Courage is fear

that has said its prayers.

-Dorothy Bernard

To use fear as the friend it is, we must retrain and reprogram ourselves…We must persistently and convincingly tell ourselves that the fear is here–with its gift of energy and heightened awareness–so we can do our best and learn the most in the new situation.

-Peter McWilliams, Life 101

I talk this week at CatherinePoole.com about a young woman from a few years ago that was learning from multiple lessons, lessons that cascaded from pigeon-toes at birth to endometriosis in her early teens and then cascaded into lupus at the age of 16. I had not really thought about her until a few weeks ago I had another client come in and I saw an overabundance of orange in her second energy center. Most of the time I deal with depletions and very seldom will address when there is too much of a color unless it is affecting the other centers by “robbing” or borrowing energy from them. It felt like a huge “sponge” of orange.

I remember cautioning the client to not be alarmed but I did ask if there was a chance she could be pregnant? I often will see a little ball of green hovering over this area right below the belly button when someone is pregnant, and with her I didn’t see the green per se but the feeling of pregnancy was overwhelming. I often do not want to know why someone is there in the beginning of the reading, as it can influence not only my information which I like to keep objective, but it can also influence a client’s view of my credibility as an intuitive. So with her most adamant voice, she said that she was not pregnant. I moved on from there…

What came toward the end of the session was a question regarding her endometriosis! It was then that I had to laugh, as that is what the “sponge” of orange was all about. Most women that I see have a depletion in this area, and yes, can even be learning from endometriosis with a depletion. Sometimes I can even see green balls of energy, and no they are not babies, they are often cysts, and they are green because they are growing. (Acidic and murky are usually the cancer energies, but just green in general is often benign). Again, because I do not diagnose, I often just address the emotional basis of the issue and may causally ask when their last check up was.

Endometriosis is an all-too-common condition with many women. It is an overabundance of tissue endometrial cells that attach themselves to tissue outside the uterus. This tissue adheres to organs and/or the pelvic wall and continues to function as uterine tissue. It can be painful, particularly during menstruation. I love researching about conditions that “have no known reason”. Often because I believe it is because the reason is usually past life based and present life conditions have triggered a cell memory, in a sense, your cells got a wake up call and went back to another time and place.

Endometriosis is said to stem from a fear of bearing children. And I have had quite a few clients that have had past life regressions to back up this fear. Often they died in childbirth, and in a few cases, they lost the baby in childbirth and the body is reliving the moment as a form of self-punishment and guilt. Of which, forgiveness of self needs to be worked with during the regression with more detail than most.

I also see a relationship with childbirth being a natural progression of growing up (and going with the “flow”) and moving forward. On a more material level, there may be a parallel with giving birth to a creative project (such as writing a book) that isn’t literally connected to childbirth. In that case, the endometriosis should be looked at as a way of being critical of how you create (or don’t create) certain projects. In that case it may be a message about not being self-critical when you are defeated by projects or when you want to give birth to new ones. Literally, we can focus on the childbirth aspect, but it can also be about giving birth to creative endeavors.

It will also look the same in your energy field, because the body cannot discern between what is being created. It takes similar mindset and energy to create a baby as it does to work on a project you refer to as “your baby”.

I equate the color orange with creativity and emotions, and often a good description for this center can be found with the terms “flood of emotions” or “let your feelings flow”. This flow, this movement of energy can be suppressed if certain emotional events cause pain. It takes a lot of energy to keep this “bottled up” so releasing these emotions and the fear associated with them releases the tension and can create balance. Balance is an even flow of energy throughout our bodies.

I hope this helps answer some of your questions regarding endometriosis and the color orange. If you are learning from it, you may want to limit orange in your environment and/or clothing. It can be tempered with blues, which promote healing and flow. It would also help you to perhaps wear a bracelet of blue stones, and even green stones, or a combo as green helps you move forward and promotes a loving relationship with self. I would also advise wearing this on your left wrist, as that allows the flow to come into your life, and of course left is all about the feminine. If you would like something custom designed, you can always contact Harmony Crossings as they are the “royal jeweler” to the Queen, that would be me, The Queen of Color! Have a great week. Blessings to you. Catherine

I have decided to leave this entry up this week to coincide with Addiction and Smoking that is at catherinepoole.com. I have included the video for that entry, as I feel it is important to post it on this site as well! Enjoy!

I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is the victory over self.

–Aristotle

Self-discipline is when your conscience tells you to do something and you don’t talk back.

–W.K. Hope

When I look into an energetic system there is a certain energy for addiction. Depending on the density of the energy that surrounds an individual, I can often determine if the addiction is food, tobacco, alcohol, or drugs. As you can imagine it gets more intense with each…

Addiction is not so much a color as it is a consistency within the energetic system. I equate the energy to spider webs. You cannot just push the energy aside and walk through, it attaches itself BACK to other webs of energy and ends up tangled and muddy.  And other individuals with similar addictions will find their way into that energy.

The question this week was about the color of smoking…it is really two fold, as I look at how the color of smoking, in regards to nicotine addiction, is reflected in the energetic system as well as how “habit” and “scripting” influence your color energy. I know that smoking is regarded as an addiction, but there are different levels of the addiction, just as fat (food addiction) is reflected differently based on the level of the addiction.

Let’s begin with the actual color of smoking. When I look at someone that smokes there is often a red overlay in their energy field. A red overlay can be described as a dome or a bubble over someone’s entire body, yet the out-most layer seems to glow like red neon. Many with a red overlay may have had a history that was challenging, traumatic, even abusive, and they have put that overlay around them to protect them from the stress, abuse, and tension. Often they can be easily angered, agitated, defensive, tense, all in part to add to their protection (it keeps others at a distance).

As a result of their need to protect, smoking also becomes a defense mechanism (they are putting up a smokescreen). I mention this when I talk to corporate groups about smoking…and it does get one thinking. Sometimes it is humorous because the one that smokes just waves a hand and walks away, yet the partner or friend will ALWAYS validate that it is a defense mechanism. Think about when you leave to smoke, what are the circumstances? Is there an emotional pattern? Don’t just answer “stress” go deeper than that and find the “stress patterns” because that is your clue to releasing cigarettes.

Looking objectively at your life and who smoking keeps at a distance are wonderful clues to why you find it difficult to stop. Smoking invites distancing, whether you leave and go somewhere to smoke, or you smoke and those around you that can’t handle it distance themselves.

Release is about logically understanding why you smoke and then logically telling yourself you no longer want to smoke. You will stop when you are ready to stop, you will stop when there is a logical reason associated with why you do it and why you don’t NEED to do it anymore.

This knowledge is the seed for your motivation, and when you have the seed, you will allow hypnosis, even self-hypnosis to work for you, and it will, immediately, if not sooner. Why? Because you want it to.

I also invite you to think about the first time you smoked, what were the emotional circumstances surrounding that smoke? How does that memory play into your reasons for smoking now? Did you do it to fit in? to feel “grown up” to lose weight? Just because everyone else did? No matter what, it all begins with needing to form a relationship, and that relationship does form, only it becomes a relationship with your cigarettes rather than another person.

