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One of the reasons there have been fewer Magick Monday posts up lately is that I am no longer sure what information I need to publish here. I've posted practical operations, initiatory rites, and a comprehensive model of how magick works that seems to stand up to the data I keep compiling as a practical magician. But I got a question from a reader yesterday about something that I have mentioned but not covered in as much detail as it probably deserves. The subject is how to use the four scales of color from Liber 777 when drawing sigils on the kamea squares for the various angels, intelligences, and spirits.
The basic method works like this. The four color scales represent the four Qabalistic worlds. King = Atziluth, Queen = Briah, Prince/Emperor = Yetzirah, Princess/Empress = Assiah. I'm not clear why Aleister Crowley decided to change Prince and Princess to Emperor and Empress in Liber 777, but that's how the scales are named in there and it can be a little confusing. It might have to do with the Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child, so the Prince becomes an Emperor or something like that, but it is also useful to point out that in the Thoth Tarot you do see Princes and Princesses rather than Emperors and Empresses.
However you want to think about it, the Qabalistic world associations still stand. So for example, with Asmodel, the angel of Taurus, the colors you have to work with can be found in Liber 777 under Key Scale 16. They are:
Atziluth = Red-Orange
Briah = Deep Indigo
Yetzirah = Deep Warm Olive
Assiah = Rich Brown
The sigil of Asmodel or any other angel represents the name of the entity traversing the four worlds, with the Lightning Flash representing the general case. When tracing the sigil on the kamea the way I do it, the line tracing the sigil itself should start out as the Atziluth color at the circle (unmanifest) and end as the Assiah color at the straight line (manifest). Note that there isn't necessarily a consensus about starting with the circle and ending at the line, but I do it that way primarily because circle = unmanifest and line = manifest are how John Dee defines those figures in the Monas Hieroglyphica.
As you trace you need to break the sigil line into four sections so you can color each of them for the corresponding world. The opening circle and the closing straight line can be treated as representing separate portions of the sigil or they can be colored the same as the line they connect with. This gives you enough flexibility to represent any name of more than two letters, as so:
3 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, Briah color for line to first angle, Yetzirah color for line from first angle to end, Assiah color for the closing straight line.
4 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, Briah color for line from circle to first angle, Yetzirah color for line from first angle to second angle, Assiah color for line from second angle to end, including the closing line. Alternately, Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle, Yetzirah color for line from second angle to end, and Assiah color for the closing straight line. Whether you want your sigil to "lean towards" (that is, have more color associated with) Atziluth or Briah will depend on whether the intent of your operation is more practical (lean towards Assiah) or mystical (lean towards Atziluth). This is a general rule for names with even numbers of letters.
5 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle, Yetzirah color for line from second angle to third angle, Assiah color for line from third angle to end, including the closing straight line.
6 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, Briah color for line to first angle and line to second angle, Yetzirah color for line from second angle to third angle and third angle to fourth angle, Assiah color from fourth angle to end, including the closing straight line. Alternately, Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line to second angle and line to third angle, Yetzirah color for line from third angle to fourth angle and line to end, Assiah color for closing straight line.
7 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle and second angle to third angle, Yetzirah color for line from third angle to fourth angle and fourth angle to fifth angle, Assiah color for line from fifth angle to end, including the closing straight line.
8 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle and from second angle to third angle, Yetzirah color for line from third angle to fourth angle and fourth angle to fifth angle, Assiah color for line from fifth angle to sixth angle and sixth angle to end, including the closing straight line. Alternately, Atziluth color for starting circle, line to first angle, and line to second angle, Briah color for line from second angle to third angle and from third angle to fourth angle, Yetzirah color for line from fourth angle to fifth angle and from fifth angle to sixth angle, Assiah color for line from sixth angle to end, including the closing straight line.
9 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, line to first angle, and line to second angle, Briah color for line from second angle to third angle and third angle to fourth angle, Yetzirah color for line from fourth angle to fifth angle and fifth angle to sixth angle, Assiah color for line from sixth angle to seventh angle and seventh angle to end, including the closing straight line.
Those should be enough examples to cover most of the angel, intelligence, and spirit names and to derive higher-number solutions if necessary for some particular working. For Asmodel, a name of seven letters, I would do the following:
Opening circle and line to first angle (Aleph, Samekh)- Atziluth (Red-Orange)
Line from first angle to third angle (Mem, Vav) - Briah (Deep Indigo)
Line from third angle to fifth angle (Daleth, Aleph) - Yetzirah (Deep Warm Olive)
Line from fifth angle to final straight line (Lamed) - Assiah (Rich Brown)
The kamea squares and numbers don't represent the manifest force, and I often don't color them. If I do, I use the Atziluth color for the numbers and the Briah color for the lines. For Asmodel, then, the Venus kamea would be drawn with red-orange numbers and deep indigo lines. Also, with the zodiacal angels I include the glyph corresponding to the sign. This should also be traced in King Scale (Atziluth). This is because Atziluth is the archetypal world, and the sigil represents the archetype matching the sign.
