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The Lord On High uniquely prepared my skill-sets for the landscape we are seeing today. The world of art and color captivated me as a youth. I was swept away looking through the lens of my camera as I explored the inhabitants of tide pools and the gnarly bark of a tree truck. I was gifted by my first camera by eight years of age and became a published photo-journalist in my Junior High years. From there, I explored the world through the lens of my camera. Now, in these End Times, a restructuring of light and color has intrigued me, as it appears as though the Beast and Anti-Christ will have distinct optical and light properties.
Faith Lesson:Teach me O Lord Your wisdom in color and the part that optical deception will play in these End Times.
Legends from the Jews
The Legends of the Jews are not to be elevated to the status of the Holy Writ but we can glean essences of truth in these ancient stories that have been handed down, generation to generation. What I would like to direct your attention to is not whether the story is true or not; for we will not know until we arrive but rather the colorful description of heaven or Paradise.
The most important work done on the third day was the creation of Paradise. Two gates of carbuncle form the entrance to Paradise, and sixty myriads of ministering angels keep watch over them. Each of these angels shines with the luster of the heavens. When the just man appears before the gates, the clothes in which he was buried are taken off him, and the angels array him in seven garments of clouds of glory, and place upon his head two crowns, one of precious stones and pearls, the other of gold, and they put eight myrtles in his hand, and they utter praises before him and say to him, "Go thy way, and eat thy bread with joy." And they lead him to a place full of rivers, surrounded by eight hundred kinds of roses and myrtles. Each one has a canopy according to his merits, and under it flow four rivers, one of milk, the other of balsam, the third of wine, and the fourth of honey. Every canopy is overgrown by a vine of gold, and thirty pearls hang from it, each of them shining like Venus. Under each canopy there is a table of precious stones and pearls, and sixty angels stand at the head of every just man, saying unto him: "Go and eat with joy of the honey, for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is sweeter than honey, and drink of the wine preserved in the grape since the six days of creation, for thou hast busied thyself with the Torah, and she is compared to wine." The least fair of the just is beautiful. The grains of a silver pomegranate upon which fall the rays of the sun. There is no light, "for the light of the righteous is the shining light." And they undergo four transformations every day, passing through four states. In the first the righteous is changed into a child. He enters the division for children, and tastes the joys of childhood. Then he is changed into a youth, and enters the division for the youths, with whom he enjoys the delights of youth. Next he becomes an adult, in the prime of life, and he enters the division of men, and enjoys the pleasures of manhood. Finally, he is changed into an old man. He enters the division for the old, and enjoys the pleasures of age.
Faith Lesson: I would like you to ponder what you believe heaven is like. Of course it will be more amazing and beautiful. Take time to write one paragraph to someone you know describing what you think heaven will be like.
Structural Coloration in Nature
The Lord gave me a lesson long ago, and now I will pass it along to you, my dear friends. That I was to keep my hands in the dirt to develop my situational awareness. What is normal and what is not normal? I know that I have always taken for granted that color would always remain a given. Yes, it might dim, contrast with shadows, or wildly brighten with hues and saturation waxing and waning...but color would always be, a given. Well, I had to scratch that assumption after reading countless scientific peer-review journals informing me color had been restructured through technology.
What is Normal Color?
Believe it or not many living creatures have structural coloration which is the production of color by microscopically structured surfaces that interfere with visible light, sometimes in combination with pigments. For example, peacock tail feathers are pigmented brown, but their microscopic structure makes them also reflect blue, turquoise, and green light, with the embellishment of iridescence!
Structural coloration was first observed by English scientists Robert Hooke and Isaac Newton. Iridescence is the result of interference between reflections from two or more surfaces of thin films, combined with refraction as light enters and leaves such films. The geometry then determines that at certain angles, the light reflected from both surfaces interferes constructively, while at other angles, the light interferes destructively. Different colors therefore appear at different angles. This is why something may look different in the shade than the sun or at twilight versus high noon, and of course, viewing the rainbow.
