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Flower of Life.

What Ancient Secrets Lie Within the Flower of Life?

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The Flower of Life is a name for a geometrical figure composed of seven or more evenly-spaced, overlapping circles. This figure, used as a decorative motif since ancient times, forms a flower-like pattern with the symmetrical structure of a hexagon.

The perfect form, proportion, and harmony of the Flower of Life, also known as Life’s Flower, has been known to philosophers, architects, and artists around the world since ancient times. Pagans consider it to be sacred geometry containing ancient religious value depicting the fundamental forms of space and time. For many, this symbol is a visual representation of the interconnectedness of life.

Flower of Life. (rafo /Adobe)

The Egg, Fruit, and Seed of Life

Figures as prominent as Leonardo da Vinci are said to have ascribed significance to the Flower of Life and three similar symbols, called the "Egg of Life," the "Fruit of Life," and the "Seed of Life". Da Vinci seemed to have an interest in the symbol’s mathematical properties.

Drawings of the Egg of Life (Public Domain), Fruit of Life (Public Domain), and Seed of Life (Public Domain).

The ‘egg of life’ is said to form the basis for music as the distances between the spheres is identical to the distances between the tones and the half tones in music. It is also identical to the cellular structure of the third embryonic division - the first cell divides into two cells, then to four cells then to eight. Thus this same structure as it is further developed, creates the human body and all of the energy systems.

The Flower of Life and its components can also be found in ancient alchemy. The Five Platonic Solids are also all found within The Flower of Life. These are the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron.

Top: All five platonic solids as transparent perspective objects. (CC0) Bottom: Platonic solids in Metatron’s cube (another figure in the Flower of Life), as dual configuration edges. (Tomruen/CC BY SA 4.0)

The Flower of Life Around the World

One interesting feature of the Flower of Life is that evidence of its importance can be found in almost every major culture around the world. It can be seen, for example, in temples within the Forbidden City of China, in ancient synagogues in Israel, in the Buddhist temples of India and Japan, in the City of Ephesus in Turkey, carved into rock in Assyria, in Italian art from the 13th century, and in Cordoba, in ‘la Mezquita’ in Spain.

The oldest known examples of the Flower of Life are believed to be those present in the Temple of Osiris in Abydos, Egypt. Most archaeologists maintain that they are at least 6,000 years old, though some have argued that it dates to the 2nd century AD. The most peculiar feature of the Flower of Life in Abydos is that it appears that it was not carved into the granite but instead may have been burned into the granite or somehow drawn on it with incredible precision. It is thought to possibly represent the Eye of Ra, a symbol of the authority of the pharaoh.

Mosaic of the Flower of Life at Ephesus. (Miryam I/CC BY SA 4.0)

The Flower of Life in Religion

The Flower of Life and the Seed of Life can be found in all major religions of the world. They are linked by New Age authors with the Biblical prophet Enoch, the Archangel Metatron, the six days of Creation, the Vesica Piscis religious symbol, and Borromean rings.

The Kabbalah, which has historically been studied by the followers of Judaism, also holds symbolic connections to the Flower of Life. The symbol of the Tree of Life, which may be derived from the design of the Flower of Life, is studied as part of the teachings of the Kabbalah. Additionally, the symbol of Metatron's Cube, found by connecting the centers of each circle in the Fruit of Life, is seen in early Kabbalist scriptures.

Tree of Life symbol in the Flower of Life. (Public Domain)

In New Age thought, the Flower of Life has provided what is considered to be deep spiritual meaning and forms of enlightenment to those who have studied it as sacred geometry. There are groups of people all over the world who derive particular beliefs and forms of meditation based (at least in part) on the Flower of Life. It is said to contain the patterns of creation as they emerged from the "Great Void".

Sacred Geometry and How to Draw the Flower of Life

Sacred geometry can be described as a belief system attributing a religious or cultural value to many of the fundamental forms of space and time. According to this belief system, the basic patterns of existence are perceived as sacred, since contemplating one is contemplating the origin of all things.

By studying the nature of these forms and their relationship to each other, one may seek to gain insight into the scientific, philosophical, psychological, aesthetic, and mystical laws of the universe. The Flower of Life is considered to be a symbol of sacred geometry, said to contain ancient, religious value depicting the fundamental forms of space and time.

It’s relatively simple to draw the Flower of Life. All you need is a pen or pencil and a compass. To create the design you begin by making a circle. Then place the compass’ metal tip anywhere along the edge of the circle and draw another circle of equal diameter. From there you find the place where the two circles intersect, put the metal tip of the compass there and draw another two circles, always of the same diameter – one on each side of the first two circles. You can keep going and expand the Flower of Life by repeating the process of creating equally-sized circles centered on the intersection of two previous circles.

Flower of Life construction, 1-7 circles. (Tomruen/CC BY SA 4.0)

Top Image: Flower of Life. Source: Bart_Lo /Adobe

By April Holloway

 

Comments

This is a great article, covering several aspects of this figure.

It's really too bad Ancient Origins doesn't have a monitor on these comment sections, there are some really asinine posters here.

Ed Hanson

umesh1's picture

Jrhr

While trying to connect with my inner self, God, and life as a teenager I practiced meditation to quieten my active thoughts. Just concentrating on the thought of ONE I could see the flower of life projected outside of me with my eyes. It was 3 dimensional and would rotate within itself and sometimes stand still. It seemed to move as my thoughts changed. At the time this was happening I had never heard of the flower of life and I didn't know what I was seeing. I asked my mom what this could be and she didn't know but thought it could be God watching over me. After having seen this several times I came to believe this was my consciousness or mind field. It seemed to be how the mind worked by constantly moving from one thought to another and finding connected areas of thought stored on my mind.
While I was seeing this external as with my eyes, I understood that this was not external but I was immersed within this energy field and this energy field was me that was attached to my body. It was only years later that I heard of flower of life and knew that was what I had seen. It seems people as well as myself still don't know what it means and how to connect it with our understanding of life. Our science is still lagging in the areas of our life and death construction as we are beginning to look at electrical movement within our brain. It seems to be the ultimate quantum computer and yes sometimes our thoughts do get mixed up but fortunately we don't have to reboot every time to sort them out.

Greetings! I wanted to ask, concerning your comment, if there are in essence TWO different seeds or flowers of life then? The newer version being used for evil intenttions and the ancient one that is not. Can you possibly provide a link to what the ancient one looked like? Thank you kindly

Can you give me some more info about this? Please & thank you.

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Joanna

Joanna Gillan is a Co-Owner, Editor and Writer of Ancient Origins. 

Joanna completed a Bachelor of Science (Psychology) degree in Australia and published research in the field of Educational Psychology. She has a rich and varied career, ranging from teaching... Read More

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