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One of the things that never ceases to amaze me with Colourworks is the endless ways we can use colour to heal, grow and transform. With every new practitioner trained and every new client, it seems we find more and more ways to work with this magical system. It truly opens us up to new possibilities at every turn.

Recently I joined forces with another Colourworks teacher, Clara Apollo, to run a one-day Springtime Well-being workshop combining colour and Chi Kung. The links were obvious and immediate: Chi Kung works with the Chinese five elements and each element has a colour connected with it; Colourworks uses a series of coloured elemental spray essences. Chi Kung works with stillness and movement, and the interplay between them. Colourworks lends itself most beautifully to stillness in meditation and visualisation, and the movement of the oil and water in the colour bottles has the potential to take us to different places. Chi Kung has a deep connection with the Earth and allows us to feel this; so too does Colourworks. So the magic that happened when we combined these two powerful systems was much more than the sum of the parts.

In my own healing practice I am noticing new and ever-changing ways to use colour to draw out the issues and blocks that my clients present me with and to enable and empower those clients to heal themselves.

Colourworks teachers and therapists are using the system with numerology, with tarot, with NLP,with astrology, with sound, with drums, with EFT, with all kinds of healing techniques….and on it goes. Colour is and always has been a bridge, and as the Colourworks family grows and spreads out into the world, we are part of a truly exciting and global wave of energies that are heralding the New Earth.

2007 is the year of letting go. 2 plus 7 makes 9 and nine is completion, so 2007 is a nine year – a year of endings and completions of everything that started in 1999. This year is ending the first cycle of the new millennium and as such has so much for us to look at.

If we do this with the colours of our system we look first of all at bottle 9, red over orange, the Mars bottle and we see that the first thing that is asked of us is to not be meek and angry. That basically means stop your passive aggressive games and say what you want - hugely empowering if you really stay focused and in the moment.

Then we look at bottle 18, red over rose pink, and we look at how the process has already taken us to the next level where the shock of orange has been exchanged for rose pink love and acceptance. It also points out that the ceiling we have perceived was placed there by our own expectations and limitations. And the more we step into our divine self the less limits there are.

The next bottle is 27, orange over gold, and here we are given the harvest. Everything we desire and expect and believe we deserve is ours by as much as we can receive. So if you look at the previous two bottles you can see that if you don’t say what you want and you are limited in your expectations you cannot claim the harvest. You won’t even see it is there.

The next one now gets interesting as at this point in my own process, at the end of this cycle which has been such an amazing time in my life, I felt an intense need to finally say what I wanted and so bottle 36 was born. Pale blue violet over pale blue violet – the exact colour of the Jacaranda blossoms that are so prolific in South Africa. If there is one colour that describes my soul and defines me it has to be this one. Its purpose is to support us in speaking our soul’s truth, and in so doing, claiming our power to create, as we are one with the Creator and in the beginning was the word… It brings the peace that passeth all understanding and it puts us back in line with divine will. If “My Will” is yellow in the solar plexus then “Thy Will” is blue/violet and this bottle is all about putting us back into alignment with why we exist and the peace that comes from knowing that, and being able to hand over and let go and let God. There is no need to control reality – it is not our job.

So then adding in this new bottle, the numerology of the system changes and instead of having bottle C10 as 45 in the system we have C11, a solid gold bottle. The halo of mastery and authentic power. That is the gift that comes from handing the controls back to where they really belong, with the Creator.

And the last one is then bottle G5 which is bottle 54 – gold over copper. Right back to the centre of the earth. If we are clear with our connection to the Divine we remember that the journey is heaven to earth and bottle 36 is just there to remind us that heaven is what we are bringing to earth, but oh it will be golden and rich and honey sweet with joy.

So we know that bottle 9 asks us not to be meek and angry but to say what needs saying. This does not mean we have permission to go around abusing people with brutal honesty, but it does mean that we will have to start to be brutally honest with ourselves. We are asked to become our authentic selves and claim our authentic power and nothing that does not fit into that big golden picture will be allowed to remain. Our childhood patterns are now being broken. We are spiritual adults and we are asked to take absolute responsibility for every single little thing we have experienced. No one was to blame. There is no blame. You have had only perfect experiences to get you to be the precious person you are now.

