Do You Speak the Language of Flowers?

Most of us know how meaningful it is to receive flowers or plants from a lover, colleague, friend or anyone else in our lives. Typically, it shows that the person cares for us and wants to invite beauty into our lives. Even with only these connotations, plants and flowers make beautiful gifts. But there is actually so much more meaning in which flowers are chosen and how they are presented! Harkening back to Victorian times, we refer to this as the language of flowers. 

In her reference book, The Language of Flowers, Sheila Pickles gives a few great examples of how it is important to take care in choosing the color and presentation style of flowers as gifts. 

“The choice of flower was all important, but so too was the manner of presentation. If the flowers were upside down the opposite meaning was intended, thus tulips presented with their stems uppermost meant blatant rejection from a lover.

Ardent suitors must beware when selecting their roses, for whilst the Cabbage Rose implies ambassador of love and Rose la France invites the loved one to meet by moonlight, the Yellow Rose means that love is waning. ”

To get a little deeper into this concept, I wanted to share some of my favorite flowers based on meaning through the language of flowers. 

Hollyhock

The Hollyhock flower has a very interesting history, as it is believed to be a characteristic English plant but was actually brought to the European continent from China. In Chinese culture, this flower symbolizes fruitfulness and has been expanded to represent female ambition!

Jasmine

Like the rose, the meaning of Jasmine depends on the color and genus. The most popular variety of jasmine is the White Jasmine, which represents amiability and love. The Yellow Jasmine, a symbol of grace and elegance, and the Spanish Jasmine, which invokes sensuality are close behind. 

Lily

The Lily flower may be one of the most commonly used in modern times for its symbolism. Believed in Christian legend to have originated from Eve's tears as she left the Garden of Eden, the Lily stands for purity and is often used in wedding bouquets and religious ceremonies for this reason. 

Pansy

Though it may not always be the first choice, the Pansy is a wonderful gift, as it sends a message that you are thinking about the person to whom you give it. Pansies are symbolic for thoughts (the name is derived from the French word for "thoughts") and were often used in Victorian days as gifts to loved ones as reminders of affection.

What is your favorite flower? Do you know what it means in the Victorian language of flowers? I encourage you to take a look and see what messages and intentions you are sending and welcoming into your space with flowers. More than just pops of color, these beautiful additions can be very meaningful!

by Anjie Cho

New Beginnings with the Vernal Equinox

It may not seem like it, with our recent blizzards, snowstorms and cold temperatures, but it is finally spring! As of March 20, we have experienced the Vernal Equinox and are moving toward warmer weather and new beginnings. 

In fact, though we often associate the change of seasons with temperature, the equinoxes and solstices are actually all about sunlight! On the Vernal Equinox, the sun crosses the celestial equator heading north, and all around the world, regardless of time zone, the day and night are roughly the same length. Once the equinox (which is Latin for "equal nights") passes, the Northern hemisphere can finally look forward to longer days of sunlight and yang energy. In ancient times, these changes in the sun's position were the only way of determining the new seasons and calendar days! 

Practically, and in feng shui terms, the arrival of spring is symbolic of the new beginnings of life and growth throughout. Worms begin tunnel their way out of the earth, trees and plants show foliage once more, and the extra sunlight even makes birds sing more! With such positive energy, spring is a wonderful season for starting anew in any aspect of life. Renew your space with a good spring cleaning and/or space clearing, clean out your closet to make way for beautiful new pieces you love, or just move nine things around in your space to stir up new energy. Now is also a great time to add new plant life to your home, open your windows to fresh air and sunlight and consider bringing additional wood element pieces into your space. If you're starting a particular project or hoping to make changes, you may even want to add a new beginnings mandala to your space! 

Whatever steps you may take to welcome the spring season, be sure to express gratitude for the chance to start anew and offer thanks to your space for providing shelter and warmth throughout the colder months!

by Anjie Cho

Q&A Sunday: Choosing a Yantra

Mandala Art Note Card Set.jpeg

I would like to buy a yantra canvas from your site, but I'm having a bit of trouble choosing which one would be right for me. I want to focus on health for myself and my family, and I would like to put it in the center of the house to coordinate with the feng shui bagua. Would the most appropriate be the Sun yantra? If not, could you please make a suggestion?

Charmaine B., NJ

 

Dear Charmaine,

Thank you so much for your email and question about yantras. One of the reasons why we developed the “Mandala Matchmaker” is because a lot of people ask me similar questions regarding which yantra is right for them! There are a few different ways to approach the mandala selection.

When I painted my first yantra, I was asked to select which one I was most drawn to. First thought, best thought. This is tapping into your intuition. That’s a wonderful way to select a yantra mandala, because we are often intuitively attracted to what we need. 

As I began to learn more about painting yantras and mandalas, my teachers started teaching me about Vedic numerology - which is also an excellent way to work with things that you need. You can explore your own number and see what challenges and what successes arise from this.

With my Vedic studies, I began to connect the concepts to feng shui. I created a section of the Mandala Matchmaker that relates to your intention. This is also, of course, very useful. I connected it to the feng shui bagua map, because there was a lot of interconnectedness in the two modalities. 

This leads us to your question. You would like to select one based on what you need — which is health for your family, to be located in the center of your home. 

If there is need of great healing, the Mahāmṛtyuṃjaya yantra, on the top right is the best. 

If it's health in general the Ketu yantra, on the bottom right is better.

For both:

The blues/greens are Wood element, which is great for the health/Earth area. It gives a ground for the Wood to root and can break up the stagnation in any Earth.

I hope this helps!

Also, if you need more assistance I’m available for consultations where we can pinpoint and focus on what is best for you based on our specific circumstances.

by Anjie Cho