January 27, 2017
This flower essence melts feelings of hesitation and restraint, allowing you to embody your full potential.
I've often found that the collection experience of a particular flower's essence is a direct reflection of the plant's message. With the Night-Blooming Red Cup Water Lily, this was definitely the case! I wasn't able to obtain this flower on my own, and needed Danny, an aquatic plant specialist, who was willing to brave the water moccasins + occasional alligator in order to collect this particular flower. He put on waders and walked very slowly + gently through the water, searching for the most vibrant of the water lilies that he himself had actually been growing and tending to for many months.
As is customary when collecting a flower for essences, he made offerings to the plant, asking permission and showing up full force with his plant-loving, Mother Earth-connected divine self. Watching him do this brought tears to my eyes. When someone's divine nature comes to the surface of their being, it is a sight to see, as if the entire environment around them is aware of it and softens in accordance.
After years of working alone with flowers, it was so moving to have male energy come in to support this process. Both of our divine wishes blended together to make this essence available to countless people around the world.
I believe now is the time, more than ever, to recognize the spiritual + energetic power that each of us possesses. We must look beyond culture, background, and especially whether we embody more of the divine masculine or the divine feminine to see the divine nature of everyone we interact with—and the divine nature within ourselves.
Working with Danny to make the Red Cup Water Lily essence appeared as a beautiful metaphor of how men have historically been in the position of translating the divine to world {gurus, priests, rabbis, rinpoches, shamans, preachers}. As the torch now passes to include women in the channeling and translation of the divine, we can only find true balance with the compassionate support of men.
If you are attracted to the Red Cup Water Lily, you may be yearning to experience a fuller realization of your potential. It indicates a time for listening deeply, in order to recognize the divine within yourself and in the people around you. The divine presence that you possess is emerging and expanding on a more powerful scale.
You are likely an independent person, feeling that you can move mountains by yourself, at times denying yourself the ease that comes with support from others. You may dismiss heartfelt offers of assistance in an effort to prove that you can do it alone.
On the flip side, you may currently or in the past have had the habit of holding back, hesitating, or letting someone else step ahead. As a result there is a feeling of being left out or cheated out of something special.
Red Cup Water Lily inspires an ease within, allowing us to step into our power and embrace it. We can step into our full leadership capacity, embodying our majestic, noble + sublime qualities. Energetically, we're more equipped to magnetize the support that will facilitate/liberate our greatness and better able to fully accept and receive what is offered. Gentle insistence and open presence, rather than fighting, becomes the means for bringing aims to fruition.
Red Cup Water Lily magnifies the divine feminine within all of us, helping us embrace that gentleness is power. Tapping into interconnection, inseparability, and the true nature of reality, this flower essence enhances our willingness to support each other as wisdom beings. With this support + recognition, we reflect our divine nature to each other, and are able to see divinity within ourselves.
If we believe that the world is as abundant as Mother Nature shows us that it is, we can have anything and everything we want, and it doesn't require creating any sort of artificial space or scarcity in order to attract it. Red Cup helps us to openly receive not only what it is we seek but also to receive ourselves—meeting and greeting and cherishing ALL parts of ourselves, whether we believe those to be beautiful or ugly, shameful or exquisite. We can learn to do this with each and every aspect of ourself, loving it unconditionally.
CAUTION: The effects of using Red Cup Water Lily can result in enhanced magnetism + attractiveness. Others feel very drawn to your listening, receptivity, and deeper level of presence. :-)
Water Lilies of all colors are unique in the way they grow + reproduce, pulling their flowers into the water in a corkscrew pattern to gestate into fruits (read more about Water Lilies here).
Although the Red Cup Water Lily (Nymphea antares) is a night-blooming variety, they love the full sun. In the evening the flowers open, blooming into a cup shape throughout the night until 8 or 9 the next morning. They are considered a 'free flowering' water lily, meaning that they are highly prolific, producing a lot of flowers at one time. They have a light fragrance, and one of the most beautiful + distinct aspects of Red Cup is the deep, dark red color of the leaves/pads.
If you have your own water garden, this is the perfect water lily if are away during the day ~ in the evening when you come home, you'll be able to enjoy the lilies as they open up into full bloom!
Magnifies: Divine presence; magnetism; ability to receive; stepping into your power
Dissolves: Holding back, hesitation; feeling left out; insecurity
Infused with flower essences for receptivity, luminescent expression & nourishment, Expansive Presence helps us take greater risks, embrace the unknown and more fully realize who we are as divine beings.
Love + flower petals,