ARTWORK: ‘Standing in Evening Light, Always ~ Monastery of the Holy Trinity, Meteora, Greece’ mixed media Cheralyn Darcey 2016
If this scented garden beauty connects with you today, you will need to look at physical self-care of longer term issues as well as perhaps looking after your appearance. Might be time for a hair treatment, an enriching natural mask, more water intake or just good old rest. Partnerships and trust issues are raised at this time. Be aware of looking after trusts you hold and those you have given. Have a check-in today with those connected with you to ensure all is well. Clear communication is key. Various Evening Stocks can be grown in full sun with well drained soils. They don't really like very cold climates so you may need to pick your position well for a bit of shelter in this case. Seeds can be sown from Spring through to early Autumn. Once established, they will do really well pretty much on their own. May Flowers bless you always, Cheralyn xx
There was a time when plants and people knew each other.
The relationship strained and broke as we first took it for granted and then lost it. Now we look for other 'things' which we believe will fill the void of our own making or worse, we clamber like zombies chasing the one true new secret plant of answers to all our ailments and needs until we ruin land and the cultures which have protected it. All we need to do is be still. Listen to the Language of Plants right where you find yourself.
It's been a week of feeling the fresh chill of winter roll in across the Lake and the bracing winds from the Sea, with of which seem to be emulating my tides of life at the moment. I'm slowly getting my feet back after a setback with my work and finding a way forward. It's easy to hide, to hibernate and withdraw completely for the warmth of comfort or the known at times like these but it's very liberating to rug up and be brave and forge forward. That's what I'm doing and feeling enlivened by it. Rug up and don't you give up either! There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing choice.
The Language of Flowers and Plants and Magick
I love to garden, I adore exploring botanical history and I especially find interesting the way folk lore helps us with indications to the energy and therefore meanings of flowers and plants. Through these explorations across time, cultures, places and faiths, time again I find people practicing various Plant Magick. But what is Plant Magick? Does it exist? How can you experience it?
My Garden This Week We found a daybed for the garden! *yah* This meant we needed to quickly learn how to build a retaining wall and do a bit of serious landscaping.
Veggies: Beans! More beans are sprouting this week and making their way up the fence. I put in a new eggplant.
only two so far before the cold sets in I hope more might make it!
Harvesting: beetroot, celery, silverbeet, spinach, french beans, lettuce and a late tomato struck from some dug in compost. Very sweet tiny toms!
adore my French Beans. Such pretty and delicate beauty
In The Studio I am creating new labels and expanding the range of my Flower Mists. Many stores have now asked to stock these and I am busy making that happen. There's a lot of logistics that need to be properly set up. It's exciting getting this interest from people and places who already have my cards and now would like to make a deeper connection with my work. Very grateful. I will have a list of stockist available on my website soon and for those not able to find a nearby stockist, I will have them in my Etsy store.
A flurry of joyful activity surrounds the creation of a Flora Flower series of books and I am incredibly grateful for a business which is encouraging me to "get her out into the world!" Flora loves plants and people and is looking pretty good in a series of books I hope to share with you all very soon.
Mind Body Spirit Festival, Sydney
I am delighted to be sharing two seminars at the upcoming festival in Sydney. Seminars are free for all Festival visitors and Festival entry tickets are free for those who register online at this link: https://tickets.exponews.com.au/822
"Flower Reading for Divination & Healing" Saturday 29th May 11:30am Seminar Room B Learn how you can Read Flowers for healing and for insight in this interactive workshop. I will also gift a mini reading to each participant at the workshop.
"Sacred Flower Meditation" Sunday 30th May 2:00pm Seminar Room B Cheralyn invites to a beautiful healing Flower meditation. Let us explore your Flower Guide and hear what he or she has to say to you. I will also leave each meditation participant with a beautiful Spirit Guide Flower Reading.
Plant Resource of the Week Every now and then the work of this wonderful author comes up in conversations and I love to share it. This week it was during an interview I was giving for a magazine. For those of you who have not explored the botany of desire, I'd really love to suggest the book/documentary. I'm not 100% aligned with Pollan's views on flowers but the heart of what he explores and sets forth is fascinating and will really help those of you also interested in ethnobotany and the language of flowers and plants. The Botany of Desire by Micheal Pollan book enliven my work and sent me on many different areas of thought and research when it was released and for a long time now the documentary has been around based on this amazing book. I've mentioned both a lot throughout the years online, (on my blog and social media) and in my every one of my workshops and presentations. Again the past week it has come up again with those I've connected with. Here is a link to a preview. It is shown from time to time on various services and available on DVD or you could read the book!
