What Does The Flower Of Life Represent? Here's What To Know, According To Experts

The flower of life is one of the most recognized symbols in the ancient and modern world. The sacred geometric pattern consists of 19 intersecting circles spaced evenly from each other that reveal an intricate pattern of overlapping symmetrical flowers. 

The striking visual is meant to represent creation, the sacred masculine and divine feminine, and cycles of life, death, and rebirth. Some believe the flower of life is also a key that can unlock hidden knowledge of time and space within its petal-like structures. 

"At baseline, it is a geometric form of perfect—and some would say divine—proportion," intuitive energy healer and author of Energy Work for the Everyday to Elite Athlete Cyndi Dale tells mindbodygreen. "The flower of life is a beautiful and ancient symbol that has been depicted in many cultures across time. It's found in Egyptian, Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, Muslim, and Judaic artwork, religious structures, and manuscripts," she adds.

Based on Assyrian relics, historians can date the flower of life to 645 B.C. Beyond its earliest origins, author of Sacred Geometry: How To Use Cosmic Patterns To Power Up Your Life Jemma Foster shares that the flower of life can also be found in countless temples and sacred sites across the globe, like the 5,000-year-old walls of the Osirian temple in Egypt, where it is burned into the stone as if by laser. 

"The flower of life represents the cycle of creation and the interconnectedness of all life," Dale says. Spiritually, the symbol can be used as a focus for attaining a sense of enlightenment and the awareness of peace. "It can also be used symbolically as a pathway to seek our personal and unique purpose within the greater universe," she adds.

Beyond its spiritual implications, Dale explains the flower of life also has associations with the chakra system—the main energy centers of the body. When there are no blockages and energy can effortlessly course throughout the entire body, it enables balance to exist between the mind, body, and soul. When looking at the geometric symbol, she says the image is seen to contain the seven chakras aligned in the middle. 

"The reason that we typically link a lotus with a chakra—with different chakras shown with different numbers of petals—is that chakras are energetic. Based on nerve plexuses, they each spin at a different rate. Each chakra manages a specific bandwidth of energy, measured by color or sound," she says. 

"Sacred geometry is the underlying form or geometry in nature—and not only the environment on Earth but in the cosmos," Dale explains to mindbodygreen, elaborating that the flower of life is considered sacred because these formations are considered one of the most significant patterns in the universe. 

If you peer closer at the flower of life, inside you'll see many sacred forms nestled within. Dale notes the structure includes the tree of life systems, a universal code known as the Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Ratio of Phi (a mathematical radio that shows up constantly in nature), and Megatron's cube—which carries the five platonic solids, or foundational shapes of all organic life. 

"It is thought that the flower of life holds a secret within it—a circle, which in many cultures, is considered the 'zero point' or the 'origin' of us all," Dale says. "This is the Oneness that ties us together."

The flower of life is a reminder of unity. To add more connection to your life, Foster suggests drawing the flower of life since the art can be activating for meditation and processing. It also acts as an invitation to resonate at its frequency on a deep cellular level.

"The flower of life is a key ally in raising and protecting the energetic quality that you and your environment are operating at," Foster says.