Oh my Gods!- Deity of the month: Flora

Flora, goddess of flowers, was often depicted with a floral crown upon her head.

Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers. Flora was often associated with the coming of spring and the fertility of the land. She also symbolizes love, beauty, and abundance. Although she is one of several roman fertility goddesses she was considered have played a minor role in the greater roman religion, however she does have her own class of priests (known as the flamen) who were specialized in her rites and religious activities. It's also believed that her name stems from proto-italic word *flōs ("flower"), which stems from the proto-indo-european word *bʰleh₃ōs ("blossoming").

Some of her symbols and offerings include:

• The rose which represented her love and beauty

  
  

• Sometimes she is depicted with a cornucopia, representing abundance and fertility. She also represents spring, abundance, beauty, love, renewal and growth.

  
  

• She is honored in the festival Floralia - a celebration of spring and fertility featuring games, theatrical performances, and floral decorations. Celebrated from April 27-May 3 in Ancient Rome.

  
  

• To invoke Flora’s energy, you may garden, plant, embrace your own beauty, dance, connect with nature, create flower arrangements, or flower crowns! In turn, flowers are the best offering to place on an altar to her.

But what better way to honor this Goddess of flowers than by simply upkeeping on the local wild flowers in your area to preserve the natural beauty of the land! Perhaps by choosing to plant native plants this season you could also create a small sanctuary for native insects and other little critters. Anywho, thats our scoop for this monthly article of different deities and we hope you folks enjoy, blessed be!