The color of addiction verses the red overlay of defense and distancing is all about within. The overlay is just that, it overlays the energetic system and just hangs there, as in a cloud. Addiction comes from your very foundation. It is associated with the base center, your first energy center which vibrates as the color red. Addiction is red, but it has a mixture of green. Green is there because addictions are all about relationships and control and that is associated with the heart center. Due to the green being present, it influences the red giving the color a darker more muddied red color.

It is also heavy and flat within the field, and is no surprise that we describe addictions as “weighing us down”.  Depending on the extent of the addiction, and I can often see “where” it is pulling its energy from in the body as well as the external influences. It soaks up energy from other parts of the body like a sponge, because addiction needs energy to survive. In that sense it is “parasitic”. I will talk more about the addiction next week, and discuss the karmic implications of smoking as well as the corresponding tissue issues with smoking. It began as a paragraph and grew into an entire entry! so I will see you back next week for more. Perhaps there will be some wonderful comments from viewers to add.

I hope this helps you understand yourself a little better, the color or overcoming this addiction is a wonderful green/blue. Green is about relationships and new beginnings, while the blue invites healing and flow. Putting these together and adding an affirmation or two with them can really help support your willingness to release the smoking addiction. Whenever you see this green/blue or the juxtaposition of the two hues, use that as a trigger to repeat your best phrases, those that resonate with you and you will find these at my entry on How to Release Smoking.

With blessings, Catherine

The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress.

–Charles F. Kettering

The weathercock on the church spire though made of iron, would soon be broken by the storm wind if it did not understand the noble art of turning to every wind.

-Heinrich Heine

Welcome change as a friend; try to visualize new possibilities and the blessings it is bound to bring you…Never stop learning and never stop growing; that is the key to a rich and fascinating life.

–Alexander de Seversky

Change? Yes We Can! Well, maybe not…I have just got to write about change this week. I have put it off because it is so politically fueled with all the rhetoric about health care and the current administration’s dedication to change. In fact, the current administration was elected on the concept of change so what is all the fuss about?

It is about fear; fear is what the fuss is about.

Why would the “collective” consciousness be any different than an individual when it comes to change? I mentioned in my entry: “The Frequency of Thought” that individuals are afraid to change, which is one reason why I often use the word “shift” instead of “change”.

Just how is change manifested in your energetic system? The color that gets my attention in your energy field more than any is the color red. Red IS all about change. It is swift, fast, and often emotional depending on the temperature of the red. Warm red pushing toward orange and what I call “Chinese Red” is far more emotional and swift than the cooler reds pushing toward a brick or maroon. Red in your energetic system can also indicate pain, yet when you think about it, pain is there to 1) get our attention and 2) initiate change (usually immediate change).

The two areas in the energetic system that represent change and movement are feet and anywhere to your left side, which represents energy coming INTO your life. Feet represent moving forward and when there is red, particularly on the underside of your feet then it tells me you are ready to jump from the frying pan into the fire! It may or may not represent moving forward, as you may be jumping back and forth frantically or perhaps going around in a circle with one foot nailed to the floor. It is all about your attitude toward change that signifies the direction of the shift (or lack thereof). When you resist the change, then there is a good chance your body will react in some manner in order to coerce you into shifting.

On the left side there are several indicators of change, a thin red line in your field is more like a hiccup or a “ripple in the force” as I call it. It is often something or someone that you have attracted in order to get your attention or perhaps set your direction for the next few months. It is a shift more than a dramatic change. The band of colors that precede or follow the thin red band will give me a clue as to what instigates the change and what is to follow the change. For instance, if it is preceded by a band of blue, then yellow and then there is the thin red band, my perception is that you are going to be voicing your truth,(blue=communication and truth) your opinion and stand up for your beliefs (yellow is ego, self) and in doing so, you will create a shift in your current circumstances.

I would interpret this as a good thing to do, speak up for your self, because it will bring about the shift you desire…as that red is thin. If the band were wide and heavy moving into your field I would refer to it as a tidal wave of change. This would tell me that I need to prepare you for big changes, perhaps even letting you know that speaking your truth will have permanent and lasting ramifications…change in job or career, partner, spouse, money, house, whatever is needed to get you where you need to go!  The abruptness of the wave signals a dramatic shift in circumstances. If I get the impression that you are ready for the shift, then I will work with that and help you prepare.

If I get the impression that you do not see it coming,  rather than alarm you, we will focus on the benefits of change and the importance of setting intentions, dreams and goals. Intuitives or practitioners that would focus on the sense of loss or dramatic change are not working for the highest good of the client. (And there are plenty out there that do feed off a client’s fear). Instilling fear will establish fear in the client’s thought frequency, thus creating more chaos rather than offering direction. My job is to give you direction, not give you warnings and instill fear for my own validations.

Free will secures our ability to shift our thoughts

and shift what we attract into our lives.

For so many, change represents loss. We think in order to change we have to leave behind things we treasure and people we love. Change is not about loss, change is about new beginnings… change is a reset button. Chances are, somewhere in the past 3, 6, or 9 months YOU put it out there that you wanted change. So often we ask for it and don’t even realize that we have ordered it right off the menu!

Look at the negative scripting that brings on the swift changes in your energy and your life. I also have a few key phrases at my Frequency of Thought entry…and here I wanted to show you an actual e-mail I received, I will only pull out a few excerpts, but you will get the idea of how this type of mindset can bring in the tidal wave of red because it was INVITED in with ALL this NEGATIVE scripting…poverty consciousness is one thing, it is where we choose to reside vibrationally, yet asking for a huge shift often leads to one smack after another.

Keep in mind, this is just one person, one letter, but powerful in what it requesting from the Universe. Believe it or not, on down the road will be a request for a reading and probably a quip of “I didn’t see this coming…”

…If I had …I should have come close…I had …for over six months.  I gave… I pay … I pay for … I took out the full amount … paid for….I may be losing my job … because of the lack of work.  That would also mean the loss of the company car… I was able to take a new position…It did not come with a raise and I would lose the company car…I bought another car …was not able to withstand the daily commute.  …helps offset the 2 to 3 thousand dollars loss in benefits to having the company car.  I did get a raise the second week in January. realize that I do not have a pot of gold…I am close to foreclosure…threatening me. I guess I do not understand…

Do you recognize anyone you know in the above passage? What can you do to switch that around? The thoughts AND the language have to be shifted in order to stop attracting the same situations.

I talk about shifting language, shifting thoughts in several entries, (Sabotage and Self-Hypnosis) but if you really want to shift or know someone in need of help, recognizing the scripts are negative is the first step in recovery, then the hypnosis audio, Vibrating Whealthy! is a great support system.

Our collective conscious, our country, is in the midst of a tidal wave of red. Unfortunately, what is also influenced with this color of change, this wave of red, are fear and survival issues, anger, even rage, directed at our government, and our politicians. Red is about raw human emotions, so that coupled with the potential for change, which so many of you regard as loss, brings little surprise that the climate is as volatile and unreasonable as it is.