This is the year where we will have to look at our addictions. Every addict stays addicted because it is still easier to stay addicted than to give it up. No alcoholic stops until it is more painful to keep the addiction than it is to give it up. So are you going to carry on until you hit skid row or are you going to be brutally honest with yourself and give it up without having to sit in the gutter? Notice your addiction to self pity, chaos, pain, the need to have a sad story, the need to be in pain, the need to spend all your money, the need for your tablets, alcohol, food, and the brutal truth is of course that we all have most of these in some form or another. How about the addiction to being right or in control or better than or the only non addict?

In this year of 2007 ask your guides and angels who are standing by to support you to help you through this, as this level of change stresses your body into all its flight and fright responses. Remember, your body reads change as potential death and if these learnt behaviours are there, you only created them because on some level you believed that they would help you survive. To be asked to give them up terrifies your body and the response could be huge depression. It is very depressing to realise that you have lived your whole life in pain when you did not have to. Please honour every experience and understand that every one, including the pain, was there for your highest good - until you were ready to give it up and begin to be God. A God that now has those experiences added to the Allness that is God. Give up the addiction of ‘not enough’ and begin to feel the love of being in a body on a physical planet knowing that all your needs always have and always will be met.

We started this year with a Teacher Training course from 12 to 16 February, presented in Hertfordshire, England by Melissie Jolly. We have great pleasure in welcoming our new teachers of Colourworks: from South Africa, Linda Jones; from England: Val Stirling, Pam Cannon, Pauline Rose, Jean Andrew, Tricia Will, Sheila Cornfield, Hazel Spinks, Jane Knight, Janice Hughes-Madden, Clara Apollo and a repeat student from Scotland, Caroline Stamp.

Melissie has also decided to pass on some of her skills and knowledge to Erica Connolly, Amanda Bradbury and myself and all three of us have now completed training that enables us to present the Teachers of Colour 1 and 2 workshops globally for Colourworks.

We have just had the Chinese New Year and somehow it feels like our New Year too. This year we are going to have our focus drawn to the spiritual wisdom teachings that say ‘it is not what you do or how you do it, but the energy you do it in’. We are being asked to become conscious in every moment of every day, fully grounded, aware of all we say, think and do. Melissie gave me a gentle reminder recently when she said that we generally remember that we are ‘ancient powerful beings of light’ but every now and again we curl up and say ‘…but not today, I just want to not think about it…’. That is when life gets interesting! In my case I blow bulbs and switch appliances on and off with my out-of-control energy. So there it is, we are preparing to be in our authentic power 24 hours a day. Staying in our I-Amness is so vital. Once you have that energy ‘tube’ flowing from heaven to earth and back again through you, you will feel more grounded and able to clearly access your wisdom to deal with your day-to-day events consciously. The time for sleeping through it is now over.

2007 is an extraordinary year in many ways, not least because Pluto finally digs to the deepest point of our collective consciousness and hits the all-important degree of 26 degrees 56 minutes Sagittarius – the galactic centre. Pluto touches this point three times (December 2006, July and October 2007), although this kind of influence ripples out for years.

We can think of this sequence as a linked process: challenge, crisis and integration. Astrology is a symbolic language and so we feel into this to sense what it might mean on a collective level. Pluto in Sagittarius is about evolution and transformation in the areas of religion, education and spirituality and part of this process inevitably involves some resistance.

The key issue to be aware of is that nobody out there can have power over us unless we give it away at some level and during 2007 there is the possibility for everyone to realise this is a reality.

Supporting and fuelling this process is the journey of Jupiter through Sagittarius for the whole year, meeting Pluto for a joint celebration in the middle of December. This brings buoyant energy, enthusiasm and expansion, but with a strong proviso about over-inflated expectations.

Lastly, there is the on-going opposition between Saturn and Neptune, which becomes exact three times (September 2006, February and June 2007). At its highest expression this is about bringing heaven to earth and the merging of spirit and matter, but third dimensional reality being what it is the expressions may include disillusionment with those in authority, ego issues and human weaknesses coming to the surface to be confronted and cleared.

This is a brief overview of some of the main astrological themes for 2007 and it is up to us each individually how we live the energy and what we vision into being. If we don’t like what we see we can always choose to confront it and fight for what we believe in or step aside and align our energy with something that resonates more with us.

