Delicate daffodils herald spring. Massive yellow sunflower blossoms bask in the hot summer sun. Luminous golden leaves usher in autumn. Yellow is a bright raincoat on a dreary day, bees buzzing on lavender, and the American Goldfinch resting in a tree on its long journey to Mexico.
It’s the optimistic yellow brick road adventure;
and the pot of gold promised at the rainbow’s end.
Learn more: An enlightening journey in the Wizard of OZ
The Sunny Side of Life
As the color of light and purity, yellow has been used throughout history to symbolize divinity, wisdom, and resurrection. In addition to enhancing the flavor of foods, yellow-enriched spices including turmeric, cardamom, mustard seed, cumin.
And, the darker shades in nutmeg and cinnamon also have anti-inflammatory and other beneficial health effects. For example, turmeric was used to dye the robes of popes, monks, emperors.
Throughout history, there’s intuitive yellow strokes of genius.
Needless to say, artists depicted golden halos of saints and faces of Egyptian gods with pigment extracted from yellow ochre. Historically, political and religious connotations of yellow have included betrayal, cowardice and exclusion.
As a result, mellow or bright, yellow captures our attention, raises our consciousness, amuses us, gives us clarity, sparks our imagination, and prompts action.
Learn more: The ancient art of chromotherapy and reflexology
An Alchemical Symphony
Chlorophyll, the pigment in green leaves, absorbs sunlight energy and converts carbon dioxide and water into carbohydrates for food.
To prevent damage from excessive sun some plants and even microorganisms have carotenoids, yellow pigments that act like nature’s sunscreen. But there’s more:
- Carotenoids are responsible for yellow fruits, vegetables, flowers, and even some bacteria and other microscopic marine organisms.
- The yellow plumage and scales of some birds and fish is partly due to the pigments in their food.
- Even in the ocean, where sunlight is filtered by deep blue water, many aquatic creatures display yellow.
We’re still learning about the color language of marine life, including chemical bioluminescence, like the glowing yellow ring on a female octopod. Meanwhile, the earth’s core is hotter than our sun. I wonder if it isn’t actually another kind of sun, lighting our world from the inside–out.
Nature’s factory incredibly uses pigments for its photosynthesis.
The rest lies in our perception of its subtle messages.
Learn more: Who harness the energies of light in their practice?
Color’s Subliminal Persuasion
Color branding is part of our ancient silent language. Most times, we are consciously unaware of its subliminal effect on us; especially how our instinctive subconscious reacts to its natural underlying light vibrations. Simply put: what you see as physical are frequencies moving slowly.
All in all, visible color imparts subtle information in nature as well as all physical forms and tactile objects.Here’s a few great examples, but first keep in mind red, orange, and yellow are used extensively in restaurant and food branding and for retail products.
Sunny hues instil a feeling of: safety, freshness, healing.
For instance tartrazine, a synthetic yellow dye, is frequently used in soaps and shampoos, cosmetics, and medicines, and even as a food coloring.
We all know that “gut feeling” instinct. Right? It’s a familiar sensation makes you suspect that the bright yellow pear next to the paler organic one has been color–treated.
That is to say, even a mouthwatering lemon meringue and custard pies have retained their positions as long-standing family traditions for hundreds of years due to their faithfulness to lemon’s natural coloring.
Ever felt hungry after walking past the golden arches in an airport?
A caffeine craving by a logo in the color of un-roasted coffee beans?
Learn more: Who uses color and light therapies in practice.
The Instinctive Pioneer
In 1860 the pioneering British nurse Florence Nightingale noted in “Notes on Nursing” that we don’t know much about how we’re affected by form, color, and light, but we know it has a physical effect. Nurse Nightingale said: “variety of form and brilliancy of color in the objects presented to patients are actual means of recovery.” She also cured jaundiced babies by exposing their yellowed skin to direct sunlight.
Jaundice, if left untreated can lead to brain damage, is due to excessive reddish-yellow pigment “bilirubin”, a byproduct of red blood cell breakdown. And over a hundred years later, infants with severe cases are cured with phototherapy or blood transfusions.
According to esoteric philosophy, blue is the true and sacred color of the sun. Its golden orange-yellow shade may only be the results of its filtered rays entering our atmosphere. So, was it the reflected yellow sunlight or the hidden source color (blue) that cured Florence’s tiny patients?
We owe a huge thank you to “the lady with the lamp” who illuminated modern day practices as an instinctive color therapist.
Read more: The next stop on our rainbow journey is green
© 2018 Julianne Bien. Spectrahue.com. The ideas and opinions expressed herein are based on the author’s experience and exploration in the field. No medical claims are made or implied.