In animals, such as on the feathers of birds and the scales of butterflies, interference is created by a range of photonic mechanisms! These include:
- Diffraction gratings: Optical "device" consisting of a surface with many parallel grooves in it; disperses a beam of light (or other electromagnetic radiation) into its wavelengths to produce its spectrum
- Selective mirrors: Selective mirrors do not reflect over a broad spectral range but in narrow wavelength ranges, transmitting the remaining light. The spectral selection generated by these means can be applied to individual colors. Wavelength selective switching components are used in WDM optical communications ... By tilting the mirror in one dimension, the channel can be directed back into any of the fibers in the array.
- Photonic crystals: A photonic crystal is a periodic optical nanostructure that affects the motion of photons in much the same way that ionic lattices affect electrons in solids. Photonic crystals occur in nature in the form of structural coloration and animal reflectors, and, in different forms, promise to be useful in a range of applications.
- Crystal fibers: Photonic-crystal fiber (PCF) is a class of optical fiber based on the properties of photonic crystals. Because of its ability to confine light in hollow cores or with confinement characteristics not possible in conventional optical fiber, PCF is now finding applications in fiber-optic communications, fiber lasers, nonlinear devices,
- Matrices of nanochannels and proteins that can vary their configuration. Nanochannels serve as rapid transport pathways through the membrane, and can be used to tune selectivity via control of particle/polymer interactions.
When you carefully examine some cuts of meat they show structural coloration due to the exposure of the periodic arrangement of the muscular fibers.These are elaborate photonic structures. A few plants exploit structural coloration with brilliant colors produced by structures within cells. The most brilliant blue coloration known in any living tissue is found in the marble berries, where a spiral structure of cellulose fibrils, scatters light in what is known as Bragg's Law. Then, there is the bright gloss of buttercups that produce by thin-film reflection by the epidermal skin supplemented by yellow pigmentation, and strong diffuse scattering by a layer of starch cells beneath.
Structural coloration is being used for industrial, commercial and military application, with biomimetic surfaces that could provide brilliant colors, adaptive camouflage, efficient optical switches and low-reflectance glass.
A Colorful History
Robert Hooke's 1665 Micrographia contains the first observations of structural colors. In his 1665 book Micrographia, Robert Hooke described the "fantastical" colors of the peacock's feathers.
Below is his description:
The finely colored Feathers of some Birds, and particularly those of Peacocks Tails, do, in the very same part of the Feather, appear of several Colors in several Positions of the Eye, after the very same manner that thin Plates were found to do in the 7th and 19th Observations, and therefore their Colors arise from the thinness of the transparent parts of the Feathers; that is, from the slenderness of the very fine Hairs, or Capillamenta, which grow out of the sides of the grosser lateral Branches or Fibers of those Feathers.
Thomas Young extended Newton's particle theory of light by showing that light could also behave as a wave. He showed in 1803 that light could diffract from sharp edges or slits, creating interference patterns.
In his 1892 book Animal Coloration, Frank Evers Beddard acknowledged the existence of structural colors:
The colors of animals are due either solely to the presence of definite pigments in the skin, or … beneath the skin; or they are partly caused by optical effects due to the scattering, diffraction or unequal refraction of the light rays. Colors of the latter kind are often spoken of as structural colors; they are caused by the structure of the colored surfaces. The metallic luster of the feathers of many birds, such as the hummingbirds, is due to the presence of excessively fine striae upon the surface of the feathers.
But Beddard then largely dismissed structural coloration, firstly as subservient to pigments: "in every case the [structural] color needs for its display a background of dark pigment;" and then by asserting its rarity: "By far the commonest source of color in invertebrate animals is the presence in the skin of definite pigments", though he does later admit that the Cape golden mole has "structural peculiarities" in its hair that "give rise to brilliant colors".
Biblical Color
The Old Testament and New Testament have no exact word for “color,” although the word appears several times in our English Bibles. The words translated “color” have quite different meanings in the original languages.
The word most frequently translated “color” in the KJV literally means “eye” and suggests “appearance”. Only Leviticus 13:55 retains the translation “color” in the RSV. Other words translated as “color” in the RSV refer to facial appearance, fabrics of variegated colors stones, and breastplates. Joseph’s “coat of many colors” and Tamar’s “garment of divers colors” were either long-sleeved robes or richly ornamented tunics that served as a mark of preferred status.
