The colours of the truncated pyramids

    The magicians of the Golden Dawn invented an interesting extension to the squares of letters of the Great Table. Instead a simple square with the letter in it, they created truncated pyramids with a sqaured top and four corners, containing an elemental colour and various symbols, depending on where the square is located in the elemental table it belongs to.

    Looking at the colourful elemental tables of the Golden Dawn you notice a big white cross that divides each elemental table into four corners which are themselves also divided by a smaller cross into four corners. These crosses are painted in white, because they have the element spirit as main element and thus their center squares are being painted in white - the main element of one truncated pyramid is located in the little square that builds the top of the pyramid. Within one elemental table there are four subquadrants, each one associated to an element, too. The enochian symbols, painted on top of the truncated pyramid in the small square, change their colour, according to the subquadrant they are belonging to. So in the upper right subquadrant, which is the water-corner, the letters are painted blue, the upper right subquadrant, the air-corner, requires yellow letters, the lower left subquadrant, the earth-corner, requires black letters and the fire-corner, which is the lower right subquadrant, needs red letters. In the elemental corner, which shares its element with the main element of the table the letters are painted in the complementary colour, otherwise you would not be able to read anything.

     The letters of the great cross are always painted black. The colour of the element spirit is white, thus the squares of the truncated pyramids are painted white - so the complementary colour must be used, which is black. The triangles of the pyramids in the great cross of each elemental table are coloured in a different way then the rest. The upper triangle is painted white, because it is showing the main element, spirit. The right triangle of the pyramids is usually associated with a planet and its colour. The lower triangle is painted in the colour of the main element of the table it is in and the left triangle is the place of the zodiacal sign and its colour.

    Within the Golden Dawn system, the smaller crosses within the four subquadrants of each elemental-table are being named "sephirotic calvary-crosses". The square of the pyramids is white, as well as the upper triangle, because the cross is associated with the element spirit. The left triangle of the truncated pyramid is painted in the colour of the elemental-table and the colour of the right triangle depends on the subquadrant, which it is being part of. The lower triangle is painted in the colour of the sephira it belongs to:

1. Kether — shiny, radiating
2. Chochmah — pure, sanftes Blau
3. Binah — crimson
4. Chesed — dark violet
5. Geburah — orange
6. Tiphareth — pink or rose-red
7. Netzach — amber
8. Hod — violet
9. Yesod — indigo
10. Malkuth — yellow

    The truncated pyramids within the subquadrants of one elemental table are coloured differently, depending whether they are located above the horizontal bar of the calvary cross or below it. Within the Golden Dawn terminology the pyramids above the bar are called "cherubic squares". Their upper triangle is coloured with the main element's colour of the table. The lower triangle is painted in the colour of the subquadrant, the left and the right triangle share the same colour which can be determined with these tables:

The Elemental Table of Air
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Air	Water	Fire	Earth	Water	Fire	Earth	Air	Water
Earth	Earth	Fire	Water	Air	Fire	Water	Air	Earth	Fire

The Elemental Table of Water
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Air	Water	Fire	Earth	Water	Fire	Earth	Air	Water
Earth	Earth	Fire	Water	Air	Fire	Water	Air	Earth	Fire

The Elemental Table of Earth
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Air	Earth	Fire	Water	Water	Air	Earth	Fire	Water
Earth	Earth	Air	Water	Fire	Fire	Earth	Air	Water	Fire

The Elemental Table of Fire
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Air	Earth	Fire	Water	Water	Air	Earth	Fire	Water
Earth	Earth	Air	Water	Fire	Fire	Earth	Air	Water	Fire

    Below the horizontal bar of the sephirotic calvary cross there are four times four truncated pyramids, on each side of the vertical bar of the calvary cross two columns with four pyramids each. The left triangle of these pyramids is painted in the colour of the main elemental table. The right triangle is painted in the element's colour of the subquadrant. The upper triangle is painted in the element's colour that is used in the right and left triangle of the pyramid, which is above the horizontal bar and residing over the column. The lower triangle has an own scheme of permutation, which is similar to the one which I showed above. The order of succession is from above to below - the pyramid just below the horizontal bar is the first, followed by the others.

