The Magic of Flowers: A Guide to Their Metaphysical Uses & Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2013

An Orientation to Flower Magic (Read This First)

Aflower is a manifestation of divine beauty and wisdom. And while each flower’s vibration is unique, what it expresses is universal: it is available to all of us and is already a part of us. Flower magic, then, might be defined as employing a flower as a focal point for our intention or as a window into our own divine aspect in order to affect a desired positive change. While simply spending time with a flower can provide an infusion of nourishment and spiritual sustenance, flower magic can take many additional forms. So, while you’ll find that each flower entry contains targeted suggestions for a variety of healing and manifestation purposes, this section will introduce the primary magical methods discussed in this book and establish a basic framework for your own flower magic practice.

Proximity

The simplest form of flower magic is proximity: bringing a flower or bouquet into your home, giving a flower as a gift, or even spending time in a place where the flower is growing. While this type of magic can work whether you are conscious of it or not, it becomes greatly enhanced when you’re aware of a flower’s magical properties and when you consciously employ the flower for a particular magical purpose.

Here are some loose guidelines to help you maximize the power of proximity:

✵ If you gather a flower, gather her with consciousness, compassion, and respect. In other words, first tune in to her energy and let her know what you would like help with. Then, gently ask her if it’s okay to gather her. When and if you intuitively feel that it is—if you feel a positive, open, relaxed feeling in your body and mind rather than a closed or tense one—follow your inner guidance about how to best gather the blossom. You might also like to leave something near the base of the plant(s) as payment for the blossom(s), such as a small amount of blessed water, a bit of wine or ale, a crystal, or a coin.

✵ If the flower is growing near your home or workspace, take a moment to consciously employ the flower’s assistance (see “Quiet Contemplation” on the following page).

✵ If you purchase a flower or bouquet (at a flower shop, for example), do your best to obtain flower(s) that are ethically and sustainably grown and harvested. Also, take a moment with the blossoms: relax your mind as you gaze at them. Then conjure up the feeling of your magical intention, believing and knowing in your heart that, in the space beyond time, it is already present in your life experience: it is already true. See pictures and feel feelings related to the manifestation of your intention. Then, from a feeling place (not a thinking one), consciously send the energy of this intention into the blossoms.

Quiet Contemplation

The second most basic method of flower magic is sitting in quiet contemplation with a living, growing blossom. In addition to providing a relaxing and uplifting meditation, this can offer a very potent infusion of wisdom, guidance, and healing. To do this, sit or stand comfortably near the living flowering plant with your spine straight. Become aware of your breath and consciously relax your body. When you feel centered, begin to gaze at the blossom; as you do so, relax more and more deeply. Continue to gaze at the blossom until you feel so engrossed in the moment that you have entered a slightly altered state. You will find that this is very easy and that there is no need to try too hard—it is simply a matter of focus, such as when you are reading a novel and you get swept away into the landscape of the book. Once this shift occurs, gently bring whatever situation or concern you would like help with to mind and present it silently to the flower. Open your heart to the wisdom you receive. You may like to have a notebook handy to jot down anything you may want to remember, but this is unnecessary, as the wisdom will be conveyed to you on many levels, not just on an intellectual one.

During this time you might also consciously converse with the flower, asking her for further, active assistance with your magical intention.

Care

While caring for a flower is always a magical act, you can choose to imbue the pastime with a laser-focused magical intention. For example, perhaps your goal is to manifest a love relationship. You might choose a flower that represents romantic love, such as a tulip, and bring one or more tulips into your yard. As you plant and care for them, you might conjure up the feelings you associate with an ideal romantic relationship, knowing that the time and energy you invest in caring for the plant are fueling your manifestation efforts and creating a space in your life for the relationship to appear. You might also consciously enlist the tulip’s help with drawing this desired love into your life.

Rituals and Charms

If you already have a magical practice and feel comfortable with spellcraft (i.e., crafting your own rituals and charms), you can incorporate these blossoms into your magic in ways that intuitively feel right to you. Or, if you are new to magic, you will find numerous simple yet effective rituals and charms embedded within the flower entries. Just be sure to relax your body and mind before you begin and to fuel your efforts with belief, visualization, and strong, clear intention setting.

Aromatherapy and Essential Oils

A lovely, sensual way to employ the magic of flowers is through the potently fragrant, highly concentrated essential oil of a blossom. Not all blossoms are available in essential oil form, but the entries in this book will alert you to the ones that are available and also provide suggestions for how to employ them.

Some basic methods of employing aromatherapy and essential oils in flower magic include:

✵ Diffusing the essential oil with a commercially available essence diffuser or oil burner.

✵ Adding the essential oil to a carrier oil (such as jojoba or sweet almond) and anointing yourself with it. However, everyone’s skin and every essential oil is different: for example, some people can wear lavender oil “neat,” or undiluted, while some with extremely sensitive skin may not even be able to handle it diluted. Generally, essential oils should be sufficiently diluted before they’re applied to the skin. Also, some oils are irritating to almost everyone, so do your homework.

