I’m very excited to at last write this article, explaining all about a purple aura meaning. Why? I’m a Reiki energy healing practitioner whose specialty is seeing and working with clients’ chakras to help them flow in balance, and my #1 favorite of all the aura colors is purple! To learn why, let’s explore, in depth, what it means to have a purple or violet aura.
The Purple Chakra(s)
To understand the meaning of a purple aura, we first need to unpack which which chakra colors are associated with that hue. (As background, “chakras” are the energy centers of the human body, and each is connected with a color and a characteristic that holds a message.)
Now, the answer to the question “Which is the purple chakra?” is actually more complicated than it is for any of the other meditation colors, because there are TWO different purple chakras, depending on which shade of the hue we are talking about. Here’s an overview of each energy center, which will be important groundwork for us understanding purple auras.

The 6th, Third Eye Chakra
The Sixth Chakra, Third Eye Chakra, or Ajna in Sanskrit, is located between the eyes, or on the lower forehead. It is connected with intuition, and having clear insight. It’s where the human world connects with — and balances with — the spiritual realm to produce those wondrous moments of connection and clairvoyance.
What color is the Third Eye Chakra? Here’s where things start to get complicated. Usually the 6th Chakra is seen as “Indigo,” which is a combination of blue (like the blue aura of the throat chakra directly below) and purple. In the world of colors, “Indigo” looks to most people like… purple. Therefore, the Sixth Chakra is often just seen as purple. But wait — there’s more!

The 7th, Crown Chakra
At the top of the head sits the celestial Seventh Chakra: the Crown Chakra, or Sahasrara in Sanskrit. The Crown Chakra is about connection to universal energy, the spiritual world, and enlightenment. This chakra is about transcending the human realm to connect with the divine.
What color is the Crown Chakra? Oh my — this time there are FOUR answers! Sometimes the Seventh Chakra is described as violet (more of a pink-purple than indigo), yet other times it is said to be purple, and still other times, it’s seen as having either a gold or white aura. A gold and white chakra? Yes that’s right. Ah!
Purple Aura Meaning
Now we can put this background understanding together to understand the meaning of a purple aura. Seeing this color can be interpreted as being energy radiating from either — or both — the 6th and 7th Chakras, meaning that when that purple color is present, the body is building personal intuition, and connecting with spiritual, universal life force energy in a healing and growing manner.
All energy colors are great in their own way, but when I see a purple aura with my Boston Reiki clients, I always smile. Why? Because every time I see a purple aura, it’s accompanied by healing, processing, clearing, and increased happiness and wellbeing — as if divine energy is gently connecting with the body to help the life force unblock and flow. It is chakra balancing in action. You don’t have to be a religious person to experience that seeing purple auras has a spiritual meaning that transcends affiliation and simply feels wonderful.

A Story About Purple Auras
Here’s an example of the healing properties of a purple aura. Last week I had a client come in for the first time. In the first part of the session, I couldn’t see any color aura at all, as I did my hand placements along her body, meaning her chakras were blocked. Then as I got to her belly, I saw her start to cry a little — crying during meditation or Reiki is very normal and beneficial — and she began to tell me why she had come in for energy work.
I won’t share the story here, to protect her privacy, but suffice it to say that she’d had a huge surprise in her life which her mind and body were having trouble processing. I continued my Reiki hand placements as she finished the story, and as I got up to her head, she suddenly exclaimed: “I see violet! Oh my gosh — it’s like a lava lamp of purple behind my closed eyes! This has never happened to me before. What does it mean?”
Indeed, on my end I was also seeing purple — in a manner which I’ve tried to recreate in my illustrations for this article. I begin to smile, since in my experience, seeing a purple aura nearly always correlates with the client doing amazing healing work, and leaving feeling much better. I explained this to her.
For the next 30 minutes of my Reiki hand placements, the client and I watched the purple light dance and move behind our closed eyes. Sometimes the color pulsed towards us in a circle, and sometimes it flowed downward, upward, or diagonally, iridescent.