Red is about reaction, not action and many out there are using the actions of others to justify their emotional reactions. The irony in all of this from an energy standpoint, is that the anger, rage, and fear responses from individuals will create and bring in that same energy and perpetuate the emotions and the fear.

All of these issues and concerns are base energy issues about survival, physical as well as financial. Our collective environment is no different than the e-mail excerpt I posted above! You cannot solve an issue while you are in the same energy that created it. So unless we make the connection between our collective consciousness, our collective opinion and the anger, fear, and focus on survival issues within our own private life, we will continue to experience the chaos and rage that is encompassing our communities. Like attracts like, that is why there is a mob mentality regarding beliefs and the polarizing aspect of current events.

I am amazed at the division of the American people in regards to the health care bill, really I am. My job is to look at the energy on both sides of the coin, not to judge or decide which is best. The solution for this current state of affairs is to focus on where the benefits reside, what are the positive aspects of what is happening in our lives? in our government? in our leadership? That is where the energy and emotions need to be directed. It is not solely about directing our individual energy in order to benefit ourselves personally, it is just as important to focus on the positives of what creates our communities, our cities, our states, and our country. We can bring in positive waves of energy and color if we all begin to believe in the inherent goodness of our thoughts.

Fear, condemnation, and negativity will perpetuate circumstances to support those thought frequencies. How emotional are you about our current state of affairs? Take a breath and look at how those critical emotions are reflected in your life, your health, and your finances.Base tissue issues are all about foundation, and manifest in the tissues and organs that are related to solids: bones, teeth, joints, muscles, colon, bowel, nails, hair…any of these things ring a bell? If you said, “yes” then it is time to manage your energy.

Want things to shift?

Begin within.

Let’s change the big red tidal wave of rage, anger, and fear to the subtle and comfortable shift of green’s new beginnings. It is not about the revolution of red, it is about the evolution of green. I personally want to put my thoughts and my energy toward progress and peace. On that note, have a wonderful week, and blessings to you. Catherine

The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance that no man could have dreamed would have come his way.

–W.H. Murray

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Doing a little research for my “Go With the Flow” entry at CatherinePoole.com, I decided to look into the numerology surrounding the terms I was using. I was trying to determine if the words we use to describe our financial venues reflect the energy that surrounds them. Well, I have to say, I am surprised myself and this stuff never ceases to amaze me!

So often we associate the color of money with green. Green is all about abundance, new beginnings, relationships with God, self, and others.  When I see a huge wave of green in someone’s energetic system it most often represents money and abundance coming into their life, whether through a job shift, promotion, or some other means. Green is good stuff! The color of the “money” green is a richer hue, not quite a forest green, but it is a cooler green with more blue in it than yellow. Blue is associated with business, so that rich green is abundance filled with opportunity and that is most certainly what money represents.

The word, “Tithe” vibrates to an 8, which known as the “business number” as it represents money, executive leadership, and the ability to build something from nothing. I define Tithing as “an exchange of energy”, and when you put the 8 on its side you have a Lemniscate, or the symbol for eternity and that is all about flow, flow, flow…The color associated with the literal word “tithe” is a deep wine red, similar to what we see in Churches (go figure). This deep red is all about survival, and base center emotions. The number 1 is also associated with the base center, but it is a warmer red, having the yellow of ego influence its energy. In your body red is about foundation, and is reflected in solid matter such as bones, muscles, spinal column, even teeth and nails. Red represents beliefs that formulates your foundation in life, such as family, job, politics, and religion.

“Tithing” itself vibrates to a 6 which is all about nurturing and care giving. The color for this is violet, which in a sense is the “flip” side of the deep wine red. Tithe has more red and prompts action (to tithe) due to obligation, red “lights the fire” so to speak. “Tithing” is ‘now’ oriented, something you are in the process of doing so the red can back off and allow the loyalty of blue to inspire.

I have never done the numerology on the word “money” itself. And I am often fascinated to see how numbers correlate with color, as it is all energy. Often, your life lesson number (the totality of your dd/mm/yyyy reduced to a single digit) corresponds to your favorite color! Again, all amazing coincidences, right? Well…I don’t think so!

Interestingly enough, the numerology speaks volumes in regard to the words I researched. I kept adding words just to see what they reflected as far as energy, yes I got a bit carried away I must admit but it is fascinating to see how they do reflect energetically exactly what they represent in our lives.

Money             18/9               Service

Credit              14/5               Chaos

Tithe                8                     Money and Flow

Cash                4                      Foundation, Family

Barter              28/10/1         Independence, Individuality

Gold                11/2                 Visionary, Diplomat

Silver               13/4                Foundation, investing in self

Invest               8                     Money and Flow

Investment    6                       Nurturing and Care giving

Value               16/7                 Spiritual Seeking (nurturing self! 1+6)

Worth              12/3                 3 is Self-Worth!

Wealth             15/6                 Nurturing (taking risks to achieve the balance)

Wealthy          13/4                 Foundation, (building) investing in self

Bankrupt         13/4                 Foundation, (tearing down) investing in self

Bankruptcy     14/5                 Chaos

Foreclosure     2                      Balance, Person-to-Person

Repossession    10/1      Immediate Manifesting (be careful what you wish for!)

Money vibrates to a 9, which is the humanitarian number. This number is about unconditional love, 9 is about service to others and is about attainment and completion. I also look at what type of “9” it is, and ‘money’ is an 18/9. 1 is about self, individuality, independence and “8” is THE number for money and finances. (BTW “finances” is an 8!).

“Money” literally is about an individual (1) tithing (8) in order to be of service to others (9).

Both the 1 and 8 are base center, survival, money, and foundation numbers, as I mentioned above, yet I could even go a little further and have you take note that “Tithe” means “tenth” so the number 10/1 is also represented. It is another 1, but 10 is known as the manifesting number! If you have a 10 in a prominent position in your chart I always advise you to be careful what you ask for as it can manifest very quickly! Good or bad.

Now, I ask you to think about the difference between cash and credit? The transaction is complete with money, and that again is the 9 vibration: completion. When a cash transaction takes place, it is done.

Credit is a continuous cycle of frustration and hell. The name “credit” vibrates to a 14/5, which is a karmic number: learning about freedom by having it restricted. Also, 5 IS the number of excess, chaos, adventure, and what I call “sex, drugs, and rock & roll”. But in reality, a 5 is always in motion and never is about completion! And there you have it. Take note that the other 14/5 karmic number in the list is “bankruptcy”.

It is interesting to see how some of the terms have the same number vibrations, yet the terms can be applied in a completely different context. For example, a 4 is all about family, foundation, but can also represent drama (good or bad). So to see “wealthy” and “bankrupt” together, not only as 4 but as 13/4 is amazing to me. Again, 1 is all about self and individuality, 3 is all about worth and self-worth. Both terms can determine our foundation based on our own worth, and how many millionaires and billionaires filed bankruptcy in order to start all over again with a new company, new foundation?

