Colors for Malkuth in the Queen Scale
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I think this must have been dealt with somewhere in the forum, but a search didn't provide me with an answer.
I've noticed in a few instances that the four colors for Malkuth in the Queen scale are a bit different in some illustrations I have seen recently than I originally understood them to be. I just checked 777, and it seems they are the same classical colors I originally learned, with a footnote mark indicating some further explanation—column XVI. Crowley's notes on this column are a bit confusing as they don't state clearly whether he had intended to provide a different color scheme, or what.
It looks like the colors have been rotated, and they are not the classical Citrine, Olive, Russet, and Black. Instead there is a muted green on top, back on the bottom (unchanged from what I had come to expect), a shade of violet on the right, and a golden yellow on the left. See this link posted by Jim in Tools: heruraha.net/images/tree93.jpg
Is there a quick and easy explanation, and possibly a source I can look at for a fuller explanation?
Love and Will
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@RobertAllen said
"I've noticed in a few instances that the four colors for Malkuth in the Queen scale are a bit different in some illustrations I have seen recently than I originally understood them to be. I just checked 777, and it seems they are the same classical colors I originally learned, with a footnote mark indicating some further explanation—column XVI. Crowley's notes on this column are a bit confusing as they don't state clearly whether he had intended to provide a different color scheme, or what."
I forget, do you have 776 1/2? I addressed some of this (in notes to the color scale columns).
"It looks like the colors have been rotated, and they are not the classical Citrine, Olive, Russet, and Black. Instead there is a muted green on top, back on the bottom (unchanged from what I had come to expect), a shade of violet on the right, and a golden yellow on the left. See this link posted by Jim in Tools: <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://heruraha.net/images/tree93.jpg">images/tree93.jpg</a><!-- l --> "
That's just the color editing of the particular instance of that one person trying to come up with the right colors. The real advantage of that Tree is that it gets the colors of Tzaddi and Heh right.
Yes, the top should be citrine - essentially the color of Mountain Dew. The left should be russet (a reddish rich brown). The right should be olive (the usual color of a ripe cocktail olive). The bottom is black, or sometimes seen as very dark indigo deepening into black.
Lots of colored diagrams have screwed these up just because the color differentiation is difficult, especially in digital media. In our private work, there is an early spot where we have people get out their paints and produce the true colors themselves, and most people need multiple tries to get those colors so that they pass inspection.
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I forget, do you have 776 1/2?"
No. But it's on my list. I guess it's probably time to finally do something about this. It being a new month, with new money in the bank I will look into it at the next study group.
@Jim Eshelman said
"Yes, the top should be citrine - essentially the color of Mountain Dew. The left should be russet (a reddish rich brown). The right should be olive (the usual color of a ripe cocktail olive). The bottom is black, or sometimes seen as very dark indigo deepening into black.
Lots of colored diagrams have screwed these up just because the color differentiation is difficult, especially in digital media. In our private work, there is an early spot where we have people get out their paints and produce the true colors themselves, and most people need multiple tries to get those colors so that they pass inspection."
Ah, thanks. This means I can relax! They were just so different it was hard for me to imagine they related what I thought I already knew.
Love and Will
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@RobertAllen said
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@Jim Eshelman said
"I forget, do you have 776 1/2?"No. But it's on my list. I guess it's probably time to finally do something about this. It being a new month, with new money in the bank I will look into it at the next study group."
Here's what I said on the matter (now that I have a minute to copy it out). Oh, and in looking it up I now remember that this wasn't about Malkuth, but was about Earth. It's a footnote to Col. 205, Line 32bis, where I listed black as the color of Earth in the King Scale:
"The Master Therion asserted that the King Scale Color of Earth in the Aeon of Horus should return to green, rather than black. We have long accepted green and black as valid attributions for Earth, depending on the particular context. Nonetheless, to out-and-out substitute green into the table of Color Scales at this point is a more complicated proposition than may appear on the surface; for the scales are intimately interconnected. Presuming that the Queen Scale color for Earth remains yellow-orange ("amber"), then its combination with the green of the King Scale would require the Prince Scale color for Earth be a yellow-yellow-green, i.e., a light citrine, rather than dark brown. The Princess Scakle color would then be expected to be emerald green flecked with yellow or gold-amber. And, while these substitutions are certainly "workable" (in the magical sense) for the element of Earth, there is by no means sufficient evidence to support their substitution into the table at this point."
So there - not actually what you were talking about, but possibly of related interest (and disentangling my misleading prior statement about the book).
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I was troubled over the Thelemic idea of attributing Green to Earth, sonsidering as Crowley mentions, the interconnectedness of the colours on the scales. But,, in performing the GIRP, I can think of no better color for tracing the Pentagrams of Earth in than Green.
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For the lesser pentagram issue, elemental colors generally should not be used, since the ritual is generic. The pale blue "witch light" of the astral is recommended.
But, if you are performing a ritual that differentiates a particular elemental energy, then color is important. In these cases, we recommend that the background be in the elemental color, and the pentagram in its complement; thus, the East is a yellow field on which violet light is traced. This, then, makes it easy in the North: a black field on which the pentagram is traced in white.
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That's interesting I've never seen reference to it being performed in that manner.
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@AEternitas1 said
"That's interesting I've never seen reference to it being performed in that manner."
Which? The Lesser? Or what I said about the particularization?
The latter is one of those things that historically was rarely published openly. You can find it on p. 179 of my 776 1/2, though, as part of the instructions on the pentagram ritual.
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Tracing the Pentagrams in the secondary color upon the primary color ground, I had never considered anything like that before.
I know its getting off topic, but I've begun prforming the LIRP with a pale blue Pentagram, but when I perform the banishing form of the ritual, I use a flaming red Pentagram. The inspiration for this concept was lifted from teh Star Ruby, and the designs of the Probationers (i think) robe, where the Pentagrams are in scarlet.