September 12, 2018 1 Comment
Good question! And to be totally honest I don’t really know exactly—it is many things and it is always evolving—as am I. Ever changing, ever growing, like the Earth herself.
Here’s is what I do know, now, in this moment.
Soulflower is my personal spiritual journey of self-discovery, growth and understanding of the truth of who and what I am: a manifestation of LOVE itself. Nature at work. As are we all.
The creation of the Soulflower Plant Spirit Oracle deck itself was the start of my journey back to myself after a lifetime detour. The few years beforehand were the fertile soil, where I found myself uncomfortable and unhappy with my life. Fully enmeshed in my stories of suffering, self-pity and victimhood, my body was screaming at me daily, (with my chronic headaches) to do something about it!
I knew that the only place where I truly felt happy, felt like myself, was out in the garden. And so that is where I finally went….but this time with my journal and my paints and a deep desire to take responsibility for the life I was creating.
Understanding doesn’t come overnight. Personal growth doesn’t come overnight. But after two years of using my art to connect with myself through the teachings of the flowers, I realised little by little how far I had deviated from my truth. How out of alignment I was in my life and how every single flower I worked with was a balm, a medicine, and a key to unlocking and shedding those layers of what I was not.
When I had finished the deck, I discovered that my heart wanted to share my work so that others could do the same—connect with themselves through the power of Nature in the form of flowers—and so I self-published it and my Soulflower heARTswork came into being.
Soulflower sprouted and has grown slowly right alongside me since that first printing a little over two years ago. I sometimes joke that I am a “late bloomer”, but to be honest I don’t think that I have quite bloomed yet. The bud is certainly forming though, and even where I don’t have a clear vision of what the flower will look like, I can feel it’s potential, and I am leaning towards that. Some days that scares the sh*t out of me and other days it expands my heart with so much joy that I feel fit to burst!
Contrary to my desire to try and have control over my life and trajectory, the whole experience of showing up for this work has “forced” me to slowly, and sometimes painfully, let go of manytightly held beliefs and habits.(Dandelion medicine😊)
It has "forced" me tolearn and grow and show up in ways that I could not of imagined a short time ago. It seems then, that the first publishing of the deck was not an ending, but was more of a beginning of me learning to be myself and follow my heart. And always the flowers are here, gently guiding me.
Soulflower is an external manifestation of my inner spiritual work as I learn to navigate the ups and downs of being human.
Soulfloweris an acknowledgement that we all move through life in ever-changing states of judgement and struggle that cause us to forget who we are and it is an understanding that this is a necessary part of our human journey. It is how we learn. It is how we grow.
And so over and over again as I spiral through cycles of fear and suffering, happiness and joy, I head out to the garden, into Nature. Through the love and wisdom of the flowers that are my friends, teachers, and confidents, I am able to make some sense of my physical, emotional, and mental symptoms and the stories and experiences that play out in my life.
Through the love and wisdom of Nature I find the peace I need to connect to my inner truth so that I can develop the skills and new understandings necessary to get myself back on course, back to a state of self-compassion, forgiveness and joy.
This, to me, IS the definition of growth. And itseems that every time we deviate from the truth of who we are, we are reminded over and over and over again that we are fully supported and guided and that we have everything we need within to be happy and to be whole.
Soulflower then is also my daily reminder to look within, to follow my own internal guidance system, my heart. To seek out and discover the structures that help me stay connected to my internal guidance system as I go about living my life.
Soulflower is a constant work in progress, ever-evolving as we all are.
Happiness and joy is a constant work in progress. It is a state of being, a choice, not an end reward. There is no finish line. And I know deeply that this is the gift of life itself. To discover over and over that the source of true happiness, true love and true peace comes from within.
And so I am sharing my journey as I learn and grow along with the loving guidance of Nature. I am sharing my art. I am sharing my thoughts. I am sharing my love and connection with the natural world. I am sharing my hopes and dreams, my fears and struggles. All of it. I am sharing my life. Giving it voice, giving it form so that I may know myself authentically and create from my heart.
We all have so much to learn from the flowers, from the trees, from the Earth and all her elements and from each other, and as my understanding of the flowers, and the interconnectivity of all of nature deepens, so does my understanding of myself. Understanding myself is empowerment.
My Soulflower journey then is me learning how to express myself fully, authentically, to myself and others. I want to create a new way of living and being on this Earth, with a deep understanding and compassion for the interconnectivity of all life, both seen and unseen. And I want to inspire and empower others to do the same.
Soulflower is my BIG DREAM and my way to help heal the Earth.
I know in my heart that the only way this is possible is for me to take responsibility for healing and becoming whole myself.
So finally, my logo is a Dandelion seed, which showed up long before I understood her significance (as is often the case with Plant Spirits). It has come to symbolize my wish, and my intention to spread the seeds of empowerment to others on their healing (wholing) journeys as I journey through mine.
Through my art, through my words, my stories and through my actions, I hope to inspire others. Not to do the same, but to realize the power of their own hearts to lead their way.
One by one, as we come home to ourselves, we will help bring the Earth back into balance with our empowered, fully embodied and fully realized Divine Feminine energy.
1 Response
Barbara trask
April 08, 2022
Perfectly lovely!
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