Mariposa Lilies

One of my favorite spring flowers is the sego lily, the official state flower of Utah. Sego lily, Calochortus nuttallii, is a member of the Calochortus genus in the lily family, which are collectively known as mariposa lilies. When the early Mormon pioneers were struggling to find food, local Native Americans taught them to harvest the bulbs of sego lily which helped save them from starvation.

I’ve only eaten the bulbs once. It was on our annual Boy Scout camping trip to Stansbury Island, an island on the Great Salt Lake. Our scoutmaster taught us how to identify the spring leaves of the plant before it bloomed, and we dug them up using a shovel. We were very careful to trace the plant’s top down to the bulb to make sure we got the right bulb, as a poisonous plant called death camas, which also grows from a bulb, often grows in the same areas as the sego lily.

I thought they were absolutely delicious, and I’d gladly dig them up in a survival situation if I needed food. But the truth is, they were hard to harvest, even with a shovel. I can’t imagine digging them up with sticks the way the Native people did.

I never thought of any other use for the sego lily until I learned about mariposa lily flower essence from FES Services. Although the flower essence comes from a different species, Calochortus leichtlinii, the flowers are very similar in appearance, and I think that sego lily could be used in a similar way. I’ve used the mariposa lily flower essence many times because it is a remedy for a lack of mother-infant bonding. To understand this remedy, we first need to discuss the importance of mother-infant bonding.

The Importance of Mother-Infant Bonding

The feelings of being loved and nurtured by a caring mother are foundational to the human experience. An important bond forms between a mother and her child in the first 30 minutes after birth. This happens under the influence of a hormone called oxytocin, which has been called the love hormone. 

It’s important for mother and child to be together during this period in order for this bonding to take place. During this period, the blood of both mother and infant is flooded with oxytocin, which was used by the body to stimulate uterine contractions during childbirth. The bonding is further enhanced when the mother nurses the child because oxytocin is also released during nursing. 

Many things occur in modern society that can interfere with this bond. Children born via C-section usually do not have this bonding time with the mother. And even with traditional birth, there is a tendency to whisk the baby away to weigh, measure, and check the child, keeping the baby separated from the mother.

When this bond between mother and child isn't developed, a person may feel like no one can really love them. After all, if the proverbial mother’s love isn’t there, who else could possibly feel that way about them? Adults who suffer from a lack of mother-infant bonding often experience deep-seated feelings of being unworthy of love or material (maternal) support. They struggle to prove themselves worthy of love and often have an unfulfilled emptiness inside.

Mariposa Lily Flower Essence 

Mariposa lily is the remedy of choice to (re)establish a positive bond between mother and child. It helps mothers bond with children after a difficult birth or separation. It helps adoptive mothers to bond with their adopted children and adopted children to feel loved and supported by the adoptive mother. In these situations, I give it to both the mother and the child at the same time.

Mariposa lily also supports the healing of adults who didn’t receive adequate mothering as children. It can help these people open up and trust that they are loved by God or a Divine feminine energy. It can help them feel worthy of love and material blessings without struggling constantly to earn it. 

I combine mariposa lily with shooting star flower essence to heal birthing trauma, which causes a child to not be fully present in life. It helps ground and connect someone to this life. I also use it with chicory, bleeding heart, and/or holly flower essences for people who fear separation and are clingy and possessive in relationships due to problems with mother-infant bonding.

FES services also makes flower essences from four other species of Calochortus lilies. Although each has its unique properties, there is a common thread that runs through these plants and other members of the lily family. All of them appear to assist the receptive or feminine side of our natures. 

Star Tulip Flower Essence

The one I’ve had the most experience with is star tulip or cat’s ears, Calochortus tolmiei, which Matthew Wood introduced me to in his book Seven Herbs, Plants as Teachers. This is a remedy for people who are hardened and cut off from others because of abuse or trauma. The fuzzy appearance of the petals is what earns the plant the name cat’s ears, suggesting that they help one have the sensitive attunement to one’s environment that a cat has.

When a person has withdrawn from life due to stress and trauma, they may have a hard time trusting in love. They may become unable to meditate, pray, or trust in God or the Divine. They become unable to find inner peace and the sense of attainment that allows them to receive the spiritual comfort and guidance they need. 

Star tulip helps a person become sensitive and responsive again. It helps them develop the inner quiet so they can listen again to their conscience and the “still, small voice” of the Spirit. Matthew Wood also tells a story of using cat’s ears flower essence to help the hearing and sight of an elderly man, suggesting that opening oneself to the inner senses may also help heal the outer senses as well.

Yellow Star Tulip

This mariposa lily, Calochortus monophyllus, has the same fuzzy appearance as star tulip but is bright yellow in color. It aids people who have become insensitive to the suffering of others and thus may be unaware of how their actions affect those around them. It aids a person’s ability to sense the feelings and needs of others and to be more compassionate and caring.

Again, this lack of compassion and caring for others is often linked to trauma and abuse that a person has suffered, which has caused them to emotionally shut down and withdraw from others. The lack of feeling mothered in this world can make a person cold, cynical, and uncaring. Yellow star tulip helps a person reconnect with that compassion a mother has for her child, restoring the ability to be sensitive to others.

Splendid Mariposa Lily

The splendid mariposa lily, Calochortus splendens, takes the mothering issue to a different level. It deals with our relationship to the Divine Mother or Mother Earth. The person who needs this remedy has deep soul pain and feelings of disconnection and abandonment due to world trauma, warfare, and conflict. They suffer deeply from the divisions that divide the human family because of race, religion, nationality, or social and economic class. 

This remedy helps us align with the idea that we all come from the same mother, whether we link that idea to Eve, the original mother in the Biblical story, or the idea of our all arising from, being connected to, and being nurtured by Mother Earth. This remedy helps us extend the mothering compassion and love to the entire human family. It seems to me that this might be a widely applicable remedy right now, seeing how divided we have become. 

Fairy Lantern

The flowers of fairy lantern, Calochortus albus, look very different than the other species we’ve just considered, and its use as a flower remedy is different as well. In all the species above, the flower petals open wide and look upward. In this flower, the petals remain closed and hang down.

So, we’re looking at the person whose lack of proper mothering left them feeling emotionally helpless and needy, unable to take responsibility for their own life. Thus, they exhibit overly dependent, childish behavior as adults, lacking the maturity to shoulder life for themselves. I think of this as a remedy for the Peter Pans of the world who don’t want to grow up and face adult responsibilities. 

So, there you have it—six different species of Calochortus lilies, along with their potential uses for emotional healing. So, if you, or someone you know, struggles with being open to life because of a lack of a good relationship with the mother or feminine energy, perhaps these remedies can help.