image courtesy Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France
"Mere colour, unspoiled by meaning, and unallied with definite form, can speak to the soul in a thousand different ways."
~ Oscar Wilde
When my husband and I were raising our children, the church we attended was blessed with several Louis Comfort Tiffany windows. Every Sunday we enjoyed their beauty and color along with the music and inspirational words we heard. It was always a wonderful experience for me.
And it seems that wonder and inspiration is shared by many. On my blog a reader mentioned the stained glass and music at her church in Dunedin, New Zealand: "One of the things I really love is the mix of gorgeous, soul-stirring music and the beauty of the light shining through the stained glass windows of the Cathedral."
It is no accident that our churches developed a tradition of combining stained glass with music. Color has been used for healing for centuries. Before Christ, the cultures of Egypt and Greece were known for their temples of healing, which had "stained glass windows" of each color. People would have a consultation and be placed in the room or rooms with the color that related to their issue(s). For example, if someone had depleted energy they would no doubt have been placed in the room with red windows, and if they had heart problems the destination would likely have been the room with green windows.
As the Church in Rome extended its power, healing temples were abandoned, viewed as paganistic. But the tradition of colored glass in sacred places continued. Cathedrals incorporated stained glass windows, and later, churches used scenes made from stained glass to teach Bible stories to the illiterate and the poor.
Music may also have been employed in ancient Egyptian and Grecian healing temples. Perhaps there were stringed instruments, which speak to the heart and were found in profusion in Egypt and Greece. Perhaps, too, brass horns, or flutes, whose resonance is carried directly to our cells to move and change them for the better.
As ancient cultures recognized the power of music and sound and color to touch our bodies and souls in healing temples, so do we now, when we sense the healing energy of sunlight through stained glass.
I wish you the peace and the power and the healing of color and beautiful sound resonating in your body and life.
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