Communicating with Magnolia - "The Great Mother" of Flowering Plants

A place becomes home when it sustains you, when it feeds you in body, as well as spirit”. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass

It’s no surprise that I have been working with the Australian Native Bluebell Code – when I received the urge to write this piece about Magnolia - which has been brewing in me over the last few months. Native Bluebell is about unconditionally and joyfully welcoming all to her country, she reminds us to tread lightly and respect this country on which we live. She told me that to truly feel welcome here, I must also welcome all parts of myself back home. All those parts of me that I have rejected or projected on to another, not acknowledged or hidden, or disowned through shame in this life or the shame I carry ancestrally (even if I don’t know the history). She spoke to me about the importance of integrating these back within me and how she can support me in this.

My journey with her also led me to reflect on the Magnolia tree, which has been a constant companion for the past ten years, as it grows outside my bedroom window. I recently read it is known as the “Great Mother” of flowers being thought to be the first flowering plant on Earth well over 100 million years ago. The magnolia was named after Pierre Magnol. (Magnol comes from Latin magnus, meaning “large, great or important one”.)

I could feel Magnolia was very motherly, wise, crone like, but I had no idea she was related to the first flowering plant. I have felt her presence, her support and nurturing very strongly over this last year as she begins to dominate my whole window. This has made me curious to find out about her.

This year her flowers have been prolific and like all years they have been magnificent. I am always fascinated by their beauty, their texture, and perfume, yet they do not last a long time once they bloom so you must be very mindful so you can catch their flowering. The bees never miss the opportunity though - their incredible buzzing as they literally fill her flower alert me to the unfolding – they are in a total frenzy, knowing it will not last. Originally, she was pollinated by a beetle before the bees were even present on Earth and is still done so in many areas of the world but I couldn’t find any information out about this in Australia and I have certainly never witnessed the beetle pollinating her.  

I have been observing the many stages of her flowering this year, apparently there are 14, I’m not sure I have noticed them all. I love the contrast of the leaves – with their dual colours top and bottom, they seem so sturdy and strong. The centre of the flower is also beautiful, with the stamens that spiral down on a beautiful crimson stalk. The carpels are a sunny yellow colour. After the flower loses its petals, the centre dries up into a hard cone which contain the seeds. Even that is like a work of art and sometimes I use these in my nature offerings.

I have felt the spirit of the tree much more strongly than ever before during these last 6 months. I have found myself communicating with her regularly and recently I noticed her seeds for the very first time. They are an incredibly vibrant red and I couldn’t believe that I had never noticed them before. They are like little guardians, protecting the potential for new life.

I have loved discovering all the little things about her over these years just as I do with any plant that I begin to have a relationship with. Just like we do with other humans, or animals, or in fact any sentient being that we build a relationship with.

As I researched more about the magnolia, I learnt that she symbolises magnificence, dignity, perseverance, and purity. In ancient China, she’s known as the “jade orchid flower,” embodying feminine aspects of life. In Japan, she’s associated with love for nature, nobility, and tenacity. The fact that magnolias have endured for so long speaks to her strength and deep connection to all life.

Medicinally the bark has been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine as a sleep aid, as well as treating gastrointestinal issues, respiratory problems, and central nervous system disorders.

Ruled by the Element of Earth and the Planet Jupiter, some believe the Magnolia arrived on earth around the same time as the Pleiades (Seven Sisters) were being birthed into the cosmos. Maia is the name of the fourth brightest star in this cluster, and the eldest sister. In Greek mythology Maia was the daughter of Atlas – who was the Titan who holds up the sky and Pleione (the Oceanid). Maia was the Great Mother of the Greek god Hermes. She was also known as the celestial mother of the planet Mercury.

May was also named after Maia, who was also the Roman grandmother of spring, fertility and flowers. In Greek Maia means lady or elder mother. In Latin, Maia is related to the words maior, majus, magnus, maius meaning larger, greater, magic and illusion. Maia can be translated as grandmother or “great mother”.

I wonder is there some connection - this Great Mother of the flowers, Magnolia, is she an earthly reflection of the celestial Maia, this elder Great Mother, the eldest sister of the Pleiades?

I notice she has been a pillar of support to the St Andrews Cross Spider this year too, many of them in fact. They grow alongside her and have reproduced here too. I see how she supports this family of spiders who have spun their webs by attaching to many of her branches and to other plants nearby.

I see the reflection of her own growth as a symbol of my own. She teaches me to honour my own cycles of growth, to be present for each part of the journey, to observe and feel into the unfurling of my outer coat as I begin to open to bloom. Her message to me is clear: celebrate and take the time to enjoy your own unique blooming, however fleeting, create something beautiful from it, and then release it into the world. In doing so, you share your seeds with others, creating something much larger than yourself.

She is full of wisdom. She whispers to me to step into my feminine ways of knowing, to lean into her when I feel the need for her support, emotionally, spiritually, physically – she is there to listen and to hold me. She says remember to tend to your own needs, as she naturally knows how to. She thanks me for tending her, and is there to reciprocate this tending back.

Finally, as I sit finishing this piece on Magnolia, Native Bluebell appears to me once again, revealing another connection. She shows me the parallel between my own disconnection from this country, symbolized by my planting of Magnolia in my garden all those years ago —this non-native plant—without considering its impact on the native plants and animals around it, and the actions of our ancestors and their disconnection to this country - by arriving and planting their lives here on this land with little regard for the country they were colonizing, and the impacts that it would have - the immense pain and grief to its original peoples that is still so evident today.

Yet, despite this, Native Bluebell shows me another level: the depth of love and reverence I hold for this country, a love that mirrors the support this country has shown me over the years. She reminds me that, despite the past, there is room for healing. I see how she, in her wisdom, holds the Magnolia and its seeds as one of her own, nurturing them in the same way she nurtures everything around her. This "Great Mother" of flowering plants clearly has some connection to all flowering plants, just as we, as human beings, are connected not only to each other but to the same Great Mother - and just like the web of the St. Andrew's Cross Spider, which connects Magnolia to the other plants, there exists a vast, intricate web connecting all things in this universe.

And so, I thank Native Bluebell for her deeper lesson, for showing me the beauty of acceptance, healing, and connection. I also offer my gratitude to Magnolia for her support and wisdom, for being a constant presence in my life. Finally, I give thanks to this country that shares so much of its beauty and strength with me. I offer my support back to her, in whatever form she may require, knowing that we are all part of this magnificent web of life.