Media Free Times vol.32 no.2
Tulips, Lilies and other "Common Things"
a Discourse Analysis
Continued from the MFT v32n1 study on "The Oral Tradition":
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/201/300/media_free/v32n01/070731.htm
This issue is dedicated to the memories of Geneva Snow (Ruta Dobilas)
Virtual Free University Bcc et al:
In the process of doing a quick scan of Anna Pavord's - your very in vogue book - The Tulip...it occurred to me that it has allot of information about the history of the market value, but no mention of the medicinal properties known in the "oral tradition". I believe the Tulip, like the Lily and other "common" flowers once had significant healing properties and that is why they were cultivated in the first place. In the course of "civilization" the external superficial "beauty" was prized more than the invisible essence and so that now, in this Brave New World, we have pleasing "things" to look at but with no scent and no healing quality.
So let us look i.e.,at the Lily in terms of its symbolism, versus its true properties and higher meaning :
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" Hail Mary fairest flower O Lily glistening white and stainless ! I greet you at this time with Gabriel's words sublime, Ave O maid so highly favored!" There is an old tradition that the Lily sprang from the repentant tears of Eve as she went forth from paradise. Mary can be seen as the New Eve, the Mother of life, who bore the fruit that redeemed us all from sin and every fall. The Lily in the language of flowers means, "Majesty". The Lily as we know it today is a trumpet like flower, stately and noble. Its large petals open and surrender to the light. It exudes a beautiful perfume, and bears a high pollen yield. The white Lily when it is full open resembles a star. It is a flower of great beauty and it is easy to see why artists have so often placed it within pictures of the Holy Virgin. However in Biblical times Lilies, "shushan*" was a collective term for all the various flowers of the field, lilies, crocuses, irises, tulips, narcissus, all of which came forth from a womb like tuber.
"Blessed is the fruit of thy womb!" A solitary symbol can be a great focus for reflection and prayer... http://www.boston-catholic-journal.com/a_primer_to_catholic_symbolism.htm#The_Lily See Also: *(Dan. 8:2) ***
The Fleur-de-Lis In Heraldry and History Legend The English translation of "fleur-de-lis" (sometimes spelled "fleur-de-lys") is "flower of the lily." This symbol, depicting a stylized lily or lotus flower, has many meanings. Traditionally, it has been used to represent French royalty, and in that sense it is said to signify perfection, light, and life. Legend has it that an angel presented Clovis, the Merovingian king of the Franks, with a golden lily as a symbol of his purification upon his conversion to Christianity. Others claim that Clovis adopted the symbol when waterlilies showed him how to safely cross a river and thus succeed in battle. http://www.fleurdelis.com/fleur.htm see also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleur-de-lis
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There is much "Mumbo Jumbo" in print about the occult properties of herbs.Thus creating Artificial Ignorance and then the artificial values, as in "Fundy" Capitalism, for the benefit of mercenary profiteering. This of course is still practiced today in pharmaceutical advertising. As with the Tulip, about the Lily, we find in terms of Occult Symbolism, of nobility, divine grace and charm etc., that one version equates the Lily to the Sun, the other to the Moon and so on i.e.:
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Through all the Sacred Books, be they our Bible, the Qabalah, the Egyptian Books, the Vedantic Teachings, the Druidic traditions, etc., the Symbols of the Rose and of the Lily or Lotus and of the Cross, reveal themselves as veritable living images of some great fundamental truth. I am prepared to affirm that any Order, Society, group of students, etc., forming themselves with the aim of studying the composition and nature of the manifested Universe, must inevitably fall under the symbolism of the Rose, of the Lily or Lotus, and of the Cross. The Rose with its mysterious centre, its nucleus, the central p. x Sun, is a symbol of the infinite and harmonious separations of nature. The symbol of the Lily or Lotus is very similar to that of the Rose, with some slight differentiations. http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/tku/tku02.htm ***
"The rising flame, breaking out of Muladhara* is caused to rise by the wind. Born of the single thought which he has taught. He related... The state of drinking Amrita*, The movements of the Sun, & the character of The One Who Favors the Lily (the Moon)..." http://levity.com/alchemy/vinayaga.htm ***
*See also: http://www.kheper.net/topics/chakras/Muladhara.htm *Amrita or Amrit (Sanskrit: Punjabi:) is a Sanskrit word that literally means "without death", and is often referred to in texts as nectar. Corresponding to ambrosia, it has differing meaning and significance in several religions of Indian origin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amrita
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Here is a series of drawings for a stylized versions of the Lily as the Fleur-de-Lis by a commercial artist.