In the New Testament, a word that means “pretense” is used archaically in Acts 27:30 and was interpreted as “color” by the KJV translators. They also added the word “color” to Revelation 17:4, evidently to clarify the meaning.
Though many colors are mentioned in the Bible, colors are not particularly singled out for emphasis. Natural colors are seldom mentioned in descriptions. Colors that appear frequently and that are most carefully differentiated are manufactured colors, especially dyes.
From the website: https://thinkaboutsuchthings.com/biblical-meaning-of-colors/
| Red (Scarlet) | Represents: Blood & Mankind |
| Blue | Represents: Heaven & Eternal Things |
| Purple |
Represents: Royalty, Wealth, & Power |
Colors in Revelation
| Throne Room of Heaven |
Emerald Rainbow: Green God: Red Revelation 4:3 |
| The Four Horseman – Revelation 6:1-8 |
First Horse: White (Victory) Second Horse: Red (Bloodshed and War) Third Horse: Black (Famine) Fourth Horse: Ashen *Ashen: Pale Green Gray (Death & Pestilence) |
| Jesus Christ |
Linen: White Robe: Red Rev 19:13–15 |
| The Enemy of God |
Dragon: Red Revelation 12:3 The Great Prostitute: Purple, Scarlet, & Gold Revelation 17:4 |
| The Saints, The Elders & God’s Army/Angels |
Dressed in White Revelation 4:4 Revelation 7:9 Revelation 19:4 Horses: White Revelation 19:4 Angels: Rainbow Revelation 10:1 |
| The New Jerusalem – Revelation 21 & 22 | Many Colors *See more under Rainbow & Gemstones |
| Celestial Bodies |
Moon: Red Sun: Black Revelation 6:12-13 |
The Spiritual Meaning of Red
This color is packed to the brim with symbolic meaning. It’s probably one of the most intricate out of all the colors.
Red in scripture is also called: Scarlet* Red is a primary color and cannot be formulated by mixing other colors. “Oudem” is the Hebrew root word for Adam, Esau. and Edom. “Oudem” means “red clay.”
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Red
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Blood of Christ/Atonement/Pentecost | Exodus 12:7, 1 Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 9:22, Leviticus 17:11, 1 John 1:7 |
| Covenant | Matthew 26:28, Exodus 24:8, Hebrews 9:18 |
| The Flesh/ Mankind | Adam* see above note |
| God/Jesus | Revelation 4:2-3, Rev 19:13–15 |
| Sin | Isa. 1:18 |
| Self-Righteousness | Isa. 64:6 (Filthy rags is referring to menstruation rags) |
| Wealth | 2 Samuel 1:24, Proverbs 31:21 |
| War/Warrior/Bloodshed | Revelation 6:1-8, Nahum 2:3 |
| Judgment/Wrath of God | Isaiah 63:1-3, Revelation 6:12-13, Acts 2:20 |
The Mystery of Crimson or Scarlet Worm
But I am a worm, and no man;
A reproach of men, and despised by the people. Psalm 22:6
Psalm 22 is considered a Messianic psalm referencing what Christ would have to endure. Jesus even quotes many parts of Psalm 22 while on the cross.
The common word for a worm in Hebrew is “Rimmah“. The word for “worm” in Psalm 22:6 is “Tow-la-ath.”
It’s referencing a specific type of worm, tola'ath shani. One that was used to create the colors of crimson and scarlet.
This little worm would fix herself on an oak tree to protect her unborn children. She would then sacrifice herself for her children by letting them consume her body. This would result in the tree, and her children being stained red. She would leave a vivid red mark on the tree that would leave.
This is a beautiful picture of Jesus shedding his precious blood on a tree (cross) for us. And much like communion, we partake of his body (the bread) and the wine (His blood.)
The Spiritual Meaning of Orange
The color orange is never referenced in the Bible. This leaves us in a little bit of a dilemma to fully understanding the color. The best we can do is look at other symbols in scripture that are orange. From there take some significant meaning towards the color.
