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the secret teachings of all ages
The Pythagorean
Theory Of Music And Color
CHAPTER XIV
manly p. hall
HARMONY is a state recognized
by great philosophers as the immediate prerequisite of beauty. A
compound is termed beautiful only when its parts are in
harmonious combination. The world is called beautiful and its
Creator is designated the Good because good perforce must act in
conformity with its own nature; and good acting according to its own
nature is harmony, because the good which it accomplishes is harmonious
with the good which it is. Beauty, therefore, is harmony manifesting its
own intrinsic nature in the world of form.
The universe is made up of
successive gradations of good, these gradations ascending from matter
(which is the least degree of good) to spirit (which is the greatest
degree of good). In man, his superior nature is the summum bonum.
It therefore follows that his highest nature most readily cognizes good
because the good external to him in the world is in harmonic ratio with
the good present in his soul. What man terms evil is therefore,
in common with matter, merely the least degree of its own opposite. The
least degree of good presupposes likewise the least degree of harmony
and beauty. Thus deformity (evil) is really the least harmonious
combination of elements naturally harmonic as individual units.
Deformity is unnatural, for, the sum of all things being the
Good, it is natural that all things should partake of the
Good and be arranged in combinations that are harmonious. Harmony
is the manifesting expression of the Will of the eternal
Good.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF MUSIC
It is highly probable that the
Greek initiates gained their knowledge of the philosophic and
therapeutic aspects of music from the Egyptians, who, in turn,
considered Hermes the founder of the art. According to one legend, this
god constructed the first lyre by stretching strings across the
concavity of a turtle shell. Both Isis and Osiris were patrons of music
and poetry. Plato, in describing the antiquity of these arts among the
Egyptians, declared that songs and poetry had existed in Egypt for at
least ten thousand years, and that these were of such an exalted and
inspiring nature that only gods or godlike men could have composed them.
In the Mysteries the lyre was regarded as the secret symbol of the human
constitution, the body of the instrument representing the physical form,
the strings the nerves, and the musician the spirit. Playing upon the
nerves, the spirit thus created the harmonies of normal functioning,
which, however, became discords if the nature of man were
defiled.
While the early Chinese,
Hindus, Persians, Egyptians, Israelites, and Greeks employed both vocal
and instrumental music in their religious ceremonials, also to
complement their poetry and drama, it remained for Pythagoras to raise
the art to its true dignity by demonstrating its mathematical
foundation. Although it is said that he himself was not a musician,
Pythagoras is now generally credited with the discovery of the diatonic
scale. Having first learned the divine theory of music from the priests
of the various Mysteries into which he had been accepted, Pythagoras
pondered for several years upon the laws governing consonance and
dissonance. How he actually solved the problem is unknown, but the
following explanation has been invented.
One day while meditating upon
the problem of harmony, Pythagoras chanced to pass a brazier's shop
where workmen were pounding out a piece of metal upon an anvil. By
noting the variances in pitch between the sounds made by large hammers
and those made by smaller implements, and carefully estimating the
harmonies and discords resulting from combinations of these sounds, he
gained his first clue to the musical intervals of the diatonic scale. He
entered the shop, and after carefully examining the tools and making
mental note of their weights, returned to his own house and constructed
an arm of wood so that it: extended out from the wall of his room. At
regular intervals along this arm he attached four cords, all of like
composition, size, and weight. To the first of these he attached a
twelve-pound weight, to the second a nine-pound weight, to the third an
eight-pound weight, and to the fourth a six-pound weight. These
different weights corresponded to the sizes of the braziers'
hammers.
Pythagoras thereupon discovered
that the first and fourth strings when sounded together produced the
harmonic interval of the octave, for doubling the weight had the same
effect as halving the string. The tension of the first string being
twice that of the fourth string, their ratio was said to be 2:1, or
duple. By similar experimentation he ascertained that the first and
third string produced the harmony of the diapente, or the interval of
the fifth. The tension of the first string being half again as much as
that of the third string, their ratio was said to be 3:2, or
sesquialter. Likewise the second and fourth strings, having the same
ratio as the first and third strings, yielded a diapente harmony.