As I explain in my wildly popular first article in this series, “Seeing Colors During Meditation: Purple and Yellow,” it is both my experience and the experience of many people who can see aura colors, that purple is mixed with yellow-green in what we see. Click that article for more of an analysis of why. In the case of this client, we also observed a gold and yellow aura and green aura dancing between the purple aura colors.
What was the effect of that purple aura? Was it as healing and restorative due to celestial energy as I’d seen before? Sure enough, as this client left our Reiki session, she shared the following: “When I came in here for energy healing, I was feeling constricted and pent up — almost like I couldn’t breathe. Now I feel like a totally different person! I can breathe fully, and feel clearer and happier than I have in a long time!” Ahh, the power of chakra unblocking and the 6th and 7th chakras.
A Purple Aura, in Sum
It sounds almost magical, but I’ve found it over and over again to be true in my Reiki energy work: the meaning of a purple aura is that there is amazing healing energy happening that combines the human power of intuition (the 6th chakra) with the universal life force energy (the 7th chakra).
A purple aura is a very good thing, and my only warning would be that if you have one, you may be vibrating and operating at a higher spiritual plane than man of those around you, so have patience with them, and don’t forget to keep connecting with those who are still working on their own path in a more grounded way. Also see my article about the magenta aura meaning, which is closely connected.
Now, what has been YOUR experience with seeing or having a purple aura? What’s your take on how it relates to the purple chakras, and what it means? Do share!
Curious to learn more about auras? Check out my explanations and stories about seeing an orange aura and the aura of the red chakra! Want the next level of chakras beyond the 7? Read about the “Earth Star Chakra!”

The author and artist, Lillie Marshall, is a National Board Certified Teacher of English who has been a public school educator since 2003, and an experienced Reiki practitioner since 2018. All art on this site is original and hand-drawn by Lillie. She launched DrawingsOf.com Educational Cartoons in 2020, building upon the success of her other sites, AroundTheWorldL.com (established 2009), TeachingTraveling.com (founded 2010), and ReikiColors.com. Subscribe to Lillie’s monthly newsletter, and follow @WorldLillie on social media to stay connected!
Tommy
Thursday 12th of January 2023
Hello! This is very validating. I have seen this myself in multiple instances. In one instance, I was getting some reiki healing done by a master who had been practicing for over 20 years. Right away, he said he could tell I’ve done a lot of healing work and he was right. As he was working on me, I began to see a deep violet circle surrounded by a circular golden light. Now, when I meditate, or do breathwork I see the same thing. He told me that it was a representation of the 7th ray in esoteric psychology and later on, indicated I may have connection to Christ and St. Germaine. During my last breathwork session, I also saw a lot of green light at times, which I imagine was due to my heart chakra opening and healing. Typically though, I see the purple and gold light.
Lillie Marshall
Thursday 12th of January 2023
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this. I've definitely been seeing a lot of circle shapes recently; often concentric circles of purple with gold around it, as you describe.
Crystal
Saturday 7th of January 2023
Yesterday I had a very cool experience with my Reiki session. My long-time practitioner saw purple connecting from the top of my head and going up to infinity. She said she saw me in white flowing clothes surrounded by rabbits. I am a rabbit lover and owner, and often she gets rabbits in her images. I have yet to see the colors on my own, but can trust and feel with my senses.
Lillie Marshall
Monday 9th of January 2023
Love this! Beautiful and powerful images. Thank you for taking the time to share.
Coco
Friday 9th of December 2022
Today while have a massage…the person was working on my neck..specifically the frontal sides…my eyes were closed and I began seeing purple/indigo waves of lights behind my closed eyes…this has never happened before… Although..for about the last 3 months or so..I have been seeing that same color randomly through the day..eyes close and/or open. It comes in a flash and it’s gone…small oval shaped dot of light..
Lillie Marshall
Friday 9th of December 2022
You’re not alone! I hope this article helps understand purple auras more!
Amy
Monday 5th of December 2022
I was recently in a very bad motorcycle accident. While in the trauma ER, they lost my pulse. I could hear them telling me to “stay with us”. I was seeing like a purple lava lamp and their voices were getting farther and farther away. Of course, I survived. But I have not heard of people feeling the sensation of floating in purple lava. I have only heard of the “bright light” with near death experiences.
Lillie Marshall
Monday 5th of December 2022
So sorry to hear about your accident! Relieved you're doing better, and appreciative you took the time to share your important experience. What you're saying resonates closely with this interpretation of seeing purple. From a chakra or spiritual point of view, it connects with the Crown Chakra, which is Universal Life Force Energy, which would make sense to see when you saw it. From a biological point of view, seeing purple seems to correlate with times the brain is in a deeply meditative and healing state -- another place it would correlate. You make a good point that perhaps we should amend our vision of people seeing a "bright white light" in such intense experiences -- it may not always be colored white! Sending you good energy for your recovery process.