While on a walking tour through various neighborhoods and a few of the homes open to the public, we were taken with the antebellum architecture and décor. One of those little things that caught my wife’s eye, though, was the blue ceilinged porches. And not just any blue- haint blue – as it was explained to us. It turns out that haint blue is something that has been around forever, and exists in many different cultures all over the world. Time has a way of keeping color records in the “archives” of its’ historic structures like these in Charleston.
By way of background, ‘haints’ are the restless and not-so friendly spirits of the dead caught between the physical world and the spiritual, not quite ready for whatever reason to move on. Since you don’t want them hanging around, the myth about haint blue is that it keeps your home free from the influence of these spirits.
Haint blue is a spiritual and cultural based color. Original haint blues were created the way all paints and colors used to be – using raw ingredients in the hands of skilled craftspeople. Haint blue was mixed as milk paint using lime and whatever local pigments were available; since it was hand-mixed, it actually represented a range of colors. It is meant to look like water or the endless sky and keeps you safe from the influence of the haints because, legend has it, they cannot cross water. The visible spectrum fools them, so they are less likely to cross into
your home.
OK, so I get that it’s a color thing, and that not just any blue will do. But what this story is really all about is an interaction with the etheric or spirit realm. And when it comes to that realm, we all have a bit of experience. So I got to thinking about this paint for the porch ceilings and for other purposes and asked: what happens if we put some flower essences into the paint we use for various rooms, or other items we similarly
finish? Think about its potential benefit in the paint that is on the walls and ceiling of a treatment room, or the room in which one meditates, or a studio, or a child’s nursery, or an office, or a library, or a classroom, or a store. And then the various rooms of your home. Couldn’t it be added to varnishes and lacquers, too? I am now in the process of restoring an antique library ladder and am adding a space clearing combination essence to the finish. And when I put another coat of varnish on my cherished antique sailboat, wouldn’t a defender essence of some kind
be a worthy additive? I just can’t shake this thought or the endless possibilities and opportunities it provides, so I am sharing them with you and welcoming your thoughts and ideas. Just log onto our website and click on the Blog tab where you’ll be able to post comments to this article and a collection of others over the years. We look forward to hearing from you!
