Colors

[wolfchild]

I know this will sound naeve, but I'm wondering if someone might explain the significane of the color purple. I was originally taught it is for ambition and power, business dealings and such, is that correct? :colorful:

[odubhain]

I know this will sound naeve, but I'm wondering if someone might explain the significane of the color purple. I was originally taught it is for ambition and power, business dealings and such, is that correct? :colorful:Purple was the color of royalty for the Druids, so ambition and power would be appropriate.

Searles

[jodarius]

Purple is a power color, it has always been a color of emporers and rulers. Alot of societies only allowed royalty to wear it.

[Dave the Druid]

WolfChild it is not naeve( I have a problem with the spelling, but no matter).

I've never heard that purple was a Druid colour? Did I miss something?
The history of the colour purple is a brilliant lesson.
short but good (http://www.quilthistory.com/dye.htm)

I like this one because it is BBC and more detailed.

BBC on the History of Purple (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A444700)

I have heard of White (for Druids), Blue (for Ovates) and Green (for Bards) but after reading Ibone's site colour doesn't really matter.

[odubhain]

WolfChild it is not naeve( I have a problem with the spelling, but no matter).

I've never heard that purple was a Druid colour? Did I miss something?.

Here's a link to colors Iin an article I once wrote:

http://www.fhaoil-choin.org/druidcolor.htm

Tighernmas introduced the colors of yellow, green and blue to Ireland in 900 BCE.

Slaves wore saffron (yellow) colored longshirts. Druids wore white robes in ceremony, grey bull hides in battle and many speckled robes on state occasions such as banquets and court appearances. The kings usually wore robes of crimson or red. The foster sons of kings wore cloaks of scarlett, purple or blue.

According to the Cain Law, the dath was proscribed as follows: satin and scarlett for the sons of king; black yellowish, grey and blay clothes for the maic na ngra'd fene. The mac in airrech, mac in airrech tuis, mac in airrech ard, mac in airrech forgill, mac in airrech rig, also had colors assigned to their cloths as well, though no mention is made of them in the DIL.

In another reference, the following colors were prescribed for: Free class - yellow, black, white, blay. Noble grade - red, green, brown. Royalty - Purple and blue. Only the Scottish high king could wear a pur ple stripe in his tartan. The shields of the five provinces of Ireland (Leinster, Munster, Connacht, Ulster and Meath) contain the colors: red, gold, white, blue, green, black and purple.

Scottish tartans had a hierarchy of color numbers just as did the Irish. The Scottish King could have seven colors in his tartan. All others could have only six colors. The extra color was purple. The Royal Stewart tartan contains the colors: red, yellow, white, blue, green, black and purple (very similar to the colors of the shields of the Irish provinces).

[more from the same article]

In the "Colloqoquy of the Two Sages": Bricriu is given a "...purple tunic, adorned with gold and silver..." by Nede an aspiring Ollamh. Then Nede went and sat in the Poet's Chair and pulled his robe of three colors about him: a covering of bright bird's feathers were in the middle, at he bottom a speckling of findruine (a white gold, white brass, silver combination), while the top was a brilliant golden color.

From the _Metrical Dindshenchas_ (referencing the cloak of Fer Berna from Brius): "It is not white, nor gray, nor dun; it is not red, nor blue, nor purple; it is no tartan, striped nor checkered; it is no beribboned garment of ease."

In another post I mentioned that Tighernmas (900 BCE) introduced the colors saffron, blue and green to Ireland from trading with the Phoenicians. He also was said to have established the numbers and types of colors that could be worn by the different classes of Irish society. I'd like to suggest these colors for the different levels of Irish society: Ard Righ - Seven colors: Purple, white, black, blue, red, green, yellow . (These are also the colors of the Royal Stewart Tartan in Scotland.) Nemed (Druids, Churchmen, Lords, Poets) -Six colors: white, black, blue, red, green, yellow . Provincial Chiefs - Five colors: black, blue, red, green, yellow . A Bruiden or Wealthy Landowner - Four colors: blue, red, green, yellow . A Warrior - Three colors: red, green, yellow A Peasant - Two colors: green, yellow . A Slave - One color: yellow .

