Blue Lotus Quintessence

Egypt, 1922, The tomb of child pharaoh Tutankhamen was first opened with his body covered in the remains of a 3,000-year-old, mystical flower known as the Blue Lotus. This flower adorned Egyptian tombs, artwork, and poetry and was mentioned extensively in the Ebers Papyrus - Egyptian book of medicine. Up until recently, the Blue Lotus was thought by archeologists and botanists as merely symbolic. However, it has recently been revealed that the Egyptians, through their prolific advancements in medicine over the course of 3,000 years (approximately 3150 BC to 331 BC), understood the plant's pharmaco-active properties and benefits in spiritual practices. They used the sacred flower as a tool for communication with the divine hidden aspects of reality (yourself), as well as initiatory rites and funerary rituals. Nymphaea caerulea, botanically known as the Blue Water Lily, is one of few aquatic plants in the Nymphaeaceae family, which also include Nymphaea lotus, the white petaled relative which grew beside it. These plants are not actual lotuses, but rather a class of water lilies, a mix up after the Persian conquest of Egypt lead to the introduction of the Pink Lotus, Nulembo nucifera. The Egyptian Blue Water Lily is endangered and heavily protected in its homeland, with farmers now cultivating it in Sri Lanka and Thailand. It is now accessible to the world's high demand for lotus import, however its rarity is reflected in its price. 

According to Paracelsus, this required the utmost trust and fidelity from the nymph's husband, specifically regarding the nymph named Undine. This description is very fitting of the Water Lily's profile, as a plant that requires both trust and surrender. Simultaneously, the Water Lily or Blue Lotus enhances the qualities of openness, surrender, and acceptance within the body. 

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 The Egyptians told their myths of creation and reality through the use of Gods and Goddesses to explain existence and to give the Mind structured stories in order to navigate reality. (This is not unlike the ancient alchemists' use of philosophy or story to better comprehend Nature.) The Egyptians' creation story began with the eruption of the primordial waters, signifying pure chaos and potential. It was thought that out of this chaos was born the first creation, the Blue Lotus, which was personified by the Memphis era God, Nefertem. Nefertem, son of the demiurge Ptah and sun deity Sekhmet/Bast, was known as a beautiful, youthful, and compassionate God with his work corresponded with aromatherapy, perfume, cosmetics and medicine. He was often depicted on top of a Blue Water Lily, springing forth from chaos while pointing at his mouth in order to signify the magic of the spoken word through which one creates. The flower is a significant symbol, representing birth and the sun, blossoming forth it's heavenly and tranquil fragrance, and the fall, or death, as the petals close and return to the watery, earthy depths from whence it came. The seed of the Blue Lotus begins its journey by sprouting roots and then it digs deep into the original silt or mud deposit. 

This symbolically represents the underworld where all life begins, ends and begins once again to create an infinite loop. With the attraction to the sun's light and its roots ground deep, the water lily begins its journey upwards, surfacing and blossoming to reveal the potential first step in creating everything, such as the start of the day. Alongside this, the beauty of Nefertem and the water lily shows us that these archetypes express pleasure and delight while also  acknowledging the muck or the human condition from where we start. This condition is necessary to truly comprehend and appreciate the beauty of this dream. This connects directly to the Blue Lotus' ability to relax the Mind and body through hypnotic sedation and lucid dreaming. This energy gently shows you the patterns of behavior that hinder your understanding and expression of yourself, it shows you where stagnation occurs and it facilitates clarity and ease. According to the Egyptian Book of the Dead, the Egyptians would utilize the Water Lily in funerary rituals to ease the dead to journey back to the underworld. This ritual was done with trust that the flower would guide the dead to clarity and ground them in faith, and knowing that all things divinely move through love. Blue Lotus was also used to ease the minds of frantic folk experiencing the rise and fall of sun into darkness, bestowing calm receptivity whether in the face of death, emotional hardships or during esoteric initiations. The flower was viewed as an aphrodisiac, not only allowing the mind to settle into a space of openness to pleasures, but also to alleviate individuals who have tension with intimacy. Intimacy blocks make it difficult to be vulnerable with colleagues, friends, or intimate partners. This, therefore creates a state of resistance that can impact every aspect of an individual's reality. The Blue Lotus conversely can induce a state of childlike openness which is closely tied to the god Nefertem's approach to life. The benefit of this medicine is that it breaks down limitations of the mind. It is advisable to examine and question all limitations to remember that they are nothing more than illusions. You are an infinite and unlimited being. Similar to the freedom expressed by children and the energy of Nefertem, we are here to express this jovialness through mature comprehension of Self. We are here to dream limitlessly. Life, like the primordial mud, often seems dirty, gritty, difficult and pointless. This is a perfect opportunity for the lotus deity to rise towards the sun to show himself as the exalted divine child that he is. He pays tribute to the kinder, lighter, more fragrant parts of life. This is always at your disposal but requires effort to pamper, nurture and virtuously allow. By allowing the child aspect to express in such a perfected state, it shows the Mind that it can create order out of chaos. The Blue Water Lily was, and still is, aids you in making things easier to digest. As a warrior shields himself in armor amidst battlefields, you can utilize the representation of this sacred flower as a means to shroud yourself in intentional beauty. Simultaneously, aspects of the old self can die, decompose and become the nutrients necessary to feed the divine flower into existence. This flower is an allegory for what it is to be alive and human and like any spirit or animal ally, its purpose is to guide us through the passages from one level of experience and understanding to the next. The Sun and the Underworld are both metaphors for the Sacred Egyptian Blue Water Lily as connected polarities. Light and dark, sun and moon. Similar to the Egyptian lore, the Blue Lotus chemical profile has the remarkable ability to ease the Mind of constricting psychological or physical modalities that cloud the discernment of what is and what is fabricated. As the Egyptians practiced, take a whiff, have a sip, relax and allow the potion from this rare and wonderful flower to hypnotize and invigorate you into bliss. 

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The active compounds found in the Blue Lotus perfectly match the flower to its legendary mythos across several cultures and across thousands of years. The Blue Lotus alkaloids, which are able to pass the blood-brain barrier, are Aporphine, Nuciferine, and Apomorphine and are categorized as Dopamine Blockades. Each alkaloid targets similar and specific functions of dopamine receptors and brings balance to dopamine in the body. The receptors involve dopamine receptor D₁ and dopamine receptor D₂ antagonists. Dopamine receptor D₁ deals with memory, attention, impulse control, regulation of renal function, and locomotion. Dopamine receptor D₂ deals with locomotion, attention, sleep, memory, and learning. 

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The ancients had an understanding of the Blue Lotus in a way that science is just now just beginning to scratch the surface. The issues that this powerful, yet subtle, flower addresses can be distilled down quickly to the comprehension that both biological and psycho-spiritual mechanisms (the Mind) either prevent or push us into a state of imbalance and misconception of our reality. Does it matter why someone hurt you? No. What matters is the fact that you believe you are hurt. How does one face this? You move through it. You face it head on. To move forward requires you to shut your Mind up and allow yourself to witness the problem or fear through virgin eyes. New, innocent, open eyes that are untainted by the weight of the world. This Quintessence is offered as an opportunity for you to dig into your Mind and change how you relate with the memories of past traumatic experiences--whether those experiences are sexual, parental, financial, spiritual, mental, or physical in nature. You are now offering yourself the opportunity to rewire your neural connections, to rewrite the past and the future, and to live in the present. You are free to choose the story.