These are some elements/symbols from scripture that are orange:
- Rust
- Iron Ore
- Pottery
- Fire (multi-colored)
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Orange
| SYMBOL & REFERENCE | SPIRITUAL MEANING |
| Rust – Ezek 24:6, Matt 6:19-20 | Corruption |
| Iron Ore – Jer 6:28 | Rebellion |
| Pottery – Psa 31:12, Hos 8:8 | Vessel – Person |
| Fire – 1 Peter 1:7, Hebrews 12:29 | Purification – Power of God |
The Spiritual Meaning of Yellow
The actual word yellow is used 4 times in the KJV, but various shades are mentioned. Below is a list of colors of yellow in Scripture:
- Olive oil is naturally a yellow hue and was used in making Anointing oil (Exodus 30:22-25)
- Fire is multi-colored containing the color of yellow. It can also be used as an understanding of the color yellow (Purification – Power of God), like orange and red.
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Yellow
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Anointing (oil) | Exodus 30:22-25, 1 Samuel 16:13 Psalm 92:10 |
| Sickness/Leprosy | Lev 13:30 |
| Glory/God’s Presence/Heavenly Hosts | Daniel 10, Ezekiel 8:2 |
Many people consider the word “light” to mean yellow.
Light is actually white unless specifically noted as different. This makes verses like John 8:12 clearer.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
The Spiritual Meaning of Green
When it comes to the color green we automatically think of life and growth. And for good reason. Plants, trees, flowers, and other vegetation is filled with the color green. It’s like the picture painted in Psalm 1…. “planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither”
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Green
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Life/Growth | Jeremiah 11:16, Isaiah 15:6, Ezekiel 17:24 |
| Rest | Psalm 23:2 |
| Lawlessness | Jeremiah 2:20 |
| Fruitful | Psalm 92:13-13, Jeremiah 11:16, Hosea 14:8 |
| Frailty | Psalm 37:2 |
As you can see above green is a sign of life, growth, and fruitfulness, The word flourish comes to mind.
I will briefly touch on the topic of the green rainbow in the throne room of heaven.
And He Who sat there appeared like [the crystalline brightness of] jasper and [the fiery] sardius, and encircling the throne there was a halo that looked like [a rainbow of] emerald. Revelation 4:3 AMP
From what we can gather in scripture we know that the rainbow represents covenant and green life/growth. This paints a picture of God’s everlasting flourishing glory and majesty.
The Spiritual Meaning of Blue
The color blue is seen all over scripture much like red and purple. Blue is widely understood to represent the heavenly realm and the presence of God (the precious Holy Spirit as well).
We all know there are various types of blue and some even venture near purple. The blue hue of indigo is found in the King James Version of the Bible’s Old Testament over 40 times.
Blue is also the nation of Israel’s color dating all the way back to King David.
Just like how green gets symbolic meaning from vegetation, you will see the same with blue when it comes to elements of water. So, keep this in mind when looking at the symbolic meaning.
For example in Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The word for heaven is Shamayim which is related to Mayim (water).
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Blue
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| The Heavens/God’s Throne | Ezekiel 10:1, 1:26 |
| Life (water) | John 4:13-14, Revelation 21:6 |
| Royalty | Esther 8:15 |
| Healing (The Tallit and Tzitzit) | Matthew 9:21 |
| The Lord’s Commandments | Numbers 15:38-40 |
The Spiritual Meaning of Purple
Purple dye was rare and highly praised in Biblical times. This is why purple is usually associated with royalty and wealth. To get the dye they would have to harvest it from a sea snail/mollusk.
This was a costly task therefore purple was reserved for the wealthy.
You will see purple used a lot in the tabernacle as a represents God’s wealth, power and most of all royalty.
Jesus is the Lord of Lord and the King of Kings! Hallelujah!
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Purple
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Royalty | Judges 8:26, |
| Wealth & Power | Revelation 18:16, Luke 16:19 Daniel 5:29 |
| Corruption of Wealth | Revelation 17:4 |
Other Colors in the Bible
The Spiritual Meaning of Gold
To understand the symbolic meaning of gold you have to look at it as a whole and not just a “color“. Gold is a precious metal that happens to be a certain deep color of yellow.
