The Rites of Flowers

We use flowers to adorn our homes, our altars, ourselves, often with little regard for what types of flowers we are choosing. It’s simply that they are this or that color or that they look pretty (or even are just the ones on sale at the store), and so we pick them or buy them, bringing them into our ritual space unknowing for the main part of what message they are bringing or what story they might be telling. Yet flowers have a long and distinguished history in paganism, with many links to various Gods and Goddesses throughout the centuries. They have symbolism and virtues all their own and old superstitions attached to them, ones that may or may not lend themselves to our purposes.

Language of Flowers

The Victorians rather famously had a whole language of flowers. What blossoms you chose to send to someone or to put in their May Day basket related a message to that person. You would put several flowers together, for example gorse which means endearing affection, with heart’s ease (also known as the pansy) which means think of me, add in jonquil which stands for return my affection and lemon blossom which represents discretion, and finally, put in nutmeg geranium which means I expect a meeting, and you have made an attempt to set up a quiet rendezvous with the one you love and whom you hope loves you. We no longer use flowers in quite this deliberate a way, but picking them by their meaning for ritual or divinatory use, or simply for good luck, can certainly add to any magick.

Eventually, flowers became associated (along with gemstones) with each month of the year or birth sign, and can be used in conjunction with regular astrology techniques. For example, the carnation is the flower of January, the primrose is the flower of February, the daffodil of March, the daisy is the flower of April, the lily of the valley for May, the honeysuckle for June, the water lily is for July, the poppy for August, the convolvulus for September, the dahlia for October, the chrysanthemum for November, and finally the holly stands for December.1

In Victorian flower language, the carnation means disdain, the primrose means early youth, the daffodil means chivalry, the daisy means beauty or innocence depending upon the color it is, the lily of the valley means return of happiness, the honeysuckle means the bond of love, the water lily stands for eloquence, the poppy means consolation or sleep of the heart also depending on the color, the convolvulus (or bindweed) means uncertainty, the dahlia means forever thine, the chrysanthemum means in love or truth also color dependant, while at the last, the holly stands for foresight. Certainly, the holly would be a good choice then to use in conjunction with scrying or some other means of divination, most especially at Yuletide.

Flower Lore

But flowers have greater and more ancient mystical associations than those from Victorian times or months of the year. Flowers have long had a link to the land of the dead; shamans in the past and those still practicing today often relate experiences of seeing blossoms of incredibly vibrant colors in their journeys to other planes of existence. The smell of flowers has also been linked to travel to the Otherworld. Quite often, these flowers of the dead and of the land of the dead were said to be roses.

Roses

Roses have a history involving death and magick. Roses were grown in little gardens on the graves in ancient Rome as symbols of resurrection and were also involved in the rites of Egypt sacred to Isis and Osiris.2 Roses were also emblems of Aurora, the Goddess of the Dawn, and sacred to Dionysus and the nine Muses.3 During the Middle Ages, legend has it that the rose was first created when a maiden was accused and sentences to die on the pyre. Through her prayers, the fire was extinguished and the brands which had caught fire turned into red roses and the unburnt brands into white roses.4

A circle with eight spokes coming out of it, thus forming a wheel, was sometimes called The Rose of the Winds,5 and is clearly related to the compass rose or the compass found in certain lines of Traditional Craft. Roses were also considered emblems of secrecy. Hence sub rosa meant to keep your silence beneath the rose. As a result, roses were often carved or painted in chambers where secrets were meant to be kept, thus making it a fitting symbol for the power of silence inherent in Witchcraft.6

Lily

The lily, oddly enough, is also linked to death and to the lands of the dead. However, lilies were also considered to be flowers sacred to the Goddess Queen Hera where they represented the sacred marriage. Their white color came from the fact that they were said to have grown from Hera’s own milk.7 This probably has ties to Hera’s other symbol being that of a cow, the same as the Egyptian Goddess, Hathor. Lilies, especially white lilies, are said to represent innocence and pureness and some consider that their use at weddings may be linked to this idea, but quite possibly it actually hearkens back to Hera who was, after all, the Goddess of marriage. Still, there is another old tradition that lilies came from Eve’s tears as she and Adam were driven out from the Garden of Eden.8 Either way, lilies have long been emblems of France, seen in the golden fleur-de-lis, in much the same way that roses have been linked to France’s ancient rival, England.

