This has been a particularly long winter, especially here in Minnesota. We are almost a month behind our natural weather patterns, and are just nearing the possibility of our first 60-degree day. Talk about cabin fever! Many of us are anxiously awaiting that first day that we can open our windows, let in the breeze, and clean the layers of dust that winter left behind. Spring cleaning is an annual ritual for most of us, and it can be a very cathartic, rejuvenating experience. Spring is a season of re-birth, and we can begin the season anew and rejuvenate our spirits and selves using flowers. Tess Whitehurst, author of Magical Housekeeping, The Art of Bliss, and The Good Energy Book has a new book, The Magic of Flowers, and it is a veritable treasure trove of flowers, their uses, and their metaphysical properties. We dug through it and provided some particular flowers and how they can be used in rejuvenating ways this spring.
The Magical Uses of Flowers for Spring Rejuvenation:
Picking the correct flower or essence with which to communicate, plant, or infuse into your rituals can be confusing. Begin by identifying those flowers that are good for new beginnings, rebirth, and cleansing. Below are some examples.
- Aster: Beginnings, Cleansing & Detoxifying. Plant aster in your yard to help neutralize and clear negativity and emotional toxins from the home, or add aster essence to your water to support physical detoxification and weight loss.
- Black-Eyed Susan: Cleansing and releasing, Grounding. Try employing the essence or misting yourself with spring water containing ten to twenty drops lavender or geranium essential oil and two to four drops black-eyed Susan essence.
- Bougainvillea: Cleansing. Bougainvillea can help purify and evaporate lingering toxins in our mind, body, and spirit so that our personal energy field and lifestyle begin to be characterized by a simple, clean aesthetic. Similarly, she helps us strip away the extras (clutter, limiting beliefs, undesired commitments, old hurts and emotional stuff) so that we can feel energized, efficient, and streamlined. For this purpose, cultivate or care for bougainvilleas, spend time in quiet contemplation with a blossoming bougainvillea, or imbibe the essence regularly, starting at the full moon and continuing throughout an entire moon cycle.
- Carnation: Rebirth, New Beginnings. Carnation (as a symbol of modern-day funerary rites) is a symbol not only of death and life, but also of rebirth and new beginnings. He is a reminder—like new blossoms in the spring taking different forms but retaining the same essence—that our soul naturally seeks to be reborn again and again into this physical world. Similarly, when we seek rebirth in any area of our present life, carnation will gladly lend his magical support. Consider incorporating carnation into rituals or charms designed for this purpose, employing him as your intuition dictates.
- Citrus Blossom: Happy home. Citrus blossoms and neroli oil are wonderful ingredients for any sort of magical endeavor related to happiness in the home. The fragrance and energy aligns the home with the soft, relaxing, regenerative qualities that make home home. Additionally, the tranquilizing effects of the scent and vibration can help soothe tension and heal relationships.
- Forget-Me-Not: Organization and Efficiency. When organization and efficiency are crucial, forget-me-not can help. For example, taking the flower essence can be a wonderful companion when clearing clutter or streamlining your workday.
- Honeysuckle: Endings and Beginnings. Taking honeysuckle essence or having a plant close to the home can help us during clutter clearing or releasing old keepsakes and memorabilia.
- Peony: Cleansing. Energetically, peony is an excellent cleanser, bringing freshness and healing to the emotions and physical body by removing blocks, old patterns, and challenging attachments. For this purpose, try misting yourself or your space with rose water into which you’ve added six to ten drops peony essence, bringing peony blossoms into your space, using a
peony blossom to flick blessed spring water around yourself or your home, or bathing in water into which you’ve added fresh peony blossoms or twenty to thirty drops peony essence. - Sage Blossom: Emotional Detoxification. You know those times when you feel emotionally toxic, perhaps from a newly ended or currently problematic relationship, or because you recently traversed a particularly challenging or frightening time, place, or situation? Maybe it’s not so much that you’re wounded or broken-hearted but rather that you’re emotionally out of whack in other ways, such as feeling drained, spooked, unbalanced, shell-shocked, or generally not right? Sage blossom can help with this, too, not just by removing the negative energy and programming but also by helping to ground us and to reestablish new, healthier, and more
positive patterns and conditions. Similarly, red or scarlet sage blossoms can help us heal the patterns associated with emotional wounds and broken hearts. - Water Lily: Purification. Water lily purifies the spirit by healing the heart and breaking down our defenses so that a clear stream of life-force energy flows through our being as a matter of course. Over time, this energy helps us let go of old hurts, limiting beliefs, harsh emotions, and
anything else that may be holding us back from possessing a clear and positive self-image and sparkly-fresh state of mind.
Try this bath ritual from The Magic of Flowers to help you in both work and home as you clean and start anew.
On a Thursday when the moon is between new and full, add three fresh echinacea blossoms or ten to twenty drops echinacea essence to your bath water, along with one half cup organic clover blossom honey. Light a yellow candle near the bathtub and hold your hands over the water as you mentally direct golden-white light into the water. Say:
All doors are open for prosperous and joyful work.
I love what I do, and I irresistibly attract sweet success.
Relax as you soak for twenty to forty minutes.
Flowers are a sure sign of spring, of Earth renewing herself. Flowers have myriad more uses than simply for spring rejuvenation, but what better way to start the season off right?
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