The Magic of the Color Purple

Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the color has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries. It's made from the combination of blue and red, showing both the stability of blue and the energy of red. It's the most powerful wavelength of the rainbow – and has been associated with the occult and spirituality bringing a unique mystery and magic to whatever is decorated in it. It's no surprise we picked it for the color of Luna Lifted. 

The Color of Power & Nobility

If we go back to our pre-historic existence, our ancestors probably never saw a purple fruit, flower, bird, fish - or any living thing - because purple is very rare in nature. As civilizations developed, so did clothing and colored dyes. The earliest purple dyes date back to about 1900 B.C.

Tyrian purple is one of the earliest purples known to have been used. It was a very expensive and rare form of purple produced from the murex shellfish. This color became popular throughout Europe and the Middle East by the Middle Ages as the color for wealth and royalty. It took some 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of the pure dye - barely enough for dying a single garment the size of the Roman toga. A gram of Tyrian purple would cost 2 thousand euros in modern day. It's no wonder then, that this color was used primarily for garments of the emperors or privileged individuals. Over the course of history, purple pigments and dyes became less costly and complex, but one thing has remained the same: Purple symbolizes nobility and luxury to most people in the world.

The Science Behind It

Today, science has revealed much more about purple than our ancestors ever realized: Purple is the most powerful visible wavelength of electromagnetic energy.  It’s just a few steps away from x-rays and gamma rays. Perhaps this explains why purple is associated with supernatural energy and the cosmos than with the physical world as we know it.

Using The Color Purple In Your Home

Purple is the ultimate in abundance and prosperity colors in Feng Shui. Purple symbolizes nobility, luxury, and wealth. It promotes creativity and imagination. Use purple in your decor when you want to inspire your children or employees to achieve great things. It's a wonderful choice for bedrooms as it promotes calmness and relaxation.

The Symbolic Meaning of Purple Doors

Doors themselves are magickal and full of lore and the color purple guarding the place of entry invites the energy of the color purple into your life. According to Feng Shui lore, chi (energy) enters your home through the front door and the color purple invites opportunity, good fortune, and inspiration into your home (or business) and encourages those who live there to have an open mind. There's an old tale that a home with a purple door is said to be the home of a witch or practitioner of magic; one who understands higher levels of consciousness and how to live a prosperous life, beyond monetary gain. 

Correspondences For The Color Purple

The color purple is associated with several different spiritual energies. Purple is related to the Crown Chakra, which controls the body’s energy and is the gateway to enlightenment. This Chakra represents the energy of the soul and is associated with spirituality. When this chakra becomes blocked, it can cause you to feel disconnected from the universe or other people. Purple crystals like Amethyst have been known to help unblock the Crown Chakra and stimulate spiritual consciousness.

Purple is also associated with the Third Eye Chakra regarding spirituality and the occult. Often, the color is used to activate psychic abilities, visions, and more spiritual concepts.

Element: Air
Planets: Jupiter
Direction: East
Chakra: Crown
Number: 7
Tools: wand, cauldron
Stones: amethyst
Tarot: chariot, fours
Healing: Mental issues, severe illnesses, addictions

Purple is associated with all things related to the spiritual realm. It is used in healing for being a soothing color that stimulates the mind and helps one feel more centered and at peace. A purple aura represents spiritual awareness and openness of the mind. Purple is also a calming color and an excellent color for meditation. 

Try connecting to the color purple, envision it beaming out of your aura. If you imagine yourself becoming the color purple, it can bring you strength, wealth, mystery, and magic to whatever ritual or activity you engage in. When you connect with the vibration of the color purple (i.e. you're thinking it, feeling it, imagining what it smells or tastes like) you can attract the things that are associated with it, like being a queen, or casting magic out into the world, or attracting wealth.

Taking all aspects of purple’s past and present into consideration, the color purple symbolizes mystery, spirituality, the sub-conscious, creativity, dignity, royalty – evoking all of these meanings more so than any other color. It very much is the color of magic.

Cover Photo by Nathalie Huijbers