Magickal Uses
- Part used: Fresh flowers
- Planet: Venus
- Element: Earth
- Magickal Influences: Love and Purification
This is the flirt flower. It attracts love quickly although the love it brings often doesn’t last for long. Wear the fragrance or bathe in fresh lilacs when you want a fling. This flower is for fun. It is a great scent to spray in a room before parties or before meeting a date who is taking the relationship too seriously. Lilac keeps things light.
Inhale the aroma rising from the light purple flowers for internal purification. To cleanse a home, place jars of the fresh flowers in several rooms. Bathe in Lilac dew on May Day for a year of beauty.
The scent of fresh lilac flowers was once thought to drive away ghosts.
The scent of lilacs enhances a child’s educational aptitude. Here are a number of ways to use it:
- Place a drop of lilac fragrance oil on a light bulb near where a child studies.
- Place a vase of fresh lilac blossoms on the child’s desk so that the fragrance wafts over the child while studying.
- Place a table and chair outside next to a lilac bush in bloom and send the child outside to study.
Like many flowers, lilacs can be utilized in love expansion rituals. The sweet fragrance of these seasonal blooms brims with loving energies.
In aromatherapy the fragrance of Lilacs is recommended to patients who suffer from chronic depression and anxiety. Lilac blossoms can be added to your bath for a soothing aromatherapy remedy for stress and anxiety.
No true lilac essential oil is currently available, however lilac scents are available. They are said to bring peace and harmony. Also believed to induce “Far Memory” or the ability to remember past lives. It is also useful for inducing clairvoyant powers in general.
Lilac oil reputedly repels vampires and is certainly more fragrant than garlic. Most of the Lilac oil that is commercially available is synthetic; presumably vampires can tell the difference. If you make your own, the lingering aroma should keep the vampire out of the house as well.
A recipe for how to make your own lilac oil can be found here: Oil of Lilac
Jennifer Shepherd at the Lipstick Mystic recommends using the seasonal qualities of lilacs as a way of jump-starting your life. She says,
“Since lilac tends to be one of the earlier flowering plants each spring-time, it carries with it some of the same spiritual energies of other “early bloomers” like daffodils and forsythia. Lilac has the same quality of being able to push or penetrate through harsh, heavy “winter” energies.
So if you’re seeking some kind of significant breakthrough in your life, and you want a little extra kick or punch to help get you through, connecting with the energies of lilac can be very helpful. Smelling the fresh flowers on the bush or bringing a few blooms inside to enjoy is the best way to connect with this special plant.”
Lilac blossoms are natural astringents–they dry things out. Place a cup or two of slightly wilted flowers in a jar, and fill with witch hazel. Allow it to steep for a few days, and then strain out the flowers. Use the lilac and witch hazel blend as a facial toner, to keep your skin looking healthy and fresh all summer. Dab a bit on your wrists when you’re getting ready to go out, to attract new love your way.
The Lore of Lilacs
The trees were respected by Orthodox Christians and the plant’s Greek name “pashalia” is derived from “pasha” which in Jewish means “passage” as they were considered to drive ghosts away instantly. The lilac tree is also linked with reincarnation.
One of the plant’s secrets is that the flowers do not fade under hot water. Lilacs are said to remove ghosts, aid the exploration of past lives, and bless the passages of life, both birth and death. Purple lilacs are the symbol for the first emotions of love. If the blossoms are strewn about it is said they can ward off evil.
Lilacs have a history of promoting clairvoyance, divination, peace, harmony and creativity. Lilac tonics were probably first introduced in Henry 8th time. They are called a harbinger of spring. White lilacs are a symbol of innocence.
In some parts of England, it is considered unlucky to bring Lilac, especially white Lilac, into the house. The purple and red varieties are usually less feared, but even they are sometimes excluded from house decorations as bringers of misfortune.
In the 1960’s, a florist in Oxford England strongly advised a customer not to buy white Lilac for a friend in the hospital on the grounds that many people thought it foretold death if brought indoors. He did not know why this should be so, only that it was quite commonly believed. In fact it is almost certainly due to the widespread association of death and misfortune with “drowsy-scented” flowers, and also with those which are white.
An interesting detail about the Lilac tradition is that it is found only in some English districts, especially in the midland counties, and quite unknown elsewhere.
It is lucky to find a five-petaled lilac blossom of any color. Along the Welsh border, Lilac trees are said to mourn if any of their kind are cut down, and to be flowerless in the following year.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer 1 August 1900, we have this fun little tidbit:
“She who wears the lilac will never wear the wedding ring,” runs the old proverb, and although the scent of the flower is sweet and its tints are fresh and universally becoming it is contraband among the village maidens in England.
