The symbolism of colour

THE OLD LANGUAGE OF THE RAINBOW

We have come to the end of our survey of the inner meanings of separate colours, showing us how “The invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things which are made.”[25]

[25] Romans i. 20.

However, we should not properly complete our task if we did not consider the rainbow and the deep symbolic meaning attached to it. Since every ray gives out some great truth and blessing, the rainbow stood for all blessing, the sign of the presence of God’s love. In Greece, Iris (who is sometimes regarded as the rainbow itself, or a goddess clothed with the rainbow, or dwelling in the rainbow, or making a rainbow path to earth) is the messenger of the gods. She is not mentioned in the Odyssey but very often in the Iliad. She has some of the functions of Hermes, but unlike Hermes has little or nothing to do with the pale realms of Pluto. She is generally looked upon as Juno’s chief messenger, and confers blessings on those whom Juno loves.

In the Æneid, book iv., we have a beautiful description of Iris coming to release the suffering soul of Dido, the luckless Queen of Carthage:—

The Scandinavians believed that on the rainbow arch the souls of the heroes were able to march in triumph to the great wassail in Valhalla. Curiously enough this rainbow is spoken of as “treble-hued.” It would be interesting to know which three main colours of the rainbow they thought of.

[26] Bif-rost—the wave-rest, i.e. the resting place of the waves.

[27] Asgard. K. F. Boult.

So of all the gods Thor might not tread the rainbow; still, he was allowed to make his journey into the council of the gods by other paths.

The rainbow is said to have been given to Noah as a sign that there should be no more flood or no more sea of trouble, for the sea or the salt water stands mystically for the troubles, the trials, and the suffering which the soul has to surmount before it receives blessing and peace. How this makes us think of the meaning of Bifröst. The promise that there shall be no more sea does not stand for the drying-up of actual oceans but is a promise given to every true navigator of the soul—such as Noah was—if only the ark or soul is constructed according to divine instructions and has its little window above into which light may shine.

In the “Kalevala,” Wainomoinem builds a magic boat, but forgets the last three words of his enchantment, and so he cannot complete the boat. He journeys over the whole world to find these words, and when he does eventually find them he finishes the boat and gives it as a dowry to the Maid of Beauty:—

Among the Peruvians the rainbow was worshipped under the name of Chucychu.

Ezekiel[28] sees the rainbow beautiful and bright around his vision of God and the Cherubim. St John[29] also has a vision of Christ manifesting within a rainbow glory.

[28] Ezekiel i. 28.

[29] Revelation iv. 3.

We should naturally expect from the above that the opal should have much the same meaning as the rainbow. We certainly do find that in the East it was considered a most sacred stone, and it was said to contain the Spirit of Truth.

The Greeks were probably responsible for our belief that it brings ill-luck in love affairs; but we must remember that they considered it capable of giving the gift of prophecy, provided that the gift was used for the benefit of others. If this was not so, then bad fortune came to the seer.

Joseph’s coat of many colours has been said to have been a sign of all-blessing, but we must remember that there is considerable doubt concerning the context of this passage, Still we do know that in many nations certain variously coloured garments have been considered garments of honour. Thus the ancient Irish bards had robes striped with the following colours as a sign of their noble and honourable calling—white, blue, green, black, and red.

Modern symbolism speaks in very beautiful language of the fact that the seven rays of the spectrum give white light, but we must remember that this symbolism is essentially modern. Thus, as I have said previously, white represents unity; while to the ancients, yellow, the sun colour, was the colour of unity. The seven rays have been likened to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and sometimes they are likened to the Elohim.

In the spectrum we have three main rays, sometimes given as red, yellow, and blue, and sometimes as red, green, and blue. These are said mystically to stand for the Trinity or God in Three—that is, God in manifestation; while the white ray would represent God in Unity or the One Supreme Cause—God Unmanifest—God ever changeless.

Sometimes the seven rays are likened to the various ways and methods of approach to spiritual vision, for few people receive this vision in the same way or under the same conditions. Some people receive inspiration through work, others in quiet meditation, or by concentrating their energies on some great truth. Thus the Zoroastrians and Parsees have concentrated on the virtue of Purity, and they realise that all that is unclean, whether of the body or of the soul, is forever separate from God. This is a great and basic truth that must be enshrined in the heart of every worshipper:—

—a wonderful promise, hardly to be comprehended except by the saints, the seers, and the exalted ones.

Then the Buddhists lay stress on the Brotherhood of Man, and so charity and the virtue of giving willingly and freely has been exalted to one of supreme importance in India.

The Christians lay stress on the Love of God—the highest conception so far; but one that must include the other truths or it becomes degraded and debasing, as in the belief of the person who holds that the more wickedly he lives, the more God will have to forgive, and therefore the more love God will have for him.

So all Truths are necessary in order to form the white ray. As James Russell Lowell says:—

This wonderful study of symbolism sheds new light on many old customs and myths. From it, we are able to penetrate to the heart of things, and to see that every nation has aspired earnestly to understand the universe, and to realise that the Creator is manifest in His works.

Unfortunately the modern world in its haste has for many generations cast aside this desire to know more deeply these inner truths. The Puritan saw that symbolism had degenerated into image-worship and into corrupt and unworthy practices, and so his mission was to destroy this dragon of false priests and to give simplicity and reality. Almost too well he seems to the artist-minds to have done his work, but we must remember that it was an age of “No compromise.”

Now, however, there seem to be signs all over the world that people would once again love to have these beautiful symbols, for just as the mathematician can reach greater truths by means of his symbols, so the mystic by his can attain to the highest realms of ecstasy. He becomes one of the uplifting forces of the world; one who gives light. His eyes and face reveal the inward light, and so he becomes a star. Mere knowledge, mere intellect, without the inner vision, never makes the star soul—“He whose face gives no light can never become a star.” To such a one the object can never enslave. He has become, as the Hindoos say, “A King of the Zodiac”; that is, he has learnt all his lessons, journeyed through the twelve great constellations, performed his appointed labours, and is able to receive the great reward. What is the great reward? To see the spiritual significance burn through from all the objects of Nature and so to obtain communion with the Maker, and thus enter into the golden yellow petals of the Eternal Rose.

You ask me lastly why I think it is that the nations should agree so well in choosing the inner meanings of colours. It seems to me that in olden times the gift of being able to see the human aura was one well known to the prophets and seers. Now, once a person has this gift it is very easy to connect the type of person exhaling the aura with particular qualities. When another aura is seen containing one of the same colours the quality it shows would ever after be connected with that colour, and so there would grow up a colour symbolism differing little all over the world. Many of the most successful colour healers of to-day see the human aura, and according to the beauty of the colours they see the beauty of the Mind, and according to the lack of beautiful coloration they see illness and wrong-doing. Still it must be borne in mind that the wrong-doer even in health cannot attain so beautiful or refined an aura as the good man. In sickness the colours of the latter are greyish in value, whereas the colours of the evil man are muddy-looking.

It is indeed a great subject, proving that the physicians of the future must minister to the soul as well as the body. The world awaits them.