Today is a great day to ponder how we feel about the colour Red. For those of you who love Red—you may be in your glory as every product/greeting you can imagine is sporting the colour.
Red is a passionate colour. Most people have fairly strong feelings about it either way (positive or negative). If you think about it—it makes perfect sense. Aside from being one of the primary colour choices—Red can be symbolic of both life or death (blood), power, passion and intensity (fire), or violence (bloodshed).
Red is the colour of passion. Passion can describe enthusiasm. It can describe violence (crimes of passion). It's an excellent word to describe very strong and intense feelings of some kind.
Red relates to the BASE chakra situated at the base of the spine The organs to which this chakra relates are the kidneys and bladder .(The kidneys are formed within the pelvis and here they link with the base chakra energy, although prior to birth they rise to the position in the loins with which we are more familiar). The vertebral column, hips and legs are also areas related to this chakra. The endocrine gland to which this colour relates is the adrenal gland.
On the psycho-spiritual level, this chakra relates to self awareness. That is to say our awareness of ourselves as human beings and our place on earth. It is the area of survival and relates to our basic human instincts of fight or flight. Red gives us courage and strength. The colour relates to stability and security.
The most emotionally intense colour, red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love. Red clothing gets noticed and makes the wearer appear heavier. Since it is an extreme colour, red clothing might not help people in negotiations or confrontations. Red cars are popular targets for thieves. In decorating, red is usually used as an accent. Decorators say that red furniture should be perfect since it will attract attention.
Red is supposedly the first colour percieved by Man. Brain-injured persons suffering from temporary colour-blindness start to perceive red before they are able to discern any other colors. Neolithic hunter peoples considered red to be the most important colour endowed with life-giving powers and thus placed red ochre into graves of their deceased. This explains funds of skeletons embedded in up to 10 kg of red powdered ochre. Neolithic cave painters ascribed magic powers to the color red. The word "magic" ("Zauber" in German) translates to "taufr" in Old Norse and is related to the Anglo-Saxon "teafor" meaning "red ochre". It can be stipulated that they painted animals in red ochre or iron oxide to conjure their fertility.
Protective powers of the colour red against evil influence were common belief. Objects, animals and trees were covered in red paint, warriors painted their axes and spear-catapults red to endow the weapons with magic powers. Some of the Australian aborigines abide by this custom up to the present times. Neolithic hunters and Germanic warriors used to paint their weapons and even themselves in blood of slain animals. Roman gladiators drank blood of their dying adversaries to take over their strength. In other cultures, the newly born were bathed in blood of particularly strong and good looking animals.
Red painted amulettes or red gems, such as ruby or garnet, were used as charms against the "evil eye". Wearing a red ruby was supposed to bring about invincibility. Red bed-clothes were customary in
Red rose is the symbol of love and fidelity. According to the Greek legend red roses arose from the blood of Adonis who was killed by a wild boar on a hunt. In Greek mythology red rose was a symbol for the cycle of growth and decay, but also for love and affinity. Red rose is dedicated to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and daughter of Zeus and also to Roman goddess Venus. In Christianity the red rose is associated with the Cross and the bloodshed.