There are many different ways to apply colors to astrological signs and planets, perhaps because there are many different *things* that have color. Many people give opinions about the colors of astrological things without referring to any source. I think that is rather unimportant of them. There is an excellent book (unfortunately out of print), called The Circle of Stars. Page 27 of that book lists the colors connected with the signs – and this is based on a very thorough Cambridge Ph.D. assessing a wide variety of Sanskrit source material. Here are the colors -
Aries is red
Taurus is white (personally think it may be better to say “crystalline” than white)
Gemini is green
Cancer is rose-pink
Leo is a pale yellow
Virgo is multicolored (“prismatic”)
Libra is black, or a very dark blue
Scorpio is a blend of golden reddish brown – like an oxide color
Sagittarius is yellow-brown (bordering towards yellow or “saffron”)
Capricorn is spotted gray
Aquarius is like red clay
Pisces is crystalline/white
These are the colors of the SIGNS, the planets also have their colors -
Sun is burnt orange
Moon is snow white
Mars is dark red
Mercury is dark green
Jupiter is saffron
Venus is prismatic/crystaline
Saturn is black/ dark blue/ purple
Rahu and Ketu (the nodes) are smokey and hazey
It is very difficult to answer your question of “why” but it is interesting, so I’ll try =)
I definitely see some connection between the colors of the signs and the colors of the planets who own those signs, are exalted there, or even debilitated (in the case of Virgo). So the planets impart their colors to the signs they are most intimately connected with could be a plausible answer on which we could figure out why each sign has its specific color.
That does beg the question of why the planets have their various colors.
Honestly I can’t really say. I think it would take a lot of study. Perhaps there is a correlation of the color wavelenth to the numeric base of the planet? Or perhaps the color simply resonates well with the planet’s intrinsic personality? This seems easier to explore…
The Sun naturally is like a burnt orange… just sounds right, no? The Moon’s light on the other hand is pale and cool, like snow. Seems right. Mars being red seems perfectly normal, since the visible planet is a red star, and since red is the color of energy and agression. Mercury being green is actually very cool because green is the exact MIDDLE of the spectrum, and diplomatic Mercury always takes the middle position (to the extent of even being transgendered). Jupiter is saffron… in many cultures, especially Eastern ones, saffron is the color of the teacher/ priest – which is Jupiter’s position. I am not sure if this is a circular argument though. Need to think more about it. The overall composition of light from the physical, three-dimensional planet Jupiter also seems pretty close to saffron… not sure if that is important, though.
Saturn is dark and cold and dim – therefore blacks, deep blues and purples.
Rahu and Ketu are invisible, therefore they are the haze and smoke that obscures vision.
There are a very bases I have not explained, because I can’t yet. Need to think more. But this is an interesting topic for further thought and contemplation.
- Vic DiCara
