The dark shades are more intellectual and dignified. Variations of purple convey different meanings: Light purples are light-hearted, floral, and romantic. Taking all aspects of purple’s past and present into consideration, purple symbolizes magic, mystery, spirituality, the sub-conscious, creativity, dignity, royalty – and it evokes all of these meanings more so than any other color. (See the chart here.) Perhaps this explains why purple is associated with supernatural energy and the cosmos than with the physical world as we know it. It’s just a few steps away from x-rays and gamma rays. Today, science has revealed much more about purple than our ancestors ever realized: Purple is the most powerful visible wavelength of electromagnetic energy. Over the course of history, purple pigments and dyes became less costly and complex, but one thing has remained the same: Purple symbolizes nobility and luxury to most people in the world. It’s no wonder then, that this color was used primarily for garments of the emperors or privileged individuals.

It took some 12,000 shellfish to extract 1.5 grams of the pure dye - barely enough for dying a single garment the size of the Roman toga. The earliest purple dyes date back to about 1900 B.C. This is hard to imagine in today’s connected world.Īs civilizations developed, so did clothing and colored dyes. If we go back to our pre-historic existence, our ancestors probably never saw a purple fruit, flower, bird, fish - or any living thing - because purple is very rare in nature. In fact, the origins of the symbolism of purple are more significant and interesting than those of any other color. Purple is also the most powerful wavelength of the rainbow – and it’s a color with a powerful history that has evolved over time. Purple’s rarity in nature and the expense of creating the color and has given purple a supernatural aura for centuries.

Purple picture stands