Science teaches, and has rediscovered a great
truth, that however valuable the seven colours of
the prism may be, there are rays invisible and so
not demonstrated here by space. Beyond the red end
of the spectrum begins the violet, and these have a
great chemical or Yetsiratic force. These forces,
ever present and unseen, are represented by the
Chief Adept standing erect at the Eastern angle, the
most powerful person in the group, and delegate of
the Chiefs of the Second Order, and through them of
the mystic Third Order. He it is who has,
symbolically, at any rate, passed from death unto
life, and holds the Keys of all the creeds. And he
it is who may place in our hands the Keys of the
locked Palace of the King if we are able to make our
knocking heard. Representing the East, coming from
the East, he faces the Western world, bringing
intuition with him; before him lies the symbolic
body of our Master C.R.C., our grand exemplar and
founder—or at other times, the empty pastos, from
which he has arisen, the Chief Adept.
He has Mars and Geburah at his right hand, and
Jupiter and Gedulah at his left hand. He faces Venus
in the West, the Evening Star, which represents the
entry of the Candidate who has toiled all day until
the evening. At evening he enters the Western door
of the planet Venus, that sole planet unto whose
symbol alone all the Sephiroth are conformed. At
“evening time there shall be light,” the light of
the mixed colours. So the newly admitted Adept comes
in contact with a totality of the planetary forces
for the first time. A great opportunity opens before
him; let him see well that he use it worthily. He
enters through the green side of the vault. Green is
the colour of growth; let him see that he grows.
Upon each side of the vault are forty squares,
five vertical series and eight horizontal, the whole
being symbolically 5’ x 8’. Now the published and
printed Fama Fraternatitas says these forty
feet were divided into ten squares. If you are
mathematicians you would know that ten similar
squares could not alone be placed in such an area
and yet fill it. Ten squares alone to fill a
rectangle could only be placed in an area of the
shape 5’ x 6’. Hence in the Fama, ten squares
are marked and salient” — they are the Sephiroth.
Besides the Ten Sephiroth, there are the
following: There are the Four Kerubim, Three
Alchemical Principles, Three Elements, Seven Planets,
Twelve Zodiacal Signs, One Wheel of the Spirit—thus
40 in all. The Spirit Wheel is on every side and
always in the centre, and is always depicted
unchanged in black upon white.
Upon the side there are always the 4 Kerubic
emblems—zodiacal, yet different, for the Eagle
replaces Scorpio. (Scorpio has three forms, the
Scorpion, the Eagle, and the Snake for the evil
aspect.)
These Kerubim represent the letters of the name
YHVH, and note that they are always arranged in the
Hebrew order of the letters. Yod for the Lion, Heh
for the Eagle, Vau for the Man, Heh final for the Ox,
the Tauric Earth.
Note that these four Zodiacal signs are not in
their own colours, but as symbols of the elements
have elementary colours. As Zodiacal signs, then,
they are found to be compounds of the zodiacal and
planet colours; but they are here as Kerubic emblems
compounded of the Elemental colour and the Planetary
colour of the side.
The Three Principles are composed of the colour
of the Principles, and the colour of the Planet of
any particular wall. Mercury being fundamentally
blue, Sulphur red, and Salt yellow.
The Three Elements have fundamentally the usual
three colours, Fire red, Water blue, Air yellow.
Note that Earth is missing.
The Seven planets have their colours as are often
stated, and note that each of the seven is set
beside its appropriate Sephirah, so that there are
three Sephiroth which have no Planet: Kether,
Chokmah, and Malkuth.
The 12 Zodiacal Signs are the lower portion of
the sides of the vertical column. The central one
has none of the twelve; they are so allotted between
the four remaining columns. Further note that they
are only three ranks, the 5th, 7th, and 8th; none
are in the 6th rank from above.
This arrangement then shows: Four Triplicities
and three Quaternaries. Observe well the arrangement;
it is complex but not confused.
|
1. Kerubic |
Fixed |
Shining Rank |
|
2. Cardinal |
Fiery |
Solar Rank |
|
3. Common (mutable) |
Airy |
Subtle Rank |
From above down, or in columns these are: Earthy
Signs. Airy Signs. Watery Signs. Fiery Signs.
Rank 5. The Kerubic line shows the signs in the
order of Tetragrammaton read in Hebrew.
Rank 7. The Cardinal line shows the signs from
the right in the order of astronomical sequence of
the solar course: vernal equinox, summer solstice,
autumn equinox, winter solstice.
Rank 8. The common line shows the Signs again in
a different position. Here the earliest in the year
is Gemini on the left of Mem, and passing left to
Virgo, you then go round to extreme right to
Sagittarius, pass centrewards to Pisces close to
Malkuth
The colouring of each square is dual—a ground
colour, and the colour of the emblem. The ground
colour is a compound of the colour of the Planet of
the side tinting the colour of the Force to which
the Square is allotted.
Each side has the Square of its own planet in its
own unmixed colour, and with this exception all the
coloured grounds are compound. The emblem colour is
always complementary to the ground colour.
The ritual of the Adeptus Minor gives the
definite colours of each planet and sign which are
to be used in this system. There are other
allotments of colour to each of these symbols and
forces, but these are retained as mysteries yet to
be evolved and revealed when you have become
familiar with the present simple and elementary
system.
