Time for Play

 

      Earlier this week when I was out running errands, I stopped in at a thrift store and came across this figurine sitting on a shelf. Immediately drawn to her I didn't think twice, I knew she was waiting for me. Curious because I'm really not a figurine kind of girl. My taste in décor tends towards the natural i.e., rocks, shells, branches and nests, woven baskets and handmade pottery and glass. 

But home she came, and it seemed only natural to nestle her into a nest where she now sits overseeing my design-table. She has a presence. She reminded me of someone. 

     When I was a young teenager, we went for a time to a Spiritualist church. Being psychic and extremely sensitive myself the minister became my first spiritual teacher. She was the one who introduced me formally to my three spirit guides one of which is a young girl. I had frequently had vivid dreams of this girl with her long golden hair. We would run in the fields and woods and laugh and play and that was exactly her purpose, to remind me to play! I had always been a rather serious, studious and opinionated child, seemingly much older. In fact, my mother used to say I was older than she was! I would stand in my playpen with my hands on my hips staring at her with a displeased look on my face. I mean seriously what did she expect me to get into in there? 

     When we are children playing develops our imagination and awakens curiosity. Studies show that children who play out in nature regularly develop more independence, build healthy relationships, are better problem solvers, and are generally healthier and happier. They have room to grow into themselves. When I was a child, I never wanted to be in the house. I was always barefoot and frequently had flowers woven into my hair or wore my grandmothers wide-brimmed sun hat on my head. I climbed trees and waded in creeks, took my cats for rides in my bicycle basket, and loved to roll down hills. My Mother installed a metal triangle at the backdoor which she rang when it was time to come in for dinner as I was usually deep in the woods or far afield. My brother and I would build fairy houses in the woods, or forts, search for toads, climb rocks and one of my favorites practice walking without making sound, not easy to do in the woods with leaf matter and twigs underfoot. 

     My mother took us on frequent nature hikes, picnics or to the beach or lake on summer days. My Dad, though not a "nature" person, (he was one of those dads who would wear socks with his sandals to the beach, he hated sand!) taught us how to play games like chess and tennis, and even he enjoyed going to the local park to feed the ducks. The point is that play can be anything that brings you enjoyment and pleasure. Everyone's idea of play is different. 

     Design is play for me and flowers my playmates. Being an artist and a businesswoman can sometimes be very much at odds with each other. There are deadlines, bills to pay, and schedules to maintain. All of which can take the fun out of doing what you love. And I know after the past few months I was so focused upon the business that I left no room really for play. It left me feeling depleted, sad, and exhausted. My get up and go got up and left! So, I stepped back from everything. I needed space to let go and just Be. I started doing things again that I love that had fallen by the wayside. Started reading again. Taking walks in Nature again. Playing with my cats (they love to play hide & seek). Making art for Me. Baking again. Play feeds us on a different level. It nourishes our senses, our minds, our bodies and our Spirits. To be inspired is to be in-spirit. 

     So my little friend sits in her nest staring at me. But her hands are not on her hips, they hold flowers instead. She is reminding me again that I need to take and make the time for play... and that I really need to find a wide brimmed hat again...and a nest. I'm really envious of her nest, lol. I really want to have a full-sized nest to sit in like her...hmmm. 

                You are never too old to play so Go outside and play!

                 Blessings 

      

     

     

     

Nests- Vessels that Hold Love

 

     Nests are vessels, woven from bits of twigs, grasses and moss, that hold and protect new life. Finding empty nests blown down from trees after storms I couldn't leave them behind as they looked so forlorn. So I'd take them home and tuck heart stones or crystals, or little symbols of things I wished to grow in my life inside. Nests are symbols of building a happy home, new beginnings, life, protection, good luck, commitment, and prosperity. 

     So when I began Flora Sophia, The Wisdom of Flowers, a symbolic dried flower business, one of my first inspirations was to create manifestation nests or "Soul Nests" as I call them. I've created nests to be used as a tool that help aid one in manifesting Abundance, Healing, discovering Spiritual Purpose, and Love. The design above is a Housewarming Nest gift bringing the blessings of the flowers to the household as they build a new happy home. This design has three eggs which are symbols of new life and new beginnings and of the Earth. The number three is a sacred number that represents the unity of body, spirit and mind as well as past, present and future. Truly a nest is a meaningful gift of blessing to mark the joyous transition into a new home.  

     

                                                   "Love Nest" Manifestation Nest

     All of my nest designs use flowers, herbs and preserved greenery that bring their special meanings to the energies of the nest. 

