Inspiration: Sunflower

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday, driving with friends outside the city (Kiev, Ukraine) i saw a beautiful sunflower field, and i just had to stop and take some pictures 🙂

SPIRITUAL MEANING OF THE SUNFLOWER

Sunflower has been adopted as a symbol of happiness, strength, a love of the sun & sunlight and because it is said to always turn its face to the sun it is considered by some to be a symbol of faith. Some believe that the sunflower represents a constant search for light, or enlightenment. The Chinese believe sunflowers symbolize long life and good luck.

IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
 
There are lots of variations on the Greek Myth Origin Story about the Sunflower. This is the Greek Myth of Clytie (also Clytia) which supposedly tells how the sunflower came into existence. In fact, the original story of Clytie, the water nymph, was not actually about the sunflower at all but a flower named ‘Turnsole.’ It seems that more modern tellings of the story have substituted the turnsole for sunflower. Some versions of the story name the heliotrope or a marigold as the flower. Nevertheless, the Greek myth is a charming tale and fits the sunflower beautifully.

Clytie, the water nymph, was in love with Apollo, the Sun God. She would stare up at Apollo, hoping he would glance her way. But Apollo was in love with someone else and never did favor Clytie with his gaze. When Clytie realised that Apollo was never going to return her love, she sank into a depression and would not eat or drink for nine days but just stare with sorrow at her unrequited love. The other Gods felt sorry for Clytie and they transformed her into a beautiful sunflower which always followed the path of the sun. Note: In the 3rd century BC, Apollo became known as and referred to as ‘Apollo Helios.’