The main thing to keep coming back to is that the possibilities are tremendous and that the drama is just an illusion that we are continually creating and re-creating to work on ourselves and become all that we came here to be. For me this is the message of the dragonfly that was so prominent for those of us on the Colour 3 course in South Africa last year: we are all in the process of moving beyond illusion and beginning to create our own glorious reality.

Combining colour and astrology is about blending heart and mind, intuition and intellect. The colours a person is drawn to show where someone is right now and provide the tools for healing, as well as bringing an interactive, healing dimension to the consultation as the person responds to the energy of the colour bottles.

I have always believed that our birth charts are not fixed and can be lived on different levels of consciousness, and through using colour the birth chart becomes more fluid, a guide to the issues we have chosen to work through in this lifetime and the potential that is waiting for us to tap into.

There are many links to be re-discovered with colour and astrology and the connection between the elements and elemental essences is one aspect of this. For example, if someone lacks fire in his or her birth chart, the Fire spritzer may help to energise and give this person a push.

Through the moving kaleidoscope of colour, astrology and numerology one can penetrate deep into the soul essence of a person. Through astrology the colour bottles can be used in a more prescriptive way, but also people tend to be drawn to the colours that reflect what is going on for them astrologically.

The new bottle, The Gateway, is a wonderful gift for us as we journey through 2007. The numbers of the year point to bottle 27 The Sceptre and bottle 9 Mars and in terms of astrology Pluto plays a key role (see article on Astrology of 2007). The soft lilac and exquisite energy of 36 is like a purified version of the penetrating depth of bottle 13 (which connects with Pluto) and cushions us during this profound year as we experience the collective gateway of the Galactic Centre. It also represents the crowning glory to the base energy of Mars, helping us walk hand-in-hand with spirit at all times.

Universally, 2007 is a nine year, which means one cycle is ending in preparation for the next. Change is exciting, but to most people, it’s also scary. So this spring is the perfect time to balance the fiery 9/Mars bottle with Green Dragon.

Green brings space — the space to breathe, to think and, more importantly, to feel. Green is the colour of the heart chakra and physically it rules the heart and lungs. When change is overwhelming, it’s very common to tense up and breathe more shallowly, but stress management experts and yoga teachers will tell you that a few minutes of deep breathing can counteract the body’s stress reaction. Green Dragon brings that expansiveness and when combined with focused breathing, magnifies it.

Whereas the red in the Mars bottle denotes action, Green Dragon alleviates the anxiety that can arise with red’s change. The Green Dragon represents spring, life and everything that is new, bountiful and green. He reminds us that action doesn’t just mean work or striving for goals, but also play. He asks us to take time to walk in the grass, connect with nature and centre ourselves both in our bodies (red, his counterpoint) and in our hearts.

In today’s hectic societies, we’re trained to rely largely on intellect, but our minds can rationalise anything, making decisions more difficult. Worse, our minds are the only part of us that can believe in fear. The heart knows there is only love, but it is easy to forget when so many act from fear-based thoughts. Green Dragon reminds us that after every hurt and winter, healing and spring come. Maybe we’re a bit wiser and more discerning, but we can still trust our feelings and make new choices. Green Dragon can also help us make decisions by giving us both space and heart-based insight.

Another perfect helper for spring is the Wood element spray. In Chinese tradition the wood element relates to the liver meridian. The liver energetically holds many of the feelings we’ve repressed, like anger, which is red. Emotion only turns toxic when it has been suppressed and denied. The Wood element spritzer helps us to clear those old, stuck emotions so we can release the past. Once free of its chains, we can live in the moment with joy.