There's also a correspondence between the winds, their colors and certain meanings associated with them:

The Winds

Wind-Sign-Color-Effect
North-An Gabhar (Capall)-Black-Red Sworded Battle
North-Northeast-An t-Uisceadoir (Dile)-Speckled-Venom, Battle
North-East-An hEisc (An Bradán)-Dark-Plentiful Fish, Sickness
East-An Aistear-Purple-Fruitfull though Plagued
South-Southeast-An Tarbh-Yellow-Good Fruit
South-East-An Iolar-Red -Fish and Corn
South -An Trogan-White-Rich Harvest
South-Southwest-An Cu-Blue-Green-Meager Crops
Southwest-An Gort (An Mhaighdean)-Green-Battles and Scant Harvest
West-An Eo-Pale-Death of a King
West-Northwest-An Dam allaid-Dark Brown-Great Bloodshed
NorthWest-An Saighdeoir (An Duine)-Gray-Dearth and Slaughters

Searles

[Phi]

For yet another description of the meaning of purple, here is an excerpt from Johannes Itten's book The Elements of Color. Itten's work, originally published in Germany in 1961, is considered by many one of the best works on color theory, and is a required text in many art schools.
Artists have long understood general psychological associations to certain colors and color combinations, which they have used to promote the meanings of their works.

"As the antipode of yellow, or consciousness, violet is the color of the unconscious--mysterious, impressive and sometimes oppressive, now menacing, now encouraging according to contrast...Violet is the hue of piety, and when darkened or dulled, of dark superstition. Lurking catastrophe bursts forth from dark violet. Once it is lightened, when light and understanding illuminate dark piety, delicate and lovely tints enchant us...Chaos, death, and exhaltation in violet, solitude and dedication in blue-violet, divine love and spiritual dominion in red-violet--these, in few words, are some of the expressive values of the violet band. Many plants have light violet shoots with yellow centers...Complimentary pairs--yellow:violet=bright knowledge: dark emotional piety...red=love, blue=faith; red+blue=violet; love+faith=piety."

(My own writing)I find it interesting that the color of piety is also the color of power: who else but the true royal would be considered powerful and also pious? (Remember that piety is not necessarily to only one type of god/goddess, but represents fealty and reverence to whatever one conceives god/goddess to be.)


Yellow is the brightest, lightest color in the spectrum, second only to the neutral white. It's opposite, or compliment, violet, is the darkest. If one puts the colors on a circle or wheel, the wheel shows yellow, then orange-yellow, then orange, then orange-red, then red, then red-violet, then violet, then blue-violet, then blue, then blue green, then green, then green yellow, and back to yellow to complete the circle. New color circles have been created for computer use, but the older color wheels are used and have been known for centuries for actual mixing of pigment colors. Associations to the old color wheel and directions and elements were also used in alchemy and magic with variations being seen from from one civilization to another in the associations. Yet, the colors and their compliments have a magic of their own, for mixing any two compliments yields some semblance to black tones in pigments. Staring at yellow will cause an after-image of violet. The reverse is also true.

In linking this information regarding the magic or power of color to Druid tradition, one extant piece of poetry includes these lines:

I am Amirgen White-knee
pale of substance, gray of hair,
accomplishing my incubation
in proper poetic forms
in diverse color.

[blackroseivy]

As an artist, I find that the color violet is of power, but also of passion - like, a ruler who must always keep his temper in check! ;)

[wolfchild]

Many thanks to all of you. Thereason I asked, I was browsing through a catalogue at my sisters, and came across a deep purple cape that they described as "The Druids Cape" and I couldn't figure out why....

Thank you Thank you Thank you All!!!