heart meanderings

Meandered along the beach this moring looking for heart shaped stones. Which got me wondering about the symbology of the heart, which a friend suggested actually bears a closer resemblance to a lower down organ in the chicks of the species..Which is interesting to bear in  mind when reading the following..
Ab was the Egyptian word for heart-soul, most important of the seven souls bestowed by the seven birth godesses (Hathors). The 'ab' was the soul weighed in the balances of Maat after death, to see how it stood up to weighing with her Feather of Truth. The ab was the central blood-soul emanating from the blood essence of the mother which lead to the saying that a pregnant woman carries her child 'under her heart' and why a mother called her child 'hearts blood'.
Significantly, the meaning of the Egyptian word for the mother given heart was reversed in Hebrew where 'ab' was redefined as 'father'.
The Egyptian heiroglyphic for ab was a dancing figure referring to the mystic dance of life going on in the body-the heartbeat. The same mystic symbol in India was the Dance of Shiva, who was supposed to dwell at the beating heart of the cosmos within the world body of Kali.Shiva went through periodic deaths until resurrected by his mother as did Osiris in Egypt.
Early Christian Gnosticsequated Jesus to the dancing god within.
Although the Christian church outlawed ecclesiatical dancing early on, the theme of the God within the dancing heart was not forgotten and was translated into the Sacred Heart symbol.
So you can see the spiritual valuing of the heart that underpins its use as such a strong emblem, although these days its more likeli to be referred to on a valentines day card or in a deck of cards than in practices of sacrifice, death and rebirth.

Info taken from the wonderfull "Womans Book of Myths and Secrets" by Barabara  G.Walker.

Garden update...

Like a little lavendar bush surrounded by protective stones our garden is moving towards becoming a food and herbs oasis. Ok so it aint there yet, but Im learning to work with the sandy soil, grow in pots mostly and the sunshine is shifting higher to its spring position. That combined with tropical rain, and green folks are picking up there heads and putting on a growth spurt. Yesterday I planted my black henbane and belladonna seeds into trays, after 2 weeks in the fridge, imitating the snow melt in their home environment. Gathering pots and plant stands anyways I can.

Lady with a pipe...n tatus...

Amulets n talismans...

The tale of amulets is one ranging from waaay back in prehistoric times upto the now. Amulets are among the most common objects found by excavators at archaelogical sites, not confined to any time or place in the story of peoples. An amulet is a device, the purpose of which is to bring luck and protect, but by magical means rather than practical. A lump of meteorite worn against gunfire is an amulet, a bullet proof  vest aint. One type of amulet are those protecting against the evil eye, often made from blue glass and circular with concentric circles in the form of an eyeball....

Often used interchangably with the word talisman, there is some confusion about the boundaries between the two. But a talisman tends to be made specifically with intent for a certain person, or for the self. often used in ritual.

In my understanding, and practices, both can also be an epitomy of a certain element, deity or totem designed to amplify their energy and draw it into your environment
 

The substance and form of both deeply symbolic. Each material used has some inherant quality that empowers the whole. Most are of universal application, such as owl claws for wisdom, insight and seeing in the dark, but some are culture and locale specific such as the feathers of a particular species of owl with particular talents beyond the general. Gemstones, in general, are magical with correspondances but there may be a stone found in a small area that might have a individual relevance to folks from that area, like an ochre found by a river on traditional homelands. Infact it can be a joy to make an amulet to travel with that bears materials from home and may be valued because of its limited range like sea shells. Making a talisman for yourself can be a funky way to acknowledge what you value and carry a little of that with you wherever u may go, kind a a porta altar.....

Resources: Amulets: A World of Secret Powers, Charms and Magic by Sheila Paine
                  The Complete Book of Amulets and Talismans by Migene Gonzalez-Wippler
                  Cunninghams Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic by Scott Cunningham

Some of the amulets available at noo 'made it' store

Just pop on over to www.madeit.com/Opalessence to have a peek...

made it store opening soon!

Ive decided to start up a store on 'made it' the australian version of etsy. Therell be ocean stone amulets, handdrawn graphics and herbal salves popping up. Wanted to give my makings a focus place to gather. Ive been collecting beads, making comfrey salve and doodling away, so hopefully we'll be open soon!

hanging gardens....

 In my shady garden Ive been brewing up ideas to maximise green exposure to light.After waiting impatiently for my pocket type shoe storage system to arrive from China via 2 weeks at Balmain post office, they arrived! How bloody cool are they with seedlings popped in em?! Mums up and she brought lettuces, parsley, coriander and spinach. Ive hung them on my sunshiney wall to maximise growth and plant happiness. The water drains from the top ones down via the ones below and into the ground where more seedlings await a drink, its bloody great. Let you know how the experiment progresses. Theres hope for shady gardens yet...

whats growing in the garden....medicines?

My wee seedlings that have been still for so long have grown in the last four days! Spring is beginning to seep into the days. As I watered my gardens a term came into my mind 'physick garden'. So in my developing researching before doubting mode, i found that these were gardens in Europe created by apothecaries to teach their apprentices plant identification and give them a connection to the plants. Learning gardens.Theres a garden like this that was established in Chelsea in 1673 thats still growing! How cool is that. Mind you indigenous folks earth gardens have been going way longer. But when these gardens were all the rage hospitals had them, damn sensible, as did private estates, damn sensible. Heres to physic gardens in every home and place of healing!


While Im on this era, about 50 years prior actually, Ill quote from Nicholas Culpeper.He was the first apothecary to translate the pharmacoepia (list of herbs in use) from the Latin into english so your everyday folk could access the information. Along the way came some scathing words for the medical establishment.
"It seems the College hold a strange opinion that it would do an English man mischief to know what the herbs in his garden are good for."
At the time the Colleges descriptions of English herbs listed neither their common names or virtues.
"I would consider what number of poor creatures perish daily who else might happily be preserved if they knew what the Herbs in their own Gardens were good for." He was an eat your weeds kinda bloke, whereas the establishment of the time liked to use complex mixtures of exotic and expensive ingredients...

Nicholas is also known for his combining of astrology with herbs. He ascribed symptoms, body parts and herbs to astrological houses and then used either herbs from an opposite house, or sympatheticly ones from the same house to treat disease.
"He that would know the reason of the operation of the Herbs, must look up as high as the stars."
Love how he capitalises Herbs...he was trying to construct a system of understanding health that could be accessible to many rather than the few. His English Physician containinng "a Compleat Method of Practice of Physic, whereby a Man may preserve his Body in Health, or cure himself when sick, with such things one-ly as grown in England, they being most fit for english Bodies." Local plants, used one at a time as simples.

Resources:
Planetary planting: A Guide to Organic Growing by the Signs of the Zodiac by Louise Riotte
Green Pharmacy : The History and Evolution of Western Herbal Medicine by Barbara Grigg

Cernunnos...