The Aqua Colour Booklet...

The background of colour consciousness
What is light and colour? 
Introduction to the colours
Getting started
Aqua Colour Charts
For Further information

WHAT IS LIGHT AND COLOUR?

Light is a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum, which also includes microwaves, radio waves, X-rays, and ultraviolet and infrared light. All these types of energy move in waves, like the waves on a body of water. The distance between two crests of each type of wave is called its wavelength. Its wavelength determines which type of wave it is. Some crests are very close together - only billionths of a metre apart. These are gamma and cosmic rays. Others are more than a metre apart - television and radio waves. A tiny portion of the wavelengths around the middle of the electromagnetic spectrum are those we experience as visible light.

Further gradations of wave-spacing within the visible spectrum we sense as different colours. Within this group, the longest waves are at the red end of the spectrum, and the shortest at the purple end, with the other colours falling in between in order of their wavelengths. Some creatures such as snakes and honey bees are also able to sense the wavelengths invisible to us just off either end of the spectrum - infrared and ultraviolet light.

Human life evolved to be particularly sensitive to this narrow range of wavelengths. Parts of the spectrum with long wavelengths (such as microwaves) or short wavelengths (such as X-rays) can actually destroy living things. This sensitivity to the ‘colour’ portion of the spectrum is the basis for its use as a complimentary therapy.