Continuing his investigation, Pythagoras discovered that the first and
second strings produced the harmony of the diatessaron, or the interval
of the third; and the tension of the first string being a third greater
than that of the second string, their ratio was said to be 4:3, or
sesquitercian. The third and fourth strings, having the same ratio as
the first and second strings, produced another harmony of the
diatessaron. According to Iamblichus, the second and third strings had
the ratio of 8:9, or epogdoan.
The key to harmonic ratios is
hidden in the famous Pythagorean tetractys, or pyramid of dots. The
tetractys is made up of the first four numbers--1, 2, 3, and
4--which in their proportions reveal the intervals of the octave, the
diapente, and the diatessaron. While the law of harmonic intervals as
set forth above is true, it has been subsequently proved that hammers
striking metal in the manner described will not produce the
various tones ascribed to them. In all probability, therefore,
Pythagoras actually worked out his theory of harmony from the
monochord--a contrivance consisting of a single string stretched between
two pegs and supplied with movable frets.
THE INTERVALS AND HARMONIES OF THE
SPHERES.
From Stanley's The History
of Philosophy.
In the Pythagorean concept of
the music of the spheres, the interval between the earth and the sphere
of the fixed stars was considered to be a diapason--the most perfect
harmonic interval. The allowing arrangement is most generally accepted
for the musical intervals of the planets between the earth and the
sphere of the fixed stars: From the sphere of the earth to the sphere of
the moon; one tone; from the sphere of the moon to that of Mercury, one
half-tone; from Mercury to Venus, one-half; from Venus to the sun, one
and one-half tones; from the sun to Mars, one tone; from Mars to
Jupiter, one-half tone; from Jupiter to Saturn, one-half tone; from
Saturn to the fixed stars, one-half tone. The sum of these intervals
equals the six whole tones of the octave.
THE CONSONANCES OF THE MUNDANE
MONOCHORD.
From Fludd's De Musica
Mundana.
This diagrammatic sector
represents the major gradations of energy and substance between
elemental earth and absolute unconditioned force. Beginning with the
superior, the fifteen graduated spheres descend in the following order:
Limitless and Eternal Life; the superior, the middle, and the inferior
Empyrean; the seven planets; and the four elements. Energy is symbolized
by Fludd as a pyramid with its base upon the concave surface of the
superior Empyrean, and substance as another Pyramid with its base upon
the convex surface of the sphere (not planet) of earth. These pyramids
demonstrate the relative proportions of energy and substance entering
into the composition of the fifteen planes of being. It will be noted
that the ascending pyramid of substance touches but does not pierce the
fifteenth sphere--that of Limitless and Eternal Life. Likewise, the
descending pyramid of energy touches but does not pierce the first
sphere--the grossest condition of substance. The plane of the sun is
denominated the sphere of equality, for here neither energy nor
substance predominate. The mundane monochord consists of a hypothetical
string stretched from the base of the pyramid of energy to the base of
the pyramid of substance.
To Pythagoras music was one of
the dependencies of the divine science of mathematics, and its harmonies
were inflexibly controlled by mathematical proportions. The Pythagoreans
averred that mathematics demonstrated the exact method by which the good
established and maintained its universe. Number therefore preceded
harmony, since it was the immutable law that governs all harmonic
proportions. After discovering these harmonic ratios, Pythagoras
gradually initiated his disciples into this, the supreme arcanum of his
Mysteries. He divided the multitudinous parts of creation into a vast
number of planes or spheres, to each of which he assigned a tone, a
harmonic interval, a number, a name, a color, and a form. He then
proceeded to prove the accuracy of his deductions by demonstrating them
upon the different planes of intelligence and substance ranging from the
most abstract logical premise to the most concrete geometrical solid.
From the common agreement of these diversified methods of proof he
established the indisputable existence of certain natural
laws.
Having once established music
as an exact science, Pythagoras applied his newly found law of harmonic
intervals to all the phenomena of Nature, even going so far as to
demonstrate the harmonic relationship of the planets, constellations,
and elements to each other. A notable example of modern corroboration of
ancient philosophical reaching is that of the progression of the
elements according to harmonic ratios. While making a list of the
elements in the ascending order of their atomic weights, John A.
Newlands discovered at every eighth element a distinct repetition of
properties. This discovery is known as the law of octaves in
modern chemistry.
Since they held that harmony
must be determined not by the sense perceptions but by reason and
mathematics, the Pythagoreans called themselves Canonics, as
distinguished from musicians of the Harmonic School, who asserted
taste and instinct to be the true normative principles of harmony.
