Wild Muse Notes

While sorting through the old books at the Horticultural Center, I picked up a musty old tome which I thought was a history of gardening. It turned out to be a book about alchemy and the construction of various types of stills. Most chapters focus on use of plants by the Puritans of New England [...]

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Found and constructed objects. Charms for making, to keep the connection between hand and heart, to inspire a light touch and unburdened memory, a simultaneously focused and detached response to a wild flow of ideas and an overwhelming abundance of materials. Finishing a work of art is all about letting go.

Patin’d silver metal bezel and [...]

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The fiery flowers of pineapple sage, young radishes in a driftwood bed, one last rose before winter, the sun shed at sunset, and an alchemical androgyne.

The Divine Hermaphrodite

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A crowned and winged serpent, representing the universal or cosmic spirit holds a common snake by the tail.

http://arianadii.com/spirit-and-matter/

The ancient symbol of the Orphic Mysteries was the serpent-entwined egg, which signified Cosmos as encircled by the fiery Creative Spirit.

http://arianadii.com/the-world-egg/

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In alchemy, things in threes tend to symbolize the three elements (Sulphur, Salt, Mercury) as well as the Christian trinity of God. This esoteric image depicts a three-headed eagle astride a globe in which is represented three winds over the sea. Tom deForest of Small and Simple Things has another interesting take on this symbolism.

In [...]

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