Ok, I feel like there's info in the highlighted sections of the books that is definitely relevant and deserves it's own red-string/mandelbrot cheese/oddly shaped hole moment. I'm trying to get some work done before I leave on Wednesday, so I can only look into these in little segments. I'll start with the flower section. The underlined parts are underlined in the book, and the bold was circled.
Flowers -
"Different flowers usually have separate meanings, but, as so often happens, flower-symbolism is broadly characterized by two essentially different considerations: the flower in its essence, and the flower in its shape. By its very nature it is symbolic of transitoriness, of Spring and of beauty.
The sixth of the 'Eight Immortals of China, Lan Ts'ai-ho, is generally depicted clad in blue and carrying a basket of flowers; it is said that he was given to singing of the brevity of life and the ephemeral nature of pleasure.
The Greeks and Romans, at all their feasts, always wore crowns of flowers. And they would strew flowers over the corpses as they bore them to the funeral pyre and over their graves (not so much as an offering as an analogy). We have, then, another example of an antithetical symbol, like the skeleton which the Egyptians would bring to their banquets, as a reminder of the reality of death and as a stimulus towards the enjoyment of life.
Now, because of its shape, the flower is an image of the 'Centre', and hence an archetypal image of the soul.. Celestial flower' is the name given to a meteorite or a shooting star by the alchemists (57), and the flower was, for them, symbolic of the work of the sun. The significance would be adapted according to the colour of the flower. So, for example, orange or yellow-coloured flowers represent a reinforcement of the basic sun-symbolism; red flowers emphasize the relationship with animal life, blood and passion. The 'blue flower' is a legendary symbol of the impossible, and is probably an allusion to the 'mystic Centre' as represented by the Grail and other such symbols."
The handwritten notes in this section are:
"Flowers: Image of the soul; love; transitoriness;
work of the sun- orange/yellow
impossible - blue
Red- animal/blood, passion
Celestial flower - meteor shooting star"
So, the flowers we've seen in this experience so far are the "Crooked Rose Woods" and the character Lily. Roses and Lilies can come in many different colors, so that makes it hard to analyze, but the colors are really emphasized in this section. Obviously roses are traditionally red, so if we lean that way it would be representative of animals, blood and passion.
The term "celestial flower" is also highlighted, and when I google celestial flower, another name for it is "Celestial Lily"
It looks like they're traditionally blue which would correlate with "a legendary symbol of the impossible[/u], and is probably an allusion to the 'mystic Centre'" as well as the "meteorite or shooting star by the alchemists."
It looks like our alchemist friends named Lily after shooting stars/meteorites?
I looked up the term "centre" in the dictionary as well to figure out the "mystic centre" part, and it says:
"To leave the circumference for the centre is equivalent to moving from the exterior to the interior, from form to contemplation, from multiplicity to unity, from space to spacelessness, from time to timelessness. In all symbols expressive of the mystic Centre, the intention is to reveal to Man the meaning of the primordial paradisal state' and to teach him to identify himself with the supreme principle of the universe."
"A great many ritual acts have the sole purpose of finding out the spiritual 'Centre' of a locality, which then becomes the site, either in itself or by virtue of the temple built upon it, of an 'image of the world'. There are also many legends which tell of pilgrimages to places with characteristics which relate them to Paradise."
Mystic Centre is also referred to in the "Star" section that's highlighted as well:
"As a light shining in the darkness, the star is a symbol of the spirit. Bayley has pointed out, however, that the star very rarely carries a single meaningâit nearly always alludes to multiplicity. In which case it stands for the forces of the spirit struggling against the forces of darkness. This is a meaning which has been incorporated into emblematic art all over the world. For this reason, 'identification with the star' is possible only to the chosen few. Jung recalls the Mithraic saying: 'I am a star which goes with thee and shines out of the depths' (31). Now, individual stars are often seen in graphic symbolism. Their meaning frequently depends upon their shape, the number of points, the manner of their arrangement, and their colour (if any). The 'flaming star' is a symbol of the mystic Centre-of the force of the universe in expansion. The five-pointed star is the most common. As far back as in the days of Egyptian hieroglyphics it signified 'rising upwards towards the point of origin', and formed part of such words as 'to bring up', 'to educate, etc. (19). The inverted five-pointed star is a symbol of the infernal as used in black magic (37).
Stars being nocturnal, their symbolism is associated with that of night; they are also linked with the idea of multiplicity (or with disintegration) because they appear in clusters, and with order and destiny because of their disposition and location (according to Horapollo Niliacus). The seventeenth enigma of the Tarot, depicting an allegorical image of a naked girl kneeling down beside a pool, as, from a golden jar, she pours a life-giving liquid into the still waters. In her left hand she holds a silver jar from which she pours fresh water on to the dry earth, encouraging the growth of the vegetation- signified most often by a sprig of acacia and a rose in full bloom, an emblem of immortality and of love. Above this figure are a bright star and several lesser ones. The ultimate meaning of this symbol seems to be expressive of intercommunication of the different worlds, or the vitalization by the celestial luminaries of liquids contained in certain vessels, and implying, furthermore, the transference of these celestial characteristics to the purely material Elements of earth and water. For this reason, Oswald Wirth concludes that this enigma represents the soul uniting spirit with matter (59).
I'm curious if this will play into what I need to bear witness to and why I am going overnight when Bran was only during the day. Perhaps a ritual done at night to include the stars, mystic centre, etc? The mention of the tarot card is interesting too- anyone with tarot knowledge want to analyze that?
There's so much information to ponder, but I must return to editing...