Recognizing, however, the profound effect: of music upon the senses and
emotions, Pythagoras did not hesitate to influence the mind and body
with what he termed "musical medicine."
Pythagoras evinced such a
marked preference for stringed instruments that he even went so far as
to warn his disciples against allowing their ears to be defiled by the
sounds of flutes or cymbals. He further declared that the soul could be
purified from its irrational influences by solemn songs sung to the
accompaniment of the lyre. In his investigation of the therapeutic value
of harmonics, Pythagoras discovered that the seven modes--or keys--of
the Greek system of music had the power to incite or allay the various
emotions. It is related that while observing the stars one night he
encountered a young man befuddled with strong drink and mad with
jealousy who was piling faggots about his mistress' door with the
intention of burning the house. The frenzy of the youth was accentuated
by a flutist a short distance away who was playing a tune in the
stirring Phrygian mode. Pythagoras induced the musician to change his
air to the slow, and rhythmic Spondaic mode, whereupon the intoxicated
youth immediately became composed and, gathering up his bundles of wood,
returned quietly to his own home.
There is also an account of how
Empedocles, a disciple of Pythagoras, by quickly changing the mode of a
musical composition he was playing, saved the life of his host,
Anchitus, when the latter was threatened with death by the sword of one
whose father he had condemned to public execution. It is also known that
Esculapius, the Greek physician, cured sciatica and other diseases of
the nerves by blowing a loud trumpet in the presence of the
patient.
Pythagoras cured many ailments
of the spirit, soul, and body by having certain specially prepared
musical compositions played in the presence of the sufferer or by
personally reciting short selections from such early poets as Hesiod and
Homer. In his university at Crotona it was customary for the
Pythagoreans to open and to close each day with songs--those in the
morning calculated to clear the mind from sleep and inspire it to the
activities of the coming day; those in the evening of a mode soothing,
relaxing, and conducive to rest. At the vernal equinox, Pythagoras
caused his disciples to gather in a circle around one of their number
who led them in song and played their accompaniment upon a
lyre.
The therapeutic music of
Pythagoras is described by Iamblichus thus: "And there are certain
melodies devised as remedies against the passions of the soul, and also
against despondency and lamentation, which Pythagoras invented as things
that afford the greatest assistance in these maladies. And again, he
employed other melodies against rage and anger, and against every
aberration of the soul. There is also another kind of modulation
invented as a remedy against desires." (See The Life of
Pythagoras.)
It is probable that the
Pythagoreans recognized a connection between the seven Greek modes and
the planets. As an example, Pliny declares that Saturn moves in the
Dorian mode and Jupiter in the Phrygian mode. It is also apparent that
the temperaments are keyed to the various modes, and the passions
likewise. Thus, anger--which is a fiery passion--may be accentuated by a
fiery mode or its power neutralized by a watery mode.
The far-reaching effect
exercised by music upon the culture of the Greeks is thus summed up by
Emil Nauman: "Plato depreciated the notion that music was intended
solely to create cheerful and agreeable emotions, maintaining rather
that it should inculcate a love of all that is noble, and hatred of all
that is mean, and that nothing could more strongly influence man's
innermost feelings than melody and rhythm. Firmly convinced of this, he
agreed with Damon of Athens, the musical instructor of Socrates, that
the introduction of a new and presumably enervating scale would endanger
the future of a whole nation, and that it was not possible to alter a
key without shaking the very foundations of the State. Plato affirmed
that music which ennobled the mind was of a far higher kind than that
which merely appealed to the senses, and he strongly insisted that it
was the paramount duty of the Legislature to suppress all music of an
effeminate and lascivious character, and to encourage only s that which
was pure and dignified; that bold and stirring melodies were for men,
gentle and soothing ones for women. From this it is evident that music
played a considerable part in the education of the Greek youth. The
greatest care was also to be taken in the selection of instrumental
music, because the absence of words rendered its signification doubtful,
and it was difficult to foresee whether it would exercise upon the
people a benign or baneful influence. Popular taste, being always
tickled by sensuous and meretricious effects, was to be treated with
deserved contempt. (See The History of Music.)
Even today martial music is
used with telling effect in times of war, and religious music, while no
longer developed in accordance with the ancient theory, still profoundly
influences the emotions of the laity.
