Purple flowers have captivated people for centuries with their rich hues and royal associations. If you’ve ever wondered what purple blooms represent spiritually, you’ve come to the right place.
If you’re short on time, here’s the essence of the spiritual meaning of purple flowers: They symbolize charm, dignity, success, creativity, mystery, magic, and spirituality due to their regal color and use in spiritual rituals throughout history.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll uncover the origins of the spiritual symbolism of purple flowers. You’ll learn about the significance of purple blooms in various faiths and cultures. We’ll also explore some of the most popular purple flower types and their specific meanings.
The Symbolism and Significance of the Color Purple
Royal Lineage and Wealth
In many ancient cultures, the color purple was associated with royalty, nobility, and luxury due to the rarity and high cost of the dyes used to produce it (Brides, 2023). Purple robes and garments were worn by kings, queens, and emperors as symbols of their high station.
The color still evokes those connotations of extravagance today. Giving someone purple flowers can imply that you consider them regal or precious.
Purple’s link to prosperity continues in other symbolic meanings. In feng shui principles, purple represents wealth and abundance. Decorating with purple flowers like iris or orchids encourages financial flow and success.
Catholicism adopted purple as a color denoting high honor due to its historic imperial connections. Bishops wear rich purple vestments and fabric covers altars on holy days. This nods to spiritual richness rather than material.
Magic, Mystery and Spirituality
The relative elusiveness of purple in nature imbues it with an air of the mystical and magical. Lavender fields at dusk glow with an otherworldly fairy tale charm. Purple is strongly connected with the New Age movement and mystic branches of spiritualism, said to increase psychic ability and align third eye chakras.
Crystal healers particularly revere amethyst crystals for protective properties against negative energy.
Purple has significance across many faiths and cultures spanning history, often representing mystic ideas like divination and prophecy. In Catholicism, Advent and Lent vestments don purple representing penitence and solemnity during the preparatory seasons.
Judaism uses purple dye for special garments including the tekhelet blue-purple shade with deep spiritual meaning. Hinduism associates purple with the crown chakra and Buddhist monks’ robes are rich purple or saffron orange depending on tradition.
The universality of purple’s spiritual symbolism crosses boundaries.
Creativity and Imagination
The unique hue of purple seems to spark something in the imagination. We describe fantastical tales and flights of fancy as “purple prose”, suggesting a quality of inventiveness and visionary thinking. Creatives are often drawn to purple for inspiration.
Prince and David Bowie incorporated purple as part of their legendary musical personas, using the shade as a symbol of originality.
There may be a biological basis behind purple’s link to creative impulses. A 2008 study found that test participants performed better on creative problem-solving tests after exposure to the color purple.
Researchers theorize that purple has just the right balance of stimulating and calming properties to put the brain in an optimal state for innovation. The color provokes the imagination in a way no other tone can match.
Purple Flowers in Religion and Culture
Purple Flowers in Christianity
In Christianity, purple flowers like lavender and iris symbolize grace, elegance, and extravagance. They are considered precious flowers associated with spiritual awakening and inner transformation due to their rich and unusual color.
Purple flowers were significant in Biblical times. During Jesus’ crucifixion, Roman soldiers placed a purple robe on him to mock his claim of royalty (Mark 15:17). Purple flowers thus remind Christians of Christ’s suffering and sacrifice.
Purple Flowers in Buddhism
Purple flowers like orchids and lilacs have special meaning in Buddhism. Buddhists see their unusual color as representing the mystery and magic of existence.
Purple orchids symbolize enlightenment, representing the energy that allowed Buddha to achieve awakening. The color purple also has associations with spirituality and higher consciousness in Buddhist teachings.
Purple Flowers in Hinduism
Flowers like pansies and petunias with purple hues are considered sacred in Hinduism. The purple color symbolizes intuition, imagination, dignity and devotion.
Hindu deities such as Krishna and Hanuman are sometimes depicted as having purple skin. As such, purple flowers are used in prayers and offerings to Hindu gods. They represent spiritual awareness and the breaking of material barriers.
Purple Flowers in Chinese Culture
In Chinese culture, purple flowers represent vitality, prosperity and ambition. Giving purple blooms to someone expresses the wish that they achieve their goals and aspirations.
