PentColor

This deceptively simple appearing arrangement is actually at the crux of the entire
Golden Dawn system of Magick. The attributions of AIR to Aquarius, WATER to
Scorpio, EARTH to Taurus and FIRE to Leo may seem casual at first, however Book IV,
“The Concourse of the Forces,” proves there is an extremely elaborate, even
colourful, series of solutions supporting Mathers’ model.
This lamen, presented in simple b/w in all previously published sources, is as good a
model as any to use as a color palette so we can start to get to know one element of the
system from another.
Let’s begin in the uppermost right-side of the Zodiac circle. Here we start with the
Archer, Saggitarius, and so we proceed around clockwise (according to the
circumambulations of the sun) or c/cw (by the “widdershins” way of the moon).
Thus, from Saggitarius, Scorpio is the first by the path of the sun, but Capricorn
comes next by way of the moon. And so on and so forth.
The colours used for the Zodiac glyphs are derived from the “flashing” (or
complimentary) colors to the “Kherubic” bases, which themselves stand for the
primary colour of the particular glyph. For example, Gemini’s glyph colour, grass, is
secondary to its “Kherubic” base colour, mauve. The colour “grass” is only used to
juxtapose the colour mauve which, in this case, is the primary base colour for the
“Kherubic” square. Thus, the “primary” colour is the colour of the “Kherubic” base
and the glyph colour is only meant to be “flashing” opposite the background.
The colours used for the “Kherubic” bases are derived from the so-called “Queen’s
Scale” of colours, given in Col. XVI of Table I. in Aleister Crowley’s copious
compendeum, “777.” So, for example, the colour “sky blue,” therein aligned with the
28th file, aligns with the Zodiac sign of “Aquarius” in file 28, Col. VII, Table I of same,
such that the primary, “Kherubic” base colour is thus derived from the Queen’s scale
and the glyph colour is simply the “flashing” refraction of the primary base colour.
The colours of the five elements, comprising the exterior and interior lines of the
pentagram, proceed likewise such that the “base” colour of an element is depicted
here as the interior line, while the “flashing” or “opposite” hue is attributed to the
exterior outlines. So, by this method, we see that WATER is Orange “flashing” against
Blue; that FIRE is Green “flashing” against Red; EARTH is Red “flashing” Green ; AIR
Pink “opposite” Yellow; and finally SPIRIT is represented by the “Rose”-red and
plain White colours.
Having thus established the method of derivation for these colour-schemes, we will
be using them much more as this course progresses. However, before we look at the
colour-schemes we’re going to be working with, let’s return briefly to re-consider
the “Concourse of the Forces” method for deriving the given diagram’s overall
arrangement.