Flower Girl

Venus Day // A Mystic Reflection

Happy Friday!

Flowers have always had my heart. One of my earliest memories, and one of the earliest photos of me, is of picking a bright orange lily from the flower bed. My mom gently chastised me, “the flower is alive, we don’t take them like that.” But then she tucked it behind my ear for a photo with a note to appreciate the beauty - “let’s take a picture since you already plucked it.” I return to that memory here and there, more as the years go by. It’s one of those moments that makes it easy to see that the Mysteries and I have always been linked.

(A very blurry and old photo of me, really a photo of a photo. I’m wearing a pink t shirt, my hair is down and no glasses yet! The orange lily is over my ear)

Flowers are superb mystical teachers. We can learn about desire, attraction, procuring necessities, defense, mimicry, and longevity all by studying the blossoms of plants. Flowers may seem ornamental at first, that is the current dominating way humans interact with them, but they’re more than that. The blossom of a plant helps attract pollinators, and plenty of fruit requires a flower just to exist. For many years flowers were exchanged not just because of their beauty because they were associated with messages and meanings: red roses for romantic love and passion, or an apple blossom to show preference. Per this article on Almanac.com, “Following the protocol of Victorian-era etiquette, flowers were primarily used to deliver messages that couldn’t be spoken aloud. In a sort of silent dialogue, flowers could be used to answer “yes” or “no” questions. A “yes” answer came in the form of flowers handed over with the right hand; if the left hand was used, the answer was “no”….Plants could also express aversive feelings, such as the “conceit” of pomegranate or the “bitterness” of aloe. Similarly, if given a rose declaring “devotion” or an apple blossom showing “preference,” one might return to the suitor a yellow carnation to express “disdain.”

(Illustrated postcard. Printed in England/The Regent Publishing Co Ltd. Photo credit: Dumbarton Oaks Archives. Sourced from the same website as linked article)