Blue Lotus

Pure Organic, sustainably sourced Blue Lotus Flowers and stamens (Nymphaea Caerulea)
Sold in 50g bags

Nymphaea Caerulea (Blue Lotus) was held in very high esteem by the ancient Egyptians. It was worshipped as a visionary plant and was a symbol for the origins of life. The Egyptians believed that the world was originally covered by water and darkness. A Blue Lotus sprang up from the water and opened its petals to reveal a young god, a Divine Child. Light streamed from the Divine Child to banish universal darkness. This child god was the Creator, the Sun God, the source of all life. When the Pharao known as King Tut was entombed, his body was covered in Nymphaea Caerulea flowers.

TRADITIONAL USES: The Sacred Blue Lily of the Nile was found scattered over Tutankhamen’s body when the Pharaoh’s tomb was opened in 1922. Many historians thought it was a purely symbolic flower, but there is mounting evidence that suggests that ancient Egyptians used the plant to induce ecstatic states, stimulation, and visions, as well as as a medicine (Voogelbreinder 2009, 247).

Azru is an Egyptian mummy who was donated to the Manchester Museum in England, in 1825.  Living on the Nile in 2700 B.C., Azru was royalty – a noblewoman of Thebes, later called Luxor (a former capital of Egypt), and a chantress for Khonsu, the moon god. The main temple at Karnak is dedicated to him. Three times a day, Azru came bearing food as well as wine fortified with Nymphaea caerulea tincture; she fetched garments for the gods, the priests, and the Pharaoh; and she danced and sang for the royal court. She had wealth and her own home with servants, where she stayed until summoned to the temple. Her mummy was the first to undergo mass spectroscopy. There was no evidence of any narcotics or painkillers in her body. But researchers did find phytosterols, bioflavonoids, and phosphodiastrates, all compounds found in Nymphaea caerulea (Schuster 2001).

There is evidence to suggest that Egypt was a very sexually oriented society based on their pictures, writings, and religious beliefs. This evidence also suggests that Blue Lily was traditionally and effectively used to relieve pain, increase memory, improve circulation, promote sexual desire and create a feeling of euphoria and ecstasy without the use of narcotics. It is Nymphaea caerulea which was used in ancient Egypt as an essential key to good health, great sex, and rebirth. Because of the mythological, astral, representational and artistic significance of the water lily, it has been suggested that the elite priesthood of ancient Egypt used the blue lily for its narcotic effects to produce a state of shamanic ecstasy (Ratsch 1998, 398-399).

The blue lily was well represented in ancient Egyptian art and lore; for example, a portrait of Tutankhamen shows his head emerging from a blue lily flower. In one variation of the ancient Egyptian story of Horus (the god of light) and Seth (the god of chaos), the lily flower appears as a symbol of the divine, all-seeing eye. Seth rips out Horus’ left eye and buries it in the sand, whereupon it is transformed into a lily flower (Emboden 1989).

Ancient Egyptian women wore blue lily buds and flowers as fashionable head and hair adornments. Traditionally, both the living and the dead were bedecked with garlands made from the plant. The garlands in the grave of Pharaoh Ramses II were made almost entirely of blue lily leaves. The flower was first cited in the Egyptian Book of the Dead as follows: “[It is] that lily flower which shines in the earth.”  Another incantation from the same text mentions the desire of Ani to “transform himself into the sacred blue water lily so that his body might have new birth and ascend daily into heaven” (Dassow 1994).

Since the blue lily is often portrayed in ancient art and hieroglyphics alongside mandrake (Mandraga officinarum) and poppy flowers (Papaver somniferum), it is possible that these images represent an iconographic recipe  – a psychoactive ritual drink consisting of lily buds, mandrake fruits, and poppy capsules has been suggested by academics and researchers. Nymphaea caerulea was recently identified as the “Tree of Life” that is found in much of the mythology and artwork of the Middle East, and it has also been proposed as a potential identity for the sacred Soma of the Aryans (Emboden 1989).

Source: http://entheology.com/plants/nymphaea-caerulea-blue-lily-blue-lotus/