The flower: symbolism and spiritual meaning

It is not uncommon for flowers to accompany us in falling in love, birth and death. In all cultures, bouquets, garlands, and other floral arrangements are used to express deep feelings, be it joy or farewell. We do not give away roots or leaves. The tears are directed to the soul because we give them a symbolism.

Over the years, different cultures have attached different meanings to them. We explain the origin of the symbolism of the flower from different cultures.

The flower as a symbol of beauty

The connection with flowers is a way to reestablish contact with nature. Letting ourselves be impressed by its beauty, we feel part of a wonderful world. Thus, the impact of flowers has to do with their beauty. But what is beautiful is because it transmits a message to us.

They say that among animals, including human beings, physical beauty informs the genetic perfection of the individual. From a botanical point of view, The flower is the sexual organ of the plant. and represents his effort to attract the attention of the insects and offer them tasty food.

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But they could also be considered points of special concentration of energy more subtle, where the “ether” became more “visible”, the high, pure and brilliant air breathed by the gods, soul of the world and source of all life, according to the ancient Greeks, as suggested by the intensity of the perfume and the colorful that is appreciated in them.

Some authors maintain that flowers express the harmonious combination between the forces that come from the earthwhich provides nutrients and water, for example, and those of the sky through sunlight.

The curious thing is that the flowers, with their almost otherworldly colors and their shapes that evoke mandalas, can embody as many meanings as the most diverse and distant cultures have attributed to them.

From Türkiye comes the tulip and turkish sultans used to take portraits smelling a rose.

What does each flower symbolize?

The language of flowers reached its maximum expression in the Turkish court of Ahmed II, source of inspiration for the Romantic poets of Victorian England.

Since then:

the poppy symbolizes love impatient;the blue anemone, sincerity and trust lilypurity; red carnationthe fieryness; the dahliathe gratitude; the geraniumthe whim; the gladiolusthe secret; the jasminethe disenchanted…

… and so it could be continued with all the species of flowers, including their varieties of shapes and colors.

Flowers used to celebrate fertility

But first of all, flowers mean life and fertility.. It is an obvious message, since the flowers serve the plants to reproduce. The presence of flowers in the festivals that celebrate spring all over the world makes this explicit.

From the rose of Sant Jordi that is given away every April 23 in Catalonia, until garlands adorning Indian, Greek, German or Slavic girls in other celebrations of the season, or the flowers that the Indian god of love, Kamadeva, shoots like a Cupid.

The christian tradition it has also incorporated flowers into its symbolism. The wild rose is linked with the Cavalry and with the Virgin Mary, sometimes called rosa mystica and to which he dedicates himself May, the month of flowers by excellence.

By the way, The name of May comes from Maia, the beautiful Greek goddess of the fields. and one of the Pleiades daughters of Atlas. This myth gave rise in Rome to that of Bona Dea, good goddess of fertility, healing and women.

Interestingly, the May flowers have continued to inspire even the modern labor movement, which has taken the rose as one of its symbols and celebrates its world festival on the first day of the month.

The symbolism of cherry blossoms

In Japan, the hanami, which literally means “to see flowers”. It is such an important festival that on the news the weathermen report where the cherry trees are blooming.

Appreciating its beauty is a cultural value, but every year, when the cherry blossoms bloom at the end of March and beginning of April, people flock to parks and gardenswhere they gather to eat and drink under the trees.

The tradition hanami dates back to the Nara period (8th century), when the Japanese took the pleasure of contemplating flowers from Chinese culture. At that time the celebration must have been an offering to the gods so that the crops would be abundant.

In Spain it is also celebrated a kind of hanami. The inhabitants of Jerte Valleyin the foothills of the Sierra de Gredos, between the provinces of Cáceres, Ávila and Salamanca, celebrate for thirty years, during the second half of Marchthe “Cherry Blossom Festival”, in honor of the million trees that make up the largest cherry tree in Europe.

Why is the cherry blossom the favorite to celebrate spring? Perhaps because its existence is very short, sometimes only a couple of weeks, and it perfectly expresses the impermanence and flow of life.

That’s why We also give flower crowns to the deceased, because existence is ephemeral, but beautiful. Also as a hope of rebirth.

