Lavender
A gentle, delicate connection with the cosmos
For more than five weeks, Heinz Grill focused on lavender and its significance in medicine in the meditation letters he published. (1)
This intense and ongoing focus alone demonstrates the plant’s remarkable significance. Visitors encounter it in both Lundo and Naone. What makes lavender so special?
The research question in the meditation letter was:
How does the essence of lavender, with its ethereal and delicate effect, manifest itself?
Lavender:
Fundamentals of Mental Image Formation
Lavender is a perennial, woody subshrub that retains its leaves—which appear fresh and green in the spring and become slightly grayish-silvery and finely hairy later in the year—even through the winter. At the start of its growing season, lavender sprouts new growth at the tips of the previous year’s branches. Several tiers of opposite, narrow leaves—slightly curled at the edges—develop impressively quickly and vigorously, eventually giving rise to the flowering shoot.
The flowers are impossible to miss. A rich, dark violet color, they form clusters at the tips of the long terminal shoots, which sway gently even in a light breeze. It’s worth taking a closer look: not everything that appears violet is a flower—in lavender, even the sepals are colored!
„The delicacy of the petals, their unmistakable fragrance, the subtle shades of light blue, pink, snow-white, and violet, and finally the artful shape of the flowers stand in contrast to the austere forms and the stems that lignify early“
Karin Mecozzi notes this when she talks about the Lamiaceae family. (2)
The plant family:
Lamiaceae – Labiatae
Rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano, basil, hyssop, savory, lemon balm—and lavender—many of the particularly aromatic herbs prized in the kitchen belong to the same botanical family, the Lamiaceae. The Lamiaceae are primarily found in warm, temperate zones. Most species bloom in the summer and prefer poor, barren sites.
Thyme, rosemary, and sage are well-known relatives of lavender; to provide a clearer picture, these four representatives of the Lamiaceae are shown side by side.
It is interesting to examine the flowers, and here lavender once again stands out in particular: while the flowers of thyme and rosemary sit directly in the leaf axils, sage develops an elongated spike with fairly large individual flowers. As with lavender, the calyx tube is colored, and the individual flowers are arranged in pseudo-whorls. However, none of the three plants considered here presents its flowers as delicately and as far out on long stems to the light and the cosmos as lavender does.
Let’s return once more to the original question:
How does the essence of lavender, with its ethereal and delicate effect, manifest itself?
The selected notes on botanical description and classification have not yet addressed the question of the essence and its ethereal, subtle effect. Some foundations for forming a conception have been laid, to which the question formulated by Heinz Grill can now be added quite freely and unobtrusively.
This is a question that cannot be answered by conventional knowledge alone; it requires repeated engagement, attention, reflection, and observation. Even if we have not yet arrived at an answer, the very act of engaging with the plant is of great value in itself.
„Contemplating the plant in a simple, pictorial form—as it were, just as it appears to the senses in its phenomenological nature, without any added knowledge—brings human consciousness closer to the earthly sphere in a completely natural way. Contemplating plants and images of nature strengthens the connection between human consciousness and the physical realm, without making it dependent on that realm.“ (3)
To consolidate our understanding, let’s take another look:
By considering the plant in relation to the elements, can we expand upon the criteria that have so far been purely botanical in nature?
The lavender and the element of warmth
“Many of the herbs and spices we use every day belong to the Lamiaceae family (Labiatae). They are characterized by their unique ability to transform the sun’s energy and heat into aromatic substances.” I’d like to mention Karin Mecozzi once again here. (4)
The eminent botanist Wilhelm Pelikan, who is credited with developing a comprehensive system of medicinal botany based on the concepts of the etheric and the astral introduced by Rudolf Steiner, associates the Lamiaceae family with warmth.
„The Lamiaceae prefer the Mediterranean, […] They thrive in open fields, dry—even rocky—slopes, maquis, and sunny ridges. It is here that they produce their most characteristic and noble species. […] The Lamiaceae […] preferentially produce their essential oil as a result of this warming effect in their own rhythmic region—the leaf area. […] This warm nature is expressed physically in the formation of special, fiery-aromatic substances, namely essential oils.“
The Lamiaceae, to continue in the words of Wilhelm Pelikan, are one of the major families of plants that attract bees. „When a bee visits thyme, sage, or another member of the Lamiaceae family, a heat-generating animal and a heat-generating plant come together.“ (5)
Lavender and the element of air
It is not only bees that visit the lavender flowers. A blooming lavender bed is enchantingly vibrant and colorful, swarming with a wide variety of butterflies. As we watch the butterflies in flight, the atmospheric sphere comes to life and feels vivid. When a butterfly visits a flower, two spheres meet: The earth, reaching toward the sky in the form of the plant, and the cosmos, leaning toward the earth through the butterfly, the bee, and the bumblebee. Lavender in particular—whose flower spikes grow on exceptionally long stems and which exudes an intense fragrance—penetrates and enlivens the atmosphere very intensely.
Nature photographer Martin Sinzinger has explored this idea and provided some images.
Lavender as a therapeutic agent
Its therapeutic effectiveness in wound treatment has been reported. Another area of application for lavender, due to the tannins contained in the plant, is in digestion and bile production.
