COLORS IN MEDITATION

IMAGE: RABBI AVRAHAM SUTTON

 
 

COLORS / SEFIROT

 

Ramak

(Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Pardes Rimonim, Shaar HaGvanim) gives the most authoritative color scheme for the sefirot. He brings different possibilities for each sefirah. Here we present just one possible set:

  • Keter - blinding white

  • Chokhmah – sapphire blue

  • Binah – sun yellow and emerald green

  • Chesed - white and silver; silvery white

  • Gevurah - red and gold; reddish gold

  • Tiferet – yellow and purple

  • Netzach - light pink

  • Hod - dark pink

  • Yesod - orange

  • Malkhut - royal blue


Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan

interpretion of the  Ramak’s descriptions
(see Meditation and Kabbalah, page 181)

  • Keter - blinding invisible white

  • Chokhmah - a color that includes all colors

  • Binah - sun yellow and emerald green.

  • Chesed - white and silver; silvery white

  • Gevurah - red and gold; reddish gold

  • Tiferet - yellow and purple

  • Netzach - light pink

  • Hod - dark pink

  • Yesod - orange

  • Malkhut - royal blue

 

Color Meditation

by Dahlia Orlev

 1) Keter: Crown. It is our Spirit as the Or Makif or surrounding Light, the potential above you and beyond you. It is the color of blinding invisible white and is like a crown above our head. It is the Malach that knows your unique soul's mission but hides it from you so that you will have free choice. It is the Daat Elyon that comes from the Or Ein Sof. Essence of Keter: Unconscious unity of Faith - Emuna (essence of soul in God's essence). Inner Keter: Unconscious source of Delight -Taanug or transcendent soul rooted in delight. Outer Keter is Unconscious transcendent of Will – Ratzon or transcendent soul expresses through Will.

What do I really want to do in my life? This is the gateway to the highest transcendent and infinite consciousness – the Superconscious Transcendent Self

2) Chochmah: Wisdom- flash of insight and the power of Devekut and Divine and inner wisdom. It is the color that includes all colors and is our right brain and right side of our brain. It is presence - to be in the here and now in Selflessness. Chochma is the Superconscious Experience of infinite love and bliss and inner peace. It is the transcendent expanded consciousness to reveal our innate connection to the unity and goodness of all things. We transcend our Lower Self and is our first experience of our Divine Self which is beyond time and space. It is being in the Holy Present - in the Holy Now. It is Divine Consciousness. It is a holistic integrated way and receives and see the whole picture like a flash of lightening. Conscious illumination inspires self - nullification.

Do I use my intuition as a guide? Chochma are also the eyes in Kabbalah. Do I open my eyes to perceive the Infinite Light and unity of all things and people?

3) Bina: Understanding. It is the green color and is our left brain and left side of head. Bina is the analytical and logical part of our intellect which is dualistic in nature. The word Bina itself comes from the Hebrew word for Between or Bein or comparing one thing from another. There are emotional and intellectual types of mind. In Bina we see the details and parts of everything rather than the whole picture. By this we have objective clarity rather than subjective distortion. Our rational mind examines what is right and true.
What are the Divine messages that I have to understand today?
Bina is also the ears in Kabbalah – am I listening to holy words of Torah today?

4) Chesed: Loving-kindness. It is turquoise or white or silver and is our right arm and right upper torso. It is expansive Love and lovingkindness. Here we feel the Love of God and the Divine in all things. Here we respond to Divine giving.

What can I give and to whom can I give today in a loving and expansive way?

5) Gvurah: Restraint. It is the color red and is our left arm and left upper torso. Yirah-Fear (Awe) of God is mystical awe of Divinity. It is elevated fear, strength, restraint and judgement.

Where do I have to be disciplined and be strong in saying no to today? 

6) Tiferet: Truth, Beauty and Harmony. It is our heart and middle chest. It is like a radiant sun - the color yellow or purple. It is truth. It is Mercy or Compassion and balances kindness with restriction. It is also the source for ego and boasting and pride – Hitpaarut התפארות.

Do I live my truth? Do I fill my heart with radiant harmony with healthy boundaries? What do I love to do that is balanced and in harmony?

7) Hod: Glory is Gratefulness to God with Submission. The color is dark pink and is the left leg and left bottom torso. It is our sincere response to Divine Glory as we learn to submit or ego in bitul – self nullification and trust the process and be guided in humility. Gratefulness is the key to healing.

What can I be grateful to G-d today? What can I let go and Let G-d in humility?

8)   Netzach: Victory is Dominance and Perseverance is in the right leg and right bottom torso. The color is light pink - Confidence (Confidence inspires determination.) Netzach is our ability to keep pushing forward with strength and courage. Where do I need to persevere?

 

9) Yesod: Foundation or Connection. It is centering and balancing between Hod and Netzach. It is the color orange. It is the place of our creativity and our place where we create children in our womb. It is the place of our sexual organs. Yesod is our ability to bond to others.

What do I want to create? How can I bond with others in holiness and focus?

10)  Malchut: Kingship or Actualization and power of Revelation. It is the mouth. It is the color of the vessel of dark blue. It is the trait of humility. I do not know. It is the Divine Presence, the Female vessel, to receive all from above sefirot. The inner experience is Humility as it is Action through receiving higher lights from the powers of the soul. What do I need to do to purify the holiness of my speech, the ultimate vehicle of expression, manifestation and revelation. How can I bless others with my pure speech?

DAYS

SOURCE? 

Shabbat- white

Sunday - red or brown

Monday- orange

Tuesday - yellow

Wednesday - pink or green

Thursday- turquoise or light blue

Friday - purple

Halo / Aura

In Jewish mystical sources the Hebrew terms are “hila” (emanation of light) and “ohr hamakif” (surrounding/enveloping light)… Halo is as in the verse “Hilo [His light] aley roshi [is upon my head]” (Job 29:3); and aura is as in the word “ora” which also means light.

… ancient Jewish sources describe the pure, holy and elevated plane of a fetus in its mother’s womb as G-d lighting a candle over its head while an angel teaches the baby the entire Torah. In this very spiritual state, while the soul is still greatly aglow with the light of the upper realms before becoming occluded by the material of this world, the fetus is literally a little bundle of light as its head is surrounded by the “hila” of the Divine Presence.

 https://ohr.edu/explore_judaism/ask_the_rabbi/ask_the_rabbi/4101

 

https://www.zefat.ac.il/.../3086/visualization_of_colors.pdf
Visualization of Colors, 1:  David ben Yehudah he-Hasid’s Kabbalistic Diagram Moshe Idel