The Lotus Flower
The Lotus flower in some versions of Egyptian creation story the sun God was born from a blue Lotus that emerged from the primeval waters. The flower itself could be identified with the great goddess who gave birth to the sun. The blue Lotus came to be a general symbol of rebirth. It is also the emblem of the God Nefertem. The sweetly scented blue Lotus grows in still water. It's flowered buds only rise above the water and open their petals when the sun is shining. This Lotus is pollinated by beetles which links it to khepri the beetle God of dawn. The image of the sunrise as a Lotus emerging from the dark waters and opening to reveal its ghosts staman seems to be an ancient image.
From around the 14th century BC on the newly risen sun could be pictured as a naked child sitting inside the Lotus and holding one finger to his lips. In hymns intended to be sung at dawn the sun God Ra is the child of gold who issues from the Lotus. RA was thought to age during the course of the day so the infant God became an old man by sunset
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In some account to Lotus comes into being after the eight primeval beings known as the Ogdoad of Hermopolis fertilized the waters of chaos. These fertile waters were thought of as a great primeval goddess who in the form of a cow or Lotus gives birth to the creator son God. This goddess can be named as man hat where at Hathor or Neith.
Various child God such Horace the child Ihy an Nefertem could be identified with the solar child in the Lotus. Ihy a child of Hathor was called the child who shines in the Lotus .
Nefertem was occasionally shown as a child seated on the Lotus but more often as a man or a lion headed man wearing a Lotus headdress. His epithets such as the great Lotus and the Lotus flower at the nose of Ra. identify him with the Lotus itself. a sweet Set was a distinguishing characteristic of Egyptian deities and effort him was the God who presided over perfume making. In Egyptian funerary art the dead were often show holding a blue Lotus to their nose breathing in the perfume of the Lotus gave them new life as followers of RA
In Hinduism the sacred Lotus grew from the navel of Vishnu as he rested on the waters giving birth to Brahma. The Lotus is a symbol of what is divine or immortal in humanity and the symbol of perfection.
Indian derived iconography both Hindu and Buddhist is full of deities or buddhas sitting cross legged in the center of flame like Lotus petals . The Lotus is the attribute of sun and fire gods an the leading symbol of padma the consort of the great vishnu. It symbolizes the realization of internal potential tantric yoga traditions, the ability to harness the flow of energy moving through the chakra's . Flowering at the thousand petaled Lotus of enlightenment at the top of the skull. A parallel concept is the Golden blossom of Chinese Taoism a Buddhist inspired tradition in which the Lotus is again a symbol of spiritual unfolding
In Tibet and Chinese Buddhism the Lotus is one of the eight auspicious signs. I
In Japanese it is an emblem of incorruptible morality. It also appears in my end iconography apparently with rebirth symbolism