Gold is first mentioned in Genesis 2:12….
“And the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx stone are there.”
Gold is mentioned 417 times in the KJV. That’s a LOT of gold. And you can see here how this element is multi-faceted and that color is only one side of understanding its symbolism.
A few key things to know about gold which carry a lot of spiritual meaning:
- Pure gold never tarnishes or reacts
- Pure gold never needs cleaning
- Pure gold never ages
- Our bodies contain about 0.2 milligrams of gold for a 154 pound person, most of it is found in the heart and blood.
- For Gold to be purified, it must be heated
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Gold
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Wealth & Power | Zechariah 6:10-11, Ezekiel 7:14 |
| Refinement Test Holiness |
Psalm 12:6, 2 Timothy 2:20-21, Zechariah 13:9, 1 Corinthians 3:12-14 |
| Empires (nations) | Daniel 2:32 -33, Zechariah 6:10-11 |
| Idolatry Greed |
Isaiah 2:20, Ezekiel 7:14, Psalm 119:127 |
The Spiritual Meaning of Silver
Exactly like gold, silver must be looked at as a whole and not just for its color. Majority of the time when scripture talks about silver it’s talking about the metal, not the color. So, please make mental note of that and if unsure check a Bible dictionary or concordance.
Silver is precious metal used throughout ancient history and still today. It’s mentioned 320 times in the KJV. In the Bible, it has a strong symbolism towards redemption.
In the Old Testament, a silver shekel was collected from all the men and used for repairs for the Tabernacle and temple in Jerusalem. This was called the shekel of redemption. Also, during Passover Jews use four silver cups. Each cup representing an aspect of redemption from Egypt.
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Silver
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Redemption | Numbers 7:12–88 |
| Refinement | Psalm 66:10, Psalm 12:6 |
| Wealth | 1Kings 10:27 (Before Solomon Silver was costly.) |
| Empires (nations) | Daniel 2:32 – 33 |
Spiritual Meaning of White
White is probably the easiest color for us to understand, but it is quite deep. White is mentioned throughout the Old and the New Testament.
I mentioned this above in yellow but I think it’s worth mentioning it again. Light is not yellow but actually white.
Most of the time white is symbolizing holiness, righteousness, and purity.
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool. Isaiah 1:18
Some key things about the color white:
- A lot of the verses below can overlap each other in meaning.
- You will see many verses where Jesus, angels, and the saints are clothed in white.
Symbolic Meaning to the Color White
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Holiness & Righteousness | Daniel 7:9, Mark 9:3, John 20:12 Revelation 2:17, Revelation 3:4 |
| Cleansed | Isaiah 1:18, Revelation 7: 9-14 |
| Purity | Isaiah 1:18, Mark 9:3, Revelation 3:4 Ecclesiastes 9:8, Psalm 51:7, Matthew 23:27 (false purity) |
| Jesus/God | Matthew 28:3, Revelation 20:11 |
| The Enemy | 2 Corinthians 11:14 (disguises himself) |
Much like white, we have some understanding of what it means. Mostly because it’s is viewed as being the opposite of white and light. When we think black we think of darkness (more on darkness below).
It’s interesting to note the Urim and Thummin were referred to being a white stone and a black stone that was worn over the heart of the high priest. Exodus 28:30
Here is some additional information.
Some translate the words urim and thummin to mean “curse” and “blessing,” others simply “dark” and “light,” although the literal translation seems to be “light” and “perfections.” There is no proof that there were only two items; some early rabbis believed that the urim and thummin were a series of stones with Hebraic characters on them by which the Lord could spell out a message for the high priest. However, most scholars believe them to be two sticks or stones, perhaps precious stones, that God used in a miraculous way to reveal His will. They were used for national decisions like going to war, and for priestly matters. (Source)
Then there is the famous verse from Song of Solomon 1:5, which I love!
Dark am I, yet lovely,
daughters of Jerusalem,
dark like the tents of Kedar,
like the tent curtains of Solomon.
Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
This is a beautiful picture of how even in our darkness (sin) God desires (loves) us and considered us lovely. And it’s when we are married to Him (come into relationship with Him through His son Jesus) that He washes us pure with the blood of Jesus.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
Now let’s take a look at other scripture references.
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Black
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Sin/Temptation | Micha 7:8-9, Proverbs 7:9-10, Isaiah 59:-7-10 |
| Judgment | Jeremiah 4:28, Revelation 6:12, Revelation 6:1-8, Jude 1:13 |
| The Night | Isaiah 50:3, Proverbs 7:9-10, |
| Curse | Job 3:1-5, 2 Peter 2:17, |
| Mourning | Jeremiah 4:28 |
| God Hidden – Mysteries of God | (See Below on Darkness) |
| Evil/The Enemy | 1 Thessalonians 5:5 (the opposite) |
Spiritual Meaning of Brown
I think the color brown is probably passed by quite a bit when studying colors in the Bible. I mean it’s hard to compete with red, blue, and purple. But brown has a lot of symbolic meaning to it.
Brown is only mentioned 4x in the KJV. And all of those instances are in Genesis 30. It’s the story of Jacob increasing his flock by obtaining those that are speckled/spotted or brown.
The brown or speckled goats and lambs were not as prized as the other solid white goats and lambs. So, Laben (Jacob’s father in law) was alright with him acquiring them.
Some take this to mean compassion, others acceptance. It’s a picture of Jesus the Great Shepherd accepting us with all our flaws and impurities.
Because brown is only mentioned in the Genesis reference, many tend to pull from objects that are brown to help get a better understanding of what it could mean. Much like green and orange.
For example, wood is brown. Wood’s symbolism is linked to salvation. Here are some key points on wood.
- Fall of man – (tree: wood)
- Noah’s Ark – (made of wood led to the salvation of mankind)
- The Ark of the Covenant – (made of wood)
- The Cross ( Made of wood led to the salvation of mankind)
Symbolic Meaning to the Color Brown
| SYMBOLIC MEANING | SCRIPTURE REFERENCE |
| Acceptance / Compassion | Genesis 30: 24-42 |
| Humanity or Flesh | Genesis 3:19 (dust/dirt), Luke 10:11, 2 Timothy 2:20-21 (wood) |
| Salvation | The Cross and Noah’s Ark – Wood |
Faith Lesson: Lord Jesus help me to learn to distinguish natural color from synthetic or restructured colors, the colors You have made and the deceptive color snare's that lay ahead.
Non-Pigmented Structural Color
When light falls on a thin film, the waves reflected from the upper and lower surfaces travel different distances depending on the angle, so they interfere. Structural coloration is caused by interference effects rather than by pigments. Colors are produced when a material is scored with fine parallel lines, formed of one or more parallel thin layers, or otherwise composed of micro-structures on the scale of the color's wavelength. So in and of itself, structural color is created by God and not exploited for nefarious purposes.
Structural coloration is responsible for the blues and greens of the feathers of many birds, as well as many butterfly wings, beetle wing-cases and the gloss of buttercup petals. These are often iridescent, as in peacock feathers and nacreous shells such as of pearl oysters and the Nautilus. This is because the reflected color depends on the viewing angle, which in turn governs the apparent spacing of the structures responsible. Structural colors can be combined with pigment colors: peacock feathers are pigmented brown with melanin, while buttercup petals have both carotenoid pigments for yellowness and thin films for reflectiveness.
Faith Lesson: Help me Lord Jesus to always view your creation through Your angle and perspective, not my own.
Principle of Iridescence
Iridescence, as explained by Thomas Young in 1803, is created when extremely thin films reflect part of the light falling on them from their top surfaces. The rest of the light goes through the films, and a further part of it is reflected from their bottom surfaces. The two sets of reflected waves travel back upwards in the same direction. But since the bottom-reflected waves traveled a little further – controlled by the thickness and refractive index of the film, and the angle at which the light fell – the two sets of waves are out of phase. When the waves are one or more whole wavelength apart – in other words at certain specific angles, they add (interfere constructively), giving a strong reflection. At other angles and phase differences, they can subtract, giving weak reflections. The thin film therefore selectively reflects just one wavelength – a pure color – at any given angle, but other wavelengths – different colors – at different angles. So, as a thin-film structure like a butterfly's wing or bird's feather moves and it seems to change color.
