Tyrian Purple

Thou shalt make also a veil of violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine twisted linen, wrought with embroidered work, and goodly variety: 

And thou shalt hang it up before four pillars of setim wood, which themselves also shall be overlaid with gold, and shall have heads of gold, but sockets of silver.

And the veils shall be hanged on with rings, and within it thou shalt put the ark of the testimony, and the sanctuary, and the holy of holies shall be divided with it.

—The Book of Exodus 26:31-33

The foundations thereof are in the holy mountains:

The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the tabernacles of Jacob.

Glorious things are said of thee, O city of God.

I will be mindful of Rahab and of Babylon knowing me.

Behold the foreigners, and Tyre, and the people of the Ethiopians, these were there.

Shall not Sion say, This man and that man is born in her? and the Highest himself hath founded her.

The Lord shall tell in his writings of peoples and of princes, of them that have been in her.

The dwelling in thee is as it were of all rejoicing.

—Psalm 86

Now Achab the son of Amri reigned over Israel in the eight and thirtieth year of Asa king of Juda. And Achab the son of Amri reigned over Israel in Samaria two and twenty years. 

And Achab the son of Amri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him.

Nor was it enough for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat: but he also took to wife Jezabel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians. And he went, and served Baal, and adored him.

And he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria.

And he planted a grove: and Achab did more to provoke the Lord the God of Israel, than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

—The Third Book of Kings 16:29-33

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyre:

And say to him: Thus saith the Lord God: Thou wast the seal of resemblance, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Thou wast in the pleasures of the paradise of God: every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, the topaz, and the jasper, the chrysolite, and the onyx, and the beryl, the sapphire, and the carbuncle, and the emerald: gold the work of thy beauty, and thy pipes were prepared in the day that thou wast created.

Thou a cherub stretched out, and protecting, and I set thee in the holy mountain of God, thou hast walked in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou was perfect in thy ways from the day of thy creation, until iniquity was found in thee.

By the multitude of thy merchandise, thy inner parts were filled with iniquity, and thou hast sinned: and I cast thee out from the mountain of God, and destroyed thee, O covering cherub, out of the midst of the stones of fire.

And thy heart was lifted up with thy beauty: thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty, I have cast thee to the ground: I have set thee before the face of kings, that they might behold thee.

Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thy iniquities, and by the iniquity of thy traffic: therefore I will bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, to devour thee, and I will make thee as ashes upon the earth in the sight of all that see thee.

All that shall see thee among the nations, shall be astonished at thee: thou art brought to nothing, and thou shalt never be any more.

—The Prophecy of Ezekiel 28:11-19

Then by the king’s command Daniel was clothed with purple, and a chain of gold was put about his neck: and it was proclaimed of him that he had power as the third man in the kingdom.

The same night Baltasar the Chaldean king was slain.

And Darius the Mede succeeded to the kingdom, being threescore and two years old.

—The Prophecy of Daniel 5:29-31

Then, therefore, Pilate took Jesus, and scourged him.

And the soldiers platting a crown of thorns, put it upon his head; and they put on him a purple garment.

And they came to him, and said: Hail, king of the Jews: and they gave him blows.

Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith to them: Behold, I bring him forth unto you, that you may know that I find no cause in him.

(Jesus therefore came forth, bearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment.) And he saith to them: Behold the Man.

When the chief priests, therefore, and the servants, had seen him, they cried out, saying: Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith to them: Take him you, and crucify him: for I find no cause in him.

The Jews answered him: We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die, because me made himself the Son of God.

When Pilate had therefore heard this saying, he feared the more.

And he entered into the hall again, and he said to Jesus: Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.

—The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, According to St. John 19:1-9

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest render reward to thy servants the prophets and the saints, and to them that fear thy name, little and great, and shouldest destroy them who have corrupted the earth.

And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and the ark of his testament was seen in his temple, and there were lightnings and voices, and an earthquake, and great hail.

And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars:

And being with child, she cried travailing in birth, and was in pain to be delivered.

And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horn: and on his heads seven diadems.

And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered: that, when she should be delivered, he might devour her son.

And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with an iron rod: and her son was taken up to God, and to his throne.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared by God, that there they should feed her a thousand and two hundred and sixty days.

—The Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle 11:18-12:6

And he took me away in spirit into the desert. And I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet covered beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

And the woman was clothed round about with purple and scarlet, and gilt with gold, and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of the abomination and filthiness of her fornication.

And on her forehead a name was written: A mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the fornications, and the abominations of the earth.

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And I wondered, when I had seen her, with great admiration.

—The Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle 17:3-6

And after these things, I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power: and the earth was enlightened with his glory.

And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird:

Because all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her; and the merchants of the earth have been made rich by the power of her delicacies...

Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with the fire, because God is strong, who shall judge her.

And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication, and lived in delicacies with her, shall weep, and bewail themselves over her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning:

Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying: Alas! Alas! that great city Babylon, that mighty city: for in one hour is thy judgment come.

And the merchants of the earth shall weep, and mourn over her, for no man shall buy their merchandise anymore.

Merchandises of gold and silver, and precious stones: and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of precious stone, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble.

And cinnamon, and odours, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

—The Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle 18:1-3, 8-13

Image key 

1) Ms. Harris (violet), Mrs. Clinton (purple), and Mrs. Obama (scarlet), arriving for the Inauguration of Mr. Biden as President of the United States of America, January 20, 2021. 

2) Lady Gaga (white) in the Capitol Dome praying under the Apotheosis of Washington by Constantino Brumidi. Posted on Instagram, @ladygaga, January 19, 2021.

3) Lady Gaga (red and gold), arriving to sing the national anthem of the United States of America, January 20, 2021.

4) Lady Gaga (red) and Mrs. Obama (scarlet) embrace.

5) Ms. Harris (violet) takes oath of office as Vice-President of the United States of America. She swears on two copies of the Holy Bible, one which belonged to Regina Shelton, a family friend; the other which belonged to Thurgood Marshall, the first African American Supreme Court justice.

6) Mr. Bernie Sanders (purple), memed wearing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, depicted as the Woman of Apocalypse 12.

7) The Old Senate Chamber (scarlet), modeled on “the amphitheaters of antiquity” where, among other things, gladiatorial games were held in honor of the pagan gods. Ionian columns inspired by the Erechtheion (Temple of Poseidon) in Athens.

8) Mr. Biden (black) takes the oath of office as President of the United States on a family heirloom copy of the Douay-Rheims translation of the Holy Bible with commentary by George Leo Haydock.

9) Mrs. Pelosi (purple), masked for press conference, January 7, 2021.

And you thought it was only the Q Shaman who was wearing fancy dress? Do you see now what Jonathan Pageau and I have been saying about the re-enchantment of the world?

Further reading

Tyrian purple: “Tyrian purple (Ancient Greek: πορφύρα porphúra; Latin: purpura), also known as Phoenician red, Phoenician purple, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye; the name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon. It is a secretion produced by several species of predatory sea snails in the family Muricidae, rock snails originally known by the name 'Murex'. In ancient times, extracting this dye involved tens of thousands of snails and substantial labor, and as a result, the dye was highly valued.”

Tamarjo, “The Purpose of the Wilderness Tabernacle: The Three Colors of Thread and the White Linen,” Owlcation, October 30, 2020

Citations from Scripture taken from the Douay-Rheims translation of the Holy Bible (Charlotte, NC: St. Benedict Press, 2009).