Have you ever thought about how colour affects your moods, emotions, thoughts and feelings ? We are surrounded constantly by colour in our homes, in our workplaces, in the clothing we wear, and even in the food we eat. Colours have an enormous influence on our lives. Colours are vibrations of light. White light can be broken into the seven basic colours of the spectrum (or rainbow), and these in turn can be combined to create further shades and hues. Each colour has its own energy and unique qualities that impact on people, affecting moods, feelings, behavior, and even health. We constantly use colours as cues for interpreting our world - Red indicates an apple’s ripeness; a blue sky signifies a lovely day; grey hair tells us of middle age; red/orange/green on a traffic light controls our movements on the road. Colours are also strongly linked with emotions, and people are described as being “green with envy”, “purple with rage”, “yellow with cowardice”, or “seeing red”, and “feeling blue”. In Tarot Cards, colours are widely used to express hidden symbolic meanings, and the earliest cards were created as objects d’art, (a practice which has continued with the many and diverse Tarot decks available nowadays.) Brighter shades of yellow, blue, red, orange and green are widely used in the cards representing ‘happy’ tidings, whilst the darker hues of black, grey and silver appear mostly in the cards with negative connotations. As a general rule, the red end of the spectrum is considered lively and energetic, while the blue end is considered more calming and relaxing. Because of these powerful effects, colours have had esoteric significance since ancient times. Even gemstones were evaluated based on their colours and associations connected with them. Tarot Meanings of the basic colours: Red: The colour of blood, red signifies life and vitality, energy and passion. (red and white are common in mystical teachings representing the conjunction of opposites, often depicted in the cards as roses or lilies. Orange: Represents ambition, egoism, lust and luxury, traits well represented in the card “The Devil” (where orange and black are combined.) Yellow: Being the colour of the sun, represents happiness and joy, and is widely used in the cards indicating glad tidings. Gold: Closely associated with yellow, gold also represents illumination and glory, and often symbolizes celestial connections. (blessings and spiritual upliftment) Green: The colour of vegetation, green naturally symbolizes growth, expansion, and abundance. Spiritually green is an intermediate transitional colour, the halfway point on the spectrum. It also symbolizes rebirth, regeneration and renewal. Blue: Being the colour of the sky, blue often represents heavenly and spiritual qualities. It is also associated with contemplation, inspiration, devotion and truth. Water the symbol of the unconscious, is sometimes blue, and blue mountains represent the abodes of the Gods, indicating spiritual ascent. Indigo: Stands for wisdom, spiritual qualities, psychic abilities and intuition. Violet: This colour generally represents religious devotion and knowledge. White: The combination of all colours, white represents purity, holiness, sacredness, redemption and mystical illumination. Black: The absence of colour is the symbol of death and destruction, negativity and deterioration. In the Tarot it also signifies endings and the necessary dissolution, before the new and better can be created represented by blue colours close to black. White and black together are a common feature in the Tarot. They indicate opposites. (light/dark, positive/negative, masculine/feminine). They are clearly represented in the cards of the “High Priestess” and the “Chariot”. Gray: Solitude and contemplation clearly apparent in the “Hermit”. Silver: The colour of the moon, is associated with emotions and intuition. Pink: A colour generally associated with love, is found mostly in newer Tarot decks. Thus we can see that ‘light’ and its constituent colours, have a strong effect on both mind and body. At a physical, mental, and emotional level we respond to colours whether we realize it or not, and they clearly affect our daily lives. The study of ‘colours’ and their impact is a field in its own right, and many excellent sources are available.