooted in ancient mysticism, the major principles of which are common to many different cultures throughout the world.
The ancient Mystery Schools referred to the following seven colours as the Seven Spirits before the throne of God known as:-
The red ray The spirit of life
The orange ray The spirit of health
The yellow ray The spirit of knowledge and wisdom
The blue ray The spirit of truth
The indigo ray The spirit of intuition and power
The violet ray The spirit of sacrifice
The colours of the spectrum go through a 24-hour cycle. The sun is so bright that we are unable to single out any one colour from another. It has been scientifically proved that the yellow colour is the most pronounced in the morning, in the afternoon it is orange, the evening red, after the sun has gone down violet, at midnight indigo, in the early morning blue followed by green and then back to yellow again. A time will come when we shall tune into these cosmic rays and that will help us with our work, creativity, hours of play and rest. We have lost our rhythms, for the ancients went to bed when the sun went down and arose as the sun rose. We are part of nature and should observe how nature responds to all life.
Book List –
Coghill. Roger, The Healing Energies of Light
Graham. Helen, Healing with Colour
Lacy. Marie Louise, Know yourself through Colour
Melody Love is in the Earth
Wall. Vicky, The Miracle of Colour Healing
Any other books by these authors are highly recommended.