The color purple is royal and elegant, mysterious and powerful. It represents royalty, mysticism and the supernatural. Purple is a bold, active color.
Correspondences for the Color Purple
Element: Air
Planets: Jupiter
Direction: East
Chakra: crown
Number: 7
Tools: wand, cauldron
Stones: amethyst
Tarot: chariot, fours
Healing: Mental issues, severe illnesses, addictions
Using the Color Purple in Magic
You can utilize the color purple in a magic spell by using purple candles, a purple altar cloth, purple decorations, flowers or stones. Purple cloth bags can be used to house amulets and purple stones can be charged as amulets. Wearing purple clothing can be worn to bring the color purple into your life. Purple curtains, rugs, paint and other home decor can bring its energies into your home.
The color purple is useful for anything relating to mysticism, psychic abilities and power. It is also helpful during meditation and divination. Purple can be used in magic spells relating to attaining wisdom, knowledge, power or authority. It is also useful in spells aimed at breaking streaks of bad luck or to influence people in positions of power or leadership.
Purple Ribbons
In some Pagan communities, purple ribbons are worn to represent Pagan Pride, especially at Pagan Pride Day and similar festivals. The color purple was chosen for this cause because it symbolizes spirituality and open-mindedness.
(Note: This practice seems to have peaked in the early 2000s. Though I have memories of handing them out at festivals and even of sitting around with a bunch of other Pagans stitching cute little pentagram buttons on the front and little safety pins on the back, nobody seems to do this anymore.)
The purple ribbon is also a symbol of the Keep Wicca Traditional campaign (which now appears to be defunct) devoted to preventing the spread of misinformation about Wicca and promoting traditional and factual information about Wicca.
The purple ribbon also symbolizes a number of other worthy causes including increased awareness of fibromyalgia, lupus, testicular cancer, migraine, drug overdose, peripheral neuropathy, cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer's disease, suicide prevention, animal cruelty, domestic violence, child neglect, homophobia, sarcoidosis, Arnold-Chiari malformation, childhood hemiplegia and stroke, pancreatic cancer, March of Dimes, hidradenitis suppurativa, leiomyosarcoma and orca whales.
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 and inspiration into your home (or business) and encourages those who live their to have an open mind. A purple door also symbolizes prosperity and honor and sends the message to those entering your home that you are a person of import who deserves respect.
Recently, a trend among witches of painting their doors purple to mean "A witch lives here" has sprung up. This seems to have started with a Facebook meme a few years ago, though it has been reported to me that some occult stores were selling signs saying "A purple door means a witch lives here" even before the meme appeared. Since I don't have exact dates for either, I can't say which came first and I have no idea who came up with it or where they got it from.
As purple is a color related to spirit and magick, this is appropriate in modern times. However, it should not be construed as an ancient tradition. Witches, historically, have been members of the common classes. Purple was expensive because it required great amounts of materials (sea snails at first) to create and soon became a status symbol for the wealthy and powerful, which often included clergy. Soon, it became a status symbol, unattainable by the common folk not just by it's cost, but in some places by tradition and even law. This is why purple continues to represent wealth, power and spirituality to this day. Purple, historically, may of been an appropriate color to represent High Magick and certainly an appropriate color for Ceremonial Magicians but witches? Not likely.
That all being said, there is much to recommend purple- now as available as any other color- to all members of the magical community, including witches. The word Witch no longer implies a member of the common class practicing low magick. The lines between the different types of magick the different classes practice have become as blurred as the lines between classes have become (at least between middle and lower classes, the upper line remains pretty clear). Witches have expanded our practice Eastward as well, incorporating Chakra work into our practice and purple, or violet, represents the crown chakra representing oneness, consciousness and our willingness to receive wisdom from the Universe.
Perhaps the most significant and legitimate reason to embrace the purple door trend, despite the fact that it's not likely to have any historical significance is that it promotes unity among witches, just like Pagan Pride ribbons did/do. We paint our doors purple because other witches paint our doors purple, we are part of this group and this is a symbol of our solidarity. This can only be a good thing. Purple is a spiritual color, it does symbolize many of the things modern witches value and work toward. And, it's not a common color for doors so it sets your home apart, which enhances it's sanctity. And it lets other witches know that a witch lives here.
See Also
Capricorn
Classical Planetary Correspondences
Zodiac Correspondences
Table of Color Correspondences
Jupiter
Do you have any questions or something to add?
You can Print this page for your Book of Shadows
why would someone see a witch glow purple while casting?
You're probably seeing the aura which is going to be more pronounced during spellcasting. The purple color could be related to the witch's own natural energy or the type of energy they are raising. If they really know what they are doing, it would be the latter.
What if I’ve seen a flash of this for no apparent reason? Before this same with a white and red flash. Always wondered.
I would consult a neurologist first.