Grade Placement & the Minutum Mundum

There is a continuing lack of understanding regarding the placement of the grades upon the Tree of Life, particularly in terms of their elemental associations. I addressed some of the Golden Dawn reasoning behind the seemingly inconsistent placement of the Air grade of Theoricus in the watery Sephirah of Yesod (Luna) and the Water grade of Practicus in the airy grade of Hod (Mercury) in my article Reconciling An Elemental Inconsistency in Issue 6 of Hemetic Virtues. Here, however, I will highlight another aspect, which sheds light on the placement of the elements with the Sephiroth, or, conversely, sheds light on the choice of colours employed.

Let us skip Zelator for now, which is Earth and Malkuth, and focus on the three primary elements of Air, Water, and Fire (Yesod/ Theoricus, Hod/Practicus, and Netzach/Philosophus respectively). The Sephirah of Yesod is coloured violet (or purple) in the Queen Scale (the most commonly employed of the four Colour Scales). The colour of Air is yellow, which just happens to be the flashing colour of violet. Coincidence? Certainly not. The Sephirah of Hod is coloured orange in the Queen Scale, while the colour of Water is blue, its flashing colour. And then the Sephirah of Netzach is coloured green in the Queen Scale, while the the colour of Fire is red, its flashing colour.

But what about Malkuth? The colour of Earth is black, but the colours for Malkuth are citrine, olive, russet, and black. They're not the flashing colour, which is white. However, this is where one of the mysteries of Malkuth comes in. It's fairly common knowledge that Malkuth is in Kether and Kether is in Malkuth, thus making this earthy-coloured Malkuth the white-coloured Kether of another world. And thus do we have the flashing colours.

It does not end there, however, as the flashing colours are also present on the Tree itself, without the need to apply the elements. The flashing colour of Yesod can be found directly above it in Tiphareth. The flashing colour of Hod can be found diagonally across from it in Chesed. The flashing colour of Netzach can be found diagonally across from it in Geburah. And finally, the flashing colour of the black segment of Malkuth can be found directly above it in Kether.

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of art will notice something else in the above image. The colours of red, yellow, and blue are, of course, the primary colours, while the colours of orange, purple, and green are the secondary colours (made by mixing two of the primaries, such as red and yellow forming orange, blue and yellow forming green, and red and blue forming purple). What is not depicted in the above image is the tertiary colours, but they can be found on the Minutum Mundum diagram and the image displayed below. These are created by combing two of the secondary colours, so that russet is formed from orange and purple, olive is formed from green and purple, and citrine is formed from orange and green. The white of Kether is all colours, while the black segment of Malkuth is the absence of colour.