THE MUSIC OF THE
SPHERES
The most sublime but least
known of all the Pythagorean speculations was that of sidereal
harmonics. It was said that of all men only Pythagoras heard the
music of the spheres. Apparently the Chaldeans were the first people
to conceive of the heavenly bodies joining in a cosmic chant as they
moved in stately manner across the sky. Job describes a time "when the
stars of the morning sang together," and in The Merchant of
Venice the author of the Shakesperian plays writes: "There's not the
smallest orb which thou behold'st but in his motion like an angel
sings." So little remains, however, of the Pythagorean system of
celestial music that it is only possible to approximate his actual
theory.
THE MUNDANE MONOCHORD WITH ITS PROPORTIONS AND
INTERVALS.
From Fludd's De Musica
Mundana.
In this chart is set forth a
summary of Fludd's theory of universal music. The interval between the
element of earth and the highest heaven is considered as a double
octave, thus showing the two extremes of existence to be in disdiapason
harmony. It is signifies that the highest heaven, the sun, and the earth
have the same time, the difference being in pitch. The sun is the lower
octave of the highest heaven and the earth the lower octave of the sun.
The lower octave (Γ to G) comprises that part of the universe in which
substance predominate over energy. Its harmonies, therefore, are more
gross than those of the higher octave (G to g) wherein energy
predominates over substance. "If struck in the more spiritual part,"
writes Fludd, "the monochord will give eternal life; if in the more
material part, transitory life." It will be noted that certain elements,
planets, and celestial spheres sustain a harmonic ratio to each other,
Fludd advanced this as a key to the sympathies and antipathies existing
between the various departments of Nature.
Pythagoras conceived the
universe to be an immense monochord, with its single string connected at
its upper end to absolute spirit and at its lower end to absolute
matter--in other words, a cord stretched between heaven and earth.
Counting inward from the circumference of the heavens, Pythagoras,
according to some authorities, divided the universe into nine parts;
according to others, into twelve parts. The twelvefold system was as
follows: The first division was called the empyrean, or the
sphere of the fixed stars, and was the dwelling place of the immortals.
The second to twelfth divisions were (in order) the spheres of Saturn,
Jupiter, Mars, the sun, Venus, Mercury, and the moon, and fire, air,
water, and earth. This arrangement of the seven planets (the sun and
moon being regarded as planets in the old astronomy) is identical with
the candlestick symbolism of the Jews--the sun in the center as the main
stem with three planets on either side of it.
The names given by the
Pythagoreans to the various notes of the diatonic scale were, according
to Macrobius, derived from an estimation of the velocity and magnitude
of the planetary bodies. Each of these gigantic spheres as it rushed
endlessly through space was believed to sound a certain tone caused by
its continuous displacement of the æthereal diffusion. As these
tones were a manifestation of divine order and motion, it must
necessarily follow that they partook of the harmony of their own source.
"The assertion that the planets in their revolutions round the earth
uttered certain sounds differing according to their respective
'magnitude, celerity and local distance,' was commonly made by the
Greeks. Thus Saturn, the farthest planet, was said to give the gravest
note, while the Moon, which is the nearest, gave the sharpest. 'These
sounds of the seven planets, and the sphere of the fixed stars, together
with that above us [Antichthon], are the nine Muses, and their joint
symphony is called Mnemosyne.'" (See The Canon.)This quotation
contains an obscure reference to the ninefold division of the universe
previously mentioned.
The Greek initiates also
recognized a fundamental relationship between the individual heavens or
spheres of the seven planets, and the seven sacred vowels. The first
heaven uttered the sound of the sacred vowel Α (Alpha); the second
heaven, the sacred vowel Ε (Epsilon); the third, Η (Eta); the fourth, Ι
(Iota); the fifth, Ο (Omicron); the sixth, Υ (Upsilon); and the seventh
heaven, the sacred vowel Ω (Omega). When these seven heavens sing
together they produce a perfect harmony which ascends as an everlasting
praise to the throne of the Creator. (See Irenæus' Against
Heresies.) Although not so stated, it is probable that the planetary
heavens are to be considered as ascending in the Pythagorean order,
beginning with the sphere of the moon, which would be the first
heaven.
