Color Symbolism and Meaning
Ever since I can remember, I’ve had a love for colors and the symbolism and meaning they each convey. Bright hues of yellow and orange bring out feelings of warmth and happiness, while colors of blue and silver might make someone feel chilly or melancholy. Colors can bring someone back to their childhood home or be the inspiration for a future place to live. Colors are present in our daily lives; circling around us bringing emotions, feelings, and symbolism in everything we do.
Color symbolism and meaning differs from culture to culture and the interpretation of color has changed throughout time. Red for example was once known for violence and reminded people of blood. As times and culture has changed, red is now a color of love and has comforting properties. Drawing people in and making them “stay” longer. Casinos and lounges use red in their decor to make customers feel “comfortable” resulting in staying longer and “forgetting time.”
So let’s delve right in and look at some popular colors and their meanings.
Red
A warm color that gives off the feeling of love, passion, strength, and war. It is a strong color that steals the attention away from other colors. Red can symbolize power, energy, passion, desire, speed, strength, power, heat, love, aggression, danger, fire, blood, war, violence, intensity, celebration, luck, danger, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. Red is good for love magic and to give a little more strength to any ritual. It represents the fire element as well. I love using the color red in my painting to portray a sense of strength and intense emotion.
Pink
A color that has the characteristics of both red and white, since pink is a combination of the two colors. Pink gives off a feeling of the sense of caring, compassion, love, playfulness so I always associated it with love and friendship. Pink is good for love and friendship magic. Pink also has symbolism of balance, lack of willpower, self-confidence and self-esteem, oversensitivity, cautiousness, immaturity. For me, pink is a warm color that reminds me a comfort, childhood, and makes me feel happy. Pink is my favorite color because it makes me feel cheerful and happy.
Orange
A warm color that gives off the feeling of happiness and warmth. A combination of the colors red and yellow, it can have the characteristic of both. Orange is a fun, light color that reminds people of citrus. Orange is associated with healthy food and it can stimulate the appetite. Orange can be a symbol of warm tropical weather or the cooler colors of Fall. Orange is a symbol for energy, balance, warmth, enthusiasm, vitality, expansion, flamboyant, Autumn and Halloween. Orange is great for magic involving happiness and uplifting self esteem.
Yellow
A warm color that gives off the feeling of happiness and joy. Yellow is the brightest color our eyes can see. A color that reminds me of summer and the sun. Yellow symbolism includes joy, optimism, happiness, learning, danger, sunshine, idealism, imagination, hope, summer, gold, deceit, philosophy, dishonesty, cowardice, betrayal, jealousy, disease and warning. Yellow is great for magic involving money, happiness, to honor the sun.
Green
A cool color on the color charts. Green symbolizes nature, environment, health, good luck, money, renewal, youth, vigor, spring, generosity, fertility, jealousy, inexperience, envy, misfortune, start signal, St. Patrick’s Day and Christmas. Green is a relaxing color that is pleasing to the eye and is said to have healing powers. Green is a relaxing color for me because it reminds me of a calm day relaxing in the cool grass. It brings back memories of smelling a fresh cut lawn. These are senses that are calming and bring peace. Green is great for money magic and anything that involves nature. It represents the earth element as well.
Blue
A color on the cool side. Blue represents peace, harmony, unity, trust, truth, security, confidence, conservatism, order, sky, water, cold, technology, cleanliness, depression, loyalty, immortality, stability, masculinity and protection. Blue is a cool and calming color that can calm the psyche. It is a color that symbolizes loyalty, strength, wisdom and trust. Blue seeks peace and tranquility and reduces stress which promotes physical and mental relaxation. Blue is good for magic involving peace, calmness, relaxation, and positivity. It represents the element of water as well.
Purple
Purple is a cool color that symbolizes royalty, nobility, spirituality, ceremony, mystery, transformation, wisdom and enlightenment. The color purple can symbolize mystery, magic, power and luxury. A cute legend states, "if you see a house with it's door painted purple, a witch lives there." Purple is light and pleasing on the eyes which gives balance to our physical and spiritual senses.
White
White has a sense of being pure. It represents all colors and can be used in any ritual or if one lacks a certain color for magic. Just pull out a white candles and it will work because white is universal in magic. White symbolizes positive energy, protection, and new beginnings. White also has symbolism of reverence, virginity, nothingness, cleanliness, peace, humility, precision, innocence, youth, birth, winter, snow, goodness, marriage, cold, clinical and sterility. White is a go to color for me when I need a symbol of positivity for my blessing rituals.
Black
"On Wednesdays, we wear Black" .. Black symbolizes power, sophistication, formality, elegance, wealth, mystery, fear, evil, anonymity, unhappiness, depth, style, sad, remorse, anger, underground, technical, grief and death. Black is associated with witchcraft. Black is used for banishing and ridding negative energy. This is one reason why most witches wear black. It repels negative energy, plus it looks sleek and amazing on everyone.
Brown
Brown is very down to earth and represents earth, hearth, home, outdoors, reliability, comfort, endurance, stability, simplicity, comfort, trees, nature and autumn. brown is comforting to me. Reminds me of drinking a warm cup of hot chocolate while sitting under a blanket on the couch. Brown is good in earth magic and also represents the element of earth.
No matter what color you are drawn too or why, colors have a special meaning and symbolism to us all. It can be ever changing with time and differ from person to person. Surround yourself in color and use these colors in every day decor and magic.