BUTTERFLY PEA FLOWER
Balance • Harmony • Tranquility • Clarity • Intuition • Awareness • Good Fortune • Renewal • Rebirth • Transformation • Enlightenment
Butterfly Pea Flower (Clitoria ternatea) is a fast-growing, tropical vining plant from the legume family native to equatorial Asia, known for its vibrant, edible blue flowers. It has long held cultural, medicinal, and spiritual significance, particularly in India, Thailand, and Malaysia.
Butterfly Pea Flower holds deep spiritual symbolism and is a cherished symbol for tranquility, balance, harmony and renewal across various cultures. The vibrant blue flowers are known for promoting calm, clarity, intuition and awareness. This sacred flower is believed to nurture the spirit to attain enlightenment and help balance the spirit, body, and mind.
Butterfly Pea Flower’s common name Shankhupushpam means conch-shaped flower. Aparājitā is the traditional Sanskrit name translates to ‘the unconquered one,’ ‘the undefeated one,’ or ‘the invincible one’. Aparājitā is also the name of Hindu goddess Durga, associated with strength and the overcoming of adversity.
The genus name Clitoria is derived from ‘clitoris’, due to the blossoms' shape resembling the shape of the female vulva. Across the continent in China, butterfly pea is associated with love, lust, and sex, particularly for women. Butterfly pea is believed to support feminine health and wellbeing and promote fertility.
The bright blue petals contain natural anthocyanin pigments, the same polyphenol compounds found in blueberries other blue, red or purple foods. The flowers are used to dye natural fibers and in traditional cuisine. The flowers color rice dishes like ‘nasi kerabu’ in Malaysia, where the blue hue is both an aesthetic delight and a cultural emblem.
The dried flowers have been used to make tea for centuries. The fresh flowers have very little scent, and a mild sweet taste that is mild, with subtle woody, grassy and earthy tones. In Thailand and Vietnam, butterfly blue pea flower tea is commonly mixed with honey and lemon to increase acidity and turn the beverage a pink-purple color, producing a colourful drink usually served after dinner.
Thai folklore tells us that a woman named Isra was taken on an adventure by a half woman half bird creature, called a kinnari. The kinnari showed her these flowers and instructed her to grow them and use them for healing.
In both Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine Butterfly Pea Flower is thought to have a wide range of health benefits including being a brain booster and good for your eye health and natural support to the digestive, circulatory and central nervous systems. It is respected for its tranquilizing and cognition-enhancing properties, it calms the mind, enabling clear thinking and removing stress.
Valued as a rich source of antioxidants Butterfly pea flower is linked to several health benefits, including weight loss, blood sugar control, and hair and skin health. Some studies suggest it may help reduce inflammation, prevent cancer cell growth, and manage obesity by stabilising blood sugar levels.
The deep indigo colour of the flowers resonates with the Ajna or Third Eye Chakra, the seat of intuition, inner vision, and spiritual awareness. Drinking butterfly pea tea or using it in rituals is believed to sharpen intuition and psychic perception, enhance meditation and inner clarity, and support divination and dreamwork.
Butterfly Pea Flower is said to facilitate spiritual awareness, sharpen one's ability to see beyond the material world, and deepen one's connection to the self. Many regard this plant as sacred, facilitating spiritual development and meditation by leading the soul to higher levels of comprehension and lucidity.
In India, Butterfly Pea Flower is revered as a holy flower, and is used in rituals or ceremonies to invoke blessings in the form of protection, good fortune, and divine favour. The beauty of its bright-coloured flowers is said to symbolise the energy of the divine. In many traditions, blue is the colour of truth, wisdom, and divine communication.
The flower is viewed as a force of protection and is used in ceremonies across Southeast Asia to clear negativity, protect against ill energies, and bring harmony to the spirit. It is often infused into baths, teas, and offerings to cleanse energy fields and sacred spaces. In Thailand, drinks and desserts made from butterfly pea are often served to bring the newlyweds good luck and prosperity.
One of the Butterfly Pea Flower’s most profound spiritual associations is renewal and regeneration. It is known for its resilience and its ability to grow, flower, produce seeds and proliferate for future generations. This cycle is often seen as a reminder of rebirth, transformation, and the eternal flow of life.
Butterfly Pea Flower is a key ingredient in my Throat Chakra Tea and Third Eye Chakra Tea.
20g (GLASS JAR) $15
20g (PAPER BAG) $10