Technically, the Wood element is olive, not pure green like the sparkles in the Green Dragon. The Wood element spritzer is the yellow-green of new leaves before they reach full maturity. Like green, it relates to the heart, but olive occurs where the green of the heart chakra meets the yellow of the solar plexus, so it’s emotion mixed with strength of will. It teaches us that power tempered with love will never be abused. Just as the Green Dragon reminds us that fear is an illusion, the Wood element helps us break the chains of past pain that came from those illusions, so we can embrace the potential of spring and a new year* full of promise. Let the Green Dragon help you create a fresh, new beginning.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere of course, it’s autumn, not spring! As I’m about to head back to New Zealand to visit family and friends for a month or so, I’m going to be doing the whole spring-autumn-spring transition, which will no doubt be confusing for my body and my mind! While the northern folk start spritzing Wood and Green Dragon, we will be lighting log fires and raking autumn leaves…

The bottles that spring to mind for those moving into the autumn energies are bottles 9, 19, 21, 27, Fire and Copper Dragon, with their orange/red/gold and copper colours. The Gaia bottle G5, gold over copper, also comes into its own at this time of year.

Autumn brings with it a feeling of letting go, releasing the old, preparing for a slower and quieter time of going within. Dying to all that is finished and dealt with. Time to open to a gentler, more creative focus.

It is also, however, a time to reflect on the glory of the summer that has been, and what we have achieved and the harvest we are able to reap. Autumn does not come in whimpering, it comes with a blaze and a flush of glorious colour. It invites us to step into our own fire energy, and to burn brightly. Bottle 9, Mars, connects us with our own fire energy, as does the Fire essence. When we need to raise our courage and stand in our truth, Fire will blaze through our energy field and bring the light of our beingness to the fore. With courage and the fire of our creative force, we can begin to create and manifest a new reality.

In January 2007 our representatives held a lecture on Colourworks at Bookyung University in Korea. Teachers and other professionals who work with colour met and showed great interest in Colourworks.
At the end of the lecture, there was a meditation using Pink Angel and participants commented on how peaceful they felt and how easy it was for them to meditate using the Colourworks essence.

Also in January, we taught Colour 1 to a group of Japanese students who were from many different backgrounds. One runs a meditation centre in Tokyo, another had already learned a different form of colour therapy, others had never experienced meditation or this type of work before. The students were very impressed with Colourworks and said it was a wonderful experience. After the course they said they felt reconnected with the sense of their own preciousness and the love and happiness that is within them.

During this course, I realised that colour is the true language of the world. It is also so valuable at this time. Using colour we can achieve oneness beyond the individual characteristics of different countries and our varying viewpoints.

The most interesting that I got from Colourworks is experiencing what I haven’t before. So far I haven’t felt something like that ever, but this time I can truly realize it. The first feeling when I saw a bottle was beautiful. There were wonderful colors and doubled colors in the bottle gave me the feeling of round and closely attached to hand.

Anyway, it is impossible to meet in Japan, we went to Korea. My heart was throbbing when I look at the rows of bottles. On the second day, being around the bottles, I can feel like being in a spa. My body was warm and very comfortable. It was a great luck to have a wordless experience. The way of putting bottles on Chakra was interesting, too. It was like spinning Crystals in front of chains. I wasn’t interested in Chakra, but the experience led me into the world of Colourworks. Image experience was fun, too.
Even though I closed my eyes, I couldn’t think images of temples or whales made of crystal. I just dropped my tears. I wanted to the bottle make me exciting and concentrate on the words of Premjay and Ananya looking at their eyes, but it goes in one ear and out the other.

I will take the meanings of bottles under advisement and refine my sense. Even though I don’t have knowledge about Colour therapy, I think it is good to experience without a bias. Also, the good feeling about Colourworks is important and meaningful. Therefore I do want to know more and take the Level 2 course.

I don’t know what would be in the future, but I want to apply what I learned. Through the help of Colour Works, I am eager to have good relationships, love human beings and love myself.

In the light of my part in the creation of a range of Unicorn essences for Colourworks recently, I decided to do a bit of digging to see what I could find out about these mystical creatures. For those that may have felt that the unicorns were a bit of whimsy created in my soggy head after a cold wintry day in Scotland, nope! Not true. I researched the web for references to the unicorn and found out that there is in fact a Unicorn constellation called Monoceros (one-horned) and it sits just below my own sign of Gemini, it's horn pointing at one of my favourite stars of Orion, Betelgeuse. So I now give you some interesting facts from bygone ages that reveal that the unicorns have been part of the human psyche for centuries and more....

