Lily
Symbol for:
the awakened kundalini energy / the sacred marriage
Alchemy
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Alchemy is one of the spiritual traditions that uses the LILY as a symbol for the awakened kundalini energy. The flower has six petals and is related to the HEXAGRAM (click here), a universal symbol for the fusion of opposites, or SACRED MARRIAGE (click here).
An illustration of the Magnum Opus (process of God-realization) in symbols. The queen has placed the LILY on her PELVIS, the abode of the kundalini. The THREE FLOWERS refer to the THREE ENERGY CHANNELS involved in a kundalini awakening. The EAGLE, between the king and queen, has a HEXAGRAM, symbolizing the fusion of the polar energies, on its back. (J. D. Mylius, Philosophia Reformata, 1622)
Christ, as a gardener, waters a LILY. The translation of the two Bible quotes reads: The WATER OF WISDOM (read: the KUNDALINI) is saving. Eccl 15.v.3. He poured it out on all his works. Eccl 1.v.10.
The PENTAGRAM represents the ‘completed’ man. (From: ‘Le Barbier Medecin ou les Fleurs d’Hyppocrate’, by Jean Michault, 1672)
The king in this image symbolizes the alchemist who realized the divine. The rose and the LILY, like the sun and the moon, symbolize the polar energy channels that merge during the kundalini process. (Basilius Valentinus, 1613)
Examples from Christian art
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Throughout the ages there have always been initiates, artists and mystics who knew that Jesus was not born as ‘the Son of God’, but had experienced a kundalini awakening, after which he was one with his Divine Father. The Gospel writers have hidden this spiritual truth in their texts in inventive ways, including the use of symbolism and wordplay (see my books). Because of the rigid attitude of the church, the truth could not be spoken aloud, but underground, through esoteric groups such as the Freemasons, it found its way onto the canvas.
The LILY in JUDAISM and ANCIENT EGYPT represents purity and a completed process of spiritual awakening, similar to the lotus flower in Eastern traditions. On the energetic level, the LILY symbolizes an open crown chakra. The Hebrew word shushan, shoshan or shoshannah, meaning LILY, is very similar to sushumna: Sanskrit for the energy channel in the spinal column, through which the kundalini flows up to the head.
Also in CHRISTIANITY the LILY is a well-known symbol and has been given the official meaning of virginity. Saints are sometimes depicted with a LILY and often the angel Gabriel has a LILY in his hand when announcing the birth of Jesus to Mary – the so-called Annunciation. The biblical story of the virginal conception of the Christ represents an event that takes place in the soul of man: the end result of a process of kundalini awakening. In this story, Mary personifies the soul of the human being who ‘gives birth’ to the divine.
Artists aware of this deeper meaning of the conception and birth of Christ have used the LILY in paintings of the Annunciation (among others) to refer to the spine, and thus to the process of kundalini awakening. We see, for example, LILIES with a very long stem and flowers only at the top. Sometimes the LILY is held in line with the spinal column of Mary or of Jesus, or the stem with petals strongly resembles a spinal column.
THE SIGN OF THE SACRED MARRIAGE (two fingers together: 2=1) is incorporated in many paintings, in one form or another, often in combination with other esoteric symbolism. This hand gesture refers to a fusion of the polar energies/duality, and with this to a process of kundalini awakening.
Parmigianino, attr. to (Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola). The angel holds the LILY in line with Mary’s SPINE.
Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Mary holds the LILY in line with the SPINE of the baby Jesus.
Giovanni Antonio Sogliani
Taddeo Gaddi, 1345.
The stem of the LILY resembles a SPINE.
Bernardino Di Mariotto Dello Stagno
Guido Reni, first half of the 17th century. The angel points with two fingers – the sign of the sacred marriage – at his SPINE.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 19e eeuw. The embroidery with LILY on the red cloth resembles a SPINE.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 19th century.
Cosimo Rosselli. While announcing the birth of Christ (read: the divine in man), the angel points to the unnaturally long LILY, which is shaped like a SPINE.
Fra Filippo Lippi, circa 1450. A transparent SCARF connects, barely visible, the LILY to Mary’s head. The scarf represents the path of the kundalini from the pelvis to the crown. Mary’s outstretched MIDDLE FINGER (click) refers to an awakened SPINE.
Jaume Baçó, ‘Jacomart’, 1411.
Biagio d’Antonio. The POMEGRANATE (click here), to the right of the baby Jesus, is a KUNDALINI symbol. The outstretched MIDDLE FINGER (click here) of Mary refers to an awakened SPINE.
Bartolomeo Caporali. The LILY has the S-shape of a SPINE, viewed from the side.
Lily cross
Remarkable and significant are images of Christ hanging from a LILY instead of a cross.
St Helen’s Church, Abingdon, circa 1390.
All Saints’ Church, Godshill, 1450.
Llanbeblig Book of Hours, circa 1400.