03-10-2025, 06:05 PM
Here are a few more inspirations on how the cosmos was viewed in connection with plants on earth in ancient times. There is a treatise "Sterne und Sternbilder" ("Stars and Constellations") in ancient and modern times by Dr Wilhelm Gundel (1922)
In ancient Persia, it was believed that the seeds of water, air, earth and plants were contained in the stars. In Australian myths, magicians fetch the flowers from the sky. In ancient Greece, it was believed that the seeds of all living things once fell from heaven to earth. The Pythagoreans believed that demons and souls flooded to earth in the sun's dust. The interpretations of the stars are ‘elastic’ if the sky is seen as a fertile realm on which plants and flowers thrive as on earth. Thus it is said in Walloon folklore that the moon sleeps during the day, but walks in a garden full of flowers at night. In a Transylvanian folk tale, the bull always ran away as soon as the boy was asleep, came to the great meadow in the sky and ate golden starflowers. This comparison can also be found in old Greek and Roman plant names, e.g. aster, the ‘Stella’ and in our star flowers, and it also harbours the belief that the earthly flowers and the heavenly stars are identical.
Many myths tell the story of how flowers came to earth. In a friendly chat, little Jesus tells little Johannes that he has many, many shining flowers that adorn the sky, but that people have called them stars. He gave him a brightly shining seed, Johannes planted the seed and told the other children, overjoyed, that he had sown a star in his garden. And in the fall, beautiful plants sprouted from the seed, bearing flowers like stars, and the children jubilantly called them asters or star flowers.
In ancient Persia, it was believed that the seeds of water, air, earth and plants were contained in the stars. In Australian myths, magicians fetch the flowers from the sky. In ancient Greece, it was believed that the seeds of all living things once fell from heaven to earth. The Pythagoreans believed that demons and souls flooded to earth in the sun's dust. The interpretations of the stars are ‘elastic’ if the sky is seen as a fertile realm on which plants and flowers thrive as on earth. Thus it is said in Walloon folklore that the moon sleeps during the day, but walks in a garden full of flowers at night. In a Transylvanian folk tale, the bull always ran away as soon as the boy was asleep, came to the great meadow in the sky and ate golden starflowers. This comparison can also be found in old Greek and Roman plant names, e.g. aster, the ‘Stella’ and in our star flowers, and it also harbours the belief that the earthly flowers and the heavenly stars are identical.
Many myths tell the story of how flowers came to earth. In a friendly chat, little Jesus tells little Johannes that he has many, many shining flowers that adorn the sky, but that people have called them stars. He gave him a brightly shining seed, Johannes planted the seed and told the other children, overjoyed, that he had sown a star in his garden. And in the fall, beautiful plants sprouted from the seed, bearing flowers like stars, and the children jubilantly called them asters or star flowers.