Back in the 1980’s there was a very lucrative sideline of “doing people’s colors” based on the book Color Me Beautiful by Carole Jackson. The color analyst would hold various swatches of fabric under your face and if you looked radiant and glowing, these colors designated a specific season to which your skin tone aligned. Chances are if you told a woman with big hair and intimidating shoulder pads that she looked good, the response would invariably be: “I got my colors done!”
At times the borderline obsession to wear a specific color on a given day completely defies common sense or practicality, but the alternative can be spending the whole day just feeling off. If you fall into this category of being aesthetically highly sensitive, you may wear only monochromatic clothes or have a very limited palette in your closet. There is an actual condition called synesthesia which has been described as “feeling colors”. Synesthetes may hear, smell, taste, or feel pain in color. Some scientists theorize it is a cross wiring of sensory pathways thus sending mixed messages to the brain. Psychologists have linked this phenomenon to perceptional abnormalities. Both support there being a genetic connection. Could psychic awareness or mediumship be as easily explained as a cross firing of sensory neurons?
Sir Isaac Newton is credited for discovering the organization and composition of the color spectrum. But the Egyptians, Greeks, and Chinese believed color could have an effect on mood and health thousands of years prior to the association of a single color to a specific wavelength. There is an interesting article that describes some of the history and practices at: http://www.therapycolor.com/HistoryOfColorTherapy
Much of this seems to be the precursor for the calming greens of institution walls, the vivid reds in restaurants to stimulate appetite, and the use of serene blues in a bedroom for restful sleep. All reinforce the psychological adherence to the subconscious effect of color on our psyche.
The colors we choose for the clothes we wear, the way we decorate our homes, and even the gemstones we’re partial to may all have an influence on supporting the energies or areas of our lives that need nurturing and healing. Psychoanalyst Carl Jung proposed art therapy and color psychology as a means of helping people heal from trauma or distress, stating “colours are the mother tongue of the subconscious”.
When Sir Issac Newton discovered white light refracted through a prism distinctly split into the colors of the rainbow, perhaps he was also tapping into the collective unconscious accessing another way to take care of ourselves. Chromotherapy, or the use of colors to heal, is still in use as an alternative or holistic therapy. As our sensitivities and awareness of the expansiveness of this existence increases, in many ways it seems we are returning to the knowledge of centuries past in how we seek self-healing.
Below are the colors of the chakras with a brief meaning. It doesn’t seem coincidental that the colors exactly mirror the spectrum of the rainbow.
Red Root Chakra: Power, Safety, Survival. Security. Grounding. Kundalini. Instinct.
Orange Sacral Chakra: Emotions. Creativity. Sexuality. Desire. Pleasure.
Yellow Solar Plexus Chakra: Mental activities. Personal Power. Intellect. Will. Freedom to be oneself.
Green Heart Chakra: Love. Relating. Integration. Compassion. Balance.
Blue Throat Chakra: Communication. Self Expression. Speaking your truth. Creative Expression.
Indigo Third Eye Chakra: Intuition. Extrasensory Perception. Inner Wisdom. Clairvoyance. Imagination.
Violet Crown Chakra: Connection with Spirituality. Consciousness. Knowing. Bliss.