     Using the nest as a manifestation tool I suggest first creating sacred space. Then holding the nest in your two hands while visualizing that which you wish to bring into your life, speak your intention out-loud. Then blow your breath fully into the nest. See your intention, Feel your intention and know that your nest will hold it protected within. Set the nest on your home altar or any place where you will see it everyday so that you will be reminded. Then fill your nest with symbols that represent your intention; stones, crystals, hand written notes, etc. Use your imagination. 

Soul Nest of Healing.

My Wild Heart Creativity Nest

Another Soul Nest design for Healing Energy.

Christmas Nest Ornament.

     Being from Scandinavian descent a nest was always included on our family Christmas tree. We would fill it with candy or coins or a sweet little mushroom bird. It symbolized good luck for the coming year and blessings to the home. I've taken it a step further and decorated the nest with berries, preserved greens and flowers that bring further blessings of well-being, prosperity, and embracing change. 

Visit my Etsy shop for these designs and more as well as other dried florals that will add beauty and meaning to your home and life.  https://www.etsy.com/shop/Florasophia?ref=profile_header

Blessings

Love In A Mist- Nigella

 

     Let me introduce you to one of my favorite dried flowers, Nigella Love in the Mist, Nigella damascena L. Besides it's common name of Love in a Mist it is also known as Kiss-Me-Twice-Before-I-Rise, Lady-in-the-Bower, Love-in-a-Tangle, Bird's Nest, Blue Spiderflower, Blue Crown, Devil-in-the Bush, Ragged Lady, St. Katharine's Flower, Fennel Flower,  Jack-in-Prison or Jack-in- the Green, Love-in-a-Puzzle, or Gith. It is an annual Buttercup in the Ranunculaceae family and has been a favorite cutting flower in cottage gardens in England since the Elizabethan times. One of about 20 species in the Nigella genus which derives it's name from the word Niger for its intensely black seeds it originated from North Africa and Southern Europe. Egyptian women are said to have consumed great quantities of the seeds in hopes of "plumping up" which was a sign of beauty! The flowers range from various shades of blue, light purple, white and pink. 

      Nigella damascena. Photograph by Maggie McCain via Flickr.

     It gets its common name from the delicate and feathery thread-like leaves that create a halo or ruff around the flower. The fruit of this flower blows up like a balloon and dries into the distinctive seed head that is popular in dried floral arrangements. 

     It's sister plant Nigella Orientalis, also has a distinctive flower and dried seed head.

    

     In the Language of Flowers Nigella- Love-in-a-Mists meaning's are; "the Bonds that Bind us Together", Harmony, Love, Perplexity, You Puzzle Me, Be Open to Love, and Kiss Me. It was used in Victorian times in Tussie Mussie bouquets and it is said to be a flower that you gift a friend on Friday's.

      Love-In-a-Mist seed pods have a subtle burgundy stripe and I use them in most of my "Love" designs for their distinctive look as well as their meaning. 

Photo and "Love," tussie mussie bouquet featuring Love-In-the-Mist by Noel Knower, Flora Sophia. 

                      Manifestation Nest featuring Nigella-Orientalis by Noel Knower, Flora Sophia.

                         https://www.etsy.com/your/shops/Florasophia/tools/listings/1059251525

                                                 "Persian Jewels' Nigella Love-in-a-Mist

                   Flora Sophia, The Wisdom of Flowers, Bringing Beauty and Meaning to Life.

     

Tussie Mussie Talk

Dried Tussie Mussie with a message of Love. Flora Sophia. 

A Tussie Mussie, a small bouquet of flowers, herbs and greenery may appear to be sweet and reserved but they can speak volumes and carry a big message. They first became popular in the 1700s but at that time they were mostly silent, their purpose was more practical providing a lovely scent in a very smelly environment! They could be held to the nose or pinned to a dress in order to make the odors of the time less harsh to delicate constitutions. Victorian England had a garbage problem. It was once believed as well that the fragrance of flowers could actually save you against catching the plague. 

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was the wife of the Ambassador to Constantinople and she is attributed to introducing the Language of Flowers to Victorian England where they became all the rage. Victorian English society had a strict code of morality and proper conduct which made it very difficult to communicate ones true feelings. Lady Mary, a travel writer and aristocrat, wrote about "Selam" which means 'greeting' and introduced the Turkish language of objects where encoded messages were passed between women of the harem and their lovers through flowers, stones, herbs, fruit, etc. Everything has a meaning. On another note flowers were considered a more proper adornment for women than jewelry and they were widely given as gifts as well. 

                                     Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, lithograph in Turkish costume. 

