The symbolism of colour

THE OLD LANGUAGE OF RED

Considering first the colour red as being the lowest in the spectrum, how is this correspondence manifest? Red is the colour of the blood; hence, is it surprising that red is the colour denoting life and action, cheerfulness and enthusiasm? Red is used by healers as a powerful stimulant and tonic, thus it has the meaning of health and vigour. This is why nearly all red stones are said to have health-giving and disease-preventing properties. The ruby in China and Japan is said to give long life, health, and happiness. All the imperial decrees of China have to be written or printed in red as a sign that there is the power behind to force them to be carried out. Children’s clothing must contain some part of red. Usually this consists of a piece of red material twisted together with a pig’s-tail, thus making a talisman of great power against sickness.

In India and Persia the garnet is said to bring deep, abiding health to its possessor. The Romans used the red coral as a talisman to protect their children from all manner of diseases; while in India, China, and Japan it is used to-day as a safeguard against cholera. The red carnelian was used by the Hebrews to prevent attacks of plague, and in China it is worn to prevent stomach troubles.

Again, we find the healthy man is inclined to be more cheerful than the sickly man; so we instinctively think of Mr Greatheart as a man with rosy cheeks. The garnet has nearly always been said to bestow the gift of cheerfulness upon its wearer.

Then we find that the healthy man is usually more courageous and daring than the weakling; hence red often means courage. In fact, the lack of red in the face is taken as a sign of the lack of courage—as in Macbeth, where the page-boy is told:

Courage was said to be the gift of Mars, the god of war; hence red is the colour of war, whether in its most barbaric, cruel form or in its chivalrous form.

Astrologers assign this colour to the planet Mars from its symbolic value, and not merely because Mars looks red in the heavens. Mr Alan Leo writes thus:

So it is that the brave man is known as the man of self-sacrifice. Thus the colour of red takes on this added meaning of self-sacrifice, sorrow, or suffering, which at first seem contradictory meanings to those of enthusiasm, life, and cheerfulness.

In art the martyrs are often clothed in red as a sign that they have suffered, and also as a sign that they had the enthusiasm for the cause, so that the sorrows and cruelties they endured were accounted by them nothing; for red is pre-eminently the colour of enthusiasm, of the fire which inspires a man to fight his way through all obstacles or perish in the attempt. It is thus most fitting that Moses should receive his life work when near the burning bush, which is surely the most appropriate symbol of the quality necessary before one can become the leader of a nation or change it from one of slaves to one of freemen. Red is the colour of the leader, the colour of the kingly robes.[5] Then we may remember that pretty legend of the Christmas Rose, when the shepherd’s little daughter, having no other gift to offer the infant Christ, gave him a fragrant white rose, which was no sooner touched by the Babe than it became a deep glorious red, emblematic of his future suffering.

[5] In ancient Wales red robes showed honourable rank.

Red is also the colour of the flame of love. As Robert Burns sings gaily:—

Perhaps you remember that picture of Rossetti called “Dante’s Dream,” where Beatrice lies cold and still, clad in white, while Love is seen clothed in rose-red robes leading Dante to her side:—

Based on very much the same thought there was an old legend that a red carbuncle was placed at the prow of Noah’s ark to give light and guidance. This legend no doubt grew out of the appropriateness of red as a symbol for the burning love that directed the boat and brought it safely to Ararat, and also from the fact that the carbuncle gives off a faint phosphorescent glow in the dark. Psychics see this very clearly indeed, but it is visible also to persons of normal vision.

Among nearly all primitive nations red berries, such as those of the mountain ash, symbolise the Spirit of God. They have been called by such names as “holy seed” or “fructifying honey dew.”

In front of the high altar of a church or cathedral is seen the red lamp burning perpetually as a sign of the deep, intense, sacrificial, all-enduring love of the Creator.

The communion wine also partakes of this mystic symbolism, when the joy, the fervour, and the uplift of the spiritual life is imparted to man. There is a beautiful passage in Tennyson’s “Holy Grail,” when this mystic cup is seen by Sir Percival’s sister floating down into her convent cell on a shaft of silver light, making wondrous melody in its passage:—

Or we may like to call to mind the esoteric order of Rosicrucians, in which all the glorious symbolism of the Rose and the Cross blended.

Or again, we may think of the red carnelian buckle of Isis which was attached to the neck of the deceased while these words were chanted:—

You will find that in all symbolism there is an exalted meaning given to the symbol and a debased meaning; e.g. a dog may mean all that is noble and full of devotion, or it may give the meaning of all that is mean, low, and despicable.

In the case of red it may, as we have seen, be the sign of the sublime, strong love of the Creator; but at the same time it can refer to debased love and carnal passion, i.e. love without the sacrificial element. Thus we have in Revelation xvi. 3 “the great red dragon who seeks to destroy the woman clothed with the sun,” i.e. the woman or soul who is clothed with the Sun of Righteousness. The dragon is frustrated in his attempt by Michael, whose name means “Like unto God,” for what is ignoble must ever yield to the noble.

Sometimes red may be used as a sign of exuberant animal spirits, e.g. in the expression “to paint the town red.”

Lastly, let us remember that the name Adam means red, and so he symbolises man unregenerate, i.e. of the earth, earthy.

Perhaps it would be wise to consider the colour pink next. Pink is hardly a colour so much as a tint; but as it has a definite symbolism, I have placed it next to red. It is a most useful colour in healing. In the human aura it often denotes the healer. Certainly in its esoteric meaning it denotes the man who wishes to use his life for the healing of others, and the man who receives inspiration how he can help to uplift humanity. Unfortunately, our poets do not often use the word because of its ugly sound.

When Buddha sat under his Bo-tree (Ficus religiosa) to meditate how he could save the world, it is said that his whole body became enveloped in a most radiant blush-rose colour. Edwin Arnold describes this scene:—

The colour pink is said to be the esoteric colour of the mystic number five, which is the number of power, inspiration, and love-healing; e.g. five is the number of points in King Solomon’s seal, which was a talisman of power and inspiration. The Pool of Bethesda, we may remember, had five porches, and it was there that the sick were healed. We see from this connection that similar truths are wrapped up in other groups of symbols. In fact, we find that whether we take colours, or numbers, or trees, or animals, or mountains, or rivers, we learn the same deep truths. The mystics knew that each was an expression of the heavenly mind:—

[6] E. B. B., Aurora Leigh.

Carlyle used pink in its debased sense when he speaks “of the rose-pink hue of sentimentality,” meaning a hue that lacks full virility.

When we come to the colour orange, however, we find that the ancients hardly ever refer to it. If it had very much red in it, it came under the symbolism of red. If it had very much yellow in it, then the symbolism of yellow was considered to embrace it. They did not know it as a primary colour.