Colour Symbolism in Freemasonry
By: Bro. Leon Zeldis

Bro. Leon Zeldis is the editor of "The Israel Freemason."
This STB is part of a paper printed in the 1992 Vol. lO5, Ars
Quatuor Coronatorum Transactions.
Editor

Colour is a fundamental element of masonic 
symbolism. It appears in the descriptions of 
aprons, sashes and other items of regalia, in the 
furnishings and wall-hangings of the lodge room 
for each degree or ceremony, in the robes worn 
in certain degrees, and in many other masonic 
accoutrements. The colours specified in each 
case appear to have no rational justification. As 
A.E. Waite wrote: "There is no recognized 
scheme or science of colors in Masonry. Here 
and there in our rituals we find an 'explanation' 
for the use of a certain colour, 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 use."
 
This paper seeks to find some rationale behind 
the selection of colours as masonic symbols, 
restricting our examination to the Craft degrees, 
and those of the Ancient and Accepted (Scottish) 
Rite, with occasional reference to the Royal 
Arch.
 
It was early recognized that colours have a 
strong influence on the mind and therefore can 
be employed for certain moral or aesthetic ends, 
through symbolical, allegorical and mystical 
allusions. Newton wrote of 'the sensual and 
moral effects of colour,' where sensual must be 
understood as 'transmitted by the senses.' 
Goethe, too, wrote extensively on colour (over 
2,000 pages! ).

Masonic Blue

Blue, then, is the Craft colour par excellence, 
used in aprons, collars, and elsewhere. Let us 
quote Bro. Chetwode Crawley. "The ordinary 
prosaic enquirer will see in the selection of blue 
as the distinctive colour of Freemasonry only the 
natural sequence of the legend of King 
Solomon's Temple. For the Jews had been 
Divinely commanded to wear...a 'riband of blue'
(Numbers 15:38).' A modern translation of that 
verse in Numbers is: 'You are to take tassels on 
the comers of your garments with a blue cord on 
each tassel.' The biblical text, then, refers to blue 
cords to be incorporated in the tassels worn by 
pious Jews, while Bro. Chetwode Crawley is 
speaking of blue ribbons which somehow 
became the embellishments of aprons, sashes 
and collars.
 
Another suggested source of the colour men-
tioned by Bro. Chetwode Crawley could be its 
association with St. Mary, mother of Jesus, 'so 
prominent a figure in the pre-Reformation invo-
cations of the Old Charges, drawing in her train 
the red ensign of St. George of Cappadocia, her 
steward and our Patron Saint.'
 
Blue and red, the heraldic azure and gules are 
sometimes associated with the chevron of the 
Arms of the Masons' Company.

The Masonic Symbolism of Colours 
a) White
 
White, the original colour of the masonic 
apron, was always considered an emblem of 
purity and innocence, exemplified in images 
such as the white lily or fallen snow.
 
Plato asserts that white is par excellence the 
colour of the gods. In the Bible, Daniel sees God 
as a very old man, dressed in robes white as 
snow (Daniel 7:9). In the New Testament Jesus 
is transfigured on Mount Tabor before Peter, 
James and John, when his clothes became 'daz-
zling white, whiter than anyone in the world 
could bleach them' (Mark 9:3). Officiating 
priests of many religions wore and still wear 
white garments. In ancient Jerusalem both the 
priests and the Levites who performed the 
Temple rites assumed white clothing.
 
Among Romans, the unblemished character of 
a person aspiring to public office was indicated 
by a toga whitened with chalk. This is the origin 
of the word 'candidate,' from candidatus 
'dressed in white.' Verdicts at trials were decid-
ed by small stones (calculi) thrown into an urn: 
white to absolve, black to condemn.
 
White signifies beginnings, virtualities, the 
white page facing the writer, 'the space where 
the possible may become reality.' White is 
therefore understandably the colour of initiation. 
It is a symbol of perfection, as represented by the 
swan in the legend of Lohengrin. In this aspect it 
is related to light or sky blue, which in Hebrew 
is tchelet and may be connected semantically 
with tichla (perfection, completeness) and tach-
lit (completeness, purpose). (See also the obser-
vations on the symbolism of blue.) Among the 
Celts the sacred colours of white, blue and green 
were understood to stand for light, truth and 
hope. Druids were robed in white.
 
White is also connected with the idea of death 
and resurrection. Shrouds are white; spirits are 
represented as wearing white veils. White, 
rather than black, is sometimes the colour of 
mourning, among the ancient kings of France, 
for instance, and in Japan. White, finally, can 
signify joy. Leukos (Greek) means both white 
and cheerful; as does candidus in Latin. The 
Romans marked festive days with lime and 
unlucky days with charcoal.

b) Blue
 
Blue is the colour of the canopy of heaven: 
azure, cerulean or sky blue. 'Universally, it 
denotes immortality, eternity, chastity, fidelity; 
pale blue, in particular, represents prudence and 
goodness.' In the Royal Arch, the Third 
Principal is told that it is an emblem of benefi-
cence and charity.
 
In biblical times, blue was closely related to 
purple. Generations of scholars have puzzled 
over the correct meaning of tchelet (light blue) 
and argaman (purple), usually mentioned 
together, without reaching satisfactory conclu-
sions. Only recently has the problem been final-
ly solved in the course of far-reaching research 
into the dyestuffs and dyeing methods used by 
the ancient Phoenicians and Hebrews. Both 
colours, it turns out, were produced with dyeing 
materials extracted from murex, a shellfish abun-
dant on the coast of Lebanon. The tchelet was 
obtained from a short-variety (murex  trunculus); 
the argaman came from two kinds: the single-
spined murex brandaris and, to a lesser extent, 
the Red-mouth (thais haemastoma).
 
