(87) Like little children, when they go in May among the flowers, where many often meet together; there they have a friendly talk, and pluck or gather flowers many and diverse.

(98) For the spirit draweth from the head or bud into the blossoms, and the head or bud is formed according to the kind of all the qualities; the astringent quality attracteth or collecteth the body of the bud or head, and the sweet quality softeneth it and spreadeth it abroad, and the bitter quality parteth or distinguisheth the matter into members, and the heat is the living spirit therein.

(29) To the jasmine he gives four petals and on the head of the tulip he puts a red bonnet.

(23) I suppose this word means the papyrus flowers which are sometimes tied to the net. (Bergmann, H.I. , p. 53

(5) Flowers were chosen as symbols for many reasons. The great variety of flora made it possible to find some plant or flower which would be a suitable figure for nearly any abstract quality or condition. A plant might be chosen because of some myth connected with its origin, as the stories of Daphne and Narcissus; because of the peculiar environment in which it thrived, as the orchid and the fungus; because of its significant shape, as the passion flower and the Easter lily; because of its brilliance or fragrance, as the verbena and the sweet lavender; because it preserved its form indefinitely, as the everlasting flower; because of unusual characteristics as the sunflower and heliotrope, which have long been sacred because of their affinity for the sun.

(45) I will liken them to little children who walk in the fields in May, among the flowers, and pluck them, and make dainty garlands and posies, carrying them in their hands rejoicing, and always talk together of the several forms or shapes of beautiful flowers, leading one another by the hand when they go to gather flowers.

(8) Of all symbolic flowers the locus blossom of India and Egypt and the rose of the Rosicrucians are the most important. In their symbolism these two flowers are considered identical. The esoteric doctrines for which the Eastern lotus stands have been perpetuated in modern Europe under the form of the rose. The rose and the lotus are yonic emblems, signifying primarily the maternal creative mystery, while the Easter lily is considered to be phallic.

(55) Sandal-wood or Tagara, a lotus-flower, or a Vassikî, among these sorts of perfumes, the perfume of virtue is unsurpassed.

(111) Behold now, when the Mercurius or tone in this nature-heaven riseth up, there the divine and angelical joyfulness riseth up, for therein rise up forms, imagings, colours and angelical fruits, which blossom curiously, grow, spring, flourish and stand in perfection, as to all manner of bearing or fruit trees, plants and springing growths, of a gracious, comely, lovely, amiable, blessed prospect, vision or sight to be looked upon, with a most delicious, lovely, pleasant smell and taste.

(2) In the midst of primal becoming, the radiance of the Light (Yang Kuang) is the determining thing. In the physical world it is the sun; in man the eye. The emanation and dissemination of spiritual consciousness is chie ly brought about by this power when it is directed outward (flows downward). Therefore the meaning of the Golden Flower depends wholly on the backward-flowing method.

(93) And then the sweet quality extends itself gently or mildly, and there grow little subtile leaves in the head, which are of the kind of all the qualities, and then the sweet water is as it were a pregnant woman new with child, having conceived the seed, and it always presseth onward, till it openeth the head.

(23) There spring up also in these powers and virtues all manner of blossoms and flowers, with fair heavenly colours and smells.

(95) And when this sweet mother has brought forth the fair, green, blue, white, red and yellow flowers, blossoms or children, then she grows quite weary, and cannot long nourish or nurse these children, neither can she have them long, seeing they are but her stepchildren, which are very tender.

(54) The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind, nor (that of) sandal-wood, or of Tagara and Mallikâ flowers; but the odour of good people travels even against the wind; a good man pervades every place.

The FUMIGATION from every kind of SEED, except BEANS and AROMATICS. O Goddess, Earth, of Gods and men the source, Endu'd with fertile, all destroying force; All-parent, bounding, whose prolific pow'rs, Produce a store of beauteous fruits and flow'rs, All-various maid, th' eternal world's strong base Immortal, blessed, crown'd with ev'ry grace; From whose wide womb, as from an endless root, Fruits, many-form'd, mature and grateful shoot. Deep bosom'd, blessed, pleas'd with grassy plains, Sweet to the smell, and with prolific rains. All flow'ry dæmon, centre of the world, Around thy orb, the beauteous stars are hurl'd With rapid whirl, eternal and divine, Whose frames with matchless skill and wisdom shine. Come, blessed Goddess, listen to my pray'r, And make increase of fruits thy constant care; With fertile Seasons in thy train, draw near, And with propitious mind thy suppliant hear.

(67) For this book is the first sprouting or vegetation of this twig, which springeth or grows green in its mother, and is as a child that is learning to walk, and is not able to run apace at the first.

(8) Know ye what I do know, the name of its flowers: the feathers of the hawk

(13) In the Hindu system of philosophy, each petal of the lotus bears a certain symbol which gives an added clue to the meaning of the flower. The Orientals also used the lotus plant to signify the growth of man through the three periods of human consciousness--ignorance, endeavor, and understanding. As the lotus exists in three elements (earth, water, and air) so man lives in three worlds--material, intellectual, and spiritual. As the plant, with its roots in the mud and the slime, grows upward through the water and finally blossoms forth in the light and air, so the spiritual growth of man is upward from the darkness of base action and desire into the light of truth and understanding, the water serving as a symbol of the ever-changing world of illusion through which the soul must pass in its struggle to reach the state of spiritual illumination. The rose and its Eastern equivalent, the lotus, like all beautiful flowers, represent spiritual unfoldment and attainment: hence, the Eastern deities are often shown seated upon the open petals of the lotus blossoms.

(94) And then also the sweet quality presseth forth in little leaves, like a woman who is in travail and bringing forth, but the little leaves or blossoms have no more its colour and form, but the form of all the qualities; for now the sweet quality must bring forth the children of the other qualities.

(13) From this root there grow and ripen the fruits of birth, of the life-span, of all that is tasted in life.