Color Symbolism And Freemasonry
By
John Shroeder, PM
四川扣肉Prented to A. Douglas Smith, Jr. Lodge of Rearch, #1949
On
August 29, 1998
© 2004 - A. Douglas Smith, Jr., Lodge of Rearch #1949, AF&AM - All Rights Rerved
周记写景© 2004 - A. Douglas Smith, Jr., Lodge of Rearch #1949, AF&AM - All Rights Rerved
Color Symbolism And Freemasonry
by
John Shroeder, PM
We all know that Masonry employs symbols to teach moral lessons. One definition of Masonry frequently ud is that it is a beautiful system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. Our lectures give explanations of tho symbols. Some believe that there is much to be learned from the symbols which is not included in the lectures, that the given explanations are but the tip of the iceberg.
Our Virginia Mentor's Manual contains a ction saying that it is unknown where, when or why the name Blue Lodge originated, but also pointing out that blue is generally regarded as the color of truth and fidelity, basic teachings of our craft; that blue is the color ud to characterize friendship, one of the jewels of a Mason. It also tells us, "some have found some symbolism in the blue arch of the heavens and have urged that for a Freemason the virtues of friendship and benevolence must be as expansive as the heavens." It concludes with the reminder that the proper term is "Symbolic Lodge" rather than "Blue Lodge" although blue as a color and symbol is prominent in our teachings.1
The Masonic Services Association distributed a Short Talk Bulletin in April 1994 which addresd the
views of Brother Leon Zeldis, Honorary Assistant Grand Master, and Past Sovereign Grand Commander of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, of Israel, condend from his paper in Quatuor Coranatorum Transactions, vol. 105, 1992, concerning the Masonic meanings of the colors blue, white, purple, red, green, yellow and black. Brother Zeldis quotes the Masonic author, A. E. Waite,as writing, “There is no recognized scheme or science of colors in Masonry. Here and there in our ritual we find an ‘explanation’ for the u of a certain colour [sic], but this usually turns out to be merely a peg on which to hang a homiletic lecture about it, having little if any connection with the origins of its u.” Brother Zeldis also quotes Brother Chetwode Crawley, “The ordinary prosaic enquirer will e in the lection of blue as the distinctive colour of Freemasonry only the natural quence of the legend of King Solomon’s Temple. For the Jews had been Divinely commanded to wear a ‘riband of blue’ (Numbers 15:38, ‘You are to take tasls on the corners of your garments with a blue cord on each tasl’).2Brother Zeldis does not mention, in this article, the description in Exodus 28:31 and 33 respectively, “And you shall make the robe of the ephod all blue.”, “On its skirts you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet stuff …”. The pomegranates are, of cour, another familiar Masonic symbol on the chapiters of the pillars.
The Masonic Service Association of North America publication, “EMESSAY NOTES” of February 199
7, also has this to say about the Masonic symbolism of the color blue, “ Blue: having the color of clear sky, the sapphire, the turquoi. There is nothing of this hue about a ‘Blue Lodge’ except the colors on aprons, collars, etc. of officers. Blue was adopted as the official color of the Symbolic Lodge by the Mother Grand Lodge, which first proclaimed white as the color and then changed it to blue. Various theories account for the color as that descriptive of a Symbolic Lodge; it came from the blue vault of heaven; blue was the color of the steel points of the compass, contrasting with the yellow brass of the hinged part of the instrument; blue was the official color of the Order of the Garter and was adopted for lodges in an attempt to add the dignity of that decoration to the Fraternity. Blue Lodge and Blue Masonry are other names for Symbolic Lodge and Symbolic Masonry. (From the MSA Digest Masonic Vocabulary)”3