With all that, here's how it looks:
A couple of other important points: You don't necessarily need to follow a rote system like this one to color your sigils. The only real rule for using this system is that all four colors from the Key Scale be used. If you are an artist, you can probably come up with something better than this that is more visually appealing and more suited to your particular operation.
You also don't need to color them like this at all. The black and white images that I have here on the blog will work fine, and I have used them in the past without using the colors. The color just adds an additional layer of symbolism that may help you target your operations more precisely.
Hopefully that gives a good overview of the method, should you choose to employ it. As always, if you have questions about it feel free to ask away.
The basic method works like this. The four color scales represent the four Qabalistic worlds. King = Atziluth, Queen = Briah, Prince/Emperor = Yetzirah, Princess/Empress = Assiah. I'm not clear why Aleister Crowley decided to change Prince and Princess to Emperor and Empress in Liber 777, but that's how the scales are named in there and it can be a little confusing. It might have to do with the Aeon of the Crowned and Conquering Child, so the Prince becomes an Emperor or something like that, but it is also useful to point out that in the Thoth Tarot you do see Princes and Princesses rather than Emperors and Empresses.
However you want to think about it, the Qabalistic world associations still stand. So for example, with Asmodel, the angel of Taurus, the colors you have to work with can be found in Liber 777 under Key Scale 16. They are:
Atziluth = Red-Orange
Briah = Deep Indigo
Yetzirah = Deep Warm Olive
Assiah = Rich Brown
The sigil of Asmodel or any other angel represents the name of the entity traversing the four worlds, with the Lightning Flash representing the general case. When tracing the sigil on the kamea the way I do it, the line tracing the sigil itself should start out as the Atziluth color at the circle (unmanifest) and end as the Assiah color at the straight line (manifest). Note that there isn't necessarily a consensus about starting with the circle and ending at the line, but I do it that way primarily because circle = unmanifest and line = manifest are how John Dee defines those figures in the Monas Hieroglyphica.
As you trace you need to break the sigil line into four sections so you can color each of them for the corresponding world. The opening circle and the closing straight line can be treated as representing separate portions of the sigil or they can be colored the same as the line they connect with. This gives you enough flexibility to represent any name of more than two letters, as so:
3 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, Briah color for line to first angle, Yetzirah color for line from first angle to end, Assiah color for the closing straight line.
4 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, Briah color for line from circle to first angle, Yetzirah color for line from first angle to second angle, Assiah color for line from second angle to end, including the closing line. Alternately, Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle, Yetzirah color for line from second angle to end, and Assiah color for the closing straight line. Whether you want your sigil to "lean towards" (that is, have more color associated with) Atziluth or Briah will depend on whether the intent of your operation is more practical (lean towards Assiah) or mystical (lean towards Atziluth). This is a general rule for names with even numbers of letters.
5 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle, Yetzirah color for line from second angle to third angle, Assiah color for line from third angle to end, including the closing straight line.
6 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, Briah color for line to first angle and line to second angle, Yetzirah color for line from second angle to third angle and third angle to fourth angle, Assiah color from fourth angle to end, including the closing straight line. Alternately, Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line to second angle and line to third angle, Yetzirah color for line from third angle to fourth angle and line to end, Assiah color for closing straight line.
7 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle and second angle to third angle, Yetzirah color for line from third angle to fourth angle and fourth angle to fifth angle, Assiah color for line from fifth angle to end, including the closing straight line.
8 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle and line to first angle, Briah color for line from first angle to second angle and from second angle to third angle, Yetzirah color for line from third angle to fourth angle and fourth angle to fifth angle, Assiah color for line from fifth angle to sixth angle and sixth angle to end, including the closing straight line. Alternately, Atziluth color for starting circle, line to first angle, and line to second angle, Briah color for line from second angle to third angle and from third angle to fourth angle, Yetzirah color for line from fourth angle to fifth angle and from fifth angle to sixth angle, Assiah color for line from sixth angle to end, including the closing straight line.
9 Letters - Atziluth color for starting circle, line to first angle, and line to second angle, Briah color for line from second angle to third angle and third angle to fourth angle, Yetzirah color for line from fourth angle to fifth angle and fifth angle to sixth angle, Assiah color for line from sixth angle to seventh angle and seventh angle to end, including the closing straight line.
