7 Blue Flame Symbolic Meanings in Dreams, Myth and Art

The blue flame is a rare and unusual symbol in dreams, mythology, and art. In a way, the blue flame seems a contradictory symbol, so what exactly does it mean?

The blue flame symbol combines the spirituality of blue with the passion of fire. The blue flame thus contains a soul’s spiritual energy, mystical power, combined with fire’s purification powers. Finally, blue flames symbolize perfection since it’s burn doesn’t leave behind ash or charred remains.

It combines the meanings of fire and blue, which at first glance seem to have entirely opposite meanings. And yet, the opposite and contradictory meanings of fire and blue combine to create a unique and powerful symbol that is distinct from its components and carries its own psychological and artistic meaning.

The color blue is generally seen as representing the powers of intellect, wisdom, and rationality. Blue is also the color of tranquility and even a certain kind of melancholic sadness. For this reason, blue is often the color of depression, of cold and distant solitude.

On a cosmic level, blue represents the sky, the infinite and anything that is unchanged by the passage of time.

Because of these traits, many cultures associated blue with the divine, the godly, or otherworldly powers that the human mind cannot comprehend.

Thus, blue is the color of the soul, the immaterial substance that nobody has seen and that may or may not exist. Yet the soul still captures our imagination, and its color can only be blue or white, since all other colors are too destructive (red), perishable (green), earthly (brown), etc.

Fire, on the other hand, is a symbol of destruction, of passions, love, courage, and the desire to live and achieve victory.

Fire destroys everything it touches, but this also makes it a giver of life since what has been destroyed will now be replaced by something else.

For this reason, fire was seen as a great purifier, one that could burn away corruption, leaving only the healthy behind.

Finally, fire is the color of energy. The Sun is the most notable such manifestation of fire because, without it, no life would be possible.

Knowing the meanings of fire and blue as two separate symbols makes it much easier to understand the meaning of the blue flame.

The blue flame represents healthy emotions

A blue flame represents the controlling and taming of our passions, but not their repression. Their existence is permitted and encouraged, but only under the strict guidance and supervision of the intellect.

The blue flame thus tames both the destructive impulsiveness of the fire and the sad melancholy of the color blue, which freezes us into indecision and resignation.

The Blue flame is the inner source of spiritual energy

The blue flame is the energy that powers our intellect and rationality. As long as it burns, our minds are sharp and fixed on their purpose.

In this case, the blue flame is a symbol of our mental and emotional energy to pursue and enjoy life.

On a more religious level, the blue flame is the divine energy granted to us by a higher power. It is the mystic spark of divinity so often mentioned in ancient religious texts.

After all, the color blue was associated with gods such as Kneph, Jupiter, Krishna, Vishnu, Odin, and Zeus.

To dream of a blue flame can mean that you see the divine within you, and that you are a part of something greater.

The blue flame represents mental purification and clarity

A blue flame borrows the idea that fire purifies, but its blue color stands for the soul and reason in this case.

So, a blue flame, especially one that doesn’t give off smoke, is a sign of a mind that is purified of toxic emotions and thoughts.

The blue flame is a symbol of health, life, and healing

In a more physical sense, a blue flame can be seen as a healing symbol. This is because both blue and fire are linked to vitality and health, although in different ways.

Thus, blue is linked to water, the essential component of life. Likewise, fire is often described as the spark of life or as the element that allows life to have motion.

A blue flame combines these meanings into one single, united symbol of life.

The blue flame represents mystical power

Most of the time, the ancients made blue flames by burning gases or very concentrated alcohols.

Coincidentally, such substances were also responsible for drunken reveries or hallucinations that seemed divine in nature.

Because of this, most cultures have associated strong alcoholic spirits with divine powers or gods.

Since the burning of these divine substances produced a distinctive blue-colored fire, blue flames came to be viewed as the releasing of divine energies and mystic power.

Blue flames are associated with creative stability and self-sufficiency.

Fire gains its color mostly through the type of fuel that is used to generate it.

The chemical properties of wood, which is the most common fuel for fire, give it its distinctive reddish-orange color.

In contrast to the massive wood logs required to fuel a red fire, a blue flame can be fueled by a colorless liquid such as alcohol or an invisible gas such as methane.

From a distance, the blue flame appears to exist on its own, without the need to be constantly fed with wood logs to keep it alive.

Symbolically, this makes blue flames seem self-sufficient, as if they are separated from the needs of the world and burn out of their own, self-sustaining energy.

In this way of looking at it, a blue flame can be seen as an energy source that never runs out and doesn’t need to destroy everything around it to stay alive.

Blue flame represents everything perfect (or imperfect)

At first glance, the blue flame seems to represent all of the qualities of fire and blue, but none of their weaknesses.

For example, it can be calculated courage without the rash emotionality of fire or the cautious timidity of blue.

The blue flame can represent the ability to transform and purify only that which is broken or corrupted. By comparison, fire destroys everything, while blue represents the unchanging and stagnant.

On the other hand, the blue flame can also borrow all of the flaws from its components, but without any of their qualities.

Thus, a blue flame can represent the spiteful, little-minded person who grumbles and dislikes everything, but always does what others tell him or what society instructs him. He has the inner fire to be displeased, but he is too timid to stand out and do any sort of opposition.

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