Amica Temple of Radiance

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Amica Temple of Radiance
Formation1959
FounderRoland T. Hunt, Dorothy Bailey
Type Occult organisation
Focus Chromotherapy
Headquarters United States
OriginsAquarian Mystical Institute of Colour Awareness
Region
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  United Kingdom

The Amica Temple of Radiance was an American occult organization based on the chromotherapy teachings of Ivah Bergh Whitten. The organization has been described by scholars as a new religious movement.

Contents

History

Theosophist Ivah Bergh Whitten founded the Aquarian Mystical Institute of Colour Awareness (AMICA) in the early 1920s and the organization was renamed the Aquarian Master Institute of Colour Awareness in 1939. [1] [2] In the 1920s, Whitten lectured on the occult properties of colour and combined the teachings of Dinshah P. Ghadiali with Theosophy. [3] She authored her first booklet, What Color Means to You, in 1932. [4] Whitten taught that white light passes from the highest realm of spiritual hierarchy known as the Great White Brotherhood and eventually splits into the seven rays of the spectrum. [4] Each colour is said to relate to an aspect of human life and is assigned to an ascended master. [4]

Whitten developed associations between the seven colours and chakras and is credited with pioneering the practice of colour breathing. [4] This imaginative meditation technique involves a person picturing their breath with a specific colour and then breathes it into their body. She passed the organization to British occultist Roland Thomas Hunt who became a main exponent of chromotherapy in the mid 20th-century. [3] [4] [a]

Hunt authored a number of works on chromotherapy such as Fragrant and Radiant Healing Symphony in 1937 which combined aromatherapy with colour healing. He also authored The Finding of Rainbow's End in 1939 and The Seven Keys to Colour Healing in 1940. [4] The latter work has been described as the "first modern comprehensive textbook which integrated material on the subject from both physics and psychology". [4] After World War II, Hunt moved to California where he managed the organization from their headquarters. [4]

After Whitten had died in 1947, Hunt and Dorothy Bailey founded the AMICA trust to continue her research. [2] The organization was renamed the Amica Temple of Radiance in 1959. [2] [3] [b] After Hunt's death the organization was managed by Paola Hugh (1898–1979) and in 1971 an affiliate organization, the Fleur de Lys Foundation was founded in Eastsound, Washington. [4] [6] [7]

Selected publications

Notes

  1. ↑ Roland T. Hunt was married to occultist Vera Stanley Alder.
  2. ↑ The Amica Temple of Radiance was also known as the Amica Master Institute of Colour Awareness. [5]

References

  1. ↑ Hunt, Roland (1949). Fragrant and Radiant Healing Symphony. C. W. Daniel. p. 141.
  2. 1 2 3 Leland, Kurt (2016). Rainbow Body: A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to Brennan. Nicolas-Hays. pp. 260–282. ISBN   978-0892546343.
  3. 1 2 3 Melton, J. Gordon (2007). The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena. Visible Ink Press. p. 58. ISBN   9781578592302.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Melton, J. Gordon (1990). New Age Encyclopedia. Visible Ink Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN   9780810394025.
  5. ↑ York, Michael (2004). Historical Dictionary of New Age Movements. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 48. ISBN   978-0810848733.
  6. ↑ Melton, J. Gordon (1993). The Encyclopedia of American Religions. Gale Research Company. p. 806. ISBN   978-0810369047.
  7. ↑ Leadbeater, C. W. (2013). The Chakras. Quest Books. pp. 145–146. ISBN   978-0835630818.
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