Flowers also have a special religious place among Spiritualists. In terms of Spiritualist doctrines the Spirit-World is often described as the "Summerland:" an eternal land of meadows and peace, an endless Summer. As Cora L.V. Scott poetically described, "the gardens of God."
The ritual use of flowers among Spiritualists can be traced to the Victorian tradition of the Language of Flowers. In the Victorian Era, when public and private expression was extremely strict, one could express a range of meanings encoded in a bouquet of flowers. One of the most popular uses for this was in courtship where one could express romantic intentions through flowers given as a gift, but it was also used to express a wide range of meanings and emotions: friendship, gratitude, faith, consolation, etc.
The early centers of Spiritualism were the homes of Spiritualists where seances took place in parlors around a family tea table, and flowers were an essential part of the Victorian home. Spiritualism, and this tradition of meaningful floral arrangements began to overlap in these early Home Circles, and the presence of flowers began to be understood within a spiritual context.
Spirits that were present during a séance would often use this flower language as a method of communication, if this was done through mental mediumship the Medium would clairvoyantly be shown flowers used to express specific meanings, this is still a very prevalent method of mediumistic communication used by Spiritualists today. More literally, in physical seances there are accounts of Spirits materializing flowers to the sitters present.
The presence of flowers actually grew to be considered a key component of Spiritualist meetings and seances. It became to be understood that their presence during a séance would give off positive vibrations that could assist in the production of spiritual phenomena and better assist the developing Mediums. Various Spiritualist writers began to offer their thoughts and observations over what sorts of flowers would best assist different kinds of mediumistic phenomena.
What eventually would come to be known as a "Flower Service" is a natural outgrowth of these religious practices that originated in the early Home Circles of Spiritualists.
During a Spiritualist Flower Service, if an individual wanted to receive a "Flower Message" from a Spirit through a Medium, they would be expected to bring a flower or bouquet of flowers to the service. The flowers would be placed on the altar or platform; in most cases it was unknown to the Mediums serving who brought which flowers, and individuals would sometimes add a ribbon or piece of paper to the flowers they brought so that they would know which message was meant for them.
After prayers and hymns, the Medium will take the flowers in hand and deliver a message while holding them. A common misunderstanding is that the flowers themselves are read symbolically, this is not the case, rather, the vibrations from the flowers are supposed to assist the Medium in giving a message from the Spirits reaching out to the individual who brought them to the service.
This method of Mediumship is generally known as psychometry, where the Spirits communicate clairvoyantly generated by the Medium's sense of touch while holding an object, in this case, flowers.
An excellent example of a Flower Service was recorded by George F. Goerner, in his work A Record of Psychic Experiences. George Goerner was the President of the Los Angeles Society for Advanced Psychical Research. In 1922 he published his work which is a cumulation of his research that he collection while attending various seances and Spiritualist Churches services in California mostly during the 1920s.
He recorded a Flower Service that took place at Peoples Spiritualist Church, Los Angeles California during the evening of November 13th 1921.
On the above date I again purchased four roses to take to the church, hoping to have another flower message from mother. I wrapped a piece of writing paper around the stems, on which I had written, "a rose for mother: one for sister Clara; one for sister Annie, and one for Minnie, from George."
Mrs. Miller delivered the flower messages, as usual. She took up my cluster of roses and read the message as follows.
"These beautiful roses bring me the influence of a dear sweet mother. She comes so happy and is pleased to know that you thought to bring them. There are four who come and you brought a rose for mother, one for sister Clara, and one for each of the other two - I do not catch the names clearly but your mother says, we are all here to greet you; we saw you wrap them up and we know who they are for. You don't have to wait until tomorrow, my son. We can tell you know. We are all here."
Mrs. Miller continued: "Your mother says, don't worry about anything, George. I am always with you and things are not going to remain so uncertain much longer. Be patient a little while and you will have much to be thankful for. We are here tonight."
After the conclusion of his account of attending the Flower Service he added some of his thoughts regarding the mediumship he observed from the mediums:
There were probably as many as 30 messages given out by the two mediums - Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Inez Wagner. While a few incidents of unconscious mind-reading seen apparent here and there, the greater part of the messages is so intimately related to events known only to one or two persons on earth and family members on the spirit side, that it would be out of the question to attempt to account for more than one-forth of the results by telepathy.
About a hundred years later, Flower Services continue to be held among Spiritualists, who still even today, in moments of communion with the Spirit-World, incorporate flowers to assist them in raising spiritual vibrations, bringing to mind the verse by Cora L.V. Scott, "the spring-time, with its bursting buds and flowers, gives forth, in its wonderous way, the utterance of prayer."
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