New insights into Mesoamerican colours: opening to a universal meaning (1)

Geneticians have discovered that Asian people’s genetic characteristics are found in Americans. They nevertheless admit that very ancient indigenous American populations were already present at the time Asians migrated, via the Bering Strait, to the Americas. There would be no trace left, genetically speaking, of these very ancient American cultures.
However, genetics is not the only thing that connects Asia and America. In these two continents, we find absolutely identical cultural references, and these references seem to go back to the most remote antiquity. Not only are these references very old, but we also find traces of their knowledge (and their use) in many antediluvian civilisations : particularly in Pharaonic Egypt.

Picture 1

This succession of colours has its analogue in pre-Columbian America, but it is not very common there. In picture 1, we see an example of a frieze found in Mayan culture : I do not have a copy in my hands, so it is difficult to say if the Blue is a dark Blue or a straight Black. This is of little importance, however, because although archaeologists know that dark Blue and Black were used one for the other in ancient cultures, the colours on either side of White happen to be the most significant : Green-Red-Blue-Yellow.
This succession of colours is one of the most constantly represented on Earth, within ancient civilisations. The consistency of the use of this series of colours was neither fortuitous nor purely artistic. I have already presented its meaning in a book, and its eminently sacred character (the book is at the moment only in French and is titled : «Comprendre l’homme et l’univers, la réconciliation des sciences et des spiritualités». I hope to have it translated into English in due course).

Picture 3

I could share thousands of cultural images in which this colourful sequence appears, images belonging to various civilisations around the world; but in order to prevent the article being excessively long, I will only present a few of them here.
Let us start with several examples found in Amerindian cultures :-
a) in Aztec, Mixtec and Mayan civilisations (picture 8)
b) in South America, in the Mochica and Inca cultures (picture 9).
Lately, I was quite excited to see it appear in artifacts found in the Amazon rainforest, where unkown civilisations still have to be classified and studied. However, it would be necessary to actually see the objects to confirm that the colours are indeed what they seem to be.

Picture 5

In Egypt, the Green-Red-Blue-Yellow sequence is the most important colour sequence. It appears everywhere, in clothing such as dresses, in ornaments, in papyri, in murals (picture 10).
Thanks to the correlations with the Deities and the four «Sons of Horus», it was easy to confirm that Green is the metaphysical principle of Water, Red that of Fire, Blue that of Air, and Yellow that of Earth. This correspondence is universal (picture 11).

Picture 7

It can also probably be detected in the oldest carpets discovered to date : the Pazyryk carpets in Russia (picture 14). In these carpets, a Bird’s Feathers seem to display these colours in the same immutable order. Is this not astonishing? In Amerindian art too, birds and snakes are very often associated with this sequence. They represent the celestial and the earthly. Everyone is free to think for themselves on these matters and to make up their own mind, but for my part I am convinced that they represent those beings with whom the whole of humanity is connected: the Angels on one side (birds) and the Lucifer Spirits (snakes) on the other side. It appears that humans have to balance themselves between these two types of influence in order to find their true freedom and development.

Picture 9

2) Astronomical observations
In Asia, when the sequence I have presented is used in a circle, Green is pointing NORTH, Red WEST, Blue SOUTH, and Yellow EAST.
Now, if we check – as an observer staying in the Northern hemisphere – the positions of the Moon at midnight, a New Moon will always be in the NORTH sector of an astral chart. The reason is that at the beginning (and at the end) of its cycle, the Moon is close to the Sun, which at midnight is in the direction of the NORTH (under the Earth, under the ground) (picture 16).

Picture 11

But it’s not just the Moon whose cycle influences us. Colours were originally assigned to cardinal directions through the observation of the Moon cycle, but these colours (and the associated principles) became afterwards used to define how the influences of other celestial bodies expressed themselves, according to the order and frequency with which they passed through the four sectors of the sky.
Let us note here, that depending on the time that we allow to pass between two observations, and depending on the celestial body whose movement we choose to observe and the one we consider fixed, an astral cycle (or loop or circle) will complete a journey having gone in one way, or in the opposite way.

Picture 13

A little additional note addressed especially to students of Chinese culture :-
The association of Wood and Spring with East, and Metal and Autumn with West, is only valid because in ancient China, the arrival of Spring and Autumn were identified through the observation of the Full Moon (and not of the Sun, as it was the case for Winter and Summer). However... if the Moon is full in the East (which defined the arrival of Spring) it is because the Sun is in the WEST and illuminates it at sunset, at 180°. When the Moon is full in the WEST (which defined the arrival of Autumn) it is because the Sun is in the EAST and illuminates it at sunrise, again at 180°. Most students do not realise that if we take the movement of the Sun as a reference, which is necessary, North/Winter and South/Summer do correspond respectively to the principles of Water and Fire, but Wood/Spring correspond to WEST (not East) and Metal/Autumn correspond to EAST (not West).

Picture 15

As for Jupiter, it takes TWELVE YEARS for this planet to make its own loop (picture 19).
These terrestrial durations (of two and twelve years) and the subdivision of the sky they imply (into two and twelve zones) have played a very important role in the history of civilisations. (The link of Jupiter with the number 12 is well known to astronomers and historians; less known is the relationship of Mars with the number 2 and thus with the notion of octave – the ratio 2/1).

Picture 17

However, from the observation of the Sun and the celestial bodies in the sky, sometimes more complicated symbols were derived, which required additional colours. In Amerindian Codices, Violet/Purple appears as the fifth colour; it then represents the quintessence, a fifth aspect completing the four previous ones. With the appearance of a fifth principle and a fifth colour, the cycles could be subdivided into 5n phases (multiples of 5) (picture 24).

Picture 19