The Flower of Life is a geometric figure made of evenly spaced, overlapping circles arranged in a hexagonal grid, usually 19 circles enclosed by a larger ring. The underlying pattern appears in ornament from antiquity onward, while the name "Flower of Life" and its spiritual meanings come mainly from the New Age sacred geometry movement of the late twentieth century.
Flower of Life at a glance
| Type | Geometric pattern of overlapping circles |
|---|---|
| Common form | 19 circles within an enclosing circle |
| Earliest known example | Assyrian palace ornament, 7th-6th century BCE |
| Name popularized by | Drunvalo Melchizedek, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life (1999) |
| Related figures | Seed of Life, hexafoil (daisy wheel), overlapping circles grid |
| Associated with | Sacred geometry, New Age spirituality |
Geometry of the pattern
The figure is built with nothing more than a compass. A first circle is drawn, and six more circles of the same radius are centered on points of its circumference, each passing through the center of the first. Repeating the step produces a lattice in which every circle passes through the centers of six neighbors. The resulting grid is the same one that underlies the hexagonal and triangular tilings of the plane.
The best-known version shows 19 complete circles surrounded by a larger enclosing circle. Smaller arrangements have their own modern names: the seven-circle core is often called the Seed of Life, and the single six-petalled rosette formed inside one circle is known to historians as the hexafoil or "daisy wheel." Mathematicians and art historians generally describe the whole family neutrally as an overlapping circles grid.
Historical examples
Overlapping circle patterns are old and widespread, which is unsurprising for a design that falls naturally out of compass work. The earliest example usually cited is carved ornament from the Assyrian royal palace at Dur-Sharrukin (modern Khorsabad), dated to the 7th or 6th century BCE and now in the Louvre. In the early centuries of the Common Era the grid became common in Roman mosaics and pavements, and variations appear later in Islamic geometric art, Gothic architecture and European folk carving.
A frequently discussed case is the Osireion at Abydos in Egypt, where several 19-circle figures are drawn in red ochre on granite columns. Popular books often present them as extremely ancient, but their date is uncertain: the drawings are not carved into the stone, and researchers have suggested dates ranging from the early centuries CE to much later, without excluding a modern origin. Leonardo da Vinci also studied the pattern and its proportions in drawings preserved in the Codex Atlanticus.
The modern name and New Age meanings
The phrase "Flower of Life" as the name of this specific figure is commonly traced to the writer and teacher Drunvalo Melchizedek, whose two-volume The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life (1999) presented the pattern as a key to creation, consciousness and a lost body of ancient knowledge. His workshops and books spread the term widely through the New Age and sacred geometry communities.
In those circles the figure is described as a map of how the universe unfolds from a single point, and as a template from which other shapes can be derived, including the so-called Fruit of Life and Metatron's Cube. Practitioners use it in meditation, jewelry, tattoos and home decor, often as a symbol of unity, harmony and interconnectedness. These are beliefs about the symbol rather than historical claims; there is no evidence that ancient cultures that used the pattern attached these particular meanings to it.
Protective and folk uses
The simpler six-petalled rosette has a documented folk history of its own. In Britain and elsewhere in Europe, hexafoils are found scratched into church walls, barns and houses, and historians often interpret them as apotropaic marks meant to ward off misfortune or evil spirits, although the intention behind any single carving is rarely recorded. For more on such symbols, see our guide to protection symbols.
The flowing geometry of these rosettes connects them loosely to other traditions of sacred design discussed in this encyclopedia, from the magical diagrams of John Dee to the symbolic cosmologies of the Gnostic Ophites.
Legacy and contemporary use
Today the Flower of Life is one of the most recognizable images of sacred geometry. It appears on album artwork, logos and clothing, and it has been used as the emblem of at least one futurist organization. Its appeal lies partly in its visual balance and partly in its simplicity: anyone with a compass can reproduce it, and each new circle reveals further lens-shaped petals and hexagons.
Historians caution against reading continuity into every appearance of the pattern. A Roman floor, a Gothic window and a modern meditation poster share a geometry, not necessarily a meaning. Understood this way, the Flower of Life is best described as an ancient decorative grid that acquired a new spiritual identity in the late twentieth century, and it remains a meaningful symbol for many people who use it as a focus for contemplation.
Related entries
On The Mystica today: Protection symbols · Meditation for psychic development
Frequently asked questions
What does the Flower of Life symbolize?
In modern sacred geometry the Flower of Life is said to symbolize creation, unity and the interconnectedness of all life, with the whole universe unfolding from a single point. These meanings were popularized in the late twentieth century, especially by Drunvalo Melchizedek; ancient users of the pattern left no record of such interpretations.
How old is the Flower of Life?
The overlapping circles grid itself is ancient, with an Assyrian example dated to the 7th or 6th century BCE. The figures at the Osireion in Abydos are often called older, but their date is disputed and may be much later. The name "Flower of Life" is modern, dating from the 1990s.
What is the difference between the Seed of Life and the Flower of Life?
The Seed of Life is the smaller core arrangement of seven overlapping circles, one in the center and six around it. The Flower of Life extends the same pattern to 19 circles, usually framed by a larger outer ring. Both are built by repeatedly drawing equal circles centered on the previous circles' circumferences.
Sources and further reading
- Overlapping circles grid · Wikipedia
- Drunvalo Melchizedek, The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life, Vol. 1 (1999) · Light Technology Publishing
This entry replaces an article from the original Mystica encyclopedia (online since 2001). It was rewritten from the sources above by The Mystica Editorial Team under our editorial standards. Last reviewed: September 30, 2026.