Flower Symbols: The Language of Love

all the books on flowers and their meanings are something new to understand of day gone by

Kathleen Karlsen's book Flower Symbols: The Language of Love is a beautiful compendium of information about flowers. It includes well-resourced details on their meanings in our lives from folklore to current uses. Even more interesting is Kathleen's insights into how the beauty and higher vibrations of flowers helps our own human spiritual journey to evolve. She weaves together our human life with the beauty of the plants that remind us about a journey of the heart that is always beckoning. If one has ever seen Kathleen's paintings, you will understand that her book puts into words that which speaks in all of her artwork.Kathleen's book is easy to read and is well-organized. Truly, this book deserves a place on your bookshelf that is within easy reach. It can help the healer with uses of flowers and deepen ones understanding of higher vibrations. Just as well, Kathleen's information can help the bride-to-be who is searching for the right bouquet to express her special love. She also writes about other uses of flowers in our many traditions and ceremonies of life. This book would also be a good resource for any writer, from non-fiction to fiction, to help understand how the symbols of flowers and their rich history in the fabric of our human thought has evolved over many years of life.Perhaps even more notable, Kathleen's opening preface of Gratitude to her family and friends sets a unique tone of love for her whole book. Kathleen is an extraordinary woman, artist and mother, media specialist and wife, and more. She's a woman who is really living her life and her work and writing is a clear presentation of the quality of her heart and life.And so, with great blessings, I hope this book will speak to you as well. It would make an excellent wedding gift or expression of concern for another. It's informative and beautiful, and even more, it's an expression of love and the heart.Blessings,Rebecca CourseySongbird Healing StudioStructural Integration, Advanced Energy HealingBozeman, Montana

Flowers heal. They have frequencies and personalities and meanings. No one knows this better than Kathleen Karlsen, who uses their imagery in beautifully healing artwork... and now in a very helpful book.I had the great pleasure to know Mrs. Karlsen while living in Montana. Visiting her art studio was like walking through a series of canvas gardens. Each floral piece is made with a thick paint so that the petals actually reach out and bend or curl or curve naturally. Kathleen combines her knowledge of each plant, with her understanding of symbolism and color therapy and intuitively creates each piece to bring specific healing for the soul. Step into one of Karlsen's paintings and you enter another world--one of great peace or joy--depending upon the colors or flowers used. They're healing.Karlsen's book allows us to see the plant world through her eyes. By making subconscious meanings more conscious, we can become more mindful contributors to our world. Artists--read this book to know which flowers should bless your next creation. Gardeners--use this guide to plant the flowers that will attract what you want in life. Lovers--roses are wonderful, but there are times when you might want to say something more.There's a few goodies for cooks (edible flowers) and healers (flower essences) and teachers (wonderful history and stories), too.A delightful read and wonderful resource.

I gave this book as a gift for Mother's Day and my mother continually tells how much she loves it. She has raved about how beautifully the book was written. Every time I talk to her she tells me about something new from the book. I don't think I could have found a better gift for someone who is a former florist and passionate gardener.

"Flower Symbols" is a precious and enlightening book. Certain flower meanings have certainly seeped into pop culture (Red roses for love, pink for affection, yellow for friendship, etc.), but Karlsen delves deep into historic symbolic meanings of a wide bouquet of flowers. It enhances your appreciation of their use in art--whether looking at a historic work or creating your own images. Beyond the world of art appreciation, the book is a lovely resource for creating floral gifts with a greater level of meaning--based on the type of flowers and their colors. The day I read the book, I immediately used it to craft a birthday bouquet that communicated Hope, Playfulness, and Magic. What fun. As icing on the cake, Karlsen also provides an overview of essential oils and healing uses of flowers.

This compendium, for me, is a work of delicate genius. "Flower Symbols" echoes Shakespeare's eloquent appreciation of the links between the visual qualities of flowers and the better, even divine, qualities of people. I found myself thinking, this is a wonderful approach to spirituality.Kathleen Karlsen has gone over the heads of most botanists to codify both practical and mystical information about the most popular flowers and their historical meaning to people. But there's more to "Flower Symbols" than an orderly presentation of the arts of symbolism. There's a drawing-in to the delicacy of those meanings, an unspoken serendipity in the way that these words about flowers induce a self-sustained meditation on the beautiful shapes, colors and qualities the reader sees, smells and feels. In the presence of these, I felt I was in an unending garden, perhaps in one of the meditations of Saint Francis of Assisi.