Self-Care: C is for…

is for  color

There are so many ways to talk about color I hardly know where to begin.  But for certain it’s a powerful tool in my self-care repertoire.

We can start with how we normally think of color – with that artist sense of palette.  Our world is painted in color and we interact with it in every moment.   Sometimes consciously – sometimes drinking in the vibrancy or softness of what surrounds us.  Sometimes using color to create and express.  I easily turn to color play this way – you can often find me just pulling color papers together,  or playing with the beads I keep in jars on the window sills of my studio where light dances through them,  or just shifting things around to see how colors interact with one another like strangers at a party.  This color play is always nourishing for me.

We can take that a step further and look into the psychology of color.   There’s so much written about this, but there’s so much we inherently know as well.  Blue can be calming, red fire up our passions.  We choose calming colors when we want to be soothed and different ones when we want to be energized.  We intentionally use color to alter or express our moods.  This can be a beautiful self-care practice too.   I have always kept red shoes in my wardrobe because as I like to say, life is better with them. 

A book I’m currently reading Colour Scents by Suzy Chiazzari makes the connection between color and essential oils, which in my mind is a double win in the self-care department.

Digging a bit deeper, or perhaps it’s really just shifting our perspective slightly, I think it’s helpful to think about colors in other ways as well – looking at how to dance within the more spiritual aspects.

One way you may find interesting to invite color energy in and explore it is with the oracle deck Rainbow Warrior Awaken.   While this isn’t strictly ABOUT color, and the color cards included in the deck are theoretically focused at chakra connections, I don’t think you need to be limited in how you interpret or dance with this deck.  I particularly love the art of Mara Berendt Friedman and the energy of Rainbow Warrior Goddess we call carry within us.

Everything is energy, and energy has frequencies.  The frequency of light is observed as color.  (And just as an interesting aside, remember our eyes are only capable of perceiving a limited range of colors.  I like to imagine we’re playing with the 64-colors crayon box and the number of actual colors is more like a gazillion-colors box of crayons. Isn’t that a fascinating thought?!)

One of the spiritual ways to consider color is understanding Divine White Light is composed of all the color rays.  These are often called spiritual or healing rays.  For many these rays are associated with particular Angels and Ascended Masters.   My beautiful friend Irene Lucas has written a book Thirty Miracles in Thirty Days which offers experiential connection with 30 rays and heavenly friends.

Some of the most profound cutting edge work on color I’ve found is by Connie Kaplan through her e-book A Colorful Life, which “explores the metaphor of color as a way to understand the spiritual influences in our universe, our world, our lives.”  An important part of this work is the concept of evolving colors .  Just as we’re awakening and evolving into fuller awareness of who we truly are, we begin to understand there are established and evolving spheres of influence we can pay attention to. 

In a similar fashion the work of Deborah Craydon of Flora Corona essences is pioneering, and organized around the color principles of light, utilizing the idea that the day rainbow and the night rainbow make up the colors in the Flora Corona color wheel.  Here’s a link to more information about the color wheel, but you may want to poke around her entire site as well.

I find all these things helpful and utilize them in my self-care practice.   Perhaps you’ll find one or more of them interesting as well.

And as a final note, here’s a favorite line from Marge Piercy’s poem Colors Passing Through Us from her book of the same name, which synchronisitically was on my reading rotation earlier this week:

“…when the day has gone without a trace

and we lie in each other’s arms

eyes shut and fingers open

and all the colors of the world

pass through our bodies like strings of fire.”

I wish you a colorful day filled with sparkles and joy.  And I’d love to hear what role color is playing in it.  In what ways do you consciously work with color?  When was the last time you saw a rainbow?  If you were a color what would it be?  Did you have a favorite crayon color as a kid?  Have one now?  Do tell – you know I love to hear.