Shelly's Garden: Living Earth Alchemy Project

My first taste of Moon Milk was taken at the 14th Annual Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium in September 0f 2004. Cheryl “Li” Walter, who is the manufacturer of these essences, had asked me to paint with her new planet, plant and gem stone blended essences. Of course I jumped on the opportunity and was thrilled to be asked. She introduced them to me by inviting me to pick an essence to try out. Moon milk and Venus called to me but Moon Milk won out. The impact was immediate and imprinted permanently...

An essence of a planet is made using a telescope, with a special mount and clock drive, to follow the planet across the night sky. Water, in a glass suspended over the lens, is infused with the light and vibration of the planet. The essences are bottled in water and brandy.
Each mix combines the essences of a planet, a tree, and a rock. The tree and rock essences help to bring down and ground the planet's energy, making it available to us. Trees and rocks were chosen to complement each planet's qualities.

For more information check out Keepingtime.net

Moon Milk Essence

February 2005

"Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is gray and yellow white
But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion

Pinprick holes in a colorless sky
Let insipid figures of light pass by
Mighty light of 10,000 suns
Challenges infinity but is soon gone

Night time to some, a brief interlude
To others the fear of solitude
Brave Phyllious, wake up your steeds
Bring the warmth the countryside needs

Breathe deep the gathering gloom
Watch lights fade from every room
Bed-sitter people beckon lament
Another day’s useless integer spent

Impassioned lovers wrestle as one
Lonely man cries for love and has none
New mother picks up and suckles her son
Senior citizens wish they were young

Cold hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is gray and yellow white

But we decide which is right
And which is an illusion"

~Days of Future Passed by The Moody Blues released in 1967

It is no mystery that the moon milk essay would start on a three, monkey day with a portal influence. For she is a trickster in a very sublime way.

A still life is appropriate also, for the moon milk essence because the moon is a still life its self. It has no light of it’s own. It simply reflects the sun’s light in much the same way as a still lake reflects it’s “ moonlight.”

My first taste of Moon Milk was taken at the 14th Annual Northern California Women’s Herbal Symposium in September 0f 2004. Cheryl “Li” Walter, who is the manufacturer of these essences, had asked me to paint with her new planet, plant and gem stone blended essences. Of course I jumped on the opportunity and was thrilled to be asked. She introduced them to me by inviting me to pick an essence to try out. Moon milk and Venus called to me but Moon Milk won out. The impact was immediate and imprinted permanently.

Pale yellow tulips with a satin finish. The cup, the holy grail, the feminine cycle and womb. Birth, death, rebirth is the signature of Moon milk. The tulip is the herald of spring’s riot. The waxing, waning, full, and total eclipse of the moon matches the tulip’s display. Only the moon does it twelve months a year. It is the great round.

Pale Moon light that is so delicate that if you touched it, it would disappear to fade away. You don’t want to do that because the moon is the mirror reflection that goes on and on. The moon is also like the voyeur viewing. Watching unobserved the night workers at work and the lovers. The moon can be an invasion of privacy. It is almost an oxymoron. Everyone knows, the moon is for lovers. The titillation of moonlight is to stroll away to steal a kiss.
Romeo, Romeo, where art thou, oh, Romeo.

The moon subtly colors everything about us by shifts of moods. Our biorhythms are often confused and nebulous, prone to delusion or deception. This can lead us to feel very vulnerable. Moon milk reflects our urge to feel safe, secure and protected. We want to give and receive. We want to be nurtured with a sense of belonging. This is the perfect essence for mending a broken heart, but with a new secure personal identity.

The piece of watercolor paper I soaked with Moon Milk for this depiction once belonged to the world famous artist, Morris Graves. Robert Yager, the foundation president for the Morris Graves Foundation, gifted me with the paper to use artist to artist. I stay on retreat in Morris Grave’s private studio at The Lake in Loleta for four days of painting and exploring.
There were many wonderful, older pieces of watercolor papers to go through. This piece had a soft pink cast and blotter paper feel to it. This was something I had never seen or experienced before. Most watercolor paper is stiff from starch. I often look to the masters of art for help and inspiration. This painting was inspired and directed by Moon Milk essence but it conjured up the elegant simplicity of Georgia O’Keefe and Morris Graves. Simple, under stated, elegance is the matching signature pattern of Moon Milk essence.

I want to mention that if I had more time to spend with the Moon Milk essence; I would deeply explore the Moon Milk dripping in the caves and caverns of the world. I strongly suspect that they are the balance and flip or polarity of this Moon Milk essence from the sky. Reverse parallel universes exist every where. Think of the caverns where the physical moon milk drips from the cave walls. Gnome milk is what the ancients call it. They used it to heal wounds quickly.

I am not suggesting that they are the same. But the comfort, nourishment and sanctity of life they represent is similar. However, Li’s Moon Milk starts from above the earth and the other physical Moon Milk starts from below the earth. It has always fascinated me that the largest mammal in the sea lives on the smallest organism, plankton.

I usually only paint with one essence at a time when I am doing research work for manufactures. This time I just stayed very open to what directions I was being given. I originally cut this paper into two pieces to make an illustration for a class I was teaching. But as I developed the tulip painting I realized I could not separate these two pieces of paper from each other. They needed to complement and balance the other. Without one, the other was lost, alone and desolate.

The Sun Shine essence spoke right up and said “ me.” Of course, me. If it was not for the sun there would not be any moonshine. But this sun had to be the rainbow maker. This sun, was the sun after the rain shower, a watery reflection of the color prism. Soft, nourishing and awe inspiring, not the hot blaze to over take and conquer Sun. This was not easy to paint because in spite of the Sun Shine essence volunteering for the task it still very much wanted to show it's masculinity. I was trying to keep it back with pastel colors of soft gray. The Sun Shine essence was willing to participate but wanted none of that feminine stuff for Mr. Sun Shine . We meet a happy medium. Just like the spring showers that come in and out all day. One moment it is bright and clear, the next moment it is gray and storming. “ If you don’t like the weather here, wait ten minutes and it will change.” The Sun Shine essences did allow for a collaboration with the Moon Milk soaked paper and the background but not at the cost of its own signature. It is in the realm of energy of information, of pattern. This self-organizing pattern arises, slowly changes, suddenly shifts, learns from its mistakes, and interacts.

Pluto Essence

April 1, 2005

Pluto is the suspended moment.

The suspended moment of a dew drop on the tip of a flower’s petal before it plummets to the earth in a plop.

Just like silence is a sound, Pluto is a void. The universe abhorrers a void. If you create one – the Universe will fill it. Pluto is the placeholder until that void is filled. Moses held back the water in the Red