A month ago, I wandered into a second-hand shop I’d never been to before. The moment I stepped inside, I caught a certain vibe: faint incense smoke in the air, black cat pictures on the wall, little witchy trinkets on every shelf. But what really caught my eye were the roses. Dozens of them. And every single one was hanging upside down.
I couldn’t get it out of my head all day. Why upside down? Was it just decoration, or did it mean something deeper? Of course, I went down the rabbit hole, and here’s what I found out. By the end, you’ll also know why the owner of that shop hangs her roses the way she does.
Why Roses, and Why Upside Down?
Roses are already loaded with meaning: love, beauty, devotion. But when you flip them on their heads, they take on another layer. Hanging a rose upside down is a way of catching it mid-transition. It’s not alive anymore, but it’s not entirely gone either. Its beauty is preserved in this in-between state, like pressing pause on time.
People have long used this practice as a way of holding onto a memory, a bouquet from an anniversary, flowers from a celebration, or even blooms from a funeral. Upside-down roses says, I’m not ready to let this moment fade.
Spiritual Meaning
Spiritually, hanging roses upside down is often tied to transformation. Turning this beautiful flower upside down feels symbolic of turning life itself on its head. It’s a small act of defiance against endings, keeping beauty alive longer than nature allows.
It can also be read as resilience. The rose doesn’t collapse when suspended. Instead, it keeps its form, drying into something new. Upside-down roses remind us that even when life feels inverted or strange, we’re still capable of holding our shape, of becoming something different without losing our essence.
When it comes to love, the meaning is even deeper. Hanging roses upside down can carry the energy of love preserved, love remembered, or love transformed. A fresh rose speaks of passion in bloom, but a dried rose keeps the memory alive long after the moment has passed. Lovers have hung roses this way to mark anniversaries, to hold onto the sweetness of a fleeting gesture, or even to honor a relationship that has ended.
Honoring the Past
Many people dry roses to preserve joy: flowers from birthdays, weddings, or anniversaries. The dried petals become memory keepers, carrying forward the warmth of that moment every time you see them.
But roses can also be hung to honor grief. Preserving them after someone has passed turns them into tokens of remembrance, a visible connection to someone no longer physically present. In that sense, the upside-down rose isn’t just about beauty, but about reverence. It holds both love and loss in a single stem.
Letting Go & Shifting Perspective
There’s another layer too: surrender. When you hang a rose upside down, you’re literally letting it drop, trusting gravity to do its work. Some people see this as a reminder to loosen your grip on the things you can’t control… fears, old stories, relationships that don’t serve you anymore.
Flipped roses mirror the way life often feels when we’re in transition: unsettled, upside down, not quite sure which way is forward. But just as the flower changes form, we can too. Sometimes the shift feels uncomfortable, but it’s part of the process that makes space for what comes next.
Back to That Second-Hand Shop
When I finally went back and asked the shop owner why she hung roses that way, she hesitated. But once she realized I wasn’t going to scoff, she explained. The roses were her way of honoring the people who had died in that building before it became her store.
By drying the roses upside down, she said, she was showing respect… acknowledging the lives that came before her. In return, she believed those spirits would leave her in peace and maybe even bless the shop with good energy instead of haunting it.
And honestly? After hearing that, the shop didn’t just feel witchy. It felt sacred.
Hanging roses upside down isn’t just quirky décor. It can be memory, protection, defiance, or surrender. Like most spiritual symbols, its meaning shifts depending on where you are in life. The question is: when you see them, what do they mean to you?