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"...I started the design by looking at heraldic emblems, thinking that something along the lines of a heraldic fleur-de-lis (a stylized lily) might work as a logo...":
http://ninthwavedesigns.typepad.com/guilded_lilies/2006/08/guilded_lilies_.html
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The Lily is a very ancient symbol in many indigenous cultures, i.e. synonymous with the sun,in Lithuanian Folk Art.
Here a contemporary Lithuanian Environmental Logo the incorporates the Lily and the symbolism of a house roof with the motif horses heads protecting a Water Lily.
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Country: Lithuania,contact: Joint Research Centre of the Ministry of Environment Juozapaviciaus 9 Lt 2600 Vilnius phone 370 2 722581 email: euglel@ktl.mii.lt web: http://www.ktl.mii.lt/
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To this day,in a typical Lithuanian home,it can be observed that there are still many uses of the Lily in tapestry and other ornamentation i.e.: in this house in Toronto. Here is also a print of Sofia the landlady reading the mail in the vestibule, by the stained glass window and hand made tapestry with the Lily motifs. In the dining room there is a hand loomed Lithuanian table cover with Lily ornamentation.
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...There are always Lilies and Lilies of the Valley in the garden on the property.Lily of the valley, has a long and proven reputation in herbal medicine in the treatment of heart complaints. It contains the glycosides, convallarin and convallamarin which are powerful cardiac tonics and diuretics and are also used in allopathic medicine.The action of the drug closely resembles that of Digitalis.
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There are also the Tiger Lily in this garden. The bulbs are used to treat insomnia. And also the Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum)- The flowers have been used in traditional medicine for alleviating many ailments.
The use of white water lily (Nymphaea odorata) for medicinal purposes originates from Native American traditional medicine. Several other species from the Nymphaea and Nuphar (another water lily genus) genera have been used in traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, and homeopathic practices.
In another historical account we read that people were interested in lilies for their anti-toxic powers and their capacity of curing depressions.
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Some would argue that the healing properties of the Lily are just a myth. My belief is that the Lily, like the Tulip has been so genetically mutilated to please the eye of the buyer, that it has lost both scent and medicinal potency in the process.
...upstairs in this home there is an old 1937 Reproducer with hand made wood engravings with a Lily incorporated in the design- that is what they used to call radios back then...before then, they called the original radios "talking machines"...Antanas the Father in this family was a Lithuanian cabinet maker and he restored it in the early '60's. Here are some photographic studies of it. Notice the Fleur-de-lis pin added to the center.
The last image is of a collection of early radios from http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/recording/notes.html:
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We may be accused of being "tangential"here, but the digital reprographic capabilities of today, started with the technological Fordism of these "Reproducers".
...as far as advanced game design - we are still trying to figure out how to draw a Lily in 3D...this is as far as it has gotten...not very far:
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Here are two "very romantic" Ads for "Reproducers" from that time...but no Lilies? Or perhaps there is actually a stylized Lily, after all, in the later:
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..."tangential"? What do "Reproducers" have to do with "Flowers" anyway. Here is a video clip by Alowicious Avatar of the "Reproducer" with the Lily design. Just click on the Lily here:
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Why not a book about Lilies? Re.: Tulip-Mania*
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Anna Pavord's book The Tulip: The Story of the Flower That Has Made Men Mad
To supplement your reading here is an image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania
*See also: http://www.learningtogive.org/lessons/attach.asp?attach_num=1&ln=1&unit=165
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The
Lily... in
Christian art is a well known symbol of chastity, innocence and purity.
In pictures of the Annunciation, or Salutation, the Archangel Gabriel
is sometimes depicted holding a Lily branch, or Mary herself is clasping
a Lily, or there is a Lily in the vicinity.