"The unicorn is the only fabulous beast that does not seem to have been conceived out of human fears. In even the earliest references he is fierce yet good, selfless yet solitary, but always mysteriously beautiful." Marianna Mayer, The Unicorn & The Lake

My own country of Scotland in the late 1500's had used two unicorns to decorate the Scottish Royal Coat of Arms. When Scotland and England were united under one rule, a new coat of Arms was created - the lion of England and a unicorn of Scotland. This was a potent bit of symbolism, for as the Scots and English were bitter enemies, the lion and the unicorn had long been thought to be deadly enemies: both regarded as king of the beasts though the unicorn rules through harmony while the lion rules through might. It came to symbolise a reconciliation between the two nations, so there would be joint rule and peace.

In the year 1206, we are told, the conqueror Genghis Khan set out with a great host to invade India. His army had marched for many days and had climbed through many mountain passes when a great wild beast with a single horn ran towards him at great speed, and bowed three times before him. Genghis was reputed to have said: "What may it mean that this speechless wild animal bows before me like a man? Is it that the spirit of my father would send me a warning out of heaven?" With these words he turned his army about and marched back again into his own land. India had been saved by a unicorn.

The Chinese revered the Unicorn. It was initially considered an aggressive beast, and it was said it would eat fire in its ravenous fury. It was specially praised, however, for being able to discriminate between good and evil. One story has it that Emperor Shun, the first law giver, had a single-horned beast that would on demand and unfailingly gore the guilty, but never, never touch the innocent. In Chinese lore, four magical animals have regular mention, the Dragon representing the Air element, the Turtle/Tortoise the Water element, the Phoenix, the Fire element and our beloved Unicorn, the Earth element. The Unicorn was one of the favourite motifs in Chinese art for thousands of year. It was often referred to as Ki'Lin. It personifies all that is good, pure, and peaceful and it lives in paradise.

Even the Bible has mention of the Unicorn... nine times (don't you love that number 9)! (Num. 23:22; 24:8; Dt. 33:17; Job 39:9-10; Psa. 22:21; 29:6; 92:10; Isa. 34:7). Although the Unicorns did not sail in the Ark during the great flood it was a widely held belief that they swam behind and survived nonetheless.

The unicorns are attracted to purity of spirit, and as the family within Colourworks strive to live Heaven on Earth, it gives me a sense of delight that the unicorns are here with us now offering their help and showing their support in our efforts.

"Well, now that we have seen each other," said the Unicorn, "if you'll believe in me, I'll believe in you. Is that a bargain?"
Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

Just before last Christmas I slipped in my house and badly dislocated my knee. It was very painful and for the first two weeks I was totally incapacitated and could hardly walk, stand or go upstairs. I was in shock and it brought up childhood and old memories of when I had twisted my knee as a young teenager and had felt alone and unsupported. I immediately used bottle C2 which helped with the shock and also some Fire essence to give me courage under stress.

I was told by the hospital that I had to have my right knee in a fixed leg brace for six weeks and not to remove it even at night. This was difficult for me because of the restrictions it placed on me and I have always been so self-sufficient and independent. By the second week I was stronger and more confident and managed to walk with crutches and get up the stairs. At this time I was learning that it is OK to ask for and receive help and my friends were marvelous. My family took slightly longer to come round but it did have the effect of making them realise I could not always be there to solve all their problems and it was me who needed help. Bottle 35 helped me with family issues.

I regularly did Reiki on my knee so used Copper Dragon and the Green Angel to help with healing. I also used bottle 6 to nurture and love myself and 12 to release feelings of victimhood. During this time I was mainly housebound as I could not walk far and was unable to drive. I started to find peace and enjoy my home and just to be in the moment. When I got low days bottle 1 lifted me.

I know my knee injury was part of a bigger picture and it has helped me adjust to my new life after leaving my full time job and 40 years of working in London where I regularly worked very long hours and rarely felt peace. I am feeling stronger and supported and trust all will be well both with my knee and my spiritual journey going forward.

Drums are such a fantastic tool for healing on all levels and also for journeying. The power of the drum brings forth the power of you. I have been using Native American hand drums along with healing through Colourworks since I discovered the power of the bottles. I now also use a Djembe drum brought back from South Africa.

