The colours in homeopathy

Colours in Homeopathy

Colour preference as a homeopathic symptom

By Ulrich Welte

Almost all of us have a certain liking for one or more colours. This can show itself, for example, in clothing or in everyday objects. Colour preference can, however, also be deeper. When it is experienced as pleasant or beautiful in itself without reference to an object, it is an expression of the inner state. At that point at the latest it becomes usable in homeopathy. In this sense it can be regarded as a basic mood of the life force, manifesting as an intellectual inclination toward a colour. It is an individual and deep symptom of the person.

H.V. Müller

Discovery and development

Dr H.V. Müller from Cologne (1921 – 2000) discovered the homeopathic significance of colour preference around 1985. This brilliant homeopathic physician developed the new idea together with his somewhat later second discovery, the homeopathic evaluation of handwriting, single-handedly to an astonishing maturity.

The first stimulus came from a Conium patient who found relief in darkness. This Conium symptom characterises most members of the botanical family Apiaceae. In that context the man spontaneously mentioned that black was his favourite colour.

Müller then checked other Conium patients and found this colour preference confirmed. Thus the idea was born of a colour that is actually a negation of all colours.

To be able to work scientifically he needed a universally valid colour standard that allowed sufficiently differentiated and precise colour determination. He chose the "Pocket Dictionary of Colours" by Kornerup and Wanscher, which appeared in its last edition in 1981 and has long been unavailable. With it he began systematically to define the colour preference of each patient. He discovered that many patients who were cured with the same remedy had exactly the same colour preference, and to a degree of precision that often hit the same colour field out of 1,266 colour nuances.

We immediately liked the idea, but in his first book he defined only 26 remedies with their corresponding colour preferences. Half of these were small and rather rarely indicated remedies. So we wanted to define further remedies ourselves in terms of colour. The attempt failed completely. The colour preferences of our patients who had responded well to the same remedy were all different, and despite some initial successful prescriptions we began to doubt the value of the method.

To clarify matters we visited Müller in his practice, and he showed us how to find the colour preference. It is not always as simple as one might think. He also gave us a list of about 90 remedies that he had by then defined by colour. This number was large enough to allow more differentiated work.

Our prescribing accuracy using colour preference improved. We began to cooperate more closely with Müller and were soon able to contribute our own remedy definitions.

We developed new colour charts because the old book, which was not designed for homeopathic purposes, had some shortcomings. When he saw tools we had developed ourselves, such as the new colour wheel, he asked us in 1993 to publish a new colour standard with new colour plates specially for homeopathic purposes. But it took ten years to realise this idea, and it is not least thanks to Jan Scholten that the book was finally published. He was the one who repeatedly urged us to publish the book despite all resistance. He also accompanied the development process and gave us many valuable suggestions. Our pleasure in his collaboration accompanies the book.

The new colour standard 'Colours in Homeopathy' is published

2003 saw the first publication of the colour atlas Colours in Homeopathy. The work is now available in five languages. Over the years colour preferences (and aversions) have become a valuable additional symptom in the homeopathic Materia Medica. The colour repertory is used successfully worldwide and is consulted as additional information for remedy selection, independently of different schools and approaches.

Through international collaboration among competent homeopaths the number of colour-defined remedies has grown significantly. H.V. Müller left us a foundation of 460 remedies in 2000, which has since grown to around 1,100 — twice as many as at the time of the first edition of the colours book. Very pleasing is the high number of independent confirmations of the colour definitions. Many homeopaths report that the colour symptom encouraged them to successfully prescribe "smaller" remedies they would not otherwise have considered. These contributions have also allowed some changes or additions to previous colour assignments.

An ever-growing list of colour correlations is made freely available on the internet. It is frequently updated and can be printed by any user so the colour repertory can always be kept up to date.