Many early instruments had
seven Strings, and it is generally conceded that Pythagoras was the one
who added the eighth string to the lyre of Terpander. The seven strings
were always related both to their correspondences in the human body and
to the planets. The names of God were also conceived to be formed from
combinations of the seven planetary harmonies. The Egyptians confined
their sacred songs to the seven primary sounds, forbidding any others to
be uttered in their temples. One of their hymns contained the following
invocation: "The seven sounding tones praise Thee, the Great God, the
ceaseless working Father of the whole universe." In another the Deity
describes Himself thus: "I am the great indestructible lyre of the whole
world, attuning the songs of the heavens. (See Nauman's History of
Music.)
The Pythagoreans believed that
everything which existed had a voice and that all creatures were
eternally singing the praise of the Creator. Man fails to hear these
divine melodies because his soul is enmeshed in the illusion of material
existence. When he liberates himself from the bondage of the lower world
with its sense limitations, the music of the spheres will again
be audible as it was in the Golden Age. Harmony recognizes harmony, and
when the human soul regains its true estate it will not only hear the
celestial choir but also join with it in an everlasting anthem of praise
to that Eternal Good controlling the infinite number of parts and
conditions of Being.
The Greek Mysteries included in
their doctrines a magnificent concept of the relationship existing
between music and form. The elements of architecture, for example, were
considered as comparable to musical modes and notes, or as having a
musical counterpart. Consequently when a building was erected in which a
number of these elements were combined, the structure was then likened
to a musical chord, which was harmonic only when it fully satisfied the
mathematical requirements of harmonic intervals. The realization of this
analogy between sound and form led Goethe to declare that "architecture
is crystallized music."
In constructing their temples
of initiation, the early priests frequently demonstrated their superior
knowledge of the principles underlying the phenomena known as vibration.
A considerable part of the Mystery rituals consisted of invocations and
intonements, for which purpose special sound chambers were constructed.
A word whispered in one of these apartments was so intensified that the
reverberations made the entire building sway and be filled with a
deafening roar. The very wood and stone used in the erection of these
sacred buildings eventually became so thoroughly permeated with the
sound vibrations of the religious ceremonies that when struck they would
reproduce the same tones thus repeatedly impressed into their substances
by the rituals.
Every element in Nature has its
individual keynote. If these elements are combined in a composite
structure the result is a chord that, if sounded, will disintegrate the
compound into its integral parts. Likewise each individual has a keynote
that, if sounded, will destroy him. The allegory of the walls of Jericho
falling when the trumpets of Israel were sounded is undoubtedly intended
to set forth the arcane significance of individual keynote or
vibration.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
COLOR
"Light," writes Edwin D.
Babbitt, "reveals the glories of the external world and yet is the most
glorious of them all. It gives beauty, reveals beauty and is itself most
beautiful. It is the analyzer, the truth-teller and the exposer of
shams, for it shows things as they are. Its infinite streams measure off
the universe and flow into our telescopes from stars which are
quintillions of miles distant. On the other hand it descends to objects
inconceivably small, and reveals through the microscope objects fifty
millions of times less than can be seen by the naked eye. Like all other
fine forces, its movement is wonderfully soft, yet penetrating and
powerful. Without its vivifying influence, vegetable, animal, and human
life must immediately perish from the earth, and general ruin take
place. We shall do well, then, to consider this potential and beautiful
principle of light and its component colors, for the more deeply we
penetrate into its inner laws, the more will it present itself as a
marvelous storehouse of power to vitalize, heal, refine, and delight
mankind." (See The Principles of Light and Color.)
Since light is the basic
physical manifestation of life, bathing all creation in its radiance, it
is highly important to realize, in part at least, the subtle nature of
this divine substance. That which is called light is actually a
rate of vibration causing certain reactions upon the optic nerve. Few
realize how they are walled in by the limitations of the sense perceptions. Not
only is there a great deal more to light than anyone has ever seen but
there are also unknown forms of light which no optical equipment will
ever register. There are unnumbered colors which cannot be seen, as well
as sounds which cannot be heard, odors which cannot be smelt, flavors
which cannot be tasted, and substances which cannot be felt. Man is thus
surrounded by a supersensible universe of which he knows nothing because
the centers of sense perception within himself have not been developed
sufficiently to respond to the subtler rates of vibration of which that
universe is composed.
THE THEORY OF ELEMENTAL
MUSIC.
From Fludd's De Musica
Mundana.
