Introduction
I was always a bit puzzled by why the colours of the Alchemy
were black, white, yellow and red. The
black and the white made perfect sense, though the yellow and red were puzzling
for me.
I very naively thought at one point that it was a reflection
of the four colours of human beings, the yellow Asiatic, the red Indian, the
black African and the white European. I somehow don’t think that this is a very
good reason or analogy.
Here below is an interesting excerpt by Omraam Mikhael
Aivanhov giving an interesting explanation.
Excerpt
“Why do alchemists
describe the transformation of matter in the Great Work as a sequence of
colours? Because they have observed this sequence with vegetation. Think of
fruit trees for example: apart from some nuances – for nature is rich in
variety – they pass through a series of colours, and always in the same order.
In winter, the trees are black and bare. In spring, they become white with
flowers and green with leaves. Then comes summer, and the ripening fruits turn
yellow and red. In autumn the foliage turns red and gold, and with red and gold
the process is finished. It is the end of the cycle, as it is in the work of
alchemy.
Like vegetation, human
beings must inwardly pass through all the phases of the alchemical process:
they die, then they are reborn, resurrecting with new virtues and powers: new
colours.”
End (1144).
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