The main active ingredient, however, is the essential oil from the flowers; it has a calming effect on the central nervous system and also on the nervous system of the trachea, as pharmacist M. Pahlow notes in his standard work “The Great Book of Medicinal Plants.” (6)
Markus Sommer describes the use of lavender as helpful for difficulty falling asleep, anxiety, nervousness, and states of tension and restlessness. His carefully crafted therapeutic profile also considers potential applications for degenerative nervous system diseases, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. (7)
Heinz Grill: Lavender and organism of the air
“Calming and harmonizing”—Heinz Grill points to a traditional therapeutic use of lavender. However, he emphasizes its connection to the “air organism.”
„The lavender bush “breathes,” and that is why its fragrant products have a very pleasant, supportive effect on the lungs. Lavender is also said to be very healing and balancing for melancholy and a tendency toward emotional withdrawal. It provides a kind of relief through its natural breathing process in nature, but it cannot sufficiently cure an established lung disease.“ (8)
“It has a very intense connection to the cosmos and loves to come into contact with its periphery. It seeks a gentle connection with the outer light space—sensitive, lightly radiating, and at the same time receptive. […] It is a luminous movement that manifests itself in the chemical ether and the light ether. The plant is open; it is in no way shielding or closed off.“ (9)
With these words, Heinz Grill shares his impressions of his research. This vivid description opens up an entirely new realm of perception and sensation, drawing attention to the moment when a plant comes into contact with light and air.
Heinz Grill captures this impression in the following meditative passage:
„Lavender strengthens the sensory realm; it lifts the breath to its original, light, touching, and cosmic currents“
Lavender shapes the landscape and the atmosphere
As previously noted, lavender is native to the western Mediterranean region; it thrives in dry, full-sun locations; it colonizes rocky terrain and garrigues throughout the Mediterranean region. (29) In this sense, a plant is always an expression of specific geographical, climatic, or seasonal conditions; it is bound to the place and time in which it is situated.
This perspective is expanded upon by another meditative question from Heinz Grill:
„How does a vast, expansive lavender field affect nature and the essential forces of nature? How does a lavender plantation influence its surroundings, and what forces does the field of plants attract? […] A wide variety of interplay of forces comes into play, which can even be discerned in the weather conditions.“ (9)
Here, we need to completely reverse our usual way of thinking: it is not only the environment that affects the plant, but also—conversely—the plant that affects the environment!
Of course, it must be cultivated; but in conjunction with human efforts in design and care, certain favorable conditions can evidently be created.
„A field of lavender draws beautiful forces of warmth and light from the cosmos down to Earth. It is also a field of influence that favorably promotes weather conditions conducive to a dry atmosphere. The delicately fragrant component that the lavender then releases is the result of the preceding cosmic, ethereal currents flowing from above downward. This connection with the cosmos, the light, the air, and even the entire surroundings is subtle and delicate. For this reason, the sensory sphere breathes, and a subtle stimulation extends all the way into the lungs, allowing the air to circulate more easily.
The lavender field creates a sensitive, light, and cosmically atmospheric mood—subtly touching and gently enveloping.“ (10)
“Lavender is ideal as a garden plant“
“In Lundo, more and more strips of lavender are being planted and small fields are being cultivated to stimulate the natural element of moving air.” (11)
The lavender plantings, which delight every local resident and visitor with their color, fragrance, blossoms, and the insects they attract, are, in this sense, a particularly beautiful example of how spirituality is put into practice and made available to fellow human beings and the environment.
Text: Lilly Zahara, 25.06.2026
Image: Martin Sinzinger, Ulrike Sinzinger
Image: Lavender field in Provence Karl Egger über pixabay
Illustrations: Ruth Weber, Heinz Weber (29)
(1) If you would like to receive regular meditation newsletters on current topics and issues, please express your interest by sending an email to the following address:
meditationsinhalte@mail.de
(2) Karin Mecozzi, „Ars Herbaria. Heilpflanzen im Jahreslauf“, Natura-Verlag 2014, S. 131
(3) Heinz Grill, „Die Seelendimension des Yoga. Praktische Grundlagen zu einem spirituellen Übungsweg“, 7. unveränderte Auflage 2022, Stephan Wunderlich Verlag Sigmaringen, S. 112.
(4) Karin Mecozzi, „Ars Herbaria. Heilpflanzen im Jahreslauf“, Natura-Verlag 2014, S. 131
(5) Wilhelm Pelikan, „Heilpflanzenkunde“, Bd. 1, S. 43ff, 8. Auflage 2012, Verlag am Goetheanum
(6) Apotheker M. Pahlow, „Das große Buch der Heilpflanzen“, 9. Aufl. 2020, Nikol-Verlag Hamburg, S. 206.
(7) Markus Sommer, „Heilpflanzen“, Aethera-Verlag Stuttgart 2023, S. 224 ff.
(8) Aus dem Meditationsbrief 342 vom 2. Mai 2026
(9) Aus dem Meditationsbrief 345 vom 24. Mai 2026
(10) Aus dem Meditationsbrief 345 vom 24. Mai 2026
(11) Aus dem Meditationsbrief 345 vom 24. Mai 2026