Amaryllidaceae (Clivia and Amaryllis Belladonna) - The Flowers

The Magic of Flowers: A Guide to Their Metaphysical Uses & Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2013

Amaryllidaceae (Clivia and Amaryllis Belladonna)
The Flowers

Native to South Africa, amaryllidaceae—strikingly beautiful members of the amaryllis family—share a hippie-like freedom and a variety of wisdom just trippy and mind-expanding enough to be reminiscent of hallucinogens.

Magical Uses

Creativity and Playfulness

Inland from Malibu and west of the San Fernando Valley, there is a decidedly hippie enclave of Los Angeles known as Topanga Canyon. The residents are so rebellious and unique, in fact, that year after year, they refuse to be incorporated by the city so that they can continue to exist without street lamps or subsidized electricity. Last spring and summer, I noticed the exotic, pink-blossomed belladonna amaryllis wildly sprinkling Topanga’s weedy hillbilly landscape, flagrantly exerting her freedom and liberation for anyone who cared to notice.

The orange or yellow clivia, though I seem to notice her thriving in more cultivated landscapes throughout the city, possesses the same creative, playful wisdom as her wilder “naked lady” sister. Both can help us to:

✵ get in touch with our creativity

✵ be more playful

✵ have more fun

✵ express our uniqueness

✵ sow our wild oats

✵ assert our individuality

✵ connect with the realm of the Divine, from which

all true creativity springs

For any of these purposes, try employing her in rituals, taking the essence, or spending time with a blossom.

Crown Chakra Opening

In order to conform to cultural norms and exist in our society in a functional way, we often have to close our crown chakra to some extent—or, in other words, significantly shut down the part of us that knows we are eternal and one with the Divine. You might say that hallucinogens help with this by re-opening our crown chakra and connecting us once again with the truth of our divine connection and eternal nature. However, this hallucinating state is not sustainable if we want to continue to participate in society as we know it, which is why most of us don’t desire to consume hallucinogens daily. What is desirable to most of us, however, is to be conscious of the divine, eternal realm while still having one foot in the “common dream,” a.k.a. society, so that we can be inspired and divinely connected while continuing to do things like pay our electricity bills and make friendly small talk with our mothers-in-law. And amaryllidaceae is great for this!

You can facilitate this intention by employing the essence or spending time with the flowers themselves. You might also like to add seven drops of the flower essence to a mister of rose water, along with seven drops ylang ylang essential oil and an apophyllite crystal for a crown chakra—opening mist potion.

Joy

When you consider how miraculous and unfathomable this life experience really is, joy seems much more natural than indifference or depression. Still, sometimes we can forget the natural causes for joy that are within us and all around us. And amaryllidaceae is an expert at reminding us by bringing us back to our senses and awakening us to the magic of life. So, to refresh the joy that is your natural state, try employing amaryllidaceae in any way mentioned above.

Self-Acceptance

Have you ever been to a hippie gathering of any kind? I have. Something that’s stayed with me is seeing older women and women who may normally be considered “overweight” walk around with nothing but sandals on, luxuriating in their own beauty. And, similarly, I’ve enjoyed observing women with no makeup on with such deep levels of self-acceptance that you can’t help but marvel at their unique natural beauty that shines forth from within. This is the type of radical self-acceptance that clivia, naked lady, and amaryllidaceae in general can help us achieve. (She’s a hippie chick, what can I say?) For this purpose, spend time in quiet contemplation with her, take the essence, or add the essence to a body lotion.

Magical Correspondences

Image

Element: Water

Gender: Female

Planet: Neptune