FLOWER OF THE DAY If you follow my Florasphere Facebook Page you will find I share a FLOWER OF THE DAY postcard with interesting additional information, like the one below each day (at about 8am Sydney time). The artwork is either from one of my decks or books or from my journal or other art. I share the flower which I feel best connects with the energy of the day and perhaps it may contain something for you as well. To enjoy a new card each day which you are welcome to download and also to share them online, go to the Florasphere Facebook Page and click like and then click the like button again to set up how you would like to see the page in your timeline.
The floral emblem of the Australian State of Tasmania is the flower of the magnificent Blue Gum Tree. They can grow to 70 metres in height with a 2 metre diameter trunk, an impressive guardian of the forests, plains and coastal regions of southern Victoria and Tasmania. If this flower connects with you it may be indicating a need to look after yourself physically at the moment and to take a little extra care. Be very careful of losing faith and hope with things which are challenging you at present. Stay the course and look at what you may need to let go of or even accept in order to move forward. Can you grow a blue gum? Of course you can and you should grow trees! I would suggest that you go and have a chat with your local council and look at planting 'local native gums' as well. Your local wildlife and other plants will love you. I would also suggest you chat with a local arborist/garden centre about the best places to plant in your garden so you do not have problems later on. Flower blessings, Cheralyn xx
Florasphere Flower Colouring Sheet Thank you for the many emails and messages thanking me for last weeks' sheet. This week, on request, i've created another Chrysanthemum Florasphere to colour with a larger blank centre. You can use this as a frame for an image or perhaps to add a name of quote. If you share online once finished, please ensure you add credit and if you share uncoloured, please do so as is (with all credit information).
click on image for a full sized copy
The More I Know Bees ~ Colour is often explored for it's meaning and the ways in which it corresponds and interrelates with other energies and lifeforms. I found this article very interesting about iridescence this morning. Another layer to explore ~
Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Exhibition Sydney I have two dates in July, and spots are now nearly filled ~ TO BOOK : Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Exhibition Sydney Bookings From the renowned collection of Jacques and Natasha Gelman, 40 brilliant artworks by Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Complimenting this important collections is a selection of 50 photographs by Edward Weston, Lola Alvarez Bravo and Frida’s father, Guillermo Kahlo, to share with us insights into both artists’ worlds and their relationship.
Join me for a relaxed friendly gallery tour with like-minded Frida & Diego lovers. After our walk~through, you are welcome to join us for light refreshments to chat and share our experiences.
The cost of the group visit will be the face value of the tickets ($30) plus $5 donation to the Frida Kahlo Foundation, helping children and women in need. In the unlikely event that circumstances prevent tour, a full refund will be sent to you immediately. Refunds are not available for other reasons, sales are final, tickets are transferable. TO BOOK : Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera Exhibition Sydney Bookings
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead, may Nature fill it with beautiful blessings, Cheralyn xx
It's actually been a difficult week. Disappointments. Frustration and bit of heartache, but that's life and crappy things happen at times. It's how you handle yourself as you move on that matters most. I was blindsided by an event that I did not anticipate but I'm ok with it now as the dust settles. Sometimes we need these things to occur so we can understand ourselves more clearly, question what we really want in life and then move on with more clarity than perhaps before. When we fall, when we are holding on with fingertips, if we focus on our reactions, we can notice what it is we want to hold on to and where it is we want to end up. What makes us passionate reveals what matters most to us.
StUdio Notes This week I have completed another work for an upcoming Flower deck in oils & mixed media. Loving the depth and the meanings that I'm exploring as I write alongside this body of work. I'm not sure when I'll be releasing this deck as I do have a few things to work out and deciding on how it will be published is one of them. My artistic challenges have been letting go of my current deck style (a type of naive expressionism) for a more traditional approach as I feel this lends itself more to the concept of this body of work. Inspirations are Russian Zhostovo Folk style painting, the light of the Flemish Primitives and the richness of the still life works of the 17th Century Northern European floral subject artists. This deck will be complete by the end of June.
Concurrently, I am working, as always on my long term project: my Garden Oracle. It's been a very long process as I want to work through the year of a garden and put those experiences within the deck. As I need more than one temperate zone and one garden, I've worked through many years to make this happen. The conversations with many of you and shared experiences have enriched so much of what I do and I can not wait to begin sharing a little more of the art and the nature of this body of work very soon. Once my next Flower Deck is complete, I will be ready to start sharing a bit more. Those who have been following progress? SOON!
