From colored smoke bombs to dying your ritual bath water, the ideas here aren’t your grandmother’s color magic.
If you already know the basics of color magic, skip to the section titled “10 Ways to Use Color Magic” for some creative ways to add a touch of the rainbow to your next spell or ritual. There’s at least a few you probably never thought of!
And if you’re totally new to this concept, start from the beginning for a brief introduction to this foundational part of modern witchcraft.
What is color magic?
Color magic operates under the theory that every color vibrates with a certain energy. Modern witches often use this energy in a deliberate way to enhance spell work and ritual.
For example, a practitioner of candle magic likely chooses her ritual candles in colors particular to her intention.
Similarly, perhaps you dress your altar in colors that evoke the season or wear ritual items with their colors in mind.
These are the most common methods, but there are lots of other ways to use color to your advantage in spell work!
First, let’s go over some basic color correspondences.
Basic Color Correspondences
Below, I listed some common color associations. However, feel absolutely free to draw your own color correspondences based on your life experience.
For example, green usually indicates growth or money matters. But you may remember green as the color your mother always wore, and for you, green means mother. That’s okay. Knowing that about yourself is almost more to the point.
Nonetheless, it;s useful to know the more universal meanings so that you easily attach them when working with a pre-written spell or ritual that calls for color.
Red
Love, anger, confidence, defiance, lust, passion.
Orange
Creativity, business matters, joy, Mabon, Samhain.
Yellow
Element of air, ideas, school matters, education, excitement, nervousness, energy, sun magic.
Green
Element of Earth, new beginnings, growth, money, finances, luck, fortune, Ostara, spring festivals, garden magic, faeries, hedge witch.
Blue
Element of Water, healing, calm, soothing anxiety, stillness, meditation, peace, harmony.
Purple
Psychic energy, higher consciousness, psychedelic experiences, spirituality, divine experience, wisdom, royalty.
White
Purity, virginity, cleansing, light, untainted, freedom from oppression, newly born.
Black
Darkness, protection, hexing, secrets, addiction, bondage, death.
10 Ways to Use Color Magic
(Please note: This section contains affiliate links for your convenience. You’re welcome to read all about this practice on Moody Moon’s disclosure page. Spoiler alert: It’s pretty boring.)
Tired of colored candles and crimson altar clothes? When it comes to color magic, think outside the cardboard cube.
Try one of these ideas guaranteed to take your next ritual from monochrome to technicolor.
Paint Your Face
Use face or body paint for a playful way to make your next coven ritual colorful and fun. Either select someone in the group best suited for the artistic stuff, or partner up and paint each other with appropriate symbols. Choose a color (or colors) for the season or intent of the ritual.
Discover the Magic of Your Eye Color
Work with the magic of your eye color to add meaning and power to your Craft.
Your eyes bring your conscious mind to life. Harness their energy and wield it to your advantage.
Dye Your Ritual Bathwater
Dying your ritual bathwater in an intentionally chosen hue helps to get you in the right frame of mind for spell craft and moon rituals.
Consider using purple before a tarot session, blue to sooth anxiety, or green for prosperity and abundance.
Use Colored Smoke Bombs
Want to create a super mystical atmosphere during your next ritual?
Incorporate colored smoke bombs. Drop one in the cauldron or chalice.
(Be careful to keep them away from altar cloths and clothing! The smoke stains).
Toss Around Some Rangoli Powder
All the rage at group gatherings lately, the colored powder you see tossed around at color runs and gender reveal parties is actually called Rangoli powder. It is used in the traditional Indian spring event called the Holi Festival.
It also makes for great fun at neopagan rituals. Choose a color that works for your purpose and then throw it at each other to create a plume of color that literally dyes the air around you until it settles.
Paint Your Toenails (with Magic In Mind)
Great for glamour spells! Choose a color that corresponds to your spell, then set a time limit on it: By the time this nail polish wears off, may the first signs of my spell come to fruition. (Or something considerably more eloquent).
If you’re hand with nail polish, paint some symbols into your design with meaning (triquetra, celtic knot, ect).
It’s a cute way to keep your intentions in the forefront of your mind.
Bring Back the Mood Ring
In the 1970s, someone came up with the bright idea to fuse liquid crystals with quartz and then set them into jewelry. The result? Rings that change color according to the wearer’s body temperature. Presumably, this indicated the wearer’s mood, thus coining them “moody rings.”
Crystals? Color that changes magically? Sounds pretty witchy to me.
Personally, I love this one.
Meditate in Color
Choose a color that you associate with calm and healing (most people think blue).
Then choose a color you associate with pain or discomfort (most people think red).
Close your eyes and visualize inhaling your peaceful color, and exhaling the painful color.
Notice the immediate drop in your anxiety and stress levels.
Change out the colors and the intentions according to your spell. Try inhaling green to internalize financial success, or pink to invite love into your heart.
Try Paint Magic
For the artist: buy or make a blank canvas. Choose an intention for spell work and translate your magic into a visual piece of art. Keep colors within the framework of your spell.
Hang the canvas in an appropriate place for your intent (a canvas for love in the bedroom, a canvas for financial success in your office or a canvas for home blessing in your living room, for example).
Eat the Rainbow
Nutritionist encourage you to “eat the rainbow” when choosing fruits and vegetables because natural foods with brightly colored skins tend to contain a high percentage of nutrients.
But for the kitchen witch, their color also signifies metaphysical properties.
For example, the red color of strawberries used in kitchen witch spells for love signify passion and romance.
Consider the intense color of oranges, blackberries or pineapples, and how you might creatively include them in your next kitchen witch spell!