                                                          National Portrait Gallery, London

                                                           

              The Victorian Era not only saw the fervor for growth in business during the Industrial Revolution but also the madness for exotic flowers and plants which were considered prizes to the wealthy. During this time many nurseries began to employ plant explorers to go out into the Far East, the American West, and South America collecting plants, tubers and seeds. They could be gone for years and the expeditions proved costly and dangerous. Orchid mania or 'Orchidelirium' as it became known became an obsession and vast sums of money were spent in their collection and cultivation. So perhaps the wealthy had their exotic Orchids, their Amazonian Water Lily's and their Chinese Rhododendrons but for young women and their admirers they had Floriography, the Language of Flowers, and the delights of simple flowers. During this time many flower dictionaries were written and published. In fact it is believed that 98 books were written and offered in 227 editions between 1800-1937.

Symbolically designed 'Get Well' Bouquet. Flora Sophia.

I think it is a charming tradition and so I decided to design dried flower Tussie Mussies to give as gifts. With each bouquet I include a listing of flowers used and their meanings. This Get Well bouquet features Oats for Wellness and Good Health; Ammobium for Love and Light; Bunny Tails for Cheerfulness; preserved Cedar- a Healing and Protective Evergreen; Coxcomb for Vitality and Strength; and golden Yarrow a Healing and Protective herb; and more.

I Love You Tussie Mussie, Flora Sophia.

One of my favorite dried flowers/pods is Nigella-Love in the Mist as seen here in this Love bouquet above, the pod with the striped coloring. It represents Love and Harmony, the Bonds that Bind Us together, the perfect sentiment for a Tussie. 

A lovely bouquet to give a dear Friend. A friendship Tussie Mussie, Flora Sophia. 

Another favorite dried herb to use in my Tussie Mussies is Oregano. The purple cluster in the bouquet above is Greek Oregano and the multi-petaled cream and lavender flower is Kent Oregano symbolic of Friendship. It is a Greek tradition to give newly married couples Oregano for Joy and Happiness as it is known as "Joy of the Mountain." 

There are many wonderful books available if you'd like to learn more and perhaps try your hand at making your own fresh flower bouquets. One in particular "Tussie Mussies-The Victorian Art of Expressing Yourself in the Language of Flowers' by Geraldine Adamich Laufer, published by Workman Publishing, NY 1993. A lovely book with color pictures of each bouquet, instructions on making each fresh flower bouquet and a thorough "index of sentiments." 

And I invite you to visit my Etsy shop Flora Sophia Studio if you are interested in purchasing and gifting a loved one a dried flower tussie mussie. 
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Florasophia

Flora Sophia bringing beauty and meaning to life. 
Thank you for stopping by...
Noel

 

The Wisdom of Flowers

 

     From the chapter entitled "The Gift of Strawberries" from the book "Braiding Sweetgrass" by Robin Wall Kimmerer she writes that she was a "girl raised by strawberries". Dr. Kimmerer went on to explain that she had heard the environmentalist and Chief of Arctic Village Evon Peter introduce himself as "a boy who was raised by a river."  Pondering what that meant, that he had learned all that he needed to know about life living on its banks, that the river fed his mind, body and soul she deduced that for her it was fields of strawberries that had "fed" her in her youth. Strawberries had given her a sense of her place in the world. In her Potawatomi indigenous culture strawberries are a part of their Creation stories and are known as heart berries, ode min, a gift. Kimmerer goes on to write, "a gift comes to you through no action of your own, free, having moved toward you without your beckoning...your only role is to be open-eyed and present." I remember reading her words and knowing immediately that I had been 'a girl raised by flowers.' 

     There was a story for me as well. When I was four years old my beloved Swedish Grandfather took me by the hand and led me out to his garden, it was his pride and joy, his bliss. Being a scientist, three kinds of engineer and inventor, it was laid out with mathematical precision and order, yet it was contained wildness. Long white benches were positioned in such a way that one could sit and find themselves immersed in the beauty of his flowers. In the apple and pear orchard one could sit beneath the trees surrounded in a swirling cloud of white blossoms caught on the breeze. Making ones way through the Asparagus patch was like traversing a lush and dense jungle. It was magical. On this particular day though he wanted to introduce me to the Iris. I was captivated by their beauty. It was love at first sight.  These were the large, ruffled, bearded Iris, their heads much bigger than my small hands and they were as tall as I was and they were every color of the rainbow. 

     Grandpa and I sat down on a bench and he told me a story, a Greek mythological story, about how Iris flowers came to be. How the Goddess Iris with her golden wings would drive her chariot across the sky forming rainbows and where the rainbow met the Earth Iris flowers grew. A rainbow had surely touched Grandpa's garden I thought and I was filled with wonder, my heart forever touched. 

