Flower Soldiers

In his book, Lighteningbolt, pp. 326-342, Hyemeyohsts Storm described Flower Soldiers this way:

“What is a Flower Soldier? The Professional Flower Soldiers are a Body composed of Devoted Women and Men who are The Army, and who are dedicated to Learning of the Self and Sacred Mother Life…The first and greatest enemy of humanity is Self-ignorance. The second great enemy is belief. The third great enemy is pretense. And the fourth great enemy is laziness. Flower Soldiers are taught to battle their ignorance, their beliefs, their pretense, and their laziness…The Flower Soldiers teach that people who follow the rules will be defeated when the rules are changed–and the rules change in Life as frequently as we breathe. As an example, the rule is that we must breathe. The rule is not that we breathe always at the same time, in the same way or in the same rhythm…To love and nourish the Self is the most profound and difficult task known to humanity . The reason for the difficulty is because most human beings refuse to accept Self responsibility.“

My interpretation of this concept is that Flower Soldiers are people who, often at great personal risk, practice “radical love,” as Valarie Kaur describes it: love for oneself, love for Mother Earth and love for one’s enemies. Such love requires immense self-knowledge and self-discipline. This is not an easy road. Below is the beginning of a list of people who currently personify Flower Soldiers in my eyes. It’s in no way comprehensive and I’d love to hear your suggestions!

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Valarie Kaur

Valarie Kaur is a civil rights and social justice activist, lawyer, filmmaker, innovator, mother and Sikh American thought leader who founded the Revolutionary Love Project , which inspires and equips people to ground their lives and social justice work in the ethic of love, in order that everyone can have a role in creating a future where we are all safe and free to flourish.

Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist responsible for leading a women’s nonviolent peace movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. that helped bring an end to the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.

Tanaya Winder

Tanaya Winder is an author, singer / songwriter, poet, motivational speaker and educator who comes from an intertribal lineage of Southern Ute, Pyramid Lake Paiute, Diné and Duckwater Shoshone Nations where she is an enrolled citizen. She works in the domains of youth & women empowerment, healing trauma through art, creative writing workshops, and mental wellness advocacy.

Rivera Sun

Rivera Sun is a change-maker, a cultural creative, a protest novelist, and an advocate for nonviolence and social justice. She is the author of The Dandelion Insurrection trilogy, The Way Between trilogy for young people and other novels. She is the editor of Nonviolence News. Her study guide to making change with nonviolent action is used by activist groups across the country.

Scilla Elworthy

Scilla Elworthy is a peace builder, and the founder of the Oxford Research Group, a non-governmental organisation she set up in 1982 to develop effective dialogue between nuclear weapons policy-makers worldwide and their critics, for which she was nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Lyla June Johnston

Lyla June Johnston is a musician, public speaker and internationally recognized performance poet of Diné (Navajo) and Tsétsêhéstâhese (Cheyenne) lineages. Her personal mission is to grow closer to Creator by learning how to love deeper and to support and empower indigenous youth.

Akilah Richards

Akilah Richards is passionate about mindful partnerships and conscious parenting. She uses audio and written mediums to amplify the ways that unschooling in particular, is serving as healing grounds and liberation work for Black, Indigenous/Native, and People of Color communities. By unschooling, she means shedding the programming and habits that resulted from other people’s agency over one’s time, body, thoughts, or actions, and designing and practicing beliefs that align with a desire to thrive, be happy, and succeed.