✵ Adding the essential oil to a mister of spring water or rose water, shaking it, and misting a person or space. (You will find rose water in a number of mist recipes throughout the book. This is often employed because it possesses a delicious fragrance as well as a very pure and loving vibration. Rose water can be purchased online and at most health food stores.)

✵ Anointing objects or charms.

Flower Essences

Working with a flower essence—a homeopathic form of medicine formulated and popularized by natural-health pioneer Dr. Edward Bach—is a delicate yet powerful method of flower magic. A whole other thing entirely than essential oil (although they sound similar and can both be found in tiny bottles), a flower essence is essentially the vibration and subtle wisdom of a flower in water, along with some sort of vibration-preserving ingredient such as brandy. These can be purchased on the Web or in health food or metaphysical supply stores from a number of reputable companies: Bach Flower Essences, Alaskan Essences, FES Essences, and Star Essences, to name a few. (With so many flower essence companies in existence, I have found that virtually every blossom you can imagine is available somewhere on the Internet. When ordering online you will just want to be sure that you feel confident in the integrity of the website and the ordering process.) Or, if you’re a do-it-yourself type, you may also make your own. It is a bit involved, so you might like to take a class or check out a book on the subject, although you’ll find basic instructions in appendix A.

Magically speaking, flower essences are the closest thing to the actual living blossoms themselves and hold the purest essence of a flower’s unique wisdom and healing abilities. They work on both energetic and emotional levels, and merge with our personal energy or the energy of a space to create positive shifts in our aura, mindset, and holistic well-being.

Flower essences can be employed in several ways, including:

✵ Taking two to four drops under the tongue or in water as needed for a specific purpose or on a regular basis (say once or twice per day) until you feel that you have sufficiently assimilated the flower’s wisdom and healing properties.

✵ Adding twenty to forty drops to one’s bath water.

✵ Adding two to ten drops to misters of rose water or spring water and misting a person or space.

Where flower essences are concerned, you will notice that I often specify a range of drops rather than a set number. This is because—in addition to the fact that different flower essences will possess different levels of concentration—working with flower essences is something of an intuitive science. In other words, there is wiggle room, so feel free to follow your intuition when it comes to exact amounts.

Affinity

An interesting and revealing practice—and one from which much healing and wisdom can be gleaned—is simply being alert to the blossoms that you seem to gravitate toward or have a noticeable affinity for at any given time. For example, perhaps you’re visiting a botanical garden, florist, or nursery, and you discover a blossom that you just can’t get enough of. This means that there is something about that flower’s energy that you are craving. As such, spending time in quiet contemplation with that flower or bringing that flower into your home or yard will have a special power for you and will be particularly energetically nourishing.

Similarly, if you find yourself in a place where flower essences and essential oils are sold, you may find yourself particularly drawn to a certain fragrance or vibration. Be assured that this, also, is significant in some way.

In either case, whether or not you consciously discover why you are gravitating toward a certain flower (which can be a useful diagnostic tool in itself), spending time near that flower (or that flower essence or aroma) and incorporating it into your flower magic practice will very likely provide the type of energetic infusion that you will most benefit from at this time.

A Few Words about Correspondences

At the end of each flower entry, you’ll find a small section called “magical correspondences.” Correspondences are the planet(s), element(s), and gender(s) that each flower’s vibration is similar to or in alignment with. The purpose of providing these is to help you get a feeling for the flower’s energy, as well as to assist you with the timing and planning of your magical workings. For example, if a flower that you’re using in your magic is in alignment with the element of Air, you might like to plan your ritual for a time when the moon is in an Air sign: Gemini, Libra, or Aquarius. Or if a flower is in alignment with the Moon, you could coincide your magic with a Monday (the day of the week ruled by the Moon) or a time when the Moon is in the sign of Cancer. The gender has to do with whether the flower has more of a yin nature (soft, receptive, feminine) or a yang nature (active, projective, masculine).

These correspondences are not set in stone, as everyone’s experience of a plant will be different. (Indeed, some of them are in agreement with traditional wisdom, and others I discerned on my own.) Additionally, it is unnecessary to feel limited or constrained by them. For example, if you feel inspired to work with a moon flower on a Sunday (the day of the week ruled by the Sun), please do.

If you do feel moved to plan your magic according to the correspondences, however, you might find it useful to check the correspondences charts in the appendices.

A Cautionary Note

Please be mindful that many flowers, including many of the flowers in this book, are toxic to humans and domestic animals. When prepared correctly, flower essences are not toxic, as they contain the vibration of a plant rather than actual plant matter. Still, if you choose to make your own, please be very careful. Also, never confuse essential oils and flower essences. Essential oils are highly concentrated and made of the plant, while flower essences are made of brandy and water. Essential oils are never to be taken internally and can even be extremely irritating to the skin.