I noted with interest, in some of my non-Masonic reading, veral references to color symbolism and thought that it might be of interest to others as well. The renowned Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung, took a great interest in the folk legends and symbols of earlier ages as he felt that they contributed to an understanding of the changes which he felt had taken
© 2004 - A. Douglas Smith, Jr., Lodge of Rearch #1949, AF&AM - All Rights Rerved
place in man's understanding of himlf and his role in the Univer over eons of time.4 Jung felt that early man had not originally had a clear consciousness or rational thinking capability but, over centuries, developed such a capability and now has come to know only the conscious, and not the unconscious, which was layered over by the development of the conscious. He believed that earlier man had been governed by instincts, much as we think about the animal mind today. He felt that the earlier instinctual mind is still with man today but it is as a shadow behind or beneath the conscious mind. He felt that the integration of that shadow mind with the conscious mind results in the enlightenment or individuation of the individual. Becau of his keen interest, Jung read widely in science, literature, history, philosophy and also folklore and found, in literature from ancient civilizations and religions, parallels in symbolism which he reasoned showed that the aro from a common thread in the instinctive minds of ancient men. In this regard, he adopted the Eastern philosophy that if things repeatedly occur together, it is more than coincidence even if a causal relationship cannot be conclusively proven through scientific methods. He called this synchronicity. Worshipful Brother Kirk MacNulty, author of the beautiful work, Freemasonry: A Journey through Ritual and Symbol,5 is quoted by Wallace McLeod in his book, A Quest for Light,6 as also using Jungian concepts in explaining how the three Craft degrees recapitulate the development of the individual person. “The Entered Apprentice degree, (or the Ground Floor of the Temple), reprents 劳动节的由来简短
唯才是用
the physical or material being, Jung’s ‘individual consciousness’. The Fellow Craft, (or Middle Chamber), reprents the soul or psyche, Jung’s ‘personal unconscious’. The Master Mason degree, (or Holy of Holies), is the spiritual being, Jung’s ‘collective unconscious’, one step clor to the Divine.” Similar parallels in the symbolism of peoples very far removed from each other culturally, geographically and in time have been noted by Frar in his minal work, The Golden Bough,7 and more recently by Joph Campbell as reported in his many books, especially his ries on the nature of the gods in various cultures.8
This is interesting but, you may be asking, what does it have to do with the subject of color symbolism in Freemasonry? Perhaps the parallels in symbolism have also occurred with the lection of blue as the color of the symbolic lodge. Perhaps the us of the symbolism of blue in other cultures can provide insight into its u in Freemasonry. Becau of Jung's detailed rearch into symbolism, his works may be of more than passing interest to the members of this Craft founded upon the u of symbolism to teach moral principles. The Mason who is willing to expend the effort to glean his writings for the kernels of particular application to the ancient evolution of symbolism ud in modern Freemasonry will find it rewarding.
For example, there is no proof that our u of the square and compass as Masonic symbols has a
direct lineal descent from their u as symbols of moral instruction in ancient China, which is evidenced by ancient writings, or from their u in ancient Egypt, as indicated by archeological findings. The creation myths of the Dogon tribe of Mali in Western Africa offer some striking parallels with the penalty of the Entered Apprentice9 but there is almost certainly no very direct lineal relationship. Jung would say that the things aro independently (but synchronistically) from man's common unconscious. Jung's reasoning may offer a logical framework for a theory of common threads of symbolism where evidence and proof of direct relationship is lacking.
