A few days ago, I came outside first thing in the morning to discover flowers left on my doorstep. They were from my Boyfriend. He does that sometimes. I’m aware of how awesome he is He also knows that sometimes, I like my flowers to be closed so that I get the pleasure from watching them open. He remembers me saying ‘On the day these open, that will be a great day, I know it’. With this in mind, the flowers I found on my doorstep, were a bouquet of unopened lilies. I had the first surprise of finding them in the first place and the next surprise of waiting for the day they would open... I had no idea what colour they would be... When they finally bloomed, to my surprise and delight - they are PINK! I have never had pink lilies in my house before! I am over the moon with them. They are both vibrant and soft and I swoon when I see them. They are just beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!
Lilies are another flower that have a rich and varied symbolism, different cultures have different connections with them. In some places they are symbol of love and marriage, in some they’re are a symbol of purity and in others they are a symbol of death and resurrection.
Personally, I do associate Lilies with death, rebirth and transformation. I live in a country where lilies can be found at most funerals and graveside and we send them to people when a loved one has passed away - I’ve received them myself, when I’ve lost a loved one. It may be very cultural and yet it feels personal because lilies have been present at all these endings and beginnings, these transformations, these times where my life was a certain something and through a single event, became something else. She both witnesses and honours these incredibly intimate, powerful moments.
Lily is not a flower that inspires sadness within me or a foreboding of death. She always stands as that which is beautiful, when beautiful things are most needed.
As Lily is a plant that has a very stable meaning for me, one that I tend to be quite bonded with - she holds the space in endings, beginnings and transformation - her message is always endings, beginnings and transformation are either happening or imminent. When you are someone who welcomes change and the movement of life, you find yourself almost nodding at Lily, “I hear you sister, I feel you, life is happening.” It’s a togetherness, a feeling of being held and seen as life is moving, changing, becoming.
Over the years, I’ve kept the same message and meaning but I’ve been able to use her different colours, to give the message more direction. For example, white lilies focus on human endings and becomings - both physical and emotional - as well as a purification of heart. Yellow focuses on transformation on all we are afraid of and all we are excited for, almost a celebration of transformation. Red and orange lilies are symbolic of changes in our work, homes, locations or our perspectives on that which provide stability and security. And pink, like mine, focus on big changes within relationships - across the board, friends, family, colleagues, creative partners and lovers.
I love Lily. I love that she always stands out, she’s always seen. Her presence isn’t reduced in any circumstance (even challenging or less-desirable circumstance), she doesn’t shrink herself, she enhances where she is and brings more to it. Not by doing, just by being there. She is absolutely big and noticeable, she is in the room, she is there and everyone knows she is. AND she is graceful. She is soft. She is tender. She is delicate. She is beautiful. And, I always feel, she is wanted.
In many ways, Lily is The Overseer of Change. She says, “I see changes are happening and that more change is coming. I stand witness, alongside you - for all the tough moments and all the glorious ones - and I see you. I see you and I honour your beautiful becoming and your beautiful, big-feeling heart.”
Perhaps, with our Pink Lilies today, we ourselves can feel inspired to be Overseers of Change within our own relationships - the hold those spaces, to honour those changes, to say ‘I see life is happening for you’ and I’m still here. That right there is a mighty fine way of loving... I shall end our conversation about Lily with this poem from William Blake:
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheet a threat’ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a thread stain her beauty bright.