ABUNDANCE WORKSHOP

Saturday March 27, 2010 2-5 pm

This weekend I will be conducting a workshop on Abundance and will explain a bit more about numbers, corresponding colors and what they can communicate. You can also use numbers and colors to shift your current energy and attract to you what you need to keep the money flowing. I don’t have enough room to go into all the numbers but hope this gives you an awareness of the energy that surrounds us and how it reflects our current state of being. I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did researching and writing about it!

Blessings, and have a great week!

I will be presenting a workshop on

ABUNDANCE

at the Waterfalls of Wellness Healing Center

Saturday, March 27, 2010 at 2:00-5:00 pm
739 Bluff City Highway
Bristol, TN 37620

The difference between a boss and a leader: a boss says, ‘Go!’ -a leader says, ‘Let’s go!’.

E. M. Kelly

You weren’t an accident, You weren’t mass produced. You aren’t an assembly-line product. You were deliberately planned, specifically gifted, and lovingly positioned on the Earth by the Master Craftsman.

-Max Lucado

I think I need to sub-title this, “An Ode to Teachers” because they are mustering up the colors of confidence on a daily basis. In fact, it is because of one teacher (and there are many of you there at John S. Battle High School in Bristol, Virginia…) that inspired this week’s entry, her name is Mrs. Linda Waldron.

I had the pleasure of taking my daughter to Richmond last week for the state finals of Poetry Out Loud National Recitation Contest. (POL for short!). The National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation have partnered with State Arts Agencies, in our case it was Virginia, to support this wonderful endeavor. To be honest, I had not heard of it before Sarah came home and stated she was in the regional contest.

This contest was established for high school students across the country to learn about great poetry through memorization and performance and at the same time, master public speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage. It also revives the lost art of poetry recitation. It requires extra effort in an already challenging educational system on the teacher’s part to integrate the contest within the classroom therefore, not all schools participate.

My daughter Sarah, was fortunate to have a teacher, Mrs. Linda Waldron that felt passionate about this program and went above and beyond her expected duties as a teacher and offer this as part of her curriculum. She spent much time with Sarah and other’s preparing for the regional level, and yes, building confidence.

Energy is color, color is energy, so confidence is not only built within an energy system, it is transferred from one confident person to another. Teacher’s such as Mrs. Waldron build a student’s confidence because they offer “deposits” of self-esteem and self-worth through their support and belief that the student can achieve.

It is important to remind ourselves, that as we build and support others, we must make sure we too, are depositing the same energy within ourselves.

You can’t give what you don’t have!

And that is one reason why teachers can become so worn out and depleted, they put themselves at the bottom of the “to do” list. I only wish that Mrs. Waldron could have experienced the performances in Richmond, perhaps next year she will reap the reward. Taking pride in your mentoring and coaching by witnessing the student’s own confidence is a deposit in and of itself.

It was an amazing experience, not only to witness each of the twenty-two contestants present the poems of great poets but also to see the energy on that stage. It is interesting to note that these poems were complex works, all memorized and presented with agility and a mature sense of understanding. Because I make it my life’s work to look at the colors we emanate, I could not just sit, listen, and enjoy-I had to study the energy behind the words.

I wanted to see if the emotional and powerful words that were being expressed had an impact on the energy of the student reciting. And since each student recited two poems, it would be easy to see if there was a “switch” that flipped on with the different temperament of poems. There were a few that could flip that energy switch, but for the most part what I noted was a strong sense of self-confidence. It was refreshing, because about 80% of my work at a consulting hypnotist and medical intuitive is about helping one FIND that self-confidence!

What is the color of confidence? Confidence is associated with the color yellow. Yellow is all about ego, self, intellect, and self-esteem. It is associated with the solar plexus energy, your stomach or “belly” area. Think of the term “yellow-belly” and there you have it! Yes, yellow is often associated with the term “cowardice” but that is because the person would rather use intellect (brain) over aggression (brawn), so often they are dubbed cowardly. It is ironic though, because those that do not have confidence or self-esteem often LACK the color yellow in their energy field. It is often depleted and very pale.

Those that have an arrogant sense of self and are over-confident often have an over abundance of yellow, not just in their stomach region (where it should be) but usually in their throat center and also in their heart center. The yellow is pushing more toward lime green in the heart center rather than the nice earthy green I like to see there, indicating that they tend to put themselves (yellow) first (green=relationships).

Confidence, good, healthy, balanced confidence is a beautiful golden yellow. Think of the sunflower and how it grows tall and faces the sun in all its brilliance, and all of the little seeds of thought are presented to the world. (hey, maybe some of that poetry stuff rubbed off? No, not really…) But in reality, that wonderful balance of yellow with the touch of warm energy brought on by the red helps thrust your intellect and confidence out into the world.

Warm hues emerge and push out from their space, they radiate in a sense. Yellow can be so easily influenced. It can “go ugly early” because it is what I would call the most fragile color in the palette. It makes sense that it is associated with our ego. It can be influenced by the smallest amount of cool hues: blues, greens, and indigos, which can force it to retreat, constrict, as if protecting something or someone. It can radiate and emerge, almost bloom with warm hues such as reds and oranges, and present our confidence and energy to those around us.

Confidence is about feeling empowered and secure in your knowledge. These are two references to the color yellow (power, knowledge) with a little bit of red thrown in (security)…Interesting how that all works isn’t it? Confidence emerges from our being with a quiet sense of power, yet it is not overpowering. Arrogance is overpowering and it is the overabundance of yellow, without any tempering of warm hues.

I am often asked what the difference is between confidence and arrogance, my answer: A sense of humor! I say that because arrogance is all about self without any room for negotiation. Arrogance is about power, not empowerment. Confidence allows one to lead by example; arrogance allows one to manage through force and often humiliation. Think about humiliation, it is shame, instills low self-esteem, forcing your confident yellow to withdrawal…so the arrogant energy can overpower!

The yellow of arrogance is almost acidic, a lemon-yellow almost, that is why arrogant people make you want to pucker! lol Whereas confidence is about mentoring and a solid sense of self. There is also a sense of orange energy when you add a bit of the red to the confidence of the yellow. Orange invites creativity, and also includes the person-to-person relationships that can be established when one holds their sense of self in high regard.

The stage last week in Richmond at the Barksdale Theatre held twenty-two beautiful entities with confidence and courage to stand out there and do their best. They all had the energy, some had the capability to push their energy to the back of the theatre, while others could muster enough for just themselves. Yellow energy is the longest wavelength, meaning it can be seen (felt) from the furthest distances. That is why school buses are yellow, visibility…and yellow in the factory workplace not only gets our attention, but helps us focus and keep our mind on our work. (again, yellow is about intellect, and ego!)

It did not matter if these students could project their “yellow” to the back of the room, for they all had the confidence to be out there and represent their schools. I am proud of all of them, and of course my own daughter, as she was one of them! In the end, only one could win, congratulations Tia Robinson of Rappahannock High School.

There were some big disappointments (my daughter included), and it was at this moment I could not believe my ears, the announcer for the contest, the managing director of the Barksdale Theater stated to the high school contestants,”with all due respect to our wonderful judges, please do not let the opinion of these five individuals steer you from your passion and your purpose. As any opinion in life, it is all subjective.” Wow. What a wonderful way to seal the “stomach wound” (confidence-killer) of defeat for these dedicated students. But more than that, he contributed to the color of their confidence by supporting their efforts AND validating the work and the efforts of all the wonderful teachers, educators, and parents that provided the positive energy for the journey.

