Deep purple (near black) is a color that exists at the extreme limit of the visible spectrum, where the deepest violet sinks into the absolute darkness of the void. In the language of the Queen Scale of Colour, this hue is not merely a shade of purple but a specific, almost imperceptible transition—a color that holds the memory of light while standing at the precipice of its absence. The term "near black" is essential: it distinguishes this color from ordinary deep purple, marking it as the point where color itself begins to annihilate into formlessness.

Position on the Tree of Life

This color is assigned to the 31st Path (Shin) on the Tree of Life, the path that connects Hod (Splendor) to Netzach (Victory). This path is governed by the element of Fire in its most spiritual and transformative aspect. The Queen Scale, as the feminine, receptive, and manifesting aspect of the color system, here presents the color of the fire that has consumed all fuel and is now the blackened, incandescent residue—the "black fire" of the Qabalah.

Astrological and Planetary Correspondence

While the 31st Path is primarily elemental (Fire), the color deep purple (near black) carries an implicit astrological resonance with the outermost planets and the fixed stars. It is the color of the space between stars, the interstellar medium that is not quite empty, not quite full. In the context of the Queen Scale, it corresponds to the hidden, nocturnal aspect of the Sun—the Sun at midnight, the Sun in the underworld, the black sun of alchemy.

Historical Context

The Queen Scale of Colour is one of the four color scales in the Hermetic Qabalah, as systematized by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The scale itself is derived from the four worlds of the Qabalah: Atziluth (Emanation), Briah (Creation), Yetzirah (Formation), and Assiah (Action). The Queen Scale belongs to Briah, the world of pure creation, and thus represents the archetypal forms of colors before they descend into material manifestation.

The specific assignment of deep purple (near black) to the 31st Path appears in the original Golden Dawn manuscripts and was later codified by Aleister Crowley in Liber 777. The color is a deliberate departure from the more conventional purple of Path 12 (The Hierophant, Taurus). Here, the purple is pushed to its absolute limit, becoming almost black, to represent the consuming, transformative power of the Fire of Shin—the letter that symbolizes the Holy Spirit, the divine breath, and the sacrificial fire.

In the Zohar, the letter Shin is described as having three heads, representing the three columns of the Tree of Life. The color deep purple (near black) is the color of the central column's base, where the fire of the spirit has burned away all dross, leaving only the essential, the primordial, the unmanifest. This is not the black of Binah (understanding, the Great Mother) but a different black—a black that is still alive with the potential of fire, a black that glows with an inner, invisible light.

In Liber 777

In the table of Liber 777, at the step of the 31st Path (Shin), the Queen Scale of Colour (h) is given as "Deep purple (near black)." This entry stands as a precise technical specification for the magician, ensuring that the color used in ritual, talisman, or visualization is not merely any dark purple but the exact hue that corresponds to the elemental fire of the 31st Path in the world of Briah.