Colour

Oct 23, 2014

By Donald Burry


T
here is an area in BodyTalk that is alluded to in a few items/topics, but the "further/more specific" details are never really discussed. As an artist, it is this area that is of great interest and importance to me, and that is colour (and yes, I use the Canadian spelling!). The first time most of us are introduced to the idea of colour is in Fundamentals when we study the Chakras within the Energies bubble. Seven chakras-seven colours: Base chakra – red, Sacral chakra – orange, Solar Plexus chakra – yellow, Heart chakra – green, Throat chakra – Blue, Third eye chakra – indigo, Crown chakra – violet (sometimes the colour white is used to represent the crown chakra as well). 

There are also colours associated with the Meridians in the Energy bubble and these overlap with the colours to be discussed in the next bubble – the Five Elements. Each of the five elements has a concordance of 'Color': Fire – Red, Earth – Yellow, Metal –White, Water – Blue and Wood – Green. No further details are given.

We are also lead 'through the colours' on our way into our Workshop in MindScape. These are the same colours as the chakras, or a rainbow, and here we even give attributes to the colours that are more commonly associated with the other senses, not just visually. There are also the 'white lights' and the 'silver lift' in MindScape.

So, why my interest in exploring the "details" associated with colour? To begin with, we can all agree that BodyTalk is a consciousness-based energy medicine and that colour is merely light energy. 


"If you wish to understand the Universe, think of energy,
frequency and vibration."
-Nikola Tesla

It is also important to note that each colour does, in fact, have its own consciousness! There are many modalities of colour therapy where people are exposed to different frequencies of light energy to assist in balancing illness, disease and ailments. People consume foods of different colours to do the same thing from an internal perspective. Even our 'choice' of colour for the clothing we wear affects our energy field. Keeping all this in mind, if you have a little understanding of colours and their historical meanings, (consciousness), you will be able to get more details on colour in the areas that they do come up in. And what would prevent a colour coming up as a definition, a consciousness definition or a satellite?

The first time this idea came to me in BodyTalk was when I was doing a session and I "invited" the client into my workshop through the lift. When the door opened I noticed and mentioned that she was being followed by/accompanied by a "green-eyed monster" (no relation to the baseball field called Fenway Park in Boston). To the client this had no meaning and could have gone unexplained. On the other hand, it did have meaning to me. I asked what was going on in her life? There was a lot of humming and hawing, small talk, etc. but after a couple of formulas it came up that her "Ex" was recently hooked up with a newer, younger woman! For those who don't know, the Green-eyed monster is a term that is used to describe jealousy. (It is also interesting to note that jealousy is a mixture of fear and grief. Fear is under the water element-blue and grief is under the earth element-yellow. Blue and yellow make green...wood element-anger!)

So there is an example of how the frequency of light energy may show itself. For one person the consciousness of the colour had no meaning, but for the other it did and that eventually lead to a place where there was meaning for both. This also illustrates how with more 'left-brained' knowledge the 'right-brain' is more able to free-flow and pick up on subtle energies. Colour has an emotional component and certain colours have specific associations and can induce certain responses!

I would now like to share some of my knowledge/wisdom on colour and its meaning. I do not have the time or space to go into details for every colour, but will limit myself to the seven colours of the chakras/rainbow as these also include the colours within the five elements. It is important to note that in a world of dualities that there are contradictions in the meanings of colours, as well. This indicates that it is important to discover which meaning resonates with your client for that is the most important frequency. An example of this contradiction is the colour associated with the heart chakra. Green is the colour of this chakra, but the heart is associated with the Fire element whose concordance colour is red.  It is interesting to note that red and green are also considered "complimentary" colours.

Colour is made up of a very small section of light frequencies. These are known as 'visible light'. Visible light frequencies range from 430 trillion hertz (seen as red) to 750 trillion hertz (seen as violet). The full range of light frequencies ranges from less than 3 billion hertz (radio waves) to greater than 3 billion billon hertz (gamma rays). A hertz is the unit of cycles (waves) per second. The amount of energy in a light wave is proportionately related to its frequency: high frequency=high energy.

Pure white light actually is made up of all other colours of light. (The use of a prism illustrates the separation of colours from white light). An object is given its colour by absorbing all colours of the white light, but reflecting the colour that it appears to be.

There are three primary colours: red, blue and yellow. These are the foundation/building blocks of all other colours. The secondary colours are purple (red+blue), green (blue+yellow) and orange (red+yellow) and are composed of equal mixture of the two primary colours. All other colours are termed tertiary: a primary colour mixed with a secondary colour. Colours have an 'opposite' and that is referred to as a complementary colour, (opposite on the colour wheel).

RED
Red is the colour of the root chakra and is the lowest energy of the visible light frequency. It is associated with the musical note 'C' and has the vowel sound of  'U' (oooh). It is associated with the Adrenal Glands (vitality/fight or flight) as well as the Fire element. As such, it is linked to the arteries and veins (Blood and the heart) and the emotion of Joy/Sadness. Red is the colour of Life energy.
Associated consciousness: Blood, Fire, Passion, Aggression, War Mars, the Devil, Stop, 'The Passion' (Christian), Communism, Love, Action, Anger.
Some examples of this in life include Valentine's Day, a Matador's Cape, 'Red Bull' energy drinks.

ORANGE
Orange is the colour of the Sacral Chakra and would be a balance of the energies of the Fire and Earth Elements. It is associated with the musical note 'D' and has the vowel sound of 'O' (as in home). Orange is associated with the reproductive organs. Its primary energy is linked to Creativity and Feelings. Orange has very little symbolic meaning.

Consciousness associations of the colour orange include: Sensuality, sexuality, related to heat and fire, Protestantism (Orangemen), Buddhist monks robes, Autumn (Fall), Halloween, energy without aggression and frivolity.

Life examples of orange: The Denver Broncos (American Football) 'Orange Crush' Defense, Cleveland Browns (football) and Baltimore Orioles (Baseball) team colours, The theme colour of Halloween.

YELLOW
Yellow is the colour of the Solar Plexus Chakra as well as the Earth Element (tissues and muscles in the body, emotion-Worry). It is, perhaps, the most ambiguous colour with lots of contradictions. It is associated with the musical note 'E' and the vowel sound of the short 'O' (as in top). It has links to the Pancreas, (the sweetness of life, digestion of life) and has the energy of Personal Power and the Intellect.


Yellow is the colour of sunlight (the giver of life-our primary energy source), gold, happiness, but also envy, disgrace and cowardice. In Islam it is the colour of wisdom, but in Christianity it was the colour of the robes worn by Judas (betrayal).

In society we have seen the Yellow-Brick Road in L. Frank Baum's Wizard of Oz, The Beatles Yellow Submarine, The Yellow Rose of Texas, and road signs warning us of conditions ahead (the colour combination of black on yellow is the most visible to the human eye).

GREEN
Green is the colour of the Heart Chakra as well as the Wood element (tendons and ligaments-what holds us together, emotion-Anger). Its energy is associated with Balance and Harmony and this can be seen in the fact that the heart chakra is the balance point between the lower and the higher chakra energies. It is also associated with Healing. Green is associated with the musical note 'F' and the short 'A' vowel (Ah).  Its associated gland is the Thymus that controls the heart and blood circulation.


From a consciousness perspective, Green can mean Go, Growth/New Life, Youth, The Environment and Nature, Envy, Jealousy, Illness and in the Muslim tradition, green is the colour of Muhammad.
Some examples of green in society are Kermit the Frog, Super Heroes-The Incredible Hulk, Green Lantern and Green Hornet, Little men from outer space, the Green light in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby.

BLUE
Blue is the colour of the Throat Chakra (self-expression) and the Water element (Nerves and bones as well as the emotion of Fear). It is linked to the musical note 'G' and the short vowel sound of 'E' (Eh). The basic energy of the colour blue is Communication: the expression of our feelings and thoughts. The associated gland with the colour blue is the thyroid. 


The labeling of the name 'Blue', as a colour, was one of the later names- long after black, white and red. It most strongly is linked to the ideas of The Void/Space/Vastness. Blue is the colour of the sky and the sea (we live on 'the Blue Planet') and this links the colour blue to the idea of heaven. Blue is also associated with the feeling of sadness and melancholy (feeling blue). It also can represent authority (police uniforms).


In life we have a musical genre called "The Blues", in politics it is linked to the Conservatives, Mary, (The Madonna), is often pictured wearing Blue Robes, Immorality (blue movies), "Bluenose" (someone from Nova Scotia or an excessively puritanical person). A bride wears "something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue". Blue-collar workers, things happen 'out of the blue' and a faithful friend is 'true blue'.