Chinese myths associate purple flowers with immortality due to the imperial families of ancient China wearing robes in purple shades. Even today, purple flowers are popular decorations during Chinese New Year celebrations.
Popular Purple Flower Types and Their Meanings
Lavender
With its pleasant fragrance and calming purple hue, lavender has long symbolized purity, grace, and elegance. In many cultures, lavender represents love, devotion, and luck in romance. This hardy herb is also associated with cleansing, healing, and peace of mind.
For centuries, people have used lavender to scent their homes, ease anxiety, and promote restful sleep.
Iris
In Greek mythology, Iris was the messenger goddess of the rainbow. Today, irises stand for communication, hope, and new beginnings. Their distinctive flags seem to flutter as if ready to carry words and wishes heavenward.
With over 200 species, irises come in many colors, but the purple varieties specifically symbolize wisdom, cherished friendship, and valor.
Lilac
The sweet, heady scent of lilacs in springtime fills many with nostalgia. Lilacs represent the first emotions of love. In the language of flowers, light purple lilacs symbolize first love, while dark purple blooms convey the depth of emotions that come with long-standing affection.
Hyacinth
The bulbous hyacinth flower spikes have a strong, sweet fragrance reminiscent of honey. Their bell-like purple blossoms denote constancy, sincerity, and loveliness. According to folklore, the purple hyacinth sprung up from the blood of Hyacinthus, a Greek youth accidentally killed by his lover Apollo.
The young man’s death and rebirth as the vibrant flower is a tale of transformation from grief into beauty.
Violet
Dainty violets have symbolized humility, faithfulness, and modesty since medieval times when they grew wild across Europe. Their low-growing habits showed an inclination toward meekness rather than haughtiness.
Purple violets specifically convey a desire for the soul growth that comes through living simply and following one’s truth. They remind us to focus on intrinsic values rather than external displays of wealth and status.
How to Use Purple Flowers for Healing, Meditation and Rituals
Using Purple Flowers to Open Your Third Eye Chakra
The color purple relates to the third eye chakra, which governs intuition and higher consciousness. Meditating with purple flowers like lavender, violet, and lilac can help open this chakra located between your eyebrows. Start by placing some purple flowers where you meditate.
Breathe deeply as you gaze softly at the flowers and visualize a glowing, purple light bathing your third eye. Repeat the mantra “I am intuitive, wise and all-seeing.” Over time, this can enhance psychic abilities, imagination and insight.
Purple Flowers for Grief, Loss and Letting Go Rituals
Purple’s spiritual meaning connects to releasing attachments. Use purple blooms in rituals for processing grief, losses, or transitions. For example, write what you want to let go of on a piece of paper. Place the paper under a purple flower in a shallow dish filled with water.
Watch as the words blur and dissolve. This represents the release of negative emotions and memories into the healing power of water. Alternatively, make a small bouquet of purple flowers. Find a secluded spot in nature and spend time meditating on a loss or life change that feels difficult.
When ready, cast the bouquet into flowing water. This symbolizes surrendering what no longer serves you to be washed away.
Purple Flowers to Enhance Psychic Abilities and Intuition
Some purple blooms have renowned supernatural powers. According to folklore, bringing violets into your home enhances psychic abilities and protects against negative energy. Drink violet tea or add the flowers to baths to open up intuition before divination work like tarot readings.
Meanwhile, ancient texts link eating lavender flowers to prophetic dreaming and visions. Soak in a lavender bath, drink lavender tea, or place bouquets around your bedroom to experience the flower’s legendary magical properties firsthand through vivid dreams.
| Purple Flower | Healing Properties |
|---|---|
| Lavender | Relieves insomnia, anxiety and depression |
| Violets | Soothes skin irritations |
| Lilacs | Stimulates memory and concentration |
With their rich spiritual symbolism and healing benefits, purple flowers offer a colorful way to enrich your rituals, plant magic practice and everyday life.
Conclusion
With their regal color and spiritual symbolism, it’s no wonder purple blooms captivate our imagination. Throughout history and across cultures, they’ve represented luxury, magic, creativity, and connection to the Divine.
We hope this guide has helped illuminate the profound meaning and legend behind purple flowers. Understanding their symbolism can help you choose meaningful bouquets and leverage their spiritual power.
The next time you encounter these mystical blooms, take a moment to appreciate their beauty and reflect on their age-old significance.
