Do you look at or take care of flowers when you have the chance? This can even be done now, in the winter, because there are many plants that blossom throughout the year or especially during this season. With their beauty, aroma and delicate emanations, flowers are capable of positively influencing the physical body, the emotions, the mind and the spirit of the human being. In return, when we treat them with love, gentleness and consideration, they more fully develop. Therefore, in this relationship, the benefits can be mutual.

In the Light-Community of Figueira, affiliated with Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), flowers are recognized as one of the most magnificent and sacred expressions of the Plant Kingdom. The place, located in the rural area of Carmo da Cachoeira, southern Minas Gerais, Brazil, disseminates various spiritual teachings on the deep and subtle activity of flowers. There, flowers are cultivated in gardens, orchards, seed beds, and bloom in profusion along roads, forests and fields, delighting everyone with their soothing grace. Besides, the innumerable medicinal properties of flowers are used in healing tasks. Lastly, they fill a special role in the embellishment of the liturgies that occur daily in the Light-Community.

A meeting with the essence of plants

The flower of a plant holds within itself the essence of that being. In the flower is the process of refinement of the plant being in the giving of it’s self to the Highest. (…) The flower is the fruit of the spirit in the plant being (…)”. Thus stated the writer and spiritual philosopher, José Trigueirinho Netto (1931-2018), founder of Figueira. As a result, this exquisite organ of plants, as one of the highest offerings of Mother Nature to the universe, has the innate power in leading us into states of peace, harmony and communion with the divine.

A meeting with the essence of plants

Flowers contain specific vibrational qualities and are capable of radiating them to those who relate to them. Try being in silence, stilling your thoughts, and simply allow yourself to be enveloped by the beauty, color and fragrance of a flower. That one-pointed interaction will certainly help you in a much broader way than you can imagine, for it will place you in contact with the healing currents of nature.

Trigueirinho used to quote the writings that the French spiritual teacher, Mira Alfassa (1878-1973), known as “The Mother,” bequeathed us on flowers. She is the author of the book “Flowers and Their Messages”, released by the Sri Aurobindo Ashram publishing house.

Among countless revelations on the occult life of flowers, Mother stated that they have a great capacity for absorbing and transmitting our states of consciousness. For this reason, they act as messengers of people’s intentions and feelings. Knowing this, the act of giving and receiving flowers acquires an even more important significance!

Flowers respond

Further on the receptivity of flowers, another of their characteristics, observed by several researchers, is that they respond to our feelings. When they are treated with love and respect, they become more beautiful, fresh and fragrant. On the other hand, if someone with a very negative frame of mind comes into contact with them, they tend to become devitalized and wither prematurely. This is because plants, despite not having a central nervous system – and therefore, unable to feel pain or have the capacity to understand it, have a degree of awareness and react to the stimuli and vibrations of the environment.

Symbols of the divine virtues

When used in a simple and deferential way in decorations for spiritual ceremonies, flowers contribute to elevating our hearts and consciousnesses. In the Light-Community of Figueira, they are frequently placed on the altars as an offering to God and as a vivid, pure and lovely representation of the diversity of His Creation. Furthermore, flowers remain impregnated with the transcendent emanations generated during the liturgies, becoming vehicles for us to receive the blessings from Heaven.

Healing through flowers

Trigueirinho used to say that flowers hold the essence of healing and that we should look for our remedies in the subtle matter they carry. That is one of the reasons that in Figueira, the healing action of flowers is so valued, which are used in teas and various alternative therapeutic techniques. Here are some of the most common flowers used in the daily life of the Light-Community.

Assa-peixe (Vernonia polyanthes)

It is a large bush, native to the Atlantic forest and abundant in the Light-Community of Figueira. It has whitish, melliferous and aromatic flowers. It is propagated through seeds at the beginning of Spring. In the Light-Community, the Assa-peixe, Macela and Alecrim-do-campo (field Rosemary) flowers are used in the preparation of a tea called triflores (three-flower), indicated for liver compresses and for ingesting during the treatment. This combination of flowers tones the liver and the rest of the digestive organs. It has been discovered that self-propagating flowers customarily have a more profound effect than the cultivated ones.

Macela (Achyrocline satureioides)

Macela is a flower with a golden energy, that self-propagates in fields. When harvesting them, collaborators in the Light-Community preserve around 20% of the flowers so that they become seeds for a new cycle. The Macela flower tea is indicated for gastric and digestive disorders. It is also used in liver compresses, because it helps to eliminate toxins, supporting the transmutation processes of this organ. Besides, it revitalizes the liver that experiences aggressions in daily life due to fears, tension and conflicts, or even because of a poor and devitalized nutrition. It has anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, and analgesic properties.

Cipó-de-fogo ou cipó-de-são-joão (Pyrostegia venusta)

This flower is a powerful instrument of transformation, because it holds the essence of solar fire within it, vivifying and transformative, represented by its yellow-orange color. It helps to dissolve inertia, anxiety, and in the treatment of depression, tumors, degenerative pictures, chronic illnesses, inflammations and infections. It is used in homeopathic preparations.

Calêndula (Calendula officinalis)

Herbaceous annual plant, erect, branching, native to the Canary Islands and the region of the Mediterranean. Cultivated in Brazil, it is propagated through seeds. It has yellow and orange flowers which also give it ornamental characteristics. It has antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, wound-healing, purifying, emmenagogic, emollient and sudorific properties. It is used in the form of creams and ointments for dermatoses, wounds, acne, itching, eczema, inflammation and skin mycoses. Having known a little about the fascinating attributes of flowers, all that remains is for us to love them, treat them gently, and learn through their example of diligence and surrender. As the Mother says, we must come to be like them: open, frank, fair, generous and kind. May we all be able to value flowers as magnificent expressions of the beauty, tenderness and benevolence of God, which in the purity of their existence, reflect the very necessary principles of peace and healing for humanity.