Flower Power: The Lotus and its Meanings Throughout Time (2024)

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• Spirit

The lotus is symbolic for myriad reasons for many different cultures across thousands of years. Those meanings grow as deep as a lotus flower’s roots—which, if you didn’t know, is very deep (sometimes up to six feet deep…under water). The lotus’ delicate, symmetrical shape and wide variation of color has always turned heads and intrigued hearts. This is why the lotus has continued to bloom in our minds for millennia, from the walls of Ancient Egyptian pyramids to the label of your favorite bottle of SYNERGY Kombucha to your yoga studio’s Instagram.

A Quick History

In many parts of the world, the lotus is considered sacred. In Eastern cultures and spiritualities, especially, the lotus is sometimes called the “Flower of Life” due to its association with the cycle of life, death, and rebirth or reincarnation. Each lotus’ color also has significance of its own. White has come to represent beauty, grace, purity of mind, fertility, and faith. Pink lotus flowers are known as Buddha’s earthly symbol, where a bud symbolizes one’s spiritual journey and a fully-bloomed pink lotus represents enlightenment. Yellow lotus flowers symbolize openness and hospitality while red flowers have come to meant selfless love and compassion. The blue lotus is rare—just as the properties it symbolizes are, signifying thought over emotions, wisdom, and knowledge. Also rare, the purple lotus represents self-awakening, harmony, and balance within oneself.

Types of Lotus Flowers

There are two dominant types of lotuses: the Sacred Lotus and the American Lotus. Both are hardy, aquatic plants that tend to grow in deep, muddy water atop wide, floating pads that bloom brilliantly for exactly three days—closing at night and opening during the day. In the right conditions, the lotus is relatively easy to care for and cultivate. Because they are short-lived, lotus flowers are valued highly as cut flowers for various occasions, but their beauty is deeper than their undeniably awe-inducing aesthetics.

Lotus flowers have existed for millions of years. There are fossil records that show the plant even survived the last ice age! To this day, the lotus spans the globe from the United States to India, Iran, Japan, Australia, Russia, and even a greenhouse or pot in your own backyard (given the right conditions).

Symbolism & Meaning of the Lotus

Just as the lotus flower has existed physically for epochs, its symbolism has persisted for thousands of years. In Ancient Egypt, from hieroglyphic evidence, the lotus flower has been linked to rebirth, the sun, and creation itself. Many other religions and spiritual cultures hold the lotus flower in highest regard where it symbolizes reincarnation, birth, femininity, marital happiness, and purity of body and mind, just to name a few.

The Lotus in the Modern Day

Lotus flower tattoos and the flowers’ presence in art is also common and symbolizes similar meanings: transcendence, rebirth, rising above, spiritual awakening, love, or enlightenment. The lotus is also a powerful symbol when used in trade and commerce. Logos and brands with associations to the lotus flower like GT’s Living Foods and their popular SYNERGY Raw Kombucha use the lotus to symbolize transcendence and life itself because the revitalizing drink contains nine billion living probiotics that provide your body with, well—life itself.

Whether you’re gifting a lotus flower, cultivating the flowers yourself, or simply purposing the lotus as part of your art or brand symbolism, the lotus flower is a globally recognized, world-understood, and powerful symbol capable of crossing cultures. The lotus is a visual encapsulation of a life well-lived, purposeful reinvention, and rebirth. So, to use to the lotus flower is to respect the lotus and all its expansive symbolism. Whether it's front-and-center on a bottle of SYNERGY Kombucha, on your plate (yes, each part of the plant is edible and various parts even have medicinal value!), or in your garden—the lotus continues to represent a transcendent connection with love, life, and being.