Less piercing in effect, but still very powerful is the use of colour by the magus who 'tuned' his colours to the character of the spell he was casting. In this case, the colours of the circle painted on the floor, those of the magic weapon or sigil, and of the altar were often at full saturation. The Elizabethan magician, Dr John Dee, had his altar in the deep blue and white of the Enochian tablets.
Often bright colours were restricted to small focal areas such as those of the zodiacal stones and crystals, or as in the lettering, signs and symbols on a talisman or ritual vestment. In the experimental ESP workshop, some of the Zena cards have specific primary colours. On the other hand, when an Elizabethan magician evoked a shady power such as Saturn or the hybrid powers the tradition was to mix the colours and make them less brilliant.
Where mysteries bordered on the unfathomable, the colours likewise were seen rather like subtle, shot colours, or the evanescent hues that the alchemist saw in the fumes and sublimations over the cucurbit. These were described by Erenaes Philalethes who saw the 'substance' changing, turning liquid or coagulating, becoming like fishes' eyes and taking on a mother-of-pearl effect. In fact, the colours of auras are even more subtle and are likely to appear translucent to a 'sensitive' and invisible to others. |
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