It started off with a curiosity to see if they would work well together. I shouldn't have doubted - of course they did! Drums are alive and change depending on the energies around them. I started
by drumming around a client with no bottles, then added bottles C1-C8 (the traditional chakra colours) then added the new ‘transitional’ colours our chakras are evolving to, represented by C8-C15. What I have found through my experiences with various clients is that the drum usually seems a little louder when used alongside the C1-C8 bottles than when there are no bottles; but the big difference comes when I add in C8-C15 when it sounds so loud and usually much deeper, with a really intense vibrational energy (sounds and feels like a completely different drum).

During my first public talk on Colourworks I decided it would be a good idea to drum and get someone to channel a dragon (I had no idea what would happen but knew it would be good!). Once the gold dragon had arrived my drum felt like it wanted to leap out of my hand, the energy was so intense and filled the room and beyond. The dragon and drum truly connected.

This experience lead me to develop Drumming and Dragon workshops to connect with the dragons and re-ignite the flame of your inner child. I know this is only the beginning and much more is to come.

This is magic music and song with the stunning vocals of Stephanie and the sublime harp of Lisa Lynne. The music transports you immediately to the lands of fairies and nature spirits and into ancient woods where time began. This CD can be calming, inspirational or even energising – it seems to feel different every time you play it. Everything about it is special and uplifting. Visit www.amazon.co.uk and www.sequoiarecords.com to hear track samples.

It has often been said that the eyes are the window of the soul. In this fascinating book Jacob Lieberman explains that the effect of light on the visual cortex and hypothalamus is to keep our bodies in balance. He describes how the pineal gland sends hormonal messages that have a profound effect on the mind and body. Jacob Lieberman’s work deals with healing body and mind simultaneously as a direct effect of making the subconscious conscious and therefore transforming old cellular memory into an experience of enlightenment.

He explains how colours, specifically those with which we are uncomfortable, can become our most powerful allies, and can be used to access old unresolved emotional traumas. When brought to the conscious level, these old traumas are like springboards from which we can pull out by the roots the weeds we call disease. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding more about how colour works on the mind and body.

I’ve been teaching prosperity consciousness and empowerment for years, and I have never found a single tool as clear and effective as The Secret.

Much like What the Bleep Do We Know?, the documentary The Secret explains the law of attraction and how quantum physics is proving it to be correct, but The Secret does it in plain, simple language. Producer Rhonda Byrne, who plays herself at the beginning of the film, assembled an illustrious group of scientists, doctors, motivational speakers, spiritual leaders, etc., who speak directly to the viewer. Their often humourous examples can be used immediately to transform your life.

While there are elements of Dr. Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power of Positive Thinking in The Secret, the concept is expanded tremendously. The speakers explain why simply thinking good thoughts is only part of the equation. After defining the law of attraction and how to use it on a practical level, The Secret then applies it to specific situations like money, relationships, etc. By the time you finish watching this film, you will believe you can accomplish anything.

The DVD and the book cover the same material so if you only have one, you aren’t missing anything. The book quotes heavily from the film with Byrne’s writing expanding some points. It’s a handy reminder, easy to carry with you, but personally, I prefer the DVD. Hearing so many successful people explain how they used the law of attraction to transform financial problems, homelessness, abusive pasts, crippling accidents, etc. has an impact the printed page doesn’t quite convey. I truly believe the film contains a vibration that helps the viewer to shift to a more positive, expansive way of living.

Both the DVD and book are beautifully made. The film opens with a Da Vinci Code-esque sequence illustrating how this information has been passed down through the ages despite attempts to suppress it. That sequence is the equal of any Hollywood production. Sophisticated special effects provide beautiful, intricate backdrops for the speakers as well as illustrating some of the stories they tell. Yet unlike What the Bleep Do We Know?, none of the special effects are visually distracting.

The book is a small hardcover created with the same look as the film. The pages are an aged beige to mimic ancient texts. A great deal of care and intention went into both products with lovely results.

The Secret DVD or book – or both – should be essentials for anyone who wants to transform their life. I am not easy to please, but I can’t recommend The Secret highly enough. Many books and DVDs present wonderful ideas, but they don’t always make it easy to apply those ideas immediately to their lives. The Secret does.

One note: While the book The Secret is sold in bookstores, the DVD is only sold through its own web site, http://www.thesecret.tv. The film can also be viewed online.