Color Astrology Is a More Tangible Way To Work With the Cosmos—Here’s How It Works

Each person’s individual astrological birth chart has many layers—from the planets and signs to the houses and aspects—that help us understand our personality and life path. Color is another element in our natal chart that can help bring us closer to wholeness. This is called—you guessed it—color astrology.

Color astrology is essentially a mix of astrology and chromotherapy, also known as color therapy. While astrology is the study of the movement and cycles of the planets in their respective orbits and our individual relationships with them, says Rose Theodora, a spiritual counselor and astrologer focusing on color astrology, chromotherapy is a pseudoscience framework that uses color for healing. She adds in chromotherapy, each color is associated with a specific frequency that can have a physical, psychological, and emotional affect on a person.

Color astrology, then, is a personalized way to work with chromotherapy. Here’s how it works: Each sign and planet are associated with specific colors, and the placement of those signs and planets in a person’s natal chart carries various implications, Theodora says. When a color astrologer looks at an individual’s birth chart, they aim to determine which colors and their meanings a person may work with to heal, step more into their purpose and wholeness, and mitigate difficulties in their life.

A color astrologer determines which colors and their meanings a person may work with to heal, step more into their purpose and wholeness, and mitigate difficulties in their life.

With this in mind, color astrology makes working with astrology more tangible because people can take learnings from the colors in charts and apply them to their life. That said, color astrology is also not new, and has long been a component of Vedic astrology. And the use of color as a healing tool dates back even further. (For instance, philosopher Aristotle paired colors with the different elements: earth, air, fire, and water.)

Curious to learn more about color astrology? Below, Theodora breaks down what a color astrology reading entails and what colors you may want to work with, according to your sun sign (which is what you typically look to when reading a horoscope).

How a color astrology reading works

A color astrology reading is similar to a natal chart reading, but it’s seen through the lens of color and it will vary depending on the astrologer. Theodora, for instance, will look at your natal chart and transiting chart (what’s happening in the cosmos currently) and ask how you feel about particular colors and which ones make you feel comfortable or uncomfortable. Based on those findings, she’ll “prescribe” specific colors for you to work with that will resonate with your essence and help foster growth and wholeness. And there may be different color prescriptions for certain areas of life, such as health, fertility, or money.

Depending on the planetary placements in your chart, colors will have different meanings. The color gold, for instance, can be a hue that boosts someone’s confidence. But, it really depends on the person and their specific chart. Theodora tells me, for instance, that gold is a comfort color that holds me back from growing and represents an attachment to what people think and the need to be liked by everyone, which she intuitively picks up as work I’ve already done.

“Silver would bring you more into wholeness,” Theodora says, noting the color may encourage me to lean more into my mystical side and help me assess what truly resonates with me. This feels like a very fitting prescription at the moment, given that I’ve been working on clarifying what an authentic life looks like for me and what my next life goals will be. And silver is the color that she advises me to work with to support me in getting there.

What colors to work with, according to your sun sign

To reiterate, with color astrology, there is no one specific meaning associated with each color. Rather, the meaning is deduced by looking at your natal chart as a whole and all the different planetary placements. But in general, Theodora says each sign has an element, and each element is associated with certain colors. Working with the colors associated with your sun sign’s element is an easy way to begin harnessing the power of color astrology. Here’s how Theodora outlines them:

Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces): aquatic colors, such as blues and grays

Earth signs (Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn): grounding, autumn colors, like dark brown, orange, beige, nude, and cream

Fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius): intense and saturated colors, such as fuchsia, gold, red, bright orange, and other fiery colors.

Air signs (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius): get bogged down by saturated colors, so softer pastel tones and metallics are more suitable.

How to work with colors in astrology

So what does “working with a color” and using color astrology actually look like in practice? It will depend on your individual birth chart and how the color astrologer recommends working with the color. As a general starting point to begin working with color, Theodora recommends being more mindful of the colors you are actively choosing to wear and surround yourself with, as each color evokes certain feelings. She notes you can see the use of color at play in marketing and advertising, especially. For instance, fast food restaurants are often red, as it is a stimulating color that makes you feel rushed, whereas a hospital may use softer colors that helps calm the nervous system.

Theodora adds that just having a conscious awareness of the colors associated with your sun sign and where and when they show up in your life and the visceral reaction you have to them can be powerful. Other ways to work with those colors can be by focusing on them during meditation, wearing them (via clothing, accessories, makeup, etc.,), and decorating your space with them.

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