I am back to posting. Thank you to all of you who visited the blog during this past weeks. I am always grateful. For today’s post, I want to feature The Blue Lily Society, a ladies club mentioned in my novels. I made the BLS up. When writing about this group, the name just came to me, and I just named it. It wasn’t until I researched the symbolism of the lily flower in many cultures throughout history that I was pleasantly surprised at how fitting the name was, and how it tied perfectly with the story. Almost eerie, because when I named the group, its purpose had not evolved in the story, and I had not researched the various meanings of the lily flower.

Depending on the culture, the meaning varies, but overall, it alludes to spirituality and the love of God or the sacred. In christianity, it is tied to the Virgin Mary, and many other saints and angels (Gabriel). Therefore, what seemed to me a lovely name for this ladies club, ended up having a strong symbolism throughout the story, and not planned, at least by the conscious mind.

Although I don’t think that there are blue lilies in nature, except for the blue Calla Lily and the Lotus also called Blue Lily or Sacred Lily, the general meaning applies to these, even in Greek mythology referring to the White Madonna Lily that sprouted from the milk of Hera. Hera was the Queen of the Gods. In Christianity, Virgin Mary would be the Madonna. In other ancient cultures, it is associated with deity, purity, the soul, and other meanings. Today, depending on the color, the lily flower represents friendship, purity, prosperity, wealth, devotion, humility …

A few weeks ago, I came across a piece of vintage jewelry that immediately reminded me of The Blue Lily Society in my novels. It is a vintage brooch from France. As soon as I saw it I thought, “this would be something the ladies of The Blue Lily Society would wear at their meetings. I ended up buying it as inspiration for my novels. Here is a picture of the brooch.

 

The color blue, the shield, the cross, and the Lily flower relate to the Blue Lily Society in my novels. How awesome and serendipitous is that?