The Elemental Table of Air
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Earth	Fire	Water	Air	Water	Water	Air	Earth	Fire
Earth	Air	Water	Fire	Earth	Fire	Fire	Earth	Air	Water

The Elemental Table of Water
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Earth	Fire	Water	Air	Water	Water	Air	Earth	Fire
Earth	Air	Water	Fire	Earth	Fire	Fire	Earth	Air	Water

The Elemental Table of Earth
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Water	Fire	Earth	Air	Water	Water	Fire	Earth	Air
Earth	Fire	Water	Air	Earth	Fire	Fire	Water	Air	Earth

The Elemental Table of Fire
Subquadrant	Square No.				Subquadrant	Square No.
	1.	2.	3.	4.		1.	2.	3.	4.
Air	Water	Fire	Earth	Air	Water	Water	Fire	Earth	Air
Earth	Fire	Water	Air	Earth	Fire	Fire	Water	Air	Earth

    The truncated pyramids of the great cross of an elemental-table have the upper triangle painted in white and the lower triangle painted in the colour of the elemental-table. The left triangle is painted with the zodiacal influence, which always spans over three pyramids.

The great cross of the air-table: Within the horizontal bar these are Water Carrier, Scorpio, Leo and Taurus. The left column has Libra, Cancer, Aries and Capricorn. The right column: Gemini, Pisces, Sagittarius and Virgo.

The great cross of the water-table: Within the horizontal bar these are Scorpio, Leo, Taurus and Water Carrier. The left column has Cancer, Aries, Capricorn and Libra. The right column: Pisces, Sagittarius, Virgo and Gemini.

The great cross of the earth-table: Within the horizontal bar these are Taurus, Water Carrier, Scorpio and Leo. The left column has Capricorn, Libra, Cancer and Aries. The right column: Virgo, Gemini, Pisces and Sagittarius.

The great cross of the fire-table: Within the horizontal bar these are Leo, Taurus, Water Carrier and Scorpio. The left column has Aries, Capricorn, Libra and Cancer. The right column: Sagittarius, Virgo, Gemini and Pisces.

    The right triangle shows the planetary influence of the zodiacal decanates. The two pyramids that are at the crosses center at the point of intersection of the bars are always counted to the horizontal bar.

Horizontal bar: Leo (Saturn, Jupiter and Mars), Scorpio (Mars, Sun and Venus), Water Carrier (Venus, Mercury, Moon) and Taurus (Mercury, Moon, Saturn).

Left column: Aries (Mars, Sun, Venus), Capricorn (Jupiter, Mars, Sun), Libra (Moon, Saturn, Jupiter) and Cancer (Venus, Mercury and Moon).

Right column: Gemini (Jupiter, Mars and Sun), Pisces (Saturn, Jupiter and Mars), Sagittarius (Mercury, Moon and Saturn) and Virgo (Sun, Venus and Mercury).

    Also it is possible to determine the strength of the elements within one pyramid. The upper triangle is the location where the element air is at its strongest and fire is at its weakest place. The right triangle is the place where water is at its strongest but earth is loosing anything. The lower triangle is the location where fire is at its best and air is weak. The left triangle is the location where earth is strongest possible and water is as weak as it can be.

    The Table of Unification is in comparison quite simple. The upper and lower triangle is always associated with spirit, thus painted white. The elements are arranged in rows and columns. From the left the columns are spirit, air, water, earth and fire. The rows, counted from the top row: air, water, earth and fire. The colour of the column's element is painted in the left triangle and the colour of the row in the right one. The letters are always painted in the colour of the row.

