Ellen Kennon's Newsletter

Living Well Newsletter

Spring 2007

Dear Friends,

You can always tell when Spring has arrived in the St. Francisville area by the profusion of blooming azaleas, which is the reason the area’s annual Audubon Pilgrimage is always set for the third weekend in March. For 36 years, the West Feliciana Historical Society has dedicated its annual pilgrimage (regional term for “historic house tours”) to the memory of John James Audubon, who painted eighty of his famous Birds of America series here between 1821 and 1830.

This year, folks are especially excited to see Nydrie Plantation which has been newly renovated and decorated by locally renowned designer, Patrick Tandy (pttandy@cox.net). Patrick initially wowed us with his fabulous flower arrangements, but in no time, he was in the design business and decorating many fine homes, including several that have been featured in magazines. I was extremely pleased when he called to tell me our “Buttercream” that they used at Nydrie turned out so beautifully, he was recommending they re-paint everything in Buttercream! Buttercream is the very first color we created, and today, almost six years later, it still outsells all of our other colors three to one.

New York artist Hunt Slonem (huntslonem.com), a modern-day Audubon known worldwide for his exotic, colorful bird paintings, is renovating Lakeside Plantation across the river, using some of our most vibrant colors: Berry Red, Tuscan Sun, Emerald and Pueblo. Although, Lakeside isn’t open for tours, you’ll be able to see it in an upcoming story in The New York Times!

In addition to painting birds and other exotic creatures, Hunt has recently been painting Archangels. As serendipity would have it, after I mentioned my interest in the archangels and that I was drawn to creating archangel jewelry, Hunt sent me one of his paintings of the Archangel Sandalphon. Archangel Sandalphon is associated with music, which is one of the tools I use most often to create an atmosphere of peace and tranquility. Anyone who comes to my house is likely to hear music playing inside and out, day and night. Speaking of birds, you should see the birds around my house, gliding and circling around to the music!

Some of my favorite relaxation music comes from professional harpist, Amy Camie (amycamie.com). Amy has half a dozen CDs that are used throughout the country in cancer centers, hospitals and hospices that are getting glowing testimonials from both doctors and patients. No wonder angels (including Archangel Sandalphon) are often depicted playing the harp—it’s a healing instrument of the first order.

Amy is also a public speaker on “Vibrational Awareness,” and Executive Director of the Scientific Arts Foundation in St. Louis where they have been conducting pilot studies measuring the effects of her CDs on brain wave frequencies. Results from a pilot study of her "The Magic Mirror" CD showed a direct positive impact on every neurological processing problem in every single participant. Remarkable!

What I found interesting that Amy shared with me over the phone the other day is her concept of “sympathetic resonance.” Of course, I was excited to consider how it relates to color as well as sound. Here is a bit of what I synthesized from the ideas we discussed:

Everything has a resonant frequency, including color. Each color has a signature frequency that determines how we perceive it (blue vibrates at a different frequency than orange, for example) and the frequency of a color does not change. But people and other living things have the ability to change and alter their vibrational frequency, day to day and moment to moment. Our moods are good indicators as to where we are vibrationally.

When two objects of similar frequency come into close proximity with each other, they begin to sympathetically resonate. Since each color has its own frequency, we tend to choose color based on its effect on our own vibration. So when we choose what color clothes to wear, we are naturally drawn either to the color that most closely resonates with where we are in frequency, or a color that is vibrating at the frequency where we would like to be. You might say that as we make our color choices we are actually asking, “What color am I sympathetically resonating with today?”

Colors are specific wavelengths of Light and because Light is of a higher frequency than our body-mind, and because that which is at higher vibrational frequency entrains whatever is at a lower frequency and pulls it upward, color can pull us up vibrationally, as can sound. That’s why color and music are so great at lifting your mood. Want to feel and attract joy? Focus on a joyful color and play something fun and upbeat. Want to relax? Focus on a soothing color and play something slower.

You can learn more about vibrational frequency and music, as well as about Amy and her wonderful CDs, by visiting her website: amycamie.com. If these ideas excite you, Amy is offering her Vibrational Awareness class as a teleclass (with 5 CE credit hours available for mental health professionals).

Upcoming Teleseminar: Selecting the Perfect Colors for Your Home

In my last newsletter, I mentioned color consultant Kate Smith of Sensational Color (sensationalcolor.com) who is my newly found resource (& friend!) for everything related to color. Not only is her website filled with all the latest color news and trends, but Kate has recently ventured into hosting teleseminars. I’m excited to announce that Kate has invited me to participate in what will be my first teleseminar on Wednesday, April 4th at 8 pm EST. You’ll be able to submit color questions in advance that I’ll be answering during the program. There is also a downloadable article with tips on how to decide which colors are right for you, as well as a profile article entitled “Ellen Kennon: Finding the Key to Her Secret Garden.” Visit Sensational Color for more information and your invitation to Kate Smith's free teleseminar.

I hope you’ll join us!

Happy Spring!

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