Stone colours and their symbolic meaning in crystal healing

Every day we notice that life and the universe are made of an endless number of colours. Faced with that chromatic exuberance, our vocabulary is bound to fall short: how do you express, in a few hundred words, every shade of light that fills an ordinary day?

For convenience we single out a few “main colours”, of which all the others are variations or mixtures. To those base colours we still have to add white and black, which strictly speaking are not colours at all.

White contains the whole of the light spectrum. It is light itself, in a way, and when you add all the colours together what you get is white. Black, for its part, is the absence of colour: it captures the entire light spectrum.

Stone colour and wavelength

When light strikes a surface, two things happen: part of the light spectrum is absorbed by the object, the other part is reflected by it. It is that second part we see, and it is what gives rise to colour.

A stone that absorbs all the light is black. One that reflects all of it is white. Between those two extremes there is room for the whole multitude of colours. And when a stone is transparent, light passes right through it (almost right through, otherwise it would be invisible!). The colour of a stone is therefore determined by the part of the light spectrum it reflects.

Each colour corresponds to a wavelength, and therefore to a different vibration. By reflecting part of the light, a stone gives off a particular vibration, and it is the quality of that vibration people look for, for its influence on the mind and its effect on the body.

Some colours calm us, others enliven us. Depending on what you are after, you pick a stone of a particular colour. A quick-tempered person will steer clear of red stones. Someone with too loose a grip on reality, of yellow ones.

The symbolic meaning of stone colours

Colour meanings differ from one culture to the next. That is why we suggest you let your intuition speak, so you can feel which vibration will do you good. In the end you are the only one who can feel a stone’s colour as more or less beneficial.

The primary colours: blue, yellow, red

With these three colours you can create every colour of the light spectrum. Hence the name “primary colours”.

Blue is the colour of the sea and the sky

It is associated with spirituality and with materiality at once. In that it stands for the body, caught between abstraction and matter, the way water is caught between sky and earth. You will find our selection of blue stones, such as sodalite or lapis lazuli, by clicking the image above.

Red is the colour of blood and fire

This is the colour of drive, energy, courage, strength. It prompts action rather than thought. It is at the same time the colour of passion and love. Red is the colour of life in its most wilful and most powerful dimension. Pink stones, rose quartz among them, are a gentler, quieter version of it.

Yellow is the colour of the sun and of gold

It is at once the colour of intellect, of mind, of intelligence, and the colour of happiness and bliss. It leads towards abstraction and spirituality. It sheds light and helps you make decisions. Citrine is one of the yellow stones.

The secondary colours: green, orange, purple

Secondary colours come from mixing two primary colours.

Green is made of yellow and blue

It stands for life in its cyclical aspect, the way plants grow. It is calming, and as the colour of perpetual rebirth it carries hope. It stands for gentleness, harmony, balance. You will find examples of green stones here.

Orange is made of red and yellow

This is the colour of material pleasures, of conviviality, friendship, spontaneity. It stimulates and gives energy, but it stays down to earth and has little taste for the intellectual. Browse our selection of orange stones.

Purple is made of red and blue

It is the colour of wisdom and of magic alike. It is the colour of mystery and it draws you towards dreaming. It is a colour of reflection more than of action. The most representative of these purple stones is amethyst.

The other colours: white, black, grey, gold, silver

Outside Western cultures, the symbolism of white and black is often reversed. The Yin and Yang symbol is perhaps the best way to grasp that these two values, opposite ends of the light spectrum though they are, still complement each other perfectly and stand for a balance.

White is light across its whole spectrum, light unalteredIt is the synthesis of all the other colours and stands for purity, knowledge, learning, spirituality. Rock crystal, being translucent, counts as a white stone. Use the links below to find the white stones on one side and the transparent minerals on the other.

Black is the colour that absorbs all lightIt is protective and reassuring, and at the same time a symbol of darkness and of death. It holds all the light inside itself; it is deep, thick, dense. It is the colour of the serious and the solemn.

Grey is the colour of nuance, of compromise, of the balance between black and whiteIt is pragmatic, and it strengthens the effect of other colours, which look all the brighter beside it.

Gold is a brilliant yellow. It enlivens the qualities of yellow. It stands for spiritual wealth and radiates strongly.

Silver is a brilliant grey. Its wealth is discreet but its power is great, and it has a strong stimulating effect.

How do you choose the colour of your stone?

Colours do have universal effects of their own (blue calms and invites reflection, red tones you up and prompts action, yellow warms and inspires spirituality…) but how each one acts depends on your individual energy balance. Where a person’s aura is heavily marked by one colour, that colour has to be counterbalanced by a stone of the opposite colour to get back to a balance.

Depending on the balance particular to each person, the colour of a stone will suggest different things to whoever wears it. That is why, as far as possible, you should let intuition guide you when you choose your stone. Close your eyes, let yourself drift for a few moments, and you will be able to picture the colour that will benefit you most right now. What colour do you see when you try this little test? One person will see green, another blue, another yellow. Depending on your needs, you will be drawn more or less to each colour.

When you come to use our stone search engine, start with the property you are looking for. The matching stones, often in several different colours, will appear on the results page. From that point on, let the stone choose you as much as you choose it. If one of them attracts you more than the others, it is calling you. Listen to yourself and the choice will come easily.

Not sure where to start? Try choosing your lucky stone. As it happens, agates, which have a reputation for bringing luck, come in an endless variety of colours. You will be spoilt for choice, and the small exercise above can guide you.