Today I want to talk for a moment about one of earth’s most sacred symbols, the flower of life. It is scattered throughout history and has been found in caves, monuments, shrines and art across the globe. Respected as a sacred symbol, the flower of life was treasured and its design was handed down through many civilizations. In recent years much awareness has been brought to this sacred symbol, and it has become a popular tattoo design, jewelry design,and popular among artists. There is even a vinyl wrap company that has become popular for vinyl wrapping cars with the flower of life design. This resurgence of the flower of life, deserves some explanation, so I will do my best to fill everyone in. For the design is far more than an aesthetic masterpiece, but actually has universal properties that can be useful to all of us, once we understand them.
Where did it come from?
It is unclear where the flower of life originated, but most likely it was discovered by many different people, from many different parts of the world, around the same time. The symbol itself is not typical artwork, which is birthed from the inspiration of an artists imagination. But rather it is an artistic representation of life and its proportional relationships. The flower of life does not take a skilled artists to create it. It can actually be created by the most unexperienced artists, with just one simple tool. Using just a compass, an untrained artists can build one of natures most complex patterns. Composed entirely of circles, the flower of life unfolds into many complex phases of itself, all symbolically representing aspects of our human reality.
The first circle is said to represent unity. The second circle is said to represent duality, a contrasting force that brings points of relationship into our existence (good/bad, hot/cold, high/low), without one there could not be the other. The next phase beyond the two circles is six, which begins to bring shape to flower of life and creates what many refer to as the seed of life. From that point on, as more circles are created at each intersection of two circles a complex image starts to develop known today as the flower of life.
What does it mean?
It is hard to say exactly what the flower of life means, and much of its meaning is still unknown, but there are some aspects of it we do understand. Within the flower of life are sacred proportions and sacred shapes. In fact within the flower of life exists every other shape. By simply using a ruler and connecting points of intersection throughout the flower of life you can create ever other possible shape. This is perhaps why they call it the flower of life, because from its sacred shape comes the shape and proportions of most living things. Many artists use to use the proportions of the flower of life when drawing portraitist and other images. By overlaying the flower of life they could ensure their art would be life-like, because it embodied the sacred proportions that all life stems from.
Why is not more well know?
This was a question I asked myself for quite sometime, and still to this day am unsure. If you explore the ancient world you can see that this image was very prevalent and held a lot meaning to many civilizations. Displayed on ceiling, floors, monuments and murals, it was a normal part of day to day society. However if you ask someone today what the flower of life is, chances are most people will be unfamiliar.
There are some clues throughout history that suggest perhaps some rulers didn’t want everyone to know about this sacred and extremely meaningful design. There were several accounts of books being burned and art being destroyed, but perhaps the most notable point is the guardian lions in China, who rest their paw on a 3-D flower of life. The lions seem to suggest control over the flower of life, have a look yourself. 
I would imagine this is not the only case of the flower of life being suppressed (if that is the case). It appears to me that more than likely, societies were pushed to forget about this shape and its great significance. It’s hard to say why that would be the case, perhaps within the shape exists far more meaning than I covered today on this post. Or maybe people simply lost there interests in the shape, but if so I still think this would be something at least covered in school to some degree, being that it is a magical geometric shape. No matter what the case is, learn about the flower of life for yourself and how significant it once was.