A cursory Google search on colour meanings and how to incorporate them in your practice as Pagan will give you thousands of results. The meanings are often similar, but never quite 100% the same. This is because, like almost everything, the meaning behind a colour is an interpretation. Due to how we’re wired, and in which culture we’re raised, some interpretations will overlap or be the same. And so, over time, these interpretations become fact. Become dogma.
In the beginning of my journey, I would compile pages and pages of correspondences. Lists of colours, animals, herbs, moon phases, trees, rocks, you name it I probably had a list. And that list would tell me the meaning, and how I could best use it within my practice. In actual practice, I hardly ever used those lists. And as I’ve grown I’ve come to realise that many of these correspondences are not so set in stone. Especially for things like colours the vibe it gives you is much more important. That vibe may very well match a listed meaning, but it can also be drastically different. And that is okay.
I am predominantly a visual person. Colours, therefore, are especially important to me. I fall for vibrancy and rich colours. And I enjoy seeing the millions of gradients and tones one can find in nature (especially autumn). This means, for my practice, that I associate colours with nature-related things first, and from that come the vibes I get. And some differ depending on context. Light blue, for exampe, is both a deadly cold and a pleasant summer breeze, depending on context-colours and the shade of light blue. All this to say that the below list is what I associate each colour with.
| White | Snow and ice, winter. Silence. Crispy coldness. Clean, cleansing, purifying. Solidifying (water turns to snow). | |
| Black | Darkness. Enclosure, holding securely. Hiding, keeping things hidden, safe. But also, keeping others/other things out. | |
| Grey | Overcast, stormy weather, hard rain. Desolation, emptiness, nothingness, the void. | |
| Brown | Earth, ground. Steadfast, unmovable. But when it does move, destructive potential. Loving parent, comfort, nurturing, healing. | |
| Yellow | Sun. Heat. A tendency to overdo warmth and turn it into oppression. | |
| Yellow-Orange | Sun. Summer. Fruit. Fresh summer-warmth. | |
| Orange | Loud. Attention seeking. Passionate about things. | |
| Red | Enduring warmth. Embrace, hug. Enduring love (for family, friends, partner, random people, aka all forms of love). | |
| Dark Red | Blood. Life. Strength. Power. | |
| Rose | Delicate. Old. Tenderness. Old love (people from the past). Romance. | |
| Pink | New love. Passion, lust. | |
| Lilac | Early summer. Flowery. Fleeting. Temporary things. | |
| Purple | Stature, elegance, grace. Sophistication, intelligence, wisdom. Learning, teaching, seeking. | |
| Dark Blue | Lakes, seas. Expansive, go with the flow, you can’t go against it anyway. Deep sea, hidden, secrets. | |
| Blue | Rushing rivers and waterfalls: temperamental, quick, deceptive. | |
| Light Blue | Light skies, summer rain. Refreshing, cool. | |
| Blue-Grey | Winter skies, icy cold, can turn dangerous quickly. | |
| Blue-Green | Tropical shallow oceans. Calm, clear, relaxing. opening up. | |
| Light Green | Early spring. Young, new, fresh. Not yet fully grown, child or child-like. | |
| Green | Spring. Youth, growing up. Growth, evolving. Discovery, journey, travel. | |
| Dark Green | Deep, old, forest. History, looking back. |