The arcane roots of colour psychology, chromotherapy, and colour forecasting

This article explores the genesis of the apparently disparate fields of colour psychology, chromotherapy, and colour forecasting. They came to the fore during the 20th century, and while ostensibly unrelated, their common ancestry lies in the late 18th and 19th centuries. This period witnessed the d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Color research and application Vol. 40; no. 1; pp. 99 - 106
Main Authors:	Whitfield, T. W. Allan, Whelton, Jianne
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-02-2015
Subjects:	chromotherapy Color Colour colour forecasting Electricity Forecasting Legacy Magnetism Psychology X-rays
Online Access:	Get full text
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Summary:	This article explores the genesis of the apparently disparate fields of colour psychology, chromotherapy, and colour forecasting. They came to the fore during the 20th century, and while ostensibly unrelated, their common ancestry lies in the late 18th and 19th centuries. This period witnessed the discovery of such strange forces as magnetism, electricity, X‐rays, and radio waves—in addition to odic forces and the colour aura. These were all invisible, mysterious, and to the public and many prominent scientists, equally plausible. This article traces a major influence back to spiritualism and Theosophy: both privileged colour and attributed powerful influences to it. This legacy remains, though not in the scientific domain. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 40, 99–106, 2015
Bibliography:	ark:/67375/WNG-J66JCT1L-G istex:02366FA3D815942A35F25A55873F2C0BD7F39637 ArticleID:COL21862 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0361-2317 1520-6378
DOI:	10.1002/col.21862