INDIGO
Indigo is a very dark shade of blue with a bit of red in it, making a beginning of the colour purple. It is associated with the Brow (third-eye) Chakra that holds the energy of Intuition/inspiration and Wisdom. It is linked to the musical note 'A' and the vowel sound of the long 'E' (Ee). Its associated gland is the pituitary (masculine energy) – master controller of the endocrine system. Indigo energy is the colour of Inner sight and knowing. Indigo also is associated with calmness, dignity, idealism and independence.


Indigo was the colour originally used to dye denim pants (jeans). In Canada there is a bookstore chain known as Indigo Books, no doubt a link to the energy of 'wisdom', and there is IndiGo Airlines out of India.

VIOLET
Violet and purple, in colour theory, are interchangeable. They are made with a mix of blue and red. (Hint-look at the individual colours in any mixed colour for details!) Violet is associated with the crown chakra and the pineal gland (feminine energy). The energy of Purple is that of Pure Being, Spirituality and Oneness. It is linked to the musical note 'B' and to the vowel sound of 'Ohm'. Violet has the highest vibrational energy of the visible light spectrum (ultra-violet). This is the energy that cleanses thoughts and emotions.Violet and Purple are associated with deep feeling, inspiration, selflessness, spirituality and imagination. Violet, being a softer hue of colour also has symbolism linked to sadness, fragility and vulnerability.

In life, purple is used to connote royalty, (purple was an expensive dye early on so only the rich could afford it), as well as bravery-"the Purple Heart". In Christianity, the colour Purple is associated with the Passion of Christ. There was a movie entitled "The Color Purple", Prince had a song "Purple Rain", the rock band "Deep Purple", and another song "Purple people-eater".

A colour that is not of primary importance in BodyTalk but worth looking at, briefly, is the colour "SILVER". We have a silver lined lift in our MindScape Workshops. We use the lift to go out of or invite people into our Workshop space. Silver is a balancing and harmonizing colour symbolizing change and learning and can be somewhat introspective. A good speaker is silver-tonged and behind every dark cloud is a silver lining.

Those are the colours that are associated with the chakras, meridians, and five elements, but there are two other 'colours' that need some discussion, as well. They are not really considered colours, but are more commonly referred to as "Shades"- Black and White.

WHITE
White is the presence of all colours. If you take a wave of pure white light and refract it through a prism, it breaks down into a rainbow of colours. (This is how a rainbow appears in the sky as the light of the sun is refracted through the water droplets of rain.) Of course the most famous image of this appears on a Pink Floyd album cover!

White is sometimes used to represent the crown chakra (all colour energy in the one highest chakra) and in BodyTalk is associated with the Metal element in the five elements. It is therefore associated with skin, or the thing that keeps us all together.

Symbolically, white is used to represent innocence and purity- (a bride traditionally wore white), leisure- (traditionally, the paler your skin, the less you were working outdoors), surrender- (waving a white flag) and eliminates negativity (it was light that drove out the 'darkness', if something is bad we can 'whitewash' over it and we have the white dove of peace). We also have white lies (not wanting to hurt someone else), White elephants (something that costs more than it is worth), the White House (residence of the President of the U.S.A.) and in literature: Snow White and Moby Dick (the great white whale). It is the energy of a white light that we pass through whenever we leave or enter our Workshop in MindScape!

BLACK
Black is really the absence of all colours. Therefore it is the absence of light energy. Nothing to be reflected leads to no colour. Black, in BodyTalk, is part of the water element colour (along with blue). This link is an obvious one when it is noted that the emotion in the water element is Fear. When someone bruises, it is said that they are black and blue. Black is symbolic of the darkness or the shadow. We fear the darkness, or whatever it is that we may not understand. Therefore, black has many negative connotations. For example, there is the black market (illegal trading/selling), people have been blackballed (left out), blackmailed If we 'shed some light' on something not understood, it is less scary. Black is a powerful and mysterious colour that has been associated with Black magic (witches), death and mourning ("she wore a long, black veil"). It has also been linked to the devil and bad luck as with Black Cats.

In American Western movies the good guys wore white and the bad guys wore black, the African-American movement in the 60's and 70's coined the term "Black is Beautiful" and Henry Ford said you could have any colour car you wanted "as long as it was black".

Now that you have a little more understanding of colour, see if it comes up for you under the Details or Definition of items, parcels or packages.


Dr. Donald Burry
B.P.H.E., MSc., Ph.D., BFA, MSI, CBP, Parama BP
trout1salar@yahoo.ca



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