But while lilies are said to stem from milk (or tears), the rose traditionally has its source in blood, particularly the blood of Adonis. It shares this history with other flowers created by spilt blood such as the violet, stemming from the death of Attis, and the hyacinth, from the death of Hyachinthus. As one story goes, Attis was the most beloved of the goddess, Agdistis (a Goddess who was both male and female) and She made him go crazy in order to try and keep him all to Herself. Attis, in his madness, castrated himself and from this the violet first grew.9 Violets, probably due to this, are considered to presage death if they are seen blooming out of season, though they thought to be good luck if you dream of them.10

Poppy

Poppies also have their beginnings in blood and battle. Poppy Day or Remembrance Day was created on November 11^th to honor the those who died in WWI on the battlefields of Flanders, where many poppies grew, and artificial flowers are sold to mark the occasion.11 But, primarily, the poppy remains a flower of magickal properties, in particular that of divination, as poppies represent the “sleep of death.” This can even been seen in the movie The Wizard of Oz when the Wicked Witch of the West tried to stop Dorothy from getting to the Emerald City by creating a field of glorious yet deadly red poppies. They also symbolize the Great Mother because of the “sleep” of plants during the winter and so are tied to Demeter, Persephone, and Venus, as well as to various sleep deities such as Hypnos and Morpheus.12 Clearly, this “sleep” was tied to shamanic journeying and achievement of various altered states of consciousness. An altered state that the poppy can readily provide so that you might travel to the land of the dead.

Other flowers also have their links to death.

Periwinkle

In Italy, the periwinkle was one such blossom because they “used to adorn dead babies with garlands of periwinkle and in former times heretics burned at the stake were given periwinkle crowns.”13 In Wales, picking periwinkles from a gravesite was said to result in nightmares about the person who was interred there.14 Not to be outdone, the Lily of the Valley, while it represented sweetness and humility, also originated from spilled blood or from the sorrow for the sacrificial victim. Accordingly, they have an alternate French name, “Our Lady’s Tears.”15 Daisies are also said to stem from tears, in particular those of Mary Magdalene, and there’s even a story that they came from seeds scattered by the spirits of still-born babies.16

Flowers in Alchemy

The meaning of the particular flower could change, though, in conjunction with the color of the bloom. For example, white flowers in alchemy represented silver and so were sacred to the Moon and the Goddess. Red blossoms represented gold and the Sun and the God. Blue flowers, on the other hand, were basically considered to be a “flower of the wise.”17 Just as when a violet was white it meant innocence and when the violet was blue the meaning changed to that of faithful love,18 so the virtue of a rose also changed in accordance with what color it might be. The golden rose meant perfection, the red rose denoted passion and desire and blood, particularly the blood of sacrifice, and the white rose symbolized purity and spirituality.19 White roses were “planted at the graves of virgins, while red roses on the graves of lovers.”20

Flowers for Seasonal Festivities

In the past, how you went about gathering the flowers was also of import. For example, flowers that were specifically for festivities on May Day or Midsummer both had rituals attached to how they should be picked. Sometimes, it was specified that they should be picked while still fresh with the morning dew, as dew represented both blessings and fertility and was considered sacred water from the sky.21 May flowers should be gathered early enough that the dew was still on them or, if that was impossible, they should be dipped in dew. People would also wash their faces in dew on May Day. While, on Midsummer, people used to roll in the dew in order to promote fertility.22 Of course, today, that all becomes rather more difficult unless you own a garden or know someone who does as bouquets at the grocery store or florists usually don’t come with a ready supply of fresh dew.

Flower Numerology

The number of flowers also was important. For example, the daffodil, which is an excellent spring flower, was considered good luck, but only if you picked them in bunches and never as a single flower.23 Like the daffodil, primroses were bad luck if you only had one of them—foretelling a death in the house—and so should only be gathered in bunches of thirteen.24 Long tied to love as well as to blood, roses could also be used in divination and magick. For example, a girl would fold up a rose in paper on Midsummer Eve, keep it until Yule, and then unwrap it. If the petals were still soft and fresh, then she would wear the blossom and the very first man to “admire the rose or remove it” would be the one to marry her.25

A few other May Day flowers included the marigold—a flower tied to death and remembrance of the dead in Mexico—which was even called “the herb of Beltane.”26 The honeysuckle and the hawthorn blossom were made into a wreath for the Queen of the May.27 She would wear the wreath much as the ancient Gods did when they were carried around in processions before their worshippers, a tradition you can still see today in some countries where they carry a flower-bedecked statue of the Virgin Mary through the streets. Another flower linked to pagan celebration was the yellow blossom of St John’s Wort, though its name underwent a change when Midsummer became associated with John the Baptist.28

Though some Witches do pick any stones to be worked with or colors of candles or altar clothes for ritual use with a certain amount of forethought and care, the language, meaning, and mystery of flowers has been given less consideration of late. Yet, flowers are a powerful and ancient symbol, one well worth taking account of. They are tied to love, life, and resurrection—which isn’t at all surprising since the vast majority of them appear in the spring—yet they are also of long association with sacrifice, sorrow, loss, and death. In many ways, they bridge the veil between the worlds; they are the blood of the king and God who makes the ultimate sacrifice and they are also the tears of the Goddess who had to give Her love up to death.