Thank you, sir, for that observation. That was an observation and a positive script that can (and did) shift lives! So, on that note! If you are looking for confidence, find that yellow cup or mug and tape your affirmation on it, “I move forward with courage and confidence!” and go on… Take on the world-you can do it, you know, it all begins with one step…and a good teacher, so thanks again, Mrs. Waldron.

Long ago…I resolved that I would permit no man, no matter what his color might be, to narrow and degrade my soul by making me hate him.

-Booker T. Washington

Hate is an acid that corrodes its container.

-Tonya Baker

I remember when I was young  my mom would take clippings from the newspaper, particularly Dear Abby and put them in her recipe box. She had one that talked about cancer, saying (and I paraphrase here) “Cancer is not what you are eating, it is what’s eating you”. Meaning what is bothering you emotionally is affecting your health. I didn’t realize at the time that I would be doing this for a living, and it is not a coincidence I chose a forward-thinking Aquarian for a mother (and now have another forward-thinking Aquarian as a partner).

Color within your energetic system is “visible emotion.” I can discern what emotion center you are taking from by what colors are depleted or what colors are dominant in your system. Most often your colors are predominantly clear and crisp and easy to see. Cancer is not that vivid or clear to see. It is buried deep and is not what I would call “active energy” in the body.

Cancer is one big ball of emotional garbage. A tumor is often more than one emotion, and they are tangled together like a hairball. These emotions accumulate over the years and hunker down just waiting for an emotional trigger that will prompt its appearance. I talk about cysts in my entry at CatherinePoole.com and refer to them as “trash cans”…well tumors are very similar. If we manifest a cyst, it creates a lot of worry and concern until it is checked out and tested. They are similar, but the color surrounding a cyst is not as dense and murky as the energy surrounding cancer.

The color is what I refer to as “baby-poop green”  (not a name Sherwin Williams would adopt, but you get the idea). If you think about it, all those rotten, rancid emotions from past events and past hurts would not be a pretty cheery pink would they? They have been shoved down and fed with every negative thought and every guilt from every negative thought. They never see any (inner) light and in a sense those tangled hairballs of emotion accumulate and rot inside us until your body decides it is time to do something about it.

The energy surrounding the areas of cancer are murky and convoluted. And depending on the type of cancer it can hover in one area or be an overall systemic dull blanket or overlay of color. The greenish cast in the cancer is in part due to the fact that cancer grows. The brighter the green, the faster it grows. The dull dark brownish greens are usually the slower growing cancers.

I do not diagnose cancer, nor do I mention at all what I see, but I will focus a session on past hurts, forgiveness, revenge attitudes, and most importantly, anger. I have many clients that have learned from cancer and there is always the underlying concern that the cancer will return. It seems that some of the nicest people will manifest cancer, why is that? Because they bury the negative, the anger, yes even the resentment and the rage because it isn’t Christian or “Higher Self” to express anger.

Anger is a natural human emotion. When expressed it averages about 2 minutes. It is HOW you decide to vent that makes all the difference. One beautiful woman came into my office and she had a double mastectomy as a prophylactic procedure because of the family history.

Heredity does not mean you will develop a condition, heredity is a genetic opportunity for lessons.

Meaning, you have the DNA to manifest a tissue issue if you don’t follow your joy, your “happy”. If you are not on your path, your body will use the tissue issue to “course correct” you into your joy. People that are cured of cancer have done what? SHIFTED!!!!  YES! course corrected, prioritized and decided where they want to be in order to achieve their happiness.

This wonderful young woman had preventative surgery, yet the fear was still there depleting her red energy so much that her orange, sacral center was trying to compensate. Her red energy became depleted with her extensive worry about survival and her fear that cancer may appear. This depletion in her red was creating a depletion in her orange energy which was trying to compensate and balance her red. This created a depletion in her yellow, her solar plexus as it was trying to compensate and balance her orange energy. Her body was trying to balance out her energy while still obliging her and giving her energy to feed her fear.

My concern here is with the lower THREE depleted centers; the red, the orange, and the yellow energy.  The next to come is her green, heart center energy which would push down to help the yellow…so here is the potential for a weakness in the breast area where the fear is focused because of her potential for breast cancer. And through it all the real issue is that her immune system is compromised…

My question for her was about expressing her anger, asking if she gets anger out of her system? She smiled and said she had a temper…and I said GREAT! Using it as a constructive tool for healing is the best thing she can do to take the fear away by getting it OUT.

When I say constructive, don’t aim your anger toward another and create hurt and harm for them. Even if you feel at the time they deserve it, wait and address them when you are calm and grounded and can set your personal boundaries with logic and love. I know it isn’t easy, but it is healthier. Directed malicious anger is a boomerang, but firm setting of boundaries with logic and love is respecting yourself.

Vent the anger by imagining the person you are angry with and beat on a pillow, scream, kick and pound on your bed, look in the mirror and give them a good lashing! The key is GET IT OUT don’t push it down. A good method is to sit in your car and turn the radio on loud, imagine that person in the back seat or the seat next to you and just go to town! GET IT UP and then OUT!

Yet another reason to advocate exercise, it is a great way to release stress and anger. There are times I have gone running just so I can repeatedly step on someone’s head! It gets it out and clears my heart and mind so I can approach them and the situation from a logical point of view.

Some take their anger out on the one closest to them, or find a “focal person”  for their anger. This does not release the anger, it actually boomerangs back to the sender because the energy is given to other people and other situations and becomes depleted. Then the “victim” energy takes root and with that it finds its way deep down being fed with other emotions that coincide with its acidic green energy. Resentment and jealousy fed by anger and the victim consciousness  deplete energy from the body. Ironically, the “victim” blames others, when in fact it is their choice to “give” their energy away through negative actions and scripting. The body becomes even weaker, the immune system cannot keep up with the hate and resentment. It just can’t.

Happy is the best preventative medicine. When we are genuinely happy, and vibrate with love and joy dis-ease cannot reside. Fat cannot reside, joy burns off infection and dis-ease like a fever burns off infection! So shifting out of the fear, the anger, the resentment, and jealousy is the way to heal, and the way to stay healthy. Laughter and joy bring light into our bodies, and when we shed inner light on all those old resentments and past hurts it like cleaning house and taking out the trash!

I have a self-hypnosis audio that I wrote and recorded called “Visualizing Whealthy”  in fact I have two versions of the script, one for weight release and one for overall “whealth”  It takes you to that place and time in your life where you experienced absolute joy, whether in love for the first time, winning an award or the big game, whatever brought you joy. You hold that feeling, that joy, and then I invite you to create a day dream where you want to be: thin, healthy, wealthy, in a positive relationship, whatever, then you “transfer” the past joy to future and hold THAT in your head instead of worry…You are then instructed how to get out of your own way and how to allow joy into your life.

When you hold  joy, dis-ease cannot reside in the same vibration.