Faith Lesson: May my spiritual life reflect You in every way! Though my reflection be sometimes vibrant while other times muted, may it be constantly Your character that I reflect to others.
Mechanisms of Fixed Structural Color
Butterfly wing at different magnifications reveals micro-structured chitin acting as a diffraction grating. Chitin is a tough, protective, semitransparent substance, forming the principal component of exoskeletons
A number of fixed structures can create structural colors, by mechanisms including diffraction gratings, selective mirrors, photonic crystals, crystal fibers and deformed matrices. Structures can be far more elaborate than a single thin film: films can be stacked up to give strong iridescence, to combine two colors, or to balance out the inevitable change of color with angle to give a more diffuse, less iridescent effect. Each mechanism offers a specific solution to the problem of creating a bright color or combination of colors visible from different directions.
A diffraction grating constructed of layers of chitin and air gives rise to the iridescent colors of various butterfly wing scales as well as to the tail feathers of birds such as the peacock. Hooke and Newton were correct in their claim that the peacock's colors are created by interference, but the structures responsible, being close to the wavelength of light in scale, were smaller than the striated structures they could see with their light microscopes. Another way to produce a diffraction grating is with tree-shaped arrays of chitin, as in the wing scales of some of the brilliantly colored tropical Morpho butterflies. Yet another variant exists in a bird of paradise. The barbules of the feathers of its brightly colored breast patch are V-shaped, creating thin-film micro-structures that strongly reflect two different colors, bright blue-green and orange-yellow. When the bird moves the color switches sharply between these two colors, rather than drifting iridescently. During courtship, the male bird systematically makes small movements to attract females, so the structures must have evolved through sexual selection.
Faith Lesson: Amazing are Your ways O Lord! That you construct color from layers that are iridescent and sway through diffraction grating for your purpose such as mating.
Photonic Crystals
Photonic crystals can be formed in different ways. In the emerald-patched cattleheart butterfly, photonic crystals, are formed of arrays of nano-sized holes in the chitin of the wing scales. The holes have a diameter of about 150 nanometers and are about the same distance apart. The holes are arranged regularly in small patches; neighboring patches contain arrays with differing orientations. The result is that these emerald-patched cattleheart scales reflect green light evenly, at different angles, instead of being iridescent. In a weevil from Brazil, the chitin exoskeleton is covered in iridescent green oval scales. These contain diamond-based crystal lattices oriented in all directions to give a brilliant green coloration that hardly varies with angle. The scales are effectively divided into pixels about a micrometer wide. Each such pixel is a single crystal and reflects light in a direction different from its neighbors.
Structural coloration through selective mirrors in the emerald swallowtail
Selective mirrors to create interference effects are formed of micron-sized bowl-shaped pits lined with multiple layers of chitin in the wing scales the emerald swallowtail butterfly. These act as highly selective mirrors for two wavelengths of light. Yellow light is reflected directly from the centers of the pits; blue light is reflected twice by the sides of the pits. The combination appears green, but can be seen as an array of yellow spots surrounded by blue circles under a microscope.
Crystal fibers, formed of hexagonal arrays of hollow nanofibers, create the bright iridescent colors of the bristles of the sea mouse.The colors are warning predators not to attack. The chitin walls of the hollow bristles form a hexagonal honeycomb-shaped photonic crystal. The structure behaves, optically, as if it consisted of a stack of 88 diffraction gratings, making Aphrodita one of the most iridescent of marine organisms.
Magnificent non-iridescent colors of blue and yellow macaw created by random nanochannels (deformed matrices)
Deformed matrices, consisting of randomly oriented nanochannels in a sponge-like keratin matrix, create the diffuse non-iridescent blue color of the blue-and-yellow macaw. Since the reflections are not all arranged in the same direction, the colors, while still magnificent, do not vary much with angle, so they are not iridescent.