Those should be enough examples to cover most of the angel, intelligence, and spirit names and to derive higher-number solutions if necessary for some particular working. For Asmodel, a name of seven letters, I would do the following:
Opening circle and line to first angle (Aleph, Samekh)- Atziluth (Red-Orange)
Line from first angle to third angle (Mem, Vav) - Briah (Deep Indigo)
Line from third angle to fifth angle (Daleth, Aleph) - Yetzirah (Deep Warm Olive)
Line from fifth angle to final straight line (Lamed) - Assiah (Rich Brown)
The kamea squares and numbers don't represent the manifest force, and I often don't color them. If I do, I use the Atziluth color for the numbers and the Briah color for the lines. For Asmodel, then, the Venus kamea would be drawn with red-orange numbers and deep indigo lines. Also, with the zodiacal angels I include the glyph corresponding to the sign. This should also be traced in King Scale (Atziluth). This is because Atziluth is the archetypal world, and the sigil represents the archetype matching the sign.
With all that, here's how it looks:
A couple of other important points: You don't necessarily need to follow a rote system like this one to color your sigils. The only real rule for using this system is that all four colors from the Key Scale be used. If you are an artist, you can probably come up with something better than this that is more visually appealing and more suited to your particular operation.
You also don't need to color them like this at all. The black and white images that I have here on the blog will work fine, and I have used them in the past without using the colors. The color just adds an additional layer of symbolism that may help you target your operations more precisely.
Hopefully that gives a good overview of the method, should you choose to employ it. As always, if you have questions about it feel free to ask away.
7 comments:
On the design of the sigil based on the 777, color scales, what do you do when you can't find an intelligible response to colors named like 'Cold dark grey near black'? Do you try to find the color that best fits the description or just throw grey in there?
Also, there is an idea popular in the grimoire world that once a contact has been made with a sigil, you should ask for a personal sigil, like in the Arbatel, most probably for a stronger and better connection. They never explain why though. Is this true?
Basically you do the best you can. I find that I do a lot with the regular primary and secondary colors and do not always worry about exact shades. For example, purple for both indigo and violet, even though from an art context they are different shades. That approach seems to work.
You certainly can ask for personal sigils and write them down in your Book of Spirits and so forth, and they generally will work. But I can't say I have noticed a big difference between those personal sigils and the standard traditional ones in terms of making rituals more powerful in practical terms.
The idea might come from older grimoire traditions where you conjure the spirit using prayers and so forth without using a sigil, and then getting a sigil from the spirit to simplify the process, and it also is possible that the traditional sigils may have been obtained in that exact manner by practitioners from long ago. But I'd have to do more research for that to be anything but speculation on my part.
@Samat I found this to be the closest thing to the original color scales https://www.lelandra.com/tarotbook/TreeofLifeColors.htm
Keep in mind those colors were generated using oil based paint (iirc) and I've been told the shades in this link are not quite correct, so to speak. But if you're not part of any order and you didn't / won't be presented with the color scales as worked with within that order then you can safely use these. As Scott said, you can substitute in lack of the real deal. Spirits don't seem to mind when it comes to substituting violet and indigo or pale green for emerald green and so forth. I think the difference in shades has to do with imprinting specific symbolism and imagery into the person's sphere of sensation (within an order) and not necessarily with spirit working in terms of feeding them to provide better results.
Thanks @Alex. Now it's easier to visualize what the colours were referring to. The colour I was asking about in this blog was from Capricorn and I just put the description on google and took the best fitting colour's code and plugged it into Adobe Illustrator and it matched the exact descriptions in your link. Colour codes differentiate between violet and indigo when 777 is so clear and I plan to print out my sigils.
@Scott, I don't know where the GD got the colour scales from, but I think I read somewhere, maybe it was Robert Wang's Qabalistic Tarot, that the scales were discovered via ancient rabbis travelling in spirit vision and discovering these new angels long before Agrippa got to write them down. This also begs the question, how were the zodiac sign paths discovered to begin with.
No prob. I might very well be mistaking but I think I remember the Golden Dawn having drawn from Kant's philosophy with respect to colors (???)
I had a thought. Since the 4 colour scales represent the 4 Qabalistic worlds, why not write the permutated name of YHVH coloured according to the 4 scales on the sigils and talismans? So for Taurus (YHHV) this would be Yod (Red-Orange), Heh (Deep Indigo), Heh (Deep Warm Olive), Vav (Rich Brown). Though I'm not sure where the complimentary colour should go.
That is absolutely a way to go. It actually is a little more in line with what Crowley suggests in Liber O than how I do it.
If you use all four colors like this, you wouldn't use a complementary color. These sigils do not need to use the flashing color method.
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