ColorPsychologyColorTherapy

Color Psychology & Color Therapy

Edwin D. Babbitt, 1828 – 1905, was one of the most influential American pioneers and writers in the field of color research and color therapy. He was known and revered by many as the “Color Prophet,” yet despised by the medical institution in his time, even branded a charlatan or quack. His book The Principles of Light & Color, the Classic Study of the Healing Power of Color (1967), was edited and annotated by Faber Birren author of Color Psychology & Color Therapy (1961). Birren paints Babbitt, in his foreword to The Principles of Light and Color, as a brilliant man and his book a classic work in its field. Edwin Babbitt advocated changes in the past system of therapeutics by replacing the crude drugs he considered relics of barbarism which still prevailed in his time by the use of pure elements of nature. Judging by the record healings through chromotherapy, colored water, sunshine and air as evidenced in the many case histories recorded in his book, he was very effective in his applications. As Birren states in his introduction: If Edwin D. Babbitt on the one side is praised as a redeemer and on the other side condemned as a charlatan, what remains indubitable is that his book and his life’s work have marked one of the most amazing events in the fascinating history of color.”

Mr. Babbitt invented a chromo lens made of pure crystal grade of glass consisting of three different colors, namely: the blue of a character greatly superior to the mazarine blue in its exclusively soothing and electrical effects; the yellow-orange or amber-colored; and the transparent. In his list of remarkable things about his chromo lens which is hollow, he writes: “When water is placed within and charged by the sunlight the substance becomes medicated with an exquisite principle which is more gentle, enduring and far reaching in its effect than ordinary drugs.” A dose would consist of from one or two teaspoonfuls to as many tablespoonfuls as needed. He installed colored glass windows in his offices and had patients take colored sunbaths.

Babbitt lists healing colors for many ailments using the fundamentals of the thermal, neutral and electrical colors. Thermal colors of red, orange and yellow are exciting and raise blood pressure; electrical colors of blue, indigo and violet lower blood pressure; the neutral color green has stabilizing effects on the entire human system.

In our present society with its advanced technology, Babbitt’s 19th Century findings may sound crude and elementary. However, tremendous credit must be given to this pioneer who promoted alternative healing modalities through his fortitude, courage and innovation. He put forward a practice of his ideas and convictions, bringing back into the mass consciousness an ancient, eternal cosmic law of electromagnetic healing through color/sound frequencies.