The Lotus flower has many symbols and plays a significant role in many religions in Eastern cultures. Potential black lotus flower meaning includes death, darkness, rebellion, sophistication, power, and authority. The meaning of lotus flower can also vary based on religion.
About the Black Lotus Flower
The Black Lotus flower falls into the Nelumbo Nucifera family and is commonly mixed with the Nymphanea Nymphaea caerulea – the water lily.
History and Origin
The history of the Lotus flower dates back millions of years, with the oldest fossil being 145.5 million years ago. It’s believed these plants even survived the Ice Age 1.8 million to 10,000 years ago.
It grows naturally in wetlands and muddy areas throughout Australia, Asia, and Europe, being seen in Russia, Iran, and China, regardless of extreme climates.
Characteristics
Lotus flowers thrive in muddy water infested with insects and diseases. The roots burrow deep into the mud, while the large round leaves will float on top of the water.
Even without water, seeds from a Lotus plant can stay viable for thousands of years. And these plants can purify the water where they grow. Then, at night, the blooms disappear underwater and rebloom every morning.
The petal design can vary, falling into classifications of few petals, heavy petals, double petals, multiple petals, and semi-double petals.
Black Lotus Flower Care
Lotus flowers require water to grow, whether indoors or in your garden. Therefore, they do best in a creek or deep fountain where they can grow freely.
You’ll need to position your plants in the water to make the pot at least 4″ underwater, but not any deeper than 10″. The best planting time is spring or fall, and they’ll start to grow once the temperatures get above 60-degrees.
Your plants will not need watering or fertilizing once you plant them in water, making them easy to grow and low maintenance. They can continue to grow under ice or in scorching sun and heat, as long as the roots aren’t compromised.
Uses Throughout History
One important use of the Lotus flower throughout history is as a medicine to treat multiple types of diseases and conditions.
Lotus has also been made into a tea to treat insomnia, working as a sedative without prescription medication.
The Lotus is often used for food, as the seeds, roots, and flowers are safe for consumption. The roots have a fragrant sweetness that is rich in vitamins and starch. You can consume these raw, made into salads, brewed into a tea, cooked in soups, dried, powdered, or preserved.
The petals of the Lotus can provide unique flavors to meat and Asian rice porridge – congee. And the nuts and leaves can be used medicinally to make a tea that treats blood pressure and weight loss.
Its most common use everywhere is for ornamental purposes.
Black Lotus Flower Symbolism
The meaning and symbolism of a flower can change by country and culture. What the black lotus flower represents in China – feminity, and happiness in a marriage – is not the same as the meaning in Japan – purity of the mind and body. Look at what does a lotus flower mean with this lotus symbolism.
Etymological Meaning
The name Lotus comes from the Latin word of the same spelling and is the same in various cultures and languages. But it’s also known by the spelling of Lotos.
Religious Meaning
The lotus plant symbolizes sacred power in Eastern cultures like Hinduism and Buddhism.
In the Hindu culture, black Lotus flowers are symbolic of the absence of light and color. A black lotus symbolizes the Hindu deities Lord Krishna, Arjuna, and Draupadi. In addition, a black lotus flower represents rebellion, authority, sophistication, and power in this culture.
While it has many spiritual meanings in Buddhism, it’s typically considered the counterpart to the White Lotus, a richly symbolic cultural flower.
It’s frequently shown as Buddha resting in the lotus position on top of a fully-open white lotus flower, representing a person’s heart and spiritual awareness not being open until they have reached nirvana – the spiritual enlightenment starting from the inside out.
In the religion of Christianity, most focus is on the white lotus flower. However, mentions of the black flower revolve around rebirth and death, darkness, and the search for life’s meaning.
Historical Meaning
In Ancient Rome, lotus flowers in black and white were associated with death, rebirth, and future life. Therefore, this flower was a popular choice for funerals.
And the lotus flower history can trace back to Ancient Greece, specifically in terms of the Lotus Eaters. A myth tells the lore of the appearance of the Lotus Eaters upon the return of Odysseus and his crew to Troy.
In response, Zeus formed a storm that relocated Odysseus and his crew to the Land of the Lotus Eaters – Cape Malea. The Eaters presented as normal-looking humans that cursed men after eating the fruit from a lotus, which caused them to become forgetful and lazy.
While in Ancient Egypt, the lotus flower means rebirth and the sun. The black Lotus, in particular, has associations with the moon, darkness, and death. The book of the Dead says that a black Lotus represents death as a spell that turns a dead person into a lotus flower.
Birth
Many Western cultures associate the Black Lotus flower with birth, rebirth, and reincarnation. However, the lotus flower goes through an entire lifecycle every day, starting with the flower blooming in the morning – birth (rebirth) and closing up and submerging underwater at night like it’s dead.
Death
The color black has typical associations with death. It makes the black Lotus a popular choice for funerals and represents that a death has occurred.
Power
Because black is the absence of color, it’s commonly associated with power, aggression, and rebellion, meanings that are the complete opposite of the pure meanings of a white lotus.
Black Lotus Flower FAQ
Want to know even more about the black Lotus flower? Check out these black Lotus frequently asked questions.
Are Black Lotus Flowers Fragrant?
Black lotus flowers have a rich, sweet, heady fruity fragrance.
What Does a Black Lotus Flower Tattoo Represent?
Black Lotus flower tattoos symbolize beauty, purity, innocence, spiritualism, and separation from sin.
Are Black Lotus Flowers Poisonous?
The Black Lotus is edible and safe to consume from the roots to the flowers, nuts, leaves, and seeds.
Are Black Lotus Flower Perrenials or Annuals?
Black Lotus flowers are aquatic perennials.
Black Lotus Flowers Meaning: Final Thoughts
Now you should know what does the lotus flower mean when you see this beauty in black. This culturally significant flower is important in many religions. Common lotus flower symbols are birth, death, and power.