OnLine WorKshops I have two online workshops running at present. One is an 8 module (work at your own pace) Flora Reading Course for those wishing to become Certified Flower & Plant Readers and the other a 6 module course for those wishing to create their own card decks (self published or traditionally published). I host a vibrant, interactive and very supportive private teacher/student forum for each and you can join the courses at any time (now!) and work completely at your own pace with lifetime access.
In~Person WorkShops I'll be at the upcoming Sydney Mind Body Spirit FestivAl presenting a Workshop on the Saturday and a Meditation on the Sunday. This year MBS is free for those who register online. All workshops are also free for those attending.
You are invited to my free workshops at Sydney MBS:
"Flower Reading for Divination & Healing" Saturday 29th May 11:30am Seminar Room B Learn how you can Read Flowers for healing and for insight in this interactive workshop. Cheralyn will also give a mini reading to each participant at the workshop.
"Sacred Flower Meditation" Sunday 30th May 2:00pm Seminar Room B Cheralyn invites to a beautiful healing Flower meditation. Let us explore your Flower Guide and hear what he or she has to say to you. Cheralyn will also leave each meditation participant with a Flower Reading.
Mind Body Spirit Festival Website FloWer of the Day Catch up postcards for the flower of the day series this week are sent out each Sunday night in my weekly newsletter. Obtain links to all seven Flower of the Day postcards in your newsletter each week.
If you love these postcards, you may like to subscribe to the Florasphere e~magazine, a weekly email filled with extra flower and plant goodness just for subscribers.
In the GarDen Oh there's a chill in the air each morning now! I've cleared one plot of summer sunshine goodness to make way for some winter warmth. This week I've dug in compost, cow manure and a of love to rest the earth before I plant out broccoli, bok choy, more cabbages, silverbeet in this plot. Thats an artichoke stretching her arms to sky in the corner!
I'm harvesting beans of many varieties, silverbeet, bok choy, lettuce, tomatoes, nasturtiums, celery and spinach this week. An abundance of basil sees me making up a lot of pesto later this weekend for family and friends!
Not sure what to plant in your veggie patch this month? Try out this wonderful online resource: Gardenate Planting Guide
Florasphere ~ How to DrAw Flowers It's been a while coming but here it is! My first video tutorial and a worksheet. Both free for you to keep, download and share. This week is WARATAH
The key is practice. You might even like to grab some tracing paper and trace this worksheet a few times first. Then, once you are confident enough to draw a waratah from start to finish alone, practice. Extend yourself and try variations. Invest in a pocket sketchbook and little pencil and sketch whenever you have a spare moment. Pretty soon you will be drawing bunches of beautiful Waratahs! Enjoy and yes it's ok to share and download. For a full 40 minute free "How to Draw a Waratah video tutorial, which includes waratah healing, guidance, botanical history and gardening chat,
When you get there, click SUBSCRIBE so you are first to know when new videos are available. IkeBana After an amazing day at the Sydney Botanic Gardens a few weeks ago and experiencing the wonderfully enlightening Ikebana displays and hearing the artists, I have taken the long wished for step and begun formal training this week. I cold not find a course anywhere near me but have found a wonderful teacher online. If you are interested in exploring, I highly recommend my new teacher Stephen Coler, more information: THIS LINK
This is my first attempt with what was in my garden ~
MotHer's DAy Happiest of Mother's Day Blessings and joy to everyone. As a Mother with my own children apart from me today, I did wake feeling a bit sad but then it turned to slow rising joy as I realised the lesson of Chrysanthemum, LIFE.
To give life is to give space, to create and to let go and to be optimistic for what may come. To understand that there will be cycles of rebirth (you will get to directly nurture again) but like the pulling in of the flower after it's time, you need to again release until you are called again by the seasons and cycles of Life. My children can not be with me today because they are following their dreams and I am so very proud of them for that. Today they are working in jobs that they love completely, both caring for others in very different ways but none the less, with a commitment and care that makes me incredibly proud. So I'm happy to be a Mum today and stand back while my children plant their own dreams in places and in ways I might never of dreamt myself. I also think of Mother's Day as so much more than just the direct maternal bond, but also in the connections and commitments we make to others. To care, to help with life through nurturing, providing a place in our hearts, at our tables, studios and in our spaces to be heard and supported and encouraged. To those of you who care and nurture others, our earth, our creatures, ideas and creations of care and hope, I wish you many happy blessings and thanks for all you do.
I stumbled upon this in person but if you are a bookseller and have an awesome pic of one of my titles in your store to share, send it to [email protected] with your bookstore web address. ColouRing In SheeT for YOU! click on image for a full~sized downloadable copy image can be shared as is (with credits)
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead, may Nature fill it with beautiful blessings, Cheralyn xx