In this diagram two
interpenetrating pyramids are again employed, one of which represents
fire and the other earth. It is demonstrated according to the law of
elemental harmony that fire does not enter into the composition of earth
nor earth into the composition of fire. The figures on the chart
disclose the harmonic relationships existing between the four primary
elements according to both Fludd and the Pythagoreans. Earth consists of
four parts of its own nature; water of three parts of earth and one part
of fire. The sphere of equality is a hypothetical point where there is
an equilibrium of two parts of earth and two parts of fire. Air is
composed of three parts of fire and one part of earth; fire, of four
parts of its own nature. Thus earth and water bear to each other the
ratio of 4 to 3, or the diatessaron harmony, and water and the sphere of
equality the ratio of 3 to 2, or the diapente harmony. Fire and air also
bear to each other the ratio of 4 to 3, or the diatessaron harmony, and
air and the sphere of equality the ratio of 3 to 2, or the diapente
harmony. As the sum of a diatessaron and a diapente equals a diapason,
or octave, it is evident that both the sphere of fire and the sphere of
earth are in diapason harmony with the sphere of equality, and also that
fire and earth are in disdiapason harmony with each other.
Among both civilized and savage
peoples color has been accepted as a natural language in which to couch
their religious and philosophical doctrines. The ancient city of
Ecbatana as described by Herodotus, its seven walls colored according to
the seven planets, revealed the knowledge of this subject possessed by
the Persian Magi. The famous zikkurat or astronomical tower of
the god Nebo at Borsippa ascended in seven great steps or stages, each
step being painted in the key color of one of the planetary bodies. (See
Lenormant's Chaldean Magic.) It is thus evident that the
Babylonians were familiar with the concept of the spectrum in its
relation to the seven Creative Gods or Powers. In India, one of the
Mogul emperors caused a fountain to be made with seven levels. The water
pouring down the sides through specially arranged channels changed color
as it descended, passing sequentially through all shades of the
spectrum. In Tibet, color is employed by the native artists to express
various moods. L. Austine Waddell, writing of Northern Buddhist art,
notes that in Tibetan mythology "White and yellow complexions usually
typify mild moods, while the red, blue, and black belong to fierce
forms, though sometimes light blue, as indicating the sky, means merely
celestial. Generally the gods are pictured white, goblins red, and
devils black, like their European relative." (See The Buddhism of
Tibet.)
In Meno, Plato, speaking
through Socrates, describes color as "an effluence of form, commensurate
with sight, and sensible." In Theætetus he discourses more at
length on the subject thus: "Let us carry out the principle which has
just been affirmed, that nothing is self-existent, and then we shall see
that every color, white, black, and every other color, arises out of the
eye meeting the appropriate motion, and that what we term the substance
of each color is neither the active nor the passive element, but
something which passes between them, and is peculiar to each percipient;
are you certain that the several colors appear to every animal--say a
dog--as they appear to you?"
In the Pythagorean
tetractys--the supreme symbol of universal forces and
processes--are set forth the theories of the Greeks concerning color and
music. The first three dots represent the threefold White Light, which
is the Godhead containing potentially all sound and color. The remaining
seven dots are the colors of the spectrum and the notes of the musical
scale. The colors and tones are the active creative powers which,
emanating from the First Cause, establish the universe. The seven are
divided into two groups, one containing three powers and the other four
a relationship also shown in the tetractys. The higher
group--that of three--becomes the spiritual nature of the created
universe; the lower group--that of four--manifests as the irrational
sphere, or inferior world.
In the Mysteries the seven
Logi, or Creative Lords, are shown as streams of force issuing
from the mouth of the Eternal One. This signifies the spectrum being
extracted from the white light of the Supreme Deity. The seven Creators,
or Fabricators, of the inferior spheres were called by the Jews the
Elohim. By the Egyptians they were referred to as the
Builders (sometimes as the Governors) and are depicted
with great knives in their hands with which they carved the universe
from its primordial substance. Worship of the planets is based upon
their acceptation as the cosmic embodiments of the seven creative
attributes of God. The Lords of the planets were described as dwelling
within the body of the sun, for the true nature of the sun, being
analogous to the white light, contains the seeds of all the tone and
color potencies which it manifests.