    You can include more correspondences in the triangles of the truncated pyramids if you like. The system is clear and elaborated enough for that. These pyramids are best fitting to use them as starting point in shamanic journeys or pathworking. Within the Golden Dawn it is common-place of knowledge that these pyramids are gates into the elemental planes. This I consider the most valuable extension of the enochian system, as a consequence it has the association of the four cardinal directions to the elements in enochian angel-magic. So each elemental table has 156 different elemental subplanes to explore, to be opened and contacted. Another two inventions from the Golden Dawn are more egypt-flavoured, because in the 19th century egypt and its pyramids put a strong influence on the minds and fantasies of the magicians and mystics. So they came up with the idea to associate a ruling egyptian deity to each truncated pyramid, which can be determined by this table:

    Furthermore each pyramid can be associated with a certain kind of so-called "sphinx", whose appearance can also be determined by the elemental components, present in the various triangles of the truncated pyramid. This technique was utilized to determine the validity of a vision. The magician, whose vision was to be tested, was given an unknown pyramid as starting point of pathworking. The report, resulting from his visionary work, was then compared with the informations on the following table, in order to determine the authenticity of the vision - whether the magician actually was there, where he was supposed to be, or not and whether the magician was able to do this, at all. This system of verification only works properly when you are based in the iconography and paradigm of the Golden Dawn. I do not use this iconography. In my perception the elemental beings appear as three-dimensional, constantly changing, geometrical structures, which appearance vary greatly due to the different elements they belong to. Here now is the system of the Golden Dawn to determine the "sphinx" of any one truncated pyramid. Why they omitted the element spirit - I do not know.

The head: The upper triangle determines the gestalt of the head and whether the sphinx possess wings or not. Air = humanoid head, wings like an angel. Water = eagle-like head and wings. Earth = head of a bull, no wings. Fire = lion's head, no wings.

The torso: The right and left triangle determine the appearance of the torso, whether it has arms or limbs or not. Air = humanoid torso, arms and wings. Water = eagle-like torso, wings. Earth = torso and limbs of a bull. Fire = lion's torso and limbs.

The lower body: The lower triangle determines the appearance. Air = humanoid legs and feet. Water = eagle-like legs and tail. Earth = lower body of a bull and a tail. Fire = a lion's lower body and a tail.

The gender: When air or fire dominates the sphinx is male, when water and fire dominates it is a female sphinx.

    As I have written you can use truncated pyramids as starting point for your shamanic journey. You imagine them as a three-dimensional building, the square with the enochian letter as roof, the upper triangle is the north side, for the south you use the lower triangle, in the west is the left triangle and in the east the one on the right. The ground appears as the two-dimensional truncated pyramid, as it appears in the elemental table. Standing there in the middle of this building you can vibrate the names of the ruling angels. To enter a certain elemental-plane I build up this pyramid aroung myself or enter it from my usual starting place. I remain some time in the pyramid and focus on the angel I want to meet. The more correspondences I include in this phase, the better for the next step. I allow the pyramid to be activated - it opens at the top or the bottom, to give me access to the elemental-plane, determined by the pyramid itself. In the elemental-plane the pyramid appears as a three-dimensional gate which I utilize to return to my starting place. The process of returning is just the same as the opening, with the normal plane as focus.

    Besides the already discussed inventions, the Golden Dawn also included the four-letter name of God into their structural analysis of the tables. The letters IHVH - spoken as "Iod-He-Vau-He" are associated with the four cardinal-points and the elements of these directions. The "I" thus is associated with fire, the first "H" is correpsonding with water, the "V" with air and the second "H" with earth. Mathers used the elemental correspondences of the four fixed zodiacal signs to determine the elements, and used the reformed Great Table of Raphael. Eschner's rules of correspondences in this case have some mistakes (I am refering to a german author, who published some material on enochian magic - one of the Golden Dawn offshoots). Each quadrant of the Great Table is represented by one of the four letters of IHVH. You do the same with the subquadrants of each elemental table: each subquadrant of air is always associated with the V, each subquadrant of water always is being associated with the first H and so on. The upper left square of the vertical bar of the great cross of each table and the left square of the horizontal bar are always associated with the letter of the elemental-table they belong to. The three adjacent squares are associated with the same letter, consequently. The calvary crosses within the elemental subquadrants of one elemental table are determined according to the different main regions of the sephiroth. The associations of the cherubic squares and the serving squares you can extract from this table, where all rules are applicated: