The Egyptian Lotus Flower - Lily of Life

The white water lily opens up, or flowers, at night. It's a beautiful moon flower that lives above the water until the sun rises when it closes up and sinks beneath the surface.

The other "lotus" flower is the one that was more appealing to ancient Egyptians. Let's see if you can guess why!

The blue water lily opens up during the day. It sinks beneath the surface of the water during the night then climbs back up to greet the sun.

Sound familiar?

So I guess we've established that the ancient Egyptian beliefs revolved around the sun. And a flower that seems to worship the sun in such a beautifully symbolic way must have had a lot of significance to them.

And just like in Buddhism and Hinduism, one of the more meaningful aspects of lotuses is that they are rooted in soil deep beneath the water, then struggle to grow out of that soil and then rise above the waters. One can see how spiritually inspiring that is...

And of course, we can't forget about the cycles of birth, death and rebirth - something that a lotus truly does symbolize; the journey of birth and death, every day, with the cycle of the sun and moon.

Another religious association that the ancient Egyptians made was to link the lotus flower to their Creation Myth. Some believed that just like the lotus, Amun had risen out of the dark waters of chaos, Nun, through and like a water lily. He then created the universe and lit the world.

Lotus flowers were used not only in ancient Egyptian paintings on walls and papyri; they were also one of the symbols of Upper Egypt's Kingship.

Also, the pillars of temples were shaped like lotus flowers emerging from the soil. It's really quite poetic.

I, for one, am very much inspired by the lotus flower. It represents the struggles we all must go through, finally emerging stronger and more graceful, looking up towards the limitless skies.

Kind of like the Phoenix that rises from its ashes :-)



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