Some historians have concluded that, in the 
Middle Ages in Europe, blue was low in popular
esteem. The favourite colour was then red 
because the dyers could achieve strong shades of 
it which brought to mind the prestigious purple 
of the ancient world. Towards the end of that 
period, blue gradually became recognized as a 
princely colour, the 'Royal Blue' which dis-
placed red at court, red then being used by the 
lower classes and so regarded as vulgar. Blue 
and gold (or yellow) then became the colours of 
choice for shields, banners and livery.
 
It may not be by chance, therefore, that the 
Master was said to be clothed in 'yellow jacket 
and blue breeches,' in the famous metaphor first 
used in an exposure, 'The Mystery of Free-
Masonry,' which appeared in The Daily Journal 
in 1730. The traditional explanations of the 
phrase relate it to the compasses, the arms of 
gold, gilt or brass and the points of steel or iron. 
(Steel can certainly appear blue; iron can not!)
 
Blue was used royally in France noticeably as 
the background to the fleur-de-lys. It became 
associated with terms of prestige such as blue 
blood, cordon bleu (originally the sash of the 
Order of the Holy Spirit), blue riband (of the 
Atlantic) and blue chip.

c) Purple
 
Purple is a symbol of imperial royalty and rich-
ness but can also relate to penitence and the 
solemnity of Lent and Advent in the seasons of 
the Christian church.
 
Although described (in the Royal Arch, for 
instance) as 'an emblem of union, being com-
posed of blue and crimson,' I believe this to be a 
somewhat contrived explanation. But an interest-
ing fact, which appears to have escaped most 
writers on this subject, is that in the Cabbala, the 
Hebrew word for purple, argaman, is a mnemon-
ic, representing the initials of the names of the 
five principal angels in Jewish esoterism.

d) Red
 
Red or crimson, the colour of fire and heat, is 
traditionally associated with war and the mili-
tary. In Rome the paludamentum, the robe wom 
by generals, was red. The colour of blood is nat-
urally connected with the idea of sacrifice, strug-
gle and heroism. It also signifies charity, devo-
tion, abnegation--perhaps recalling the pelican 
that feeds its progeny with its own blood.
 
In Hebrew, the name of the first man, Adam, is 
akin to red, blood and earth. This connection 
with earth may explain, perhaps, the connection 
of red with the passions, carnal love, the cosmet-
ics used by women to attract their lovers. It is the 
colour of youth. Generally, it represents expan-
sive force and vitality. It is the emblem of faith 
and fortitude and, in the Royal Arch, of fervency 
and zeal. It has also a darker side, connected with 
the flames of hell, the appearance of demons, the 
apoplectic face of rage.
 
Scarlet was the distinctive colour of the Order 
of the Golden Fleece, established in 1429 by 
Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy (1419-67). 
Not only was the mantle scarlet, but also the robe 
and a special hat--the chaperon--with hanging 
streamers.
e) Green

Green has been directly associated with the 
ideas of resurrection and immortality...The aca-
cia (the masonic evergreen) has been suggested 
as a symbol of a moral life or rebirth, and also of 
immortality. To the ancient Egyptians, green 
was the symbol of hope.
 
The Grand Lodge of Scotland has adopted 
green as its emblematic colour, and, in varying 
shades, it is incorporated in the dress and fur-
nishings of degrees and Orders beyond the Craft 
in English, Irish and Scottish Freemasonry.

f) Yellow
 
Yellow is rarely seen in lodge, except perhaps 
on the Continent. It is an ambivalent colour, rep-
resenting both the best and the worst, the colour 
of brass and honey, but also the colour of sulphur 
and cowardice. Yellow is the perfection of the 
Golden Age, the priceless quality of the Golden 
Fleece and the golden apples of the Hesperides. 
It is also the colour of the patch imposed on the 
Jews as a badge of infamy. In the sixteenth cen-
tury, the door of a traitor's home was painted 
yellow. A 'jaundiced view' expresses hostility, 
but the most memorable symbolism of yellow is 
that it reminds us of the sun and of gold.

g) Black
 
The three fundamental colours found in all civ-
ilizations, down to the Middle Ages in Europe, 
are white, red and black. These, too, may be 
regarded as the principal colours of 
Freemasonry: the white of the Craft degrees, the 
red of the Royal Arch and of certain of the 
degrees of the Ancient and Accepted (Scottish) 
Rite, and the black of some of its others, and of 
the Knights of Malta. The other colours of the 
rainbow find limited uses; they serve only to 
frame or line the white lambskin upon which so 
many aprons are based, or for sashes and other 
items of regalia.
 
Traditionally, black is the colour of darkness, 
death, the underworld although it was not intro-
duced for mouming until about the middle of the 
fourteenth century, such use becoming habitual 
only in the sixteenth. The 'black humour' of 
melancholy (atara hilis) the black crow of ill 
omen, the black mass, black market, 'black 
days': all refer to negative aspects. The Black 
Stone at Mecca is believed by Muslims to have 
been at one time white; the sins of man caused 
the transformation.
 
Black has also a positive aspect, that of gravity 
and sobriety; the Reformation in Europe 
frowned upon colourful clothing. Formal dress 
for day and evening wear continues to be black. 
It is associated with the outlaw and the banners 
of pirates and anarchists, but also with rebirth 
and transformation.
 
In the French and Scottish Rites, the lodge in 
the third degree is decorated in black and is 
strewn with white or silver tears, representing 
the sorrow caused by the death of Hiram Abif.

Conclusion

A review of the traditional explanations for 
the choice of certain colours in masonic symbol-
ism reveals their weaknesses. In considering the 
use of blue in the English regalia of a Master 
Mason, it has been possible to find a connection 
between one of the Hebrew words for that colour 
and the Holy Bible.