It is a very powerful audio.To find out more, click here

If you are having trouble regarding someone else and are angry or resentful, jealous, or irritated, then I have another audio I just wrote and recorded this week that can help you build your own confidence and deflect negativity and the negative opinions of others. To order, click here

If you enjoy these entries and how I present solutions to situations, then these will be to your liking. They are classic Catherine Poole! So, if you have fear of cancer, learning or KNOW someone learning, these would be great gifts!

Blessings to you! Have a great week.

Catherine

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.

-John Vance Cheney

The sorrow which has no vent

in tears may make other organs weep.

–Henry Haudsley

So often when I give a color reading the question comes up about the color black in the energetic field. Many think if there is something “bad” in their energy it would show up as black. I can see where we have a negative opinion of the color black, but very seldom do I see black. In fact only a handful of times have I seen black and it indicates a MAJOR blockage in the energy field, which can be dealt with, but it is nothing more than that.

I also cannot emphasize enough that there is not anything negative in a reading, ever. The “worst” that can happen is CHANGE. It all depends on how you view change as to whether you see it as negative or not.

My job as an intuitive is to empower you, help you understand your  life, your lessons and your body’s messages. Any psychic or intuitive that instills fear IN ANY WAY is conducting what I refer to as “psychic malpractice”.

Thoughts create and emotions turn on the tractor beam! I have had too many clients to count that have made an appointment with me because some energy worker or psychic told them to have their heart checked, get a mammogram, or whatever! I had a colleague that actually walked up to a man and out of the blue, tell him he needed to get his heart checked immediately! She frightened him so much he left. Not only is this psychic malpractice, it is also illegal as it resides very close to diagnosis.

I focus on the emotional basis of the energy I see, not the physical diagnosis or origin. If a client is very uneasy about their body or changes in their physical condition then I will encourage them to see their medical professional, if nothing else for peace of mind! My job is to look at the energy and listen to the language: what are you telling your body and what is your body telling you?  it is the emotional basis of the dis-ease or the tissue issue that is creating the depletion in the first place.

So, that being said, what DOES get my attention in your energetic system?

RED. The color red, no matter where it is in your energetic system gets my attention. When it is within your physical body it can indicate pain, when it is in your energy field on the left, it represents a shift, change in your life. How intense and how big the energy band tells me how much to prepare you for your shift.When it is in your energy field and on the right, it represents pain that you are still holding onto. Usually on the right it is like a lasso holding onto people and circumstances…things you don’t want to release. That is actually where the red base energy is often directed.

When I see red in your actual energy field, I will often ask first if there is pain in that area on the body, if there is pain then I interpret your body’s messages and we go from there. (To understand more about pain specifically, check out What A Pain! ) If there is not any pain or injury then I take it as a metaphysical message and we go from there. Often I will see red in one hip when it is really the other that is affected, that is because one will compensate and put pressure and strain on the opposing hip, foot, shoulder, whatever. But again, it is all to be interpreted before you start telling your body to be quiet by taking pain relievers.

Pain in the energetic system can also be “old pain” or in reality, true “ghost pain”. I see this in clients that are still carrying guilt, pain, and hatred regarding some injustice or crime. If a rape or molestation has not been properly dealt with, and I mean that in many ways, from forgiveness to professional counseling to family support, it can manifest in the energetic field almost as if the lower emotion centers were put through a meat grinder. I recall one client that came into my office and it was very obvious that she was carrying around this trauma as if it had just happened. Her base (red) and her sacral (orange) energy were shredded and chaotic and it spilled right into her solar plexus and heart center. In a sense something was “eating her up”.

I take this time again to caution hypnotists and practitioners that follow my work, did I ask about a rape or an assault? No. But we did talk about forgiveness and guilt because that was what her body was screaming. She needed to forgive, and that forgiveness and understanding needed to be for herself, to support her self worth, and her self-preservation.

She was learning from chronic pain, including interstitial cystitis! This is a chronic condition that communicates “no-trespassing EVER”. It is very painful and affects urination as well as menstruation and sexual activity. In a sense it puts everything “down there” on alert AND on hold. She had not made any connection with the rape and the pain because the pain started so much later in her adult life and the rape had occurred in her childhood.

Allowing her to understand that we are here to teach each other as well as to learn from each other is the first step in the healing process. Love, understanding, and forgiveness are the tools for eliminating the pain: emotional, spiritual, as well as physical pain. And many times it has to hurt in order for us to find value in the lesson. That is not the way it has to be, yet that is what we expect, so that is what we manifest.

Red in the energy field is all about shifts and changes. Depending on how intense, how wide, and what shape it may take will give me clues. A client that possesses a big intense band of red is perhaps my most challenging readings, I refer to it as a “tidal wave” of red, because it indicates big shifts and changes, such as divorce, health issues, job loss, even a death in their immediate circle…anything that will bring on quick and drastic changes.

Do I mention these things? Not in that manner, that would be unethical, but I will spend the session talking and preparing them for the changes that are entering their life. And THEN finding out what intentions they have set in order to attract this tidal wave of change? They may even welcome it. I put down the foundation for optimism and what is to happen after the changes.

I have a previous entry entitled  “Cosmic Closet Cleaning” which in reality is what this wave of red represents. So you may want to check that out to help you deal with the pain and the chaos. It is all about perspective and how you look at what is happening around you.

Red is the color of pain, it gets our attention and often it takes pain to get us moving whether it is physically, emotionally, or otherwise! The tidal wave is the “elephant on your head” because you didn’t listen to the subtle messages to shift. Smaller bands of red in an energy field are more like “hiccups” or bumps and nudges to course correct and get you on the right path. They are more shifts than drastic changes.

Listening to the messages your body is sending and answering them with love, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness will help alleviate the pain. Looking at the pain when it is small and subtle rather than waiting for it to become infected and inflamed is really what it is all about. If you know that drastic changes are coming in, you can adjust your thinking and your behavior in order to either prepare for the shifts or avoid them altogether. Knowledge is power yet knowing is empowering! Have a blessed week!

Catherine

To be what you are and who you are, can’t be called a failure.

–Anatole Broyard

Wherever you go, you can’t get rid of yourself.

–Polish Proverb

Welcome! To the first post of 2010, and my New Year’s Resolution is to have this site updated regularly! To kick off the month of January, I wanted to talk about the color of this new year and the vibrations it brings with it.

As spokesperson for The Freshaire Choice brand paint, I was asked in December/January’s issue of House Beautiful what one color I would choose from the Freshaire Choice palette to represent 2010. From a practical standpoint, my choice was a beautiful color entitled, “Organic Garden” a beautiful balance of green/blue/beige/gray. I enjoy the malleable colors of Freshaire Choice, creating an animated, versatile palette with high quality No-VOC paints.

Now, from a metaphysical standpoint, the vibratory color of 2010 is a bit more mathematical! Color and numbers, just as color and music, have a relationship. Using numerology, 2010 reduces to a 3 vibratory year. To find out more about this, check out your personal year at CatherinePoole.com

3 vibrates to the color yellow, and is related to your third energy (emotion) center also known as your solar plexus. Yellow, as well as the number 3 represent self worth, self-esteem, and ego. It is also about intellect, study, knowledge and the processing of information.