The most intense blue known in nature: Pollia condensata berries
Spiral coils, formed of helicoidally stacked cellulose microfibrils, create Bragg reflection in the "marble berries" of this African herb, resulting in the most intense blue coloration known in nature. The berry's surface has four layers of cells with thick walls, containing spirals of transparent cellulose spaced so as to allow constructive interference with blue light. Below these cells is a layer two or three cells thick containing dark brown tannins. Pollia produces a stronger color than the wings of Morpho butterflies, and is one of the first instances of structural coloration known from any plant. Each cell has its own thickness of stacked fibers, making it reflect a different color from its neighbors, and producing a pixelated or pointillist effect with different blues speckled with brilliant green, purple and red dots. The fibers in any one cell are either left-handed or right-handed, so each cell circularly polarizes the light it reflects in one direction or the other. Pollia is the first organism known to show such random polarization of light, which, nevertheless does not have a visual function, as the seed-eating birds that visit this plant species are not able to perceive polarized light. Spiral micro-structures are also found in scarab beetles where they produce iridescent colors.
Buttercup petals exploit both yellow pigment and structural coloration.
Thin film with diffuse reflector, based on the top two layers of a buttercup's petals. The brilliant yellow gloss derives from a combination, rare among plants, of yellow pigment and structural coloration. The very smooth upper epidermis acts as a reflective and iridescent thin film. The unusual starch cells form a diffuse but strong reflector, enhancing the flower's brilliance. The curved petals form a paraboloidal dish which directs the sun's heat to the reproductive parts at the center of the flower, keeping it some degrees Celsius above the ambient temperature.
As I briefly mentioned, surface gratings, consisting on ordered surface features due exposure of ordered muscle cells on cuts of meat. The structural coloration on meat cuts appears only after the ordered pattern of muscle fibrils is exposed and light is diffracted by the proteins in the fibrils. The coloration or wavelength of the diffracted light depends on the angle of observation and can be enhanced by covering the meat with translucent foils. Roughening the surface or removing water content by drying causes the structure to collapse, thus, the structural coloration to disappear.
Faith Lesson: Jesus You created color using different mechanisms and manifestations. Help me to learn what is normal color created by You and make distinction between altered and restructured colors of the beast, his system, and the Anti-Christ.
Variable Structures
Variable ring patterns on mantles of Hapalochlaena lunulata
Some animals including cephalopods, like squid, are able to vary their colors rapidly for both camouflage and signalling. The mechanisms include reversible proteins which can be switched between two configurations. The configuration of reflectin proteins in chromatophore cells in the skin of the squid is controlled by electric charge. When charge is absent, the proteins stack together tightly, forming a thin, more reflective layer; when charge is present, the molecules stack more loosely, forming a thicker layer. Since chromatophores contain multiple reflectin layers, the switch changes the layer spacing and hence the color of light that is reflected.
Blue-ringed octopuses spend much of their time hiding in crevices whilst displaying effective camouflage patterns with their dermal chromatophore cells. If they are provoked, they quickly change color, becoming bright yellow with each of the 50-60 rings flashing bright iridescent blue within a third of a second. In the greater blue-ringed octopus, the rings contain multi-layer iridophores. These are arranged to reflect blue–green light in a wide viewing direction. The fast flashes of the blue rings are achieved using muscles under neural control. Under normal circumstances, each ring is hidden by contraction of muscles above the iridophores. When these relax and muscles outside the ring contract, the bright blue rings are exposed.
For an in-depth article on how reflectin and chromatophores will play in the coming days please view my article, Metamorphosis of Humanity into Prismatic Light Beings.
Faith Lesson: Help me Holy Spirit, to see beyond the physical into the supernatural to see how Satan will be using camouflage and signalling to camouflage his evil intentions and actions.
Now that we know what is normal color we can dive into restructured color and what that means for all of us. Brace yourself, because on Saturday we will uncover the diversity of the technological beast system perversion of color.
God Bless you from the trenches.
Celeste
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Celeste has worked as a contractor for Homeland Security and FEMA. Her training and activations include the infamous day of 911, flood and earthquake operations, mass casualty exercises, and numerous other operations. Celeste is FEMA certified and has completed the Professional Development Emergency Management Series.
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