Flower of Life
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Sacred Geometry
Flower of Life
The Flower of Life is a pattern of overlapping circles, each one passing through the centers of its neighbors, blooming outward in perfect six-fold harmony. Most versions show nineteen circles inside one great enclosing ring, and the overlaps form rows of soft, petal-shaped lenses. It is the best-loved pattern in sacred geometry, and the one you will see most often engraved on selenite plates.
For many of us, the Flower of Life is a map of how everything is connected. Every circle touches every other, and all of them grow from one single point, the way all of creation unfolds from one source. Sit with it for a while, letting your eyes rest on the center as the outer circles soften, and many people feel a deep sense of peace, wholeness and belonging.
What it means
The Flower of Life holds all the other patterns within it. The Seed of Life, the Egg and Fruit of Life and Metatron's Cube can all be drawn from its circles, and many teachers draw the Tree of Life over it too. That is why so many of us think of it as the blueprint of creation: one pattern from which every other form can grow. It carries the energy of unity, harmony and the divine order beneath everyday life.
How it is drawn
Begin with the Seed of Life (seven circles). Keep stepping the compass around every new crossing point and the pattern spreads outward ring by ring, like ripples on still water. Stop after the second ring, frame it with a larger circle, and you have the classic Flower of Life.
A trail across the world
Wherever people have gathered to build something sacred or beautiful, these overlapping circles seem to appear.
- Assyria. A carved stone threshold from an Assyrian palace, now in the Louvre in Paris, is covered in overlapping circles, laid at a royal doorway more than two and a half thousand years ago.
- Abydos, Egypt. On the granite columns of the Temple of Osiris at Abydos, the full pattern of nineteen circles is drawn in red ochre. Seekers travel from all over the world to stand before it.
- Leonardo da Vinci studied the design and its proportions in his notebooks, gathered today in the Codex Atlanticus.
- China. In the Forbidden City in Beijing, the ball beneath the paw of a guardian lion at the Gate of Supreme Harmony is patterned with overlapping circles.
The name we use today was popularized in modern times by Drunvalo Melchizedek's 1999 book, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life.
In grids and meditation
- Use the crossing points as your stone map: one stone at the center, six on the first ring of crossings, twelve on the next.
- Gaze softly at the pattern as a focus for meditation, letting the eye rest on the center and the outer circles blur.
- A Flower of Life plate makes a lovely resting place for jewelry and pocket stones overnight, so they wake up clear and ready.
In our shops
Selenite plates engraved with the Flower of Life, plain and gold, in 10 cm and 15 cm sizes, and a selenite Flower of Life palm stone. Stock varies, so ask at either shop.
Further reading
- Drunvalo Melchizedek, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, vol. 1 (1999).
- Leonardo da Vinci, Codex Atlanticus, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.