Exploring the red that lives there

Red. Rosso Fiorentino, or Giovanni Battista by Iacopo de 'Rossi of full mannerism. Rosso, the one engraved in the Villa dei Misteri of Pompeii. Or The Big Red (1964) unmistakable by Alberto Burri . The all-political "red" evoked by Mario Schifano ( Compagni companioni, 1968). Ferrari red hurtling. Red! like the publishing house that for 30 years has been dealing with publications on psychophysical wellbeing. "Red" as the 2010 action movie with a tireless Bruce Willis and a Helen Mirren at all afflicted by the advancing years.

Or something that has to do with Simply Red, assuming you like the genre? If you want to sing in Italian, instead, "Rosso" by Niccolò Fabi. Remember: "Red / a love I can't" ? It was Raffaella Carrà . Or, who invented the "mischievous and evil" character, crude, dirty and stubborn of Rosso Malpelo? Again: red as the bow that celebrates life, in favor of the love that AIDS must not violate.

"Red shoes", a cinematic poster of love for dance. One of the two colors of Stendhal. And then, the red spread on poetic verses:

On the sky-blue vault, red like the Marseillaise, the sunset whispered, cracking.

VV Majakovskij, (Poems: The cloud in songs)

All manifestations of the color that lives there. The color par excellence; it is no coincidence that the term "colorado" translates properly as "red". In Russian the root of red ( krasni ) and beautiful ( krassivi ) is the same.

There was a time when red was a "good" color. The red robe was regal, very precious. Just think of the cardinals, also called church principles. In the past the same Pope wore red clothes, then abandoned for white starting with Pope St. Pius V, who, coming from the Dominican order, wanted to wear the white uniform of the order even as pope. After the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, with the rise of the bourgeoisie, red increasingly identifies rebellion, the aspect linked to Mars, god of war, red planet due to the iron oxides on its surface.

We find red in alchemy, and precisely in one of the phases of the alchemical process: the rubedo, or, precisely, works in red . The rubedo is the spiritualization of the matter by descent of Fire, the order that is being formed.

Among the foods: tomatoes, pomegranate, grapes, red radicchio, strawberries, cherries, watermelon and the spicy spice par excellence, chilli. All these foods accelerate the lymphatic system, facilitating the elimination of waste.

Chromotherapy: the healing power of red

Chromotherapy uses red in burns and in exanthematic diseases; moreover this color would be useful in cases of depression, in colds, in sore throat, in chronic cough and in asthma, in the treatment of partial and total paralysis, or in the treatment of male impotence. Not recommended in cases of hyperemotivity and hypertension or tachycardia.

The red color is recommended when there is no strength to think and to feel emotions or you are not sufficiently involved and do not engage in family life, when you are too tired, apathetic or your blood pressure is low.

The red between chakra and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Red, along with black, is associated with the first chakra: Muladhara. This is the chakra located at the base of the spine, in the area of ​​the perineum, between the genitals and the anus . The organs corresponding to this chakra are the feet, the legs, the knees, the pelvis, the vertebral column, the adrenal endocrine glands, the genital apparatus, the bladder, the large intestine, the musculature, the bone skeleton and the system central nervous system. The sense corresponding to Muladhara is the sense of smell .

In traditional Chinese medicine, Red is the color that evokes Fire and the other emblems connected to it, namely Estate, as regards the seasons; South as regards orientation; Heart for the organs; the animal symbol is the red bird (or phoenix). We also remember that herbs constitute an important slice of Chinese medicine and that red tea has remarkable purifying properties; in the case of overweight patients sometimes the needlepoint doctors may resort to the so-called red tea diet, which however must be carried out under strict medical supervision and provides for the exclusion of some highly sugary foods (figs, grapes, sweets, bananas, etc.).