Wisteria Meaning

• Honor
• Memory
• Patience
• Endurance
• Longevity
• Exploration
• Creative expansion
• Releasing burdens
• The duality of love
• Victory over hardship

As symbols of love we see the wisteria in the 1820s Japanese kabuki drama Fuji Musume (Wisteria Maiden). The Wisteria Maiden is depicted in a painting holding a wisteria branch, until one day she becomes smitten with a young man and steps out of the painting in an effort to capture his attention. Unfortunately, her attempts are futile. Her loves goes unrequited, and she sorrowfully steps back into the two-dimensional world of her lonely painting?still holding her weeping wisteria.

Here the wisteria meaning and symbolism speaks of love lost, but also of the ability for the heart to endure in spite of rejection. In other words, here the weeping wisteria expresses sorrow, but it is also an incredibly durable vine, able to live (even flourish) through mistreatment and harsh conditions.

We see more duality in love symbolism from the Victorian era, in which the language of flowers was quite intricate. The symbolism of wisteria in this age dealt a warning of clinging love and understanding that love is the fruit, but our obsession with it will be as choking as the vine.

Wisteria blossoms, eloquently falling in tapered clusters, are considered a visual indication of bowing or kneeling down in honor and respect in Feng Shui. Practitioners of Feng Shui are encouraged to plant wisteria in quadrants requiring somber moments of contemplation to instill quiet honor.

Shin Buddhism also views the wisteria meaning is as a symbol of prayer, or thoughtful reverence for the same reason. The branches and blossoms seem to lower their head in gentle supplication. These vine gestures naturally bring to mind our need for peace, quiet, and time to honor the divine essence (of our own understanding).

Flora records indicate wisteria has been known to live up to 100 years or more, and so here it picks up its symbolism of longevity and immortality. European families mark the ages of generations passing with the growth of this vine, and so it makes sense the vine embodies an essence of immortality (as fathers and grandfathers tell their sons of stolen kisses beneath the same wisteria that grew during the day of their great grandfathers).

Most interestingly, is the wisteria pattern of growth. Like most vines (and ivys), wisteria expansive tendrils grow out in a spiraling motion. The meaning of spirals deal with expansion of consciousness. Spiral?s also point to our awareness as the inner-most center. This awareness spans outward in as spiraling motion to indicate our influence on the outside world. In this manner, vines and ivys also remind us of our interconnectedness with everything on every level.

The wisteria is a voracious grower with the ability to spread out over acres, spiraling out into impressive expanses. Symbolically, we might see this as an external reflection of our own expanding consciousness.

However, keep in mind the wisteria can be destructive in her growth, and requires discipline to avoid spiraling out of control (indeed, the vine has been known to take down entire buildings and trellises with her burdening weight). Wisteria reminds us that the journey into our conscious evolution is vital to our own blossoming. However left unchecked, or practiced without foundational discipline may cause unsavory results.

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