Working with Colour - Red

This week's Pagan Blog Project is R, which for me was easy as I am really into colour and its vibrations and benefits etc etc. I started out with a very clinical approach to this blog, but just didn't feel it. I had read something this morning from another blogger which got me thinking about my own blogs - are they real? Are they what I truly believe in my heart or what I have read in books? I hope it is the former as I always try to be authentic, but this morning it just felt clinical. I had a formula based on previous work with colour and it wasn't working for me. So, as I am learning to be more spontaneous (which is anathema to my 4 vibration) I thought I'd just sit and write and see what happens.

So, Red? What do I use it for? What does it mean to me?

I love red, have done so for a while now and it is probably my favourite colour after orange. To me, red is about passion, vitality and life. When I wear it I feel sexual and sensual (especially as a lipstick!), confident and ready to tackle anything - dare I say bullet-proof?

I also feel like me... I am not a pastels girl, and never will be, so wearing strong colours is part of who I am, wearing the standard rainbow colours gives me strength I can't describe. It also fills me with hope, hope that today will be a good day, hope that maybe I can achieve anything, hope that I will get through the day and whatever challenges it may bring (and as a casual High School teacher, these are many!).

I would love to say that I use red for grounding, but until recently I didn't think specifically of grounding techniques so I would be lying. I guess I naturally moved towards it without understanding it properly. I have owned and worn a read pair of boots for a few months now and I love them and wear them any chance I get! I now realise I may have been doing this instinctively as I desperately needed grounding and was unaware of it - I live in my head and have recently discovered my inability to understand the earth element reflected a deep need to be grounded, but that is another story...

In my travels (Inna Segal's book again!), I have learnt that red can be good for improving the circulation (which I often have trouble with), healing wounds and blood disorders, constipation, sciatica, increasing the sex drive and helping with weight loss but I have not had the urge to use it for these issues... probably should see what happens the next time I cross my legs for a period of time in my red boots! An interesting experiment... I may yet have cause to test the other theories out along my journey, but today they remain untested!

I do, however, use it for balancing my base chakra, which I am assuming is common practice. If I have money troubles or issues concerning the home or security, I will wear my boots or another piece of clothing to help balance this chakra. I will also meditate with a red jasper at my base or wear a garnet if the mood strikes me (or if I have the flu, as garnet is great at helping to assist with flu-like symptoms - to this I can attest!). I have also recently 'learned' that red is the numerological equivalent of the number 1, being about all things physical and how you relate to the world around you.

To me though, it is a colour of passion and vitality! I always feel a little sexier when I am wearing it, a little more confident and able to meet the challenges of the day. I do feel just simply better... Blue also does this, but for different reasons... Red is just such a strong colour to me, it gives me strength and for that I am forever grateful.

Working with colour: Orange

This week the Pagan Blog Project is up to 'O' and I thought it was about time I posted about one of my favourite colours! Orange... I did a bit of research into colours, their chakra correspondence and their energetic vibrations, a while ago and this is what I came up with:

Orange is associated with the Sacral Chakra, found a few inches below the navel. It is the centre of creativity, vitality, sensuality, appetites and desires. In the tarot, it represents passion, creativity and family connections. If you see orange a lot, it may be a message to further enhance these qualities in your life. It can, according to Inna Segal, indicate that shock or trauma is holding you back from moving forward in life and using orange can help bring up associated emotions for healing. On a physical level, it can help with digestive issues, breathing conditions and fertility. It also helps with fear and depression by creating optimism, enthusiasm, courage and determination. It helps to create bonds of love and connect you to your wisdom and intuition.

Orange clothes are a good way to utilise the energy of the colour. Orange directly on your Sacral chakra will help balance this chakra, however any orange clothing will do the trick!!

Wearing orange, particularly around the Sacral Chakra, can help to alleviate these issues and increase your vitality and optimism for life. You can also visualise breathing orange into your Sacral or Heart Chakra with the intention of healing any associated issues. You can also wear an orange crystal, such as a Carnelian or Orange Calcite, or eat more orange food. Remember, intention is key! Just ask that the orange clothing, food or crystal heal your ailment and trust in the universe to provide! 

There is a lot more to Orange than the above, I am sure, however, I find that it is great for increasing courage so when I am feeling a bit fearful, I wear it with the intention it increase my courage and allow it to do its work. There are a lot of changes going on in my life at the moment, so perhaps this is why I have been drawn to it for some time...

F is for THE FLU!!

Ok, so I had committed myself to the Pagan Blog Project and was all set to start researching something for the letter F and the disaster struck! I got the FLU!! da da daaaaaa!!!! 

Anyway, I woke up that morning with a sore throat and a little tickle in my nose and thought to myself, 'self, I think you have the flu?! This is the universe telling you to slow down and take some time out!' So, I did - I cancelled all my appointments for the day and stayed in bed. After a few episodes of I cannot now remember what, I fell asleep. For 4 hours!! I woke up wondering if this was just the flu or something more serious. 

I am a firm believer that any illness, sickness, injury or disease is emotionally based, it is your body telling you something that you are not hearing any other way. It has been proven to me time and time again! I get ulcers in my mouth when I have not said something I need to and it is eating away at me, I break my index finger when I am letting fear and ego rule me, my mother hurts her back when she is not getting support from someone and needs it, and I get the flu when I am doing too much or have massive inner conflict about something! (Read Inna Segal's 'The Secret Language of Your Body' for more details!! it will change your life!!) So, I was also wondering what inner conflict I was having at this time, but knew mostly that it was the universe telling me to slow down!! For the millionth time in my life, mind you… I just can’t help it, there is so much to do, learn and see and I want to do it all, NOW!! Anyway, I decided to take a day off and see how I felt the next day.

Well, my condition only got worse. And the worst part? I had to go in to work because in recent years I have been so flippant with my money I now have very little! Even though I have had a well paying job for almost three years, I had managed to, at the end of the contract, have saved around $300!! Very bad finance!! Anyway, so I have recently learnt the need to be more frugal and have just started to become that way when I got sick – not having enough in my account as yet to be able to afford to take time off (as I am now back to casual and do not get sick leave etc!) I had to go in to work!

Luckily though, by Friday I was feeling a bit better and was able to go in to my Saturday Tarot Reading job, which I love because I get to help people in a more personal way than I do as a teacher. Well, apparently I was not in fact well again and the universe appeared to have more lessons in store for me. By Monday I could barely speak! Some things happened over the weekend, which I will not get into here, but suffice it to say I fought the inevitable, tried to control things and prevent having to have ‘the conversation’ with a male friend of mine and it manifested in a small dose of laryngitis!! Well, according to Inna Segal in her aforementioned book, laryngitis is about holding back (among other things, which are not that relevant, but everything on the list doesn’t have to fit!). I was trying to prevent something from happening, that may not need to happen, through my actions, when if I had just spoken my truth it would be over with by now! Well, it has been a week and I have finally just this morning been able to belt out a few notes of one of my favourite songs, so it seems I am on the mend and the lesson has been learnt! For now… Here’s hoping I don’t forget it and have to go through it all again!!! 

Available through innasegal.com