What does purple mean?

Wealth, royalty, spirituality, bravery. These are just a few symbolic meanings of the color purple. In addition to the well-known meanings, in some cultures purple symbolizes mourning, decadence (gasp!), conceit (never!), and the supernatural (purple ghosts?).

Purple and Royalty

The first purple dye originated from a rare mollusk, which made the color so expensive to extract that only the rich and royal could afford it. This is where its meanings of royalty and wealth first came to be, which seems to be the most common across cultures. Apparently even Cleopatra loved the color purple!

Purple and Spirituality

In the color spectrum, purple has the shortest wavelength and vibrates at the highest frequency, which, to many cultures, symbolizes the seventh chakra. The seventh chakra, or Crown Chakra, is linked to the crown of the head, nervous system, and the brain and is considered to be the closest to spiritual enlightenment. Additionally, if you have a purple aura it means you are in a good space, spiritually.

Purple in Feng Shui

In Feng Shui, specific colors are put on different walls or in different directions of a home or office to evoke various outcomes. Purple is the only color that is acceptable to put in any direction in your home or office. It symbolizes many things depending on where you place it, but all outcomes are good if you have a purple decorating scheme.

Group Identity

Many organizations, charities, and causes use purple as their signature color. Read more here.

Purple is the color of the bisexual community since it combines pink (the symbol for the gay community) and blue (the symbol for the heterosexual community). Many bisexual groups use purple to distinguish themselves and wear it with pride!

Purple Teams

In addition to all of these various symbols, purple is a very important color to many people because it is the color of their favorite sports team. “Purple Power!” becomes a great chant at many football and basketball games.

Purple Symbolism Around the World

Mediterranean: Imperial Popes

Japan: Wealth and Power

Native American: Wisdom, Healing, Gratitude

Tibet: Purple is sacred to Buddah

Ukraine: Faith, Patience, Trust

Thailand: Mourning

Egypt: Virtue, Faith

As you can see, purple means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

Leave a comment and tell us this: What does purple mean to you?