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August 12, 2012
The Giant Spider Lily is a beautifully fragrant and exotic flower that grows in tropical areas. Every time I see one during my travels, I run toward it. It's one of my favorite scents—a powdery, sweet floral aroma that can rival the most fragrant flowers in a tropical garden. Too bad it’s a poisonous plant, otherwise this flower would perhaps be used in perfumery as often as Jasmine.
I made an elixir of the wine-colored flower at the Naples Botanical Garden in South Florida. It was a balmy day, and the Spider Lily was shining like a beacon of light.
As you may know, there are so many dilutions in the making of a flower essence that by the time you get to the liquid that is ingested, there are no longer any plant parts in the water—only the energy of the flower. This is similar to the process of homeopathy, in which deadly plants and minerals like Belladonna or Arsenic are used in dilutions so great that they become highly beneficial for the body. Wonderfully, that means that even though it’s a poisonous flower, we can still access the profoundly healing benefits of Giant Spider Lily by enjoying the flower elixir.
If you're attracted to Giant Spider Lily, you may be craving a sense of freedom, weightlessness and effortlessness. You may be feeling weighed down or stagnant, like you’re trudging through the mud of everyday life. You are yearning for lightness, like the natural joy and exhilaration that arise when you jump on a trampoline.
It's also possible that you simply need more Air element. When there's an excess of Earth and Water elements in the body, incorporating activities that stimulate or activate the body can create a sense of spaciousness and lightness.
When you find yourself worrying so much that you stagnate projects or initiatives, this flower elixir lightens everything up and brings in the more joy and ease. It enhances "light," whether that’s feeling light as in weightless and free, or light as in shining light in dusty or dark places of our psyche.
It transforms the areas of our lives where we feel heavy or stagnant. It brings in a new sense of freedom, weightlessness and effortlessness.
When we feel like things are hard, Giant Spider Lily helps us feel a newfound sense of simplicity or ability to streamline. It helps us look at our lives and projects as a joyful celebration.
Giant Spider Lily is the star flower in our Gamechanger collection!
I’ve seen Giant Spider Lilies (Crinum asiaticum) on my travels in Florida and Singapore, but they can be found all over Asia and in other parts of the world in tropical latitudes. There are rare varieties of this flower in Thailand and Singapore that are endangered.
On each plant, the thick leaves expand out in a bright green explosion up to three feet long. Each flower has six petals that spill out from the center like an umbrella. The flowers are either all pure white or the most beautiful rich wine color.
As a poisonous flower, the Spider Lily cannot be used for cooking or making an essential oil, but it has tremendous medicinal value. In Indonesia and Malaysia, it’s called "Bakong," or "poisonous bulb plant," and its leaves and bulb are used for making various herbal medicines. The bulb is crushed and made into an ointment or poultice for rheumatoid arthritis, fevers and headaches. The succulent leaves are used for sprains, earaches, fractures, swelling and inflammation. Fresh, bruised leaves serve as an insect repellent and dried leaves boiled in water make a remedy for hemorrhoids.
In India, the juice of the bulb is used as a substitute for ipecac, to induce vomiting in cases of accidental poisoning. In Australia, aborigines warm the juice of the bulb to clean and disinfect wounds. Many clinical studies now prove the wondrous anti-inflammatory effects of this plant, in alignment with how the remedies have been used in folk medicine for centuries.
*Always consult with experienced herbalists who have used it successfully before attempting to work with Giant Spider Lily as an herbal remedy.*
Magnifies: Feeling light, bright, weightless, unfettered, free; ability to simplify and streamline; feeling unafraid to be yourself and able to look at life in a different way: even though external factors may be the same, life feels like a joyful celebration
Dissolves: Heaviness, feeling burdened, weighed or tied down; stagnant or stuck areas; feeling like life is hard or a struggle; sense that something is holding you back or holding you down or limiting you; feeling not good enough; overthinking, overcomplicating to the point of self-sabotage.
Infused with a bouquet of the most powerful flowers for being, Gamechanger is, you guessed it, gamechanging! It transforms the areas of our lives where we feel heavy or stagnant and brings in a new sense of freedom, weightlessness and effortlessness. By inspiring us to cut the crap + streamline, it helps us look at our lives + projects as a joyful celebration.
Love + flower petals,