Color is important for a lot of magical traditions. It makes sense. Humans have very weak senses compared to other animals, but our eyesight is generally our best one and so we rely on it significantly more than the others, And what do we see? Colors.
Colors have different meanings depending on your area of discipline, but there is some overlap when we look. Here are some examples.
Sun - Yellow - success, happiness
Moon - White - illusions, spirituality
Mars - Red - valor, strength
Mercury - Mixed colors - versatility
Jupiter - Blue - wisdom, health
Venus - Green - abundance, fertility
Saturn - Black - death, hard work
White - purity
Black - absorbs negativity
Pink - love, friendship
Red - strength, power, vitality
Yellow - air, learning, mental stimulation
Green - money, abundance, earth
Blue - water, healing
Purple - spirit, mystical
Red - danger, power, desire
Green - harmony, fertility
Blue - honesty, serenity
Brown - reliability, maturity
Orange - happiness, creativity
Yellow - intellect, happiness
Pink - innocence, gentle love
Chakras/Energy Centers: Red - root - food, vitality, survival
Orange - sacral - well-being, pleasure, sexuality
Yellow - solar plexus - self-esteem, confidence
Green - heart - love, inner peace
Blue - throat - communication, truth, secrets
Indigo - third eye - intuition, wisdom, thought
Violet - crown - beauty, bliss, spirituality
There are other areas, of course, but even in just these four you can see some overlapping ideas. I didn't list every color and meaning, so click the links to see more.
One thing people talk about a lot in the metaphysical community is "frequency," but it's sort of a buzz word at this point. Colors, however, do have frequencies. From ThoughtCo:
The wavelengths of visible light are:
Violet: 380–450 nm (688–789 THz frequency)
Blue: 450–495 nm
Green: 495–570 nm
Yellow: 570–590 nm
Orange: 590–620 nm
Red: 620–750 nm (400–484 THz frequency)
Violet light has the shortest wavelength, which means it has the highest frequency and energy. Red has the longest wavelength, the shortest frequency, and the lowest energy.
Higher frequency in colors basically means more energy. We can draw some of our own conclusions about color meanings based on this information. Here are my thoughts on it:
- Red has the lowest energy. It's a very primal color. - Violet has the highest energy. It's associated with spirituality. - It appears that the lowest energy (red) to the highest energy (violet) gradually gets less "material." Red is dirt and blood. Orange is creativity. Yellow is intellect. Green is peace. Blue is clarity. Violet is spirituality.
Even with this, we can see overlaps with the four previously mentioned ideologies. I think looking at the overlap between all these ideas can give us a few fairly solid rules.
Look into the history of colors, if you find time. Blue has an especially interesting history. For a long time, it meant what we would now call "light blue." It also was essentially considered the same as purple for a long time, which explains why we say "Roses are red, violets are blue." So, depending on the time period of the magical text you're reading, the color "blue" could mean different things.
Another thing that fascinates me is the cultural differences regarding color. Russians have distinctive words for "light blue" and "dark blue," whereas we only have "blue." It's similar to how we have a word for "light red:" pink. We English speakers consider pink to be its own color, even though it's actually just a tint of red. Similarly, Russians consider "light blue" and "dark blue" to be different colors, even though we think of them as different shades of the same hue.
I'm sure I could go on and on about this, but we've got more ground to cover.
Stay safe!
- me
Comments