Also, because it represents these qualities, and it is related to the stomach area and how we burn energy, the color yellow is also the color of weight release. It helps with digestion and processing food and nutrients within the body. In fact, one of my YouTube videos talks about drinking your water from a yellow container or cup to help with your weight release process. This is because yellow is lacking in that area – AND is one of the reasons you don’t want to do those sit-ups as they will stimulate that energy center!

So, how does this all fit in with the year? I don’t know about you, but I know that for many of my clients, and for me, there have ALREADY been some challenging moments. It seems this January, and consequently this next year, will involve putting you in situations where you will have to define your worth, prioritize, and not only get on track, but STAY on track for this year.

In a sense, a 3/Yellow year provides the energy to push us into thinking and hopefully ACTING in our own best interest. This is not about being selfish. This energy is about taking care of YOU so you can offer a whole, healthy person to those you love.

This IS the year, with the energy to back it up, to put yourself first. It is also the year, if you choose to NOT take care of you, that the energy around you will put circumstances in your path which will remind you to take care of you.

As I mentioned, yellow is also the color of weight release. If you have been going back and forth about diets, exercise, and taking care of you, the energy of this year can be an added bonus for motivation and success! You will find that the universe will support you in your efforts. There perhaps could not be a better time to begin a shift in your priorities and begin to be your own best friend than this year of 2010.

Many do not realize that when you take care of you it is a gift to your family. When you decide to focus on healthy you build your immune system, you have more energy, and you improve your overall physiological condition. Taking even an hour a day to walk or exercise is one of the best gifts you can give yourself.

Notice as the year progresses, where and how the color yellow makes itself known, in your life, in society, advertising, and fashion. Last fall while on a business trip to San Francisco I had the pleasure of sitting next to a VP of sales for a major supplier to retail stores, including WalMart. We had a wonderful conversation about color and marketing, and I mentioned that yellow was the least liked color in society. I also asked about the difficulty in finding yellow products in the market? Interestingly enough, yellow is not produced because it is not liked or in demand…so it is cyclical, but I am not sure how established this paradigm is within industry. But look at how much yellow you have in your environment?

If you need a boost or would like something to offer you an impetus to shift some aspect of your life regarding self worth use the color yellow to help you with that shift. I have a yellow drinking glass, I use it everyday for my water. I also have an affirmation taped onto it: “I have the courage and confidence to move forward”. This affirmation corresponds with the color yellow and no matter what, whether it is weight release, prioritizing, self-worth issues this helps provide the energy to shift. It is self-hypnosis, which is really what affirmations are.

Welcome this wonderful year with joy, happiness, and all the positive energy it brings. Take a moment before reacting to what may seem as adverse conditions and question if you are being asked to take care of you? Whether it is dis-ease, a job challenge, relationships, whatever…just take a breath and welcome the gift of 2010, it is the gift of self!

The Weight Release Workshop at Topsail Island, NC is being offered the weekend of February 6, 7, 2010. We have opened up the second condo and have several spots still available. This is offered to individuals and practitioners alike, and you can receive NGH CEU’s for continuing education study as I am a faculty member of NGH. Practitioners also receive packets to help them with clients learning from weight issues. Contact Bryn Blankinship for more information and to register now.

Blessings to you from The Queen of Color! Catherine

I am woman, hear me roar in numbers too big to ignore

And I know too much to go back an’ pretend ’cause I’ve heard it all before

And I’ve been down there on the floor.

No one’s ever gonna keep me down again

CHORUS

Oh yes I am wise, but it’s wisdom born of pain.

Yes, I’ve paid the price, but look how much I gained.

If I have to, I can do anything

I am strong (strong). I am invincible (invincible). I am woman.

You can bend but never break me ’cause it only serves to make me.

More determined to achieve my final goal

And I come back even stronger. Not a novice any longer.

‘Cause you’ve deepened the conviction in my soul

CHORUS

I am woman watch me grow. See me standing toe to toe.

As I spread my lovin’ arms across the land,

But I’m still an embryo with a long long way to go,

Until I make my brother understand. CHORUS

I Am Woman (words and music by Helen Reddy and Ray Burton)

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Well, well, the seventies! We have looked at the fabulous fifties and the reverberation of “modern conveniences” including TV Dinners, danced erratically through the psychedelic experiments of the sixties and now we emerge into the decade focused not on separation, but harmony. (Just think of the jingle, “I would like to teach the world to sing” from Coca Cola).

The Vietnam War ended, our POW’s stepped bravely off the planes, peace was restored to our college and university campuses and women in society were beginning to feel that they could and would make a difference.

With these changes in place we begin to see the transition from the bright psychedelic hues of the sixties to the muted earth tone shades of the seventies.

Avocado Green and Harvest Gold begin to dominate the kitchen scenes, with plenty of browns to keep them company! Earth tones, particularly browns offer calm, grounding energy. These hues were a necessary reflection of the winding down of a previous turbulent decade. A need for restructuring and centering one self (and family) established a new direction. Recreational drugs gave way to TM (Transcendental Meditation).

Green is the color of new relationships, relationships with God, Self and others. It is the color of the heart center, and is all about love. Green helps establish foundations, and unlike the lime green of the sixties, the Avocado Green of this decade is tinted with the addition of black. The difference is that the lime green of the sixties contained the bright yellow with no addition of black (to make it a shaded hue). It was pure yellow, pure EGO that dominated the scenes in the sixties.

The Avocado green of this seventies decade is more of a mixture of black and yellow rather than the shade of pure, true green (containing a ration of blue and yellow hues). I used to love the first week of color theory when students, some for the first time were unaware of what would transpire with the color yellow when they needed to explore tints and shades! The reactions were great when just a small amount of black would shift the yellow immediately to green.

In the subtractive theory of color, black is achieved by the mixing of all hues together; it is subtractive because in a sense the “light” is taken away as the hues are mixed. Color is reflected off a surface rather than transferred through on wavelengths. In the additive theory of color, all (light) hues mixed form white, white light is separated by a prism to make the spectrum or a rainbow.

So, in a sense, black is all color mixed and white is all color reflected. Black is what I refer to as a magnifier, it will take on the characteristics of an adjacent hue and in a sense communicate or give that hue power. It absorbs energy and in a way, seeks direction from other energy (color).

The addition of black to yellow creates this earthy unique green that has become infamous within the confines of interior design discussions. Symbolically, we toned down the “ego” of the sixties yellow and grounded that ego with the addition of black, a color of humility. Also, in a symbolic sense, black and yellow could be considered compliments, (humility vs ego) and the result is a solid grounded safe foundation on which to structure the next decade.

Gold is another interesting hue of this decade, which contains not only yellow, but white as well as blue and red. The gold is a muted shade of yellow, but also offers a rich grounding energy as the other earthtones do. They all work with each other, not against each other as the sixties colors fought constantly against themselves. The seventies was about harmony, grounding, hope for our Mother Earth (remember the “Give a Hoot, Don’t Pollute” and of course the Native American with the tear?)

