From Winter's Garden
As Rose canes peek through blankets of snow and the garden is quietly hibernating, I've been working day and night on a flurry of new artworks and projects that will be shared soon. In the meantime, here are some notes from my garden, and a reading from Pythia's garden.
One of the most joyful parts of growing a garden is planning for what could be. The endless petals of English Roses, the otherworldly hues that vibrate off of each Hibiscus bloom, petite Viola growing in the darkest midnight black — this is what keeps me inspired and intrigued.
From late-Autumn through early-Spring, you'll find me feverishly flipping through my sketchbooks of gardens past, researching new blooms and figuring out how my little space could hold as many cut-flowers as I can dream of. I have big plans for this coming season, and perhaps you do, too. These seeds, from Floret, are a fraction of what I hope to bloom.
Before I get back to planning for the Spring, I thought I'd share a reading from the garden of the Pythia Botanica Oracle deck.
Protea is Sea Change, a card of transformations too powerful to recast. Accept weakness, buoy yourself atop the current and heed the prevailing tempest. The wind will call you by a new name.
Cosmos is Poised Stardust, a sweeping call for balance. In spite of appearances, there is always symmetry, from the smallest certain cell to the most vaporous of worry. Be daunted by disorder, and then enraptured by its antithesis.
Nasturtium is Begin Forever, a card reminding us to have the will to begin, over and over―to create, to live, to breathe. It is an everyday reminder most benefiting on days of poignant lethargy. Dusk is the Dawn of the night. Light your next candle with the last.
The Pythia Botanica is one of my most personal and treasured works, delving into my Hellenic culture and weaving together the Greek Mythology my Grandmother would tell me as a child with the flowers I hold so dear. These 48 cards were hand-illustrated with care, complete with guiding words to hone in on deeper, personal meanings behind the magic, myths, history and healing properties inherent to such botanical gifts. Inspire or inform, invoke or transform, allow the spirit of these plants to guide you.