There are numerous arbitrary
arrangements setting forth the mutual relationships of the planets, the
colors, and the musical notes. The most satisfactory system is that
based upon the law of the octave. The sense of hearing has a much
wider scope than that of sight, for whereas the ear can register from
nine to eleven octaves of sound the eye is restricted to the cognition
of but seven fundamental color tones, or one tone short of the octave.
Red, when posited as the lowest color tone in the scale of chromatics,
thus corresponds to do, the first note of the musical scale.
Continuing the analogy, orange corresponds to re, yellow to
mi, green to fa, blue to sol, indigo to la,
and violet to si (ti). The eighth color tone necessary to
complete the scale should be the higher octave of red, the first color
tone. The accuracy of the above arrangement is attested by two striking
facts: (1) the three fundamental notes of the musical scale--the first,
the third, and the fifth--correspond with the three primary colors--red,
yellow, and blue; (2) the seventh, and least perfect, note of the
musical scale corresponds with purple, the least perfect tone of the
color scale.
In The Principles of Light
and Color, Edwin D. Babbitt confirms the correspondence of the color
and musical scales: "As C is at the bottom of the musical scale and made
with the coarsest waves of air, so is red at the bottom of the chromatic
scale and made with the coarsest waves of luminous ether. As the musical
note B [the seventh note of the scale] requires 45 vibrations of air
every time the note C at the lower end of the scale requires 24, or but
little over half as many, so does extreme violet require about 300
trillions of vibrations of ether in a second, while extreme red requires
only about 450 trillions, which also are but little more than half as
many. When one musical octave is finished another one commences and
progresses with just twice as many vibrations as were used in the first
octave, and so the same notes are repeated on a finer scale. In the same
way when the scale of colors visible to the ordinary eye is completed in
the violet, another octave of finer invisible colors, with just twice as
many vibrations, will commence and progress on precisely the same
law."
When the colors are related to
the twelve signs of the zodiac, they are arranged as the spokes of a
wheel. To Aries is assigned pure red; to Taurus, red-orange; to Gemini,
pure orange; to Cancer, orange-yellow; to Leo, pure yellow; to Virgo,
yellow-green; to Libra, pure green; to Scorpio, green-blue; to
Sagittarius, pure blue; to Capricorn, blue-violet; to Aquarius, pure
violet; and to Pisces, violet-red.
In expounding the Eastern
system of esoteric philosophy, H. P, Blavatsky relates the colors to the
septenary constitution of man and the seven states of matter as
follows:
|
COLOR |
PRINCIPLES
OF MAN |
STATES OF
MATTER |
|
Violet |
Chaya, or Etheric Double |
Ether |
|
Indigo |
Higher
Manas, or Spiritual Intelligence |
Critical
State called Air |
|
Blue |
Auric
Envelope |
Steam or
Vapor |
|
Green |
Lower
Manas, or Animal Soul |
Critical
State |
|
Yellow |
Buddhi, or Spiritual Soul |
Water |
|
Orange |
Prana, or Life Principle |
Critical
State |
|
Red |
Kama
Rupa, or Seat of Animal Life |
Ice |
This arrangement of the colors
of the spectrum and the musical notes of the octave necessitates a
different grouping of the planets in order to preserve their proper tone
and color analogies. Thus do becomes Mars; re, the sun;
mi, Mercury; fa, Saturn; sol, Jupiter; la,
Venus; si (ti) the moon. (See The E. S.
Instructions.)
THE FOUR ELEMENTS AND THEIR CONSONANTAL
INTERVALS.
From Fludd's De Musica
Mundana.
In this diagram Fludd has
divided each of the four Primary elements into three subdivisions. The
first division of each element is the grossest, partaking somewhat of
the substance directly inferior to itself (except in the case of the
earth, which has no state inferior to itself). The second division
consists of the element in its relatively pure state, while the third
division is that condition wherein the element partakes somewhat of the
substance immediately superior to itself. For example the lowest
division of the element of water is sedimentary, as it contains earth
substance in solution; the second division represents water in its most
common state--salty--as in the case of the ocean; and the third division
is water in its purest state--free from salt. The harmonic interval
assigned to the lowest division of each element is one tone, to the
central division also a tone, but to the higher division a half-tone
because it partakes of the division immediately above it. Fludd
emphasizes the fact that as the elements ascend in series of two and a
half tones, the diatessaron is the dominating harmonic interval of the
elements.
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