The meaning and use of 8 popular flower symbols in your feng shui home decorating
When it comes to flowers and good feng shui, you literally cannot go wrong with this popular feng shui cure in your home. Unless your flowers are wilting and dying, of course. We all love flowers either we know about their specific powers or not. While decorating your home with fresh flowers is always great feng shui, there are also many other ways to use specific flower symbols in your home decor. You can go for beautiful photos, art, various textiles with flower patterns, wallpaper, vases, colorful sun catchers and any other home decor item that your bright spirit is drawn to use a flower pattern for! Even silk flowers can be good feng shui if you choose high-quality ones and take good care of them. It is helpful to know the meaning of most popular feng shui flower symbols because this adds more power to your intentional feng shui work. We are gifted with endless varieties of flowers on this beautiful planet, and you can sure use any bright and happy flower to bring good energy into your home. The reason we are looking at only 8 flowers here is because we are exploring their specific symbolism in classical feng shui applications, which includes their meaning and use over a very long period of time.
What is so special about flowers and why do we all love them? Flowers bring the energy of blossoming love, heart opening, joy and vulnerability, these are universal qualities that we, as human species, truly need for our health and well-being. Flowers gracefully show their beauty to anyone — saint or sinner — and, as everything in nature, flowers are true to their essence. They also teach us to live in the moment, as the incredible fragile beauty of a flower is not everlasting – it quickly transforms itself into a different form with the passing of time. These 8 popular feng shui flower symbols will reveal many of their secrets to you, secrets that have been used for centuries to create and nourish a specific quality of energy in one’s home and one’s life. Let’s look at these graceful beauties, one by one.
1. Orchids
Lucky for us, we can find this exotic beauty in most flower shops these days. There are over 26,000 varieties of species of orchids on our planet; this makes this beauty the most versatile flower on our list! The oldest feng shui meaning of this flower symbol is fertility, believe it or not. Orchids also represent the energy of purity, perfection, and a delicate and exotic sense of graceful beauty. Depending on their color and variety, orchids will bring the additional energy of joy, creativity, and passion. When choosing an orchid as a feng shui cure for your home, first be guided by its color. For example, a bright pink or coral orange color orchid will bring the energy of passion and creativity, so it can be an excellent cure for your Love and Marriage bagua area. A white orchid graces the space with the sense of clarity, calm, fresh perfection and peace, it can be a great addition to both your Helpful People & Blessings area, as well as your Career bagua area. As we most often buy potted orchids rather than freshly cut ones, pay attention to the color and material of the pot. This video on the feng shui use of plants shows how to choose best pots.
2. Peonies
There is no woman on this earth – at least I have not met one yet! – that does not love peonies. There is something incredibly sensual and healing about this unique flower, from its delicious scent to its luscious form and the endless richness of its colors. Peonies have a very sincere and open energy to them, an unabashed purity and soft but courageous joy that is so very healing. A blooming peony flower emits a delicate energy that encourages the adoration and appreciation of one’s own sensuality, a sensuality that is pure, innocent and deliciously ever unfolding. This obviously made the peony one of the most popular feng shui flower symbol for love and marriage. However, there is an interesting, fear-based twist to the classical feng shui use of peony as a love and marriage cure. As blooming peonies feel very seductive, the classical feng shui school does not recommend the image of peonies in the bedroom of an older couple.
The explanation of “blooming peonies can make the husband have a roving eye” never made much sense to me; this is where you have to use your own judgment to be able to separate the energetic essence of any particular item from its cultural stereotypes, traditional uses, or fear-based projections. As humans, we are still quite limited in our understanding of what truly makes love last — and how important it is to nourish our sensuality — so this specific use of peonies got quite a bit of warning from the old feng shui schools. The adorable peony is considered one of the oldest cultivated flowers and its energy can resemble the energy of the rose. However, the wild sense of freedom, softness, and sensuality of peony is very, very unique. The healing energy of peony goes deeper than just the beauty of the flower, as the roots of the red and white peonies are much valued in Chinese medicine.
3. Cherry Blossoms (also Plum, Apple, Peach, Dogwood. Magnolia Blossoms)
There are very few images that can fill one’s heart with such a deep, fresh breath of hope and happiness as the image of a blossoming fruit tree. Many details go into creating this effect — blossoming trees signal the end of the cold season and the coming of the much-cherished spring; they also carry the promise of rich fruition and nourishment to look forward to (sweet fruits). Seeing mature tree branches covered in the most innocent, fragile and joyful little flowers is a very healing sight indeed. It’s a promise of renewal, of life everlasting, of enduring hardships and of the ever young, ever fruitful, and ever joyful energy of the heart. In feng shui, the image of blossoming fruit branches is used both as a love and marriage cure, as well as a cure for vibrant health. And while you cannot always have fresh blossoming branches in your home, you can sure use images of blossoming trees to bring a fresh, new and happy energy full of hope and vitality.
4. Lotus Flower
It is easy to understand why lotus is the symbol of purity, perfection and spiritual mastery. We have all heard about the strength of the lotus flower – with its roots deep in the mud, this plant opens into the most pristine, harmonious and beautiful flower. “No mud, no lotus” has become a popular expression to help one go through the difficulties of life knowing that it can all lead to the perfection of one’s being. As a symbol of spiritual discipline, faith, and perfection, the lotus flower is often present in the depiction of many deities, from Buddha to Kuan Yin. In feng shui, the symbol of lotus is used as a popular cure for health based on the fact that all parts of the lotus plant, from the root to the flower and seeds, have strong medicinal uses.
5. Chrysanthemum
Did you know that chrysanthemums were first cultivated in China? The cheerful, happy chrysanthemum was such a beloved symbol in this culture that a whole city was named after this lucky flower! In addition to its symbolic meaning of nobility and its yang energy polarity, sun-like energy and vitality, the chrysanthemum also has medicinal properties and is used in healing teas. The most popular feng shui symbol of the chrysanthemum is the energy of happiness and joy that it brings into one’s home. Because chrysanthemums represent the sun – especially the ones with golden yellow color flowers – they bring into your home the energy similar to the happy, life-giving energy of the sun.
6. Narcissus
We usually call narcissus daffodils, which is its most popular variety, along with the cheerful paperwhites that grace our homes in early spring. The crisp energy of freshness and renewal is an obvious meaning of the narcissus as it usually comes while there is still snow on the ground. In feng shui, narcissus also symbolizes good luck, especially in one’s career. If you want to use it as a feng shui cure for career success, best to go for a white color narcissus plant (or image) displayed in the Career bagua area of your home or office. In Chinese culture, daffodils were also considered to protect from evil spirits.
7. Rose
Roses are definitely considered the queen of flowers in many cultures. The symbolism of roses is complex and depends on specific cultural roots and history. The most common thread throughout all cultures is the association of roses with love. The pink and red color roses are best used as love and marriage feng shui symbol. The peach color roses represent comfort and stability, while the yellow roses bring hope and nourish the spirit.
8. Lilac
The lilac is said to symbolize humility in Chinese culture, so it can be used as a feng shui symbol for patience. It’s a joyful and hopeful kind of patience, as the stunning lilac has a lot of richness in its essence. This beauty comes in two of the most spiritually enhancing colors – white and purple, from light lavender to rich deep purple color, as well as an intoxicatingly vibrant, life-giving scent. You can use the image of lilac as a symbol of hope and joyful patience anywhere in the home you need a burst of happy energy. A quality of happy energy that is unrushed, trusted and patient. And, if you are lucky to find a bunch of fresh lilac flowers, be sure to fully enjoy their exquisite presence in your home!