A single boutonniere of lilac has been held responsible for solitary spinsterhood. For the same reason mothers with marriageable daughters never allow a jug of the sweet smelling blossoms inside the house. It may stand on the outside window sill, but “there’s no love luck about the house” when there are lilacs in it.
To give one’s sweetheart a spring of the flower is the death blow to the most secure of engagements. White lilacs are even more fatal to love affairs than the colored ones; they are, in fact, as ominous as an opal ring. Love, however, laughs at artificial flowers, and only the real tree grown one can come between the lover and his lass.
Stony-hearted bachelors sometimes sport a lilac boutonniere as a charm against feminine blandishments. Londoners do not share the superstition, and use the flower freely for decoration, regardless of the unlucky attributes.
Queen Adelaide, consort of King William IV, was apparently unafraid of lilacs, although, to be fair, she was already married when she commissioned her famous Honiton lace dress whose flower patterns, included lilacs, spelled out her name.
The meaning of the lilac flower has diversified throughout the ages. Lilacs originated in Southeastern Europe and are a popular part of the Mediterranean culture. They are frequently associated with the Easter holiday, which occurs during the peak of its bloom time.
Lilac meanings vary throughout different cultures and time periods.
- The Celtics regarded the lilac as “magical” due to their incredibly intoxicating fragrance.
- During the Victorian Age, the giving of a lilac was meant to be a reminder of an old love. In fact, widows were often seen wearing lilacs during this period.
- In Russia, holding a sprig of lilac over the newborn would bring wisdom.
- In the United States, the lilac is the official state flower of New Hampshire and represents the ‘hardy’ nature of its people.
Because lilacs have one of the earliest bloom times, they symbolize spring and renewal. Lilacs also symbolize confidence, which makes them a traditionally popular gift for graduates. There are many meanings that lilacs have that can best be classified by color.
- White lilacs symbolize purity and innocence.
- Violet lilacs symbolize spirituality.
- Blue lilacs symbolize happiness and tranquility.
- Magenta lilacs symbolize love and passion.
Lilac, the color for which this flower is named, is a light purple that symbolizes a first love.
Although various colors of lilacs have different meanings, the lilac has always had a strong association with love and romance throughout history.
Dreaming About Lilacs
Lilac in a dream is a sign of future changes in personal life, the anticipation of big feelings and an exciting love affair.
- White lilac personifies purity, sincerity, sensuality, the birth of affection.
- Violet lilac is a longing for love experiences, yearning of the heart; awakening of romance.
To dream of a blooming lilac is a sign of positive emotions, receiving pleasant news or surprise.
Standing under lilac bush in a dream promises a person a frivolous sexual adventure, which will very quickly exhaust itself, and feelings will evaporate before they turn into something serious.
Miller’s dreambook positioned dreams about lilac mainly as a good sign, foreshadowing love experiences, romance, a surge of sensuality. Flowering lilac shrub reflects the kind and open attitude of people around them to the dreamer, trust and sympathy. Tearing lilac shows a greater likelihood to achieve the desired.
A bouquet of lilac is a sign showing opportunity to find something new about your beloved person, to have sincere conversation. The image promises a romantic acquaintance for single people, but this union will not be long-lasting.
For people who have been married for a long time, a bunch of lilac flowers speaks about the revival of long-forgotten romantic feelings between spouses – sexual desire will be restored and a seemingly past, withering passion will appear.
Some dreambooks interpret ambiguously dreams of a lilac branch. To see a torn off branch in a dream is a symbol of illusion, deceptive hopes that will never be realized. One should beware of strangers who sincerely offer friendship at first glance. To see the blossoming branch of a lilac bush from a window in a dream promises pleasant pastime and an unexpected gift.
To see lilac in a dream and feel its scent means an extraordinary, almost mystical attraction to a person of the opposite sex. Dream interpretation advises not to succumb to this feeling (which will be very difficult to do), because the fruits of such intrigues will remind of themselves more than once, and can easily ruin the life of even the most self-confident person.
If the dreamer happened to pick the fragrant lilac in a dream, it means he will attract close attention of a person whom he likes for a long time.
To dream of a lilac flowers represents feelings about how beautiful it is to notice never fearing a sense of accomplishment in something that isn’t dependent on anything else. A sense of accomplishment in something that nobody else wants to do that always cares about your feelings. Feeling good noticing yourself successful from being self taught. Feeling good about your children having grown up to be independent never needing you for anything.
Sources:
- Encyclopedia of Herbology
- Mrs Daffodil Digresses
- Magical Aromatherapy
- The Encyclopedia of Superstitions
- Encyclopedia of Magickal Ingredients
- Magical Herbalism
- Element Encyclopedia of 5000 Spells
- FTD by Design
- Check My Dream
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