     And there it began, the seed had been planted. I could say that from that day forth I was aware of flowers but rather I would have to say that they made themselves known to me. It was as if they called to me to come and spend time with them, Be with them. Lilacs invited me to rest and dream beneath their lush foliage in their cool shady hollows. I'd lie on my back and look up through their branches and blooms at the blue sky surrounded in a cloud of their heavenly scent. They gave me great comfort as a young teenager. Dandelions and Buttercups were always in my hair or in chains around my neck. I'd visit the wild honeysuckle in the woods by the creek and just lose myself in their aroma. Ageratum, those fuzzy little blue flowers of summer  I adored and would sit with them in the garden and pet them.  I was most certainly a girl that was raised by flowers. 

     I was following in grandfathers shoes planning on becoming an engineer, building things was in my genes, but then I got my first after school job in a florist and fell in love. It’s still in a sense building something just the components are different and alive...and they smell wonderful! Becoming a florist seemed to be predestined. My career took me from New England to California to Texas and back and now to Ohio. From being a floral designer to wedding consultant to a florist manager, I've adorned  homes to hotels to store windows, created florals for conventions and galas, for movie and rock stars, to a former President, and have been a charity designer of Christmas trees and I have loved every step of my career. Discovering regional meanings of flowers and traditions has added depth to my designs and in every new place I have lived the first book I buy is always a wildflower guide of the area.  

     About twenty-five some odd years ago now I started a freelance floral and wedding business in Southern California and began arranging flowers symbolically. Symbols have long been another passion of mine. Around the world and for centuries flowers have been used to honor, celebrate, mourn and decorate homes and people; myths and folklore abound from antiquity. Each ethnic group has their own floral folklore, superstitions and magical beliefs as well as traditional crafts made from flowers, trees, grains and herbs. Being a professional florist for forty years now I have been fortunate to experience many different and rich cultural and religious floral traditions, some that read like stories. It is my wish to share those here as well. And since I love to cook and bake with flowers there may be an odd recipe or two here and there. 

      In Victorian England (1837-1901)  the Language of Flowers, also known as Floriography, became all the rage with tussie mussies, small nosegays of fresh flowers that were carefully arranged to carry special messages from the giver. For instance, pink carnations meant “I’ll never forget you”; and daffodils “the sun shines when I’m with you!  But the messages were not always romantic, they could also be used to say “goodbye” for example with Cyclamen flowers or “I’m jealous” with the gifting of yellow Hyacinth. It gives new meaning to "saying it with flowers." Victorian society had a strict code of morality and acceptable behaviors thus being able to send messages secreted amongst the blooms of a bouquet became popular. Before that Floriography was popular in England in the early 1700s when introduced by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and in the Swedish court 1727 introduced by Aubrey de La Mottraye. Lady Montagu who spent time in Istanbul with her ambassador husband wrote about Selam an Ottoman secret language of passing messages through flowers between harem courtesans and their lovers. Quite a few floral dictionaries were soon being published. The Victorians were "flower crazy" in fact and the search for and appropriation of rare plants and flowers, Orchids especially, became big business. Many of the large nursery businesses of the time including the Veitch Nurseries employed plant explorers who searched the globe for rarities and became famous in their own right such as the Lobb brothers and Ernest Wilson.  

    Flora Sophia, the wisdom of flowers, is the resulting blossom of my lifetime passion for flowers, my love of nature and our Mother the Earth, and my personal search for truth and wisdom. My designs all incorporate the meanings of flowers and are created during mindful and meditative practice. I create wall Mandalas- floral art that may be used as a meditation tool or to simply enjoy for the beauty of the elements incorporated and the energy of the design. I make tussie mussie bouquets to gift to loved ones that are created with particular energies for wellness, love and friendship; arrangements of peace and beauty to decorate the home; hand wired wheat stars to bless the home; and meaningful bouquets for weddings, and more. 

     With the launch of Flora Sophia my hope is to share my passion for flowers, symbolism, beauty and the Earth. To ask that you reach out on an energetic level to the other sentient beings on this planet within the natural world that we share this Earth with for they have much to teach and share with us. They are living, breathing beings just as we are and are deserving of respect. If you truly love some thing you will nurture, nourish and protect it with all your heart. Let our continued relationship with the natural world be one of respect, attention and love for the Earth in its entirety as it is truly our "Garden of Eden".

         

                        Thank you for walking down the garden path with me....

                                                                                 Noel