A man’s grave was discovered in Iraq from 60,000 years ago who was buried on a bed of hollyhocks real, needles and other flowers. The Paradise It is often represented as an eternally blooming garden. There the main occupation is Pick flowers.

There is a relationship between flowers, the divine and immortality which is reflected in the Sanskrit language, in which the same word, puspha, means flower and temple. And the god Vishnu is also called pushpahasathat is, “he whose laugh is flowery.”

Lotus flower: symbol of spirituality

A specific flower, the lotus, has become one of the most universal symbols of spirituality. in civilization egyptian It was related to the power of the sun and its god Ra. In the India symbolizes purity and beauty. She is the “Mother of creation” and of Brahma, ruler of all gods.

The lotus represents the triumph of lofty aspirations. It also expresses the fusion between the masculine principles -heaven, the Father- and feminine – the water, the Mother.

It sinks its root into the silt, often murky and stagnant water, but its stem shoots up through the water, symbolizing the psychic evolution in the fight against ignorance and passionsand the flower opens on the water towards the sky, becoming emblem of spiritual realization.

Buddhas in meditation are often depicted seated on lotus flowers.. One day the followers of the Buddha were assembled to hear his teachings. But he didn’t say a word: took a flower and held it for them to see. Only one disciple, Ananda, showed with his smile that he had understood.

The flower goes to the heart. It helps to carry out the best wishes through kindness and joy. No wonder it has become symbol of peace, or of the vitality and hope of the young against the conventions of society.

In addition are used to symbolize the zones (chakras or wheels) in the human body where the energy that governs the functioning of the organism is accumulated and transformed.

Each of the seven chakras is symbolized by a lotus with a greater or lesser number of petals and with different colors that correspond to its characteristics.

The western version of the lotus flower is perhaps the fleur de lis or flower of the lily. Symbolizes perfection, light and life and we find it in the heraldic shields or even in the emblem of the boy scout.

It has recently become more famous, perhaps due to its appearance in the novel The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown, in which it represents the lineage inherited from Jesus of Nazareth. Legend has it that an angel gave a golden lily to Clovis, the Merovingian king of the Franks, when he converted to Christianity.

The fleur de lis has a warrior meaning added: its most frequent representation recalls the shape of the sword and has been interpreted as a sign of the alliance between the clergy and the nobility.

To Freudian psychoanalysts it seems like a male symbol because it reminds them of the phallus and because of its connection with swordsmen.

The flower as a mandala and self-knowledge

We are naturally attracted to flowers that reflect the virtues and conflicts of our personality.. Therefore observing them can be an interesting method of self-knowledge.

The flower, whatever, is a mandala where the spiritual center can be sought. As is known, mandalas serve to concentrate in meditation.

A meditative technique consists of contemplating a mandala for a long time. so that their shapes are memorized to then try to render it internally with all its details.

From time to time the eyes open and it is compared with the originalwhich can be, for example, a real sunflower or even a church rose window.

Mandalas and flowers are psychogramsthat is to say, schemes where the diversity of everything that exists merges in the center in an absolute, entire and luminous consciousness that shines in the depths of our being.

It is as if we had taken the flowers for Roscharch spots in which we all projected the treasure of our thoughts and feelings.

The flower as a mandala facilitates access to the “golden flower”, a concept of Chinese Taoism equivalent to the philosopher’s stone of European alchemy. It would be nothing less than the great secret that explains the generation of life and consciousness, according to psychologist Carl G. Jung.

He indian master ramakrishna wrote:

“The bee buzzes around until it lands on the flower and sips the sweetness of the honey that is in it. But, once inside the flower, it silently tastes the nectar. While man disputes over doctrines and dogmas, he demonstrates that he has not tasted the nectar of Truth. Once he tastes it, he becomes silent.”

Flowers can help us develop a positive, creative and compassionate outlook on life. Somehow they remind us that within us beats the same energy that flourishes in plants.

That is why spring is a timely season for regeneration and rebirth.. We can drop ballast and bring out the best in ourselves fluidly, just like plants do.

Books on the effect of flowers

The magic of plants; Ignacio Abella. Ed. RBA-IntegralTotal health in 8 weeks; Andrew Weill. Ed. Uranoflower workshop; Stefan Bai. Ed. Ocean