Ewige Blumenkraft (German: "eternalflower power" or "flower power forever") is given inRobert Shea andRobert Anton Wilson's 1975Illuminatus! Trilogy as aslogan or password of theIlluminati.
Since "flower power" is a modern concept advanced byhippies, it is likely that Shea and Wilson intended this as a joke, although, characteristically, they never say so. They attribute the disclosure of this slogan to an article by Shea written under the pseudonym "Sandra Glass" in the magazineTeenSet for March 1969. Another possibility is that the rose and lotus flower are an important symbol of spiritual development in both the western and eastern mystery schools.
Ewige Blumenkraft und ewige Schlangenkraft is also offered inIlluminatus! as the complete version of this motto. The text translates "Schlangenkraft" as "serpent power"; thus "Ewige Blumenkraft und ewige Schlangenkraft" means "eternal flower power and eternalserpent power" and may allude to the conjoinment ofcross and rose within thealchemical furnace. In this interpretation, the authors seem to suggestsexual magic as the secret or a secret of the Illuminati. "Schlangenkraft" likely translates the title ofArthur Avalon's classicThe Serpent Power, where it refers to theKundalini. The term was used as publisher's imprint for the first edition of the SimonNecronomicon.
Illuminatus! quotes Glass as claiming that the phrase figured in an incident involvingChicago MayorRichard J. Daley and SenatorAbraham A. Ribicoff during the1968 Democratic National Convention. After Ribicoff criticized Mayor Daley for instructing theChicago Police Department to deal harshly withanti-war demonstrators, Daley shouted something inaudible at Ribicoff, leading to widespread speculation about what Daley had said. TheTeenset article, according toIlluminatus!, introduces the novel theory that Daley shouted "Ewige Blumenkraft!"—presumably marking Daley as a member of the Illuminati.
Sandra Glass was apseudonym for Robert Shea, who was playing a prank on the readers ofTeenSet. The article (as quoted inIlluminatus!) cites Simon Moon—a fictional character fromIlluminatus!, as well as one of Robert Anton Wilson's pen names—as the source of its background information on the Illuminati.
Ewige Blumenkraft is also the title of a 2001 album by the GermanStoner/Psychedelic rock groupColour Haze.[1]
"Ewige Blumenkraft" is the title of a 2003 song by the Germanpunk rock groupDie Ärzte.
Blumenkraft is the title of a 2007 psychedelic dub album byOtt.
Ewige Blumenkraft is the name of an achievement in the Xbox 360 LIVE Arcade gameSpace Giraffe.