COLORS IN MEDITATION

COLORS / SEFIROT

Ramak

Ramak (Rabbi Moshe Cordovero, Pardes Rimonim, Shaar HaAsiri, Shaar HaGvanim) gives the most authoritative color scheme for the sefirot. He brings different possibilities for each sefirah. 

Keter - blinding white
Chokhmah – seven colors arranged in concentric circles: outermost circle deep red, second circle white, third circle dark green, fourth circle light green, fifth circle bright sapphire blue, sixth circle midway between dark green and light green, seventh innermost circle white
Binah – verdant green with horizontal rows of bright egg yolk yellow
Chesed – silver, silvery white
Gevurah – reddish gold
Tiferet – white with red streaks
Netzach – light pink
Hod – dark pink
Yesod – orangy yellow (turmeric)
Malkhut – dark royal blue

This is close to how Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan interpreted Ramak’s descriptions (see Meditation and Kabbalah, page 181):

Keter – blinding 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

Warning: Ramak himself writes at the beginning of Shaar HaGvanim (Gate of Colors):

In many places in kabbalistic texts and the Zohar, we find that various colors are associated with the sefirot. One must be very careful and not imagine that this is to be taken literally. Color is something physical, used to describe the physical world. The sefirot, on the other hand, are spiritual, and should not be described with physical properties…. 

Ramak goes on to explain that the colors associated with the sefirot are symbolic, and refer to their functions and results.

Color Meditation

Based on 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 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 7 colors arranged in concentric circles: outermost circle deep red, second circle white, third circle dark green, fourth circle light green, fifth circle bright sapphire blue, sixth circle midway between dark green and light green, seventh innermost circle white

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. verdant green with horizontal rows of bright egg yolk yellow
 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 silver, silvery white 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?

Gevurah – reddish gold
Tiferet – white with red streaks
Netzach – light pink
Hod – dark pink
Yesod – orangy yellow (turmeric)
Malkhut – dark royal blue

 5) Gvurah: Restraint. It is reddish gold 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 - white with red streaks. 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 orangy yellow (turmeric). 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 royal 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