Before the artist's death, the people responsible for Prince's social media account made a beautiful tweak to the handle's icon. Previously, the image featured a drawing of Prince wearing tri-lensed sunglasses — two lenses covering his eyes, and the final lens concealing the center of his forehead. The new icon reveals the artist's two eyes are closed, but his third eye is open.
Prince's icon just changed. The tri-shades vanished to reveal the eyes were closed and the third eye was open pic.twitter.com/YDfafBuFb2
— James Harvey (@jamesharveytm) April 21, 2016
The third eye is generally associated with spirituality, and specifically the sixth chakra used in many traditions and faiths. Here's how Chopra.com writer Michelle Fondin describes it:
The sixth chakra, Ajna, is in the area of the third eye, which is found in the space between the eyebrows. It encompasses the pituitary gland, eyes, head, and lower part of the brain. An invisible yet powerful third eye, this is your center of intuition. A spiritual chakra, which means "beyond wisdom," Ajna leads you to an inner knowledge that will guide you if you let it. An open sixth chakra can enable clairvoyance, telepathy, lucid dreaming, expanded imagination, and visualization.
Correction: The piece originally claimed that the the icon changed today. The change was actually made before the artist's death. The correction is addressed in the story.