花满枝
Among other symbols he rearched, Jung found that the color blue of the heavenly sky has been in many cultures and beliefs a symbol of spirituality. He contrasts this with red as a symbol of emotion. This equates with our feelings about the colors, I believe. Blue is the coolest of colors and we equate spirituality with a cool, detached, or other-worldly orientation or philosophy. Red is the warmest of colors which we equate with the heat of anger or passion. Our everyday language, for example, includes the well known phra, “eing red”, to dramatically convey the concept of anger. Jung points out that the combination of red and blue provides purple or violet which he says is the symbol of mysticism. He feels that this is a good illustration of his concept, to which I alluded earlier, of the integration or individuation of the personality which he concludes has a duality similar t
o his concept of the conscious mind and shadow mind or psyche. When the dual parts of the personality,
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which he equates with the spiritual aspect of the conscious mind, as reprented by the color blue, and the emotional, instinctual aspect of the shadow mind, which he equates with the red, are combined or integrated, he feels they bring the individual to his highest potential, symbolized by violet.墓碑文
I found this of interest Masonically since blue is the color of the symbolic lodge which, in Jungian terms, reprents the spiritual values to which we aspire. That ems to me to be cloly aligned with the moral lessons taught as we progress through the three degrees from the physical man, or Entered Apprentice, to the mindful man, or Fellow Craft, and ultimately to the spiritual man, or Master Mason. This is also evidenced by the symbology [sic] of the changes in mode of wearing the apron while progressing through the degrees where the triangular flap, which triangle, Masonic scholars tell us, reprents deity, is first parate and above the rectangular apron reprenting worldly, or ba, things. Secondly, the triangle or spiritual symbol is impod upon the worldly form i
自我强化n the Fellow Craft’s apron, and thirdly, the two are integrated into one triangular form, as a Master Mason, symbolizing spirituality.
The above explanation of the symbolism of blue in the symbolic lodge is at least as intellectually and intuitively satisfying as the other explanations offered for the term "Blue Lodge". For example, Mackey says that blue is the symbol of universal friendship and benevolence, becau, as it is the color of the vault of heaven, which embraces and covers the whole globe, we are thus reminded that in the breast of every brother the virtues should be equally as extensive. He says that blue, except for white, is the only color which should be ud in a Master's lodge for decorations. Mackey relates that blue was to the Hebrews a symbol of perfection, to the Druids a symbol of truth, to the Hindus a symbol of wisdom, to the Babylonians and the Egyptians a sacred color, to the Chine a symbol of divinity, and to medieval Christians, an emblem of immortality.10
Some of the Masonic degrees, some of which are called chivalric degrees, in both the Scottish and York Rites u red as the basic color, much as the symbolic lodge us blue. In the ca of the York Rite degree of the Royal Arch, this has been explained by Mackey as the symbol of the ardor and zeal which should actuate all who are in posssion of that sublime portion of Freemasonry.11 Mackey also cites Portal's Symbolic Colors which states that red, reprenting fire, is the symbol of t
he regeneration and purification of souls. Mackey es this as a logical reason for the Royal Arch to adopt it becau the Royal Arch refers historically to the re-building or regeneration of the Temple of Solomon, and symbolically to the regeneration of life.12 In the ca of the u of red as the symbolic color for the heraldic degrees of the York and Scottish Rites, it fits well with the Jungian interpretation of red as the symbol of emotions, becau courage, fervor, and zeal, when properly directed, are all noble emotions which are cloly associated with the rituals of the heraldic degrees.
The combination of red and blue into purple or violet, is the color of the York Rite Mark, Past, and Most Excellent Master degrees which fall between the degree of Master Mason and that of the Royal Arch. Mackey says that the color purple in this ca therefore symbolizes the clo connection and harmony which should ever exist between the two portions of the Masonic System. This would indicate a transitional blending from blue toward red.13 Portal's Symbolic Colors states that purple, in the profane language of colors, symbolizes constancy in spiritual combats becau blue denotes fidelity and red, war.14We know that purple has always been an emblem of exalted office and purple the legendary color of the robes of kings and high priests. The purple dye at that time reportedly could only be produced by crushing a certain shellfish, murex, from Phoenicia, which made it very expensive and contributed to limiting its u. Brother Zeldis, in the Short Talk Bulletin previously cite
d, points out that, in Hebrew, tchelet (light blue) and argaman (purple) have usually been mentioned together without scholars reaching satisfactory conclusions as to why. He found that the light blue, or tchelet, was produced from a short variety of the shellfish, murex trunculus, while the purple, or argaman, was produced from one of two other varieties, murex brandaris and thais haemastoma. He points out that some historians have concluded that, in the Middle Ages in Europe, blue was low in popular esteem compared with red becau red dyes could achieve stronger shades which brought to
© 2004 - A. Douglas Smith, Jr., Lodge of Rearch #1949, AF&AM - All Rights Rerved
