Editing Amica Temple of Radiance

{{Short description|Former new religious movement based on chromotherapy}}
{{Infobox organization
| name                     = Amica Temple of Radiance
| formation                = 1959
| abbreviation             = 
| founder                  = Roland T. Hunt, Dorothy Bailey
| dissolved                = 
| type                     = [[Occult]] organization
| logo                     = 
| image                    = File:Roland T. Hunt rays.png
| image_size               = 
| caption                  = Roland T. Hunt's diagram of the Masters and Rays, 1949
| origins                  = Aquarian Mystical Institute of Colour Awareness 
| region                   = {{GBR}}
| website                  = 
| focus                    = [[Chromotherapy]]
| headquarters             = [[United States]]
}}
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]].

==History==

[[Theosophy|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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hunt |first=Roland |date=1949 |title=Fragrant and Radiant Healing Symphony |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Fragrant_and_Radiant_Healing_Symphony/_wcZAAAAIAAJ |publisher=C. W. Daniel |page=141}}</ref><ref name="Leland 2016">{{cite book |last=Leland |first=Kurt |date=2016 |title=Rainbow Body: A History of the Western Chakra System from Blavatsky to Brennan |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Rainbow_Body/zq1zDQAAQBAJ |publisher=Nicolas-Hays |pages=260-282 |isbn=978-0892546343 |access-date=}}</ref> In the 1920s, Whitten lectured on the occult properties of color and combined the teachings of [[Dinshah P. Ghadiali]] with Theosophy.<ref name="Melton 2007"/> She authored her first booklet, ''What Color Means to You'', in 1932.<ref name="Melton 1991">{{cite book |last=Melton |first=J. Gordon |date=1990 |title=New Age Encyclopedia |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/New_Age_Almanac/4T0OAQAAMAAJ |publisher=Visible Ink Press |pages=116-117 |isbn=9780810394025}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Melton 1991"/> Each color is said to relate to an aspect of human life and is assigned to an [[ascended master]].<ref name="Melton 1991"/>

Whitten developed associations between the seven colors and [[chakra]]s and is credited with pioneering the practice of color breathing.<ref name="Melton 1991"/> This imaginative meditation technique involves a person picturing their breath with a specific color and then breathing 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.<ref name="Melton 2007"/><ref name="Melton 1991"/>{{efn|Roland T. Hunt was married to occultist [[Vera Stanley Alder]].}}

Hunt authored a number of works on chromotherapy, such as ''Fragrant and Radiant Healing Symphony'' in 1937, which combined [[aromatherapy]] with color healing. He also authored ''The Finding of Rainbow's End'' in 1939 and ''The Seven Keys to Colour Healing'' in 1940.<ref name="Melton 1991"/> The latter work has been described as the "first modern comprehensive textbook which integrated material on the subject from both physics and psychology".<ref name="Melton 1991"/> After [[World War II]], Hunt moved to California, where he managed the organization from their headquarters.<ref name="Melton 1991"/>

After Whitten had died in 1947, Hunt and Dorothy Bailey founded the AMICA trust to continue her research.<ref name="Leland 2016"/> The organization was renamed the Amica Temple of Radiance in 1959.<ref name="Leland 2016"/><ref name="Melton 2007">{{cite book |last=Melton |first=J. Gordon |date=2007 |title=The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Encyclopedia_of_Religious_Phenomena/FQFlCwAAQBAJ |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=58 |isbn=9781578592302}}</ref>{{efn|The Amica Temple of Radiance was also known as the Amica Master Institute of Colour Awareness.<ref>{{cite book |last=York |first= Michael|date=2004 |title=Historical Dictionary of New Age Movements |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Historical_Dictionary_of_New_Age_Movemen/umbl7x8aYqkC |publisher=Bloomsbury Academic |page=48 |isbn=978-0810848733}}</ref>}} 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]].<ref name="Melton 1991"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Melton |first=J. Gordon |date=1993 |title=
The Encyclopedia of American Religions |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Encyclopedia_of_American_Religions/oCsvAAAAYAAJ |publisher=Gale Research Company |page=806 |isbn=978-0810369047 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Leadbeater |first=C. W. |date=2013 |title=The Chakras |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Chakras/nVZbBgAAQBAJ |publisher=Quest Books |pages=145-146 |isbn=978-0835630818}}</ref>

==Selected publications==

*{{cite book |author=Ivah Bergh Whitten |date=1932|title=What Colour Means to You|publisher=C. W. Daniel}}
*{{cite book |author=Roland Hunt |date=1937 |title=Fragrant and Radiant Healing Symphony |publisher=C. W. Daniel}}
*{{cite book |author=Ivah Bergh Whitten |date=1948| title=Colour Breathing: The Breath of Transmutation|publisher=C. W. Daniel}}
*{{cite book |author=Rolant Hunt |date= 1940|title=The Seven Keys to Colour Healing |location=|publisher=C. W. Daniel}}

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

*Lewis, James R. ''The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions''. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1998. {{ISBN|1-57392-222-6}}.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amica Temple Of Radiance}}
[[Category:Religious organizations established in 1959]]
[[Category:Religious belief systems founded in the United States]]
[[Category:Churches in Los Angeles]]
[[Category:New religious movements established in the 1950s]]