Women of the seventies were seeking an acceptable life among the work force, while also attempting balance between, work, home and family. As I mentioned in the media, the role of women were reflected as the “June Cleaver’s” and “Harriet Nelson’s” in the fifties, they shifted to magical powers yet still under control of the husband and the household in the sixties, then we ended up with these super powers and abilities to DO IT ALL in the seventies with the Bionic Woman, Wonder Woman (and of course, who could forget “Oh! Almighty Isis” of the Saturday morning crowd!)…

Not to be denied in the seventies color palette and throughout seventies society is the bright yellow “Smiley” Button! Bright yellow is about ego and self, career issues, self esteem and intellectual pursuits. It is also used in color therapy to treat depression and help promote a happier outlook on life. This utilization of the color yellow in the seventies as a major influence for confidence in moving forward is best illustrated by the Smiley face (“Happy Face”) and the affirmation that accompanied it, “Have a Nice Day!”

And on that note: I hope you have a nice day, and a nice week! Next entry will explore the decade of business: the 1980’s! Have a blessed week. Catherine

“The sixties were when hallucinogenic drugs were really, really big. And I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we had the type of shows we had then, like The Flying Nun.”

-Ellen DeGeneres

I like ideas about the breaking away or overthrowing of established order. I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos, especially activity that seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road towards freedom – external freedom is a way to bring about internal freedom.

-Jim Morrison

Last week brought many reflections on the color of your grandmother’s (or great grandmother’s) kitchen. We shift from the palette of pinks, reds, and blacks (and turquoise too!) to the brighter more “action oriented” colors of the 60’s. The earlier part of the decade brought out the more psychedelic pop-art bold colors and then as we transitioned into the late sixties and on into the seventies, the palette became earthier and heavier.

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It was in the sixties, that women began their painful climb out of the sexual dark ages. They entered the work force, gained control over their bodies, and challenged male supremacy in all its forms:

• political
• economical
• ideological

Color did not emerge in the sixties, it EXPLODED and bled on everything from cars and vans to kitchens and appliances. The explosion of color and the introduction of “hot” “vibrating” colors reflect the energy, anxieties, rebellion, and anger we associate with this decade of change. The bold, bright patterns found their way in curtains, wallpaper and tablecloths reflecting the influence of Andy Warhol. Lime greens, oranges and yellows “popped” everywhere.

These issues did not solely affect women, it was becoming a societal shift along gender, race, religion and core values.

In essence it was not about women and their kitchens, it was about women getting OUT of their kitchens!

And with some of the colors, who could really stay in there anyway?!

Until the sixties, women labored under age-old disabilities. The colors that begin to emerge in the sixties reflect the confusion and undecided issues that concerned not only women, but also families and society in general. It was a decade of change, and it makes sense that red would be at the forefront.

Red is all about choice, survival, fear and family. Red can bring on the extreme in any situation.

The hue was warmer than the cooler red of the previous fifties decade, and the addition of this warmer red brought out more emotional upheaval along with the keywords of: action, hatred of old values and control, even rebellion. The warmer hue provided more energy for change, and this change was through action, rather than words. The cooler red of the fifties provided more influence through communication and talking things out because of its addition of blue. The existence of this warm red furthered the agitation of the times. It was restless.

In essence the sixties brought with it a new outlook on life, in career, relationships and personal relationships. The palette was diverse, and bright. The green hues of the time were more toward lime green and that promoted a new relationship with self. Green is all about relationships, related to the heart center, and yellow is all about ego and self, so combined they create a thrust toward self-discovery.

Yellow is also a color that promotes a happy attitude, it is a “feel good” color. It can create a more relaxed, laid back attitude. Two outcomes of this new perspective on life and living in the sixties were recreational drug use (yellows and bright pinks, as well as purples) as well as casual sexual relationships (greens and reds).

Even, the bright pink (deeper than the “Pepto Bismal” color of the fifties) still had a nurturing quality, but carrying with it much red undertones promoted excess with one’s body.

The sixties was termed the decade of change, but change does not come without confusion, and turmoil. Subconsciously we were a culture looking for “grounding” in a world where everything and everyone was in upheaval! It was a decade of confusion and sorting, experimentation leading ultimately to change, and the colors pulled and tugged at each other, adding to the energy.

So many complimentary colors were thrown together, fighting their way through the design and advertising messages of the day. Remember, it is not JUST about the colors on the kitchen walls, it is also about the colors of products and items you bring into the kitchen. Plastic and all its possibilities also came into our lives. All have influence as you use them, walk by them, see them constantly. Even aprons  have their influence.

Interesting to note, the one hue which was significantly missing was blue. It was there, but not a high profile color in the designs of the time. Blue represents communication, business, speaking one’s truth as well as honest open relationships. Women were reexamining their roles and not sure how to speak up, speak their truth.

They realized they wanted or needed to work outside the home. Even professional women were fed up with their second class status and the prejudice that surrounded them for choosing work outside the home over home making. They, too, needed to be heard.

Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique emerged in 1963 urging women to stop being doormats and to fight for equality. It was time for women to get OUT of the kitchen! NOW (National Organization for Women) was founded by Friedan. Bra burning and birth control were the tag lines of the day.

An interesting correlation with this “feminist movement” is the presence in the sixties and on into the seventies of the color orange. Orange helps with finding creative solutions to deeply rooted prejudices and political beliefs. In a sense, red (prejudices and deep seated beliefs) is encouraged by yellow (building change on intellectual pursuits)…the result is a prominent display of the color orange, in many shades, but the brightest shades were in the sixties.

Orange became more prominent in the seventies as creative solutions and paths for the change were initiated here in this decade with the brighter oranges. These oranges then would be “calmed” or even grounded in the seventies as things began to settle.

A wonderful book I mentioned last week by Susan J. Douglas: Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media (Random House 1994) talks about the television shows of the sixties and how suddenly female characters in sitcoms were capable of magic! (Now we have Medium and Ghost Whisperer). Looking at the colors and the “modern designs” of the time it is a clear picture of the continuity between color and culture–from anodized aluminum cups in all colors to the “Jetson-like” furniture kitchen sets in “space-age colors” and the depictions of female characters on television. It was not just the color of the kitchen any longer, it was the color on television and the color of OTHER kitchens on TV! Whose kitchens were they seeing?

I would like to share this passage from Susan’s book

“In shows like Bewitched, I Dream of Jeanie, The Flying Nun, a new version of Pandora’s box was acted out. Seemingly normal looking female characters possessed magical powers, which men begged them not to use; if women did use them, their powers had to be confined to the private sphere…Although the men insisted (usually unsuccessfully) that their women not use these powers, there were three exceptions that the shows’ narrative systems permitted: to complete domestic chores, to compete over men, and to help the men out of embarrassing situations, which usually had been created by the woman’s unauthorized use of her magic powers in the first place.” Chapter 6 pp126-127

Next week we move into the muddy palette of the seventies. So prepare yourself as we reflect on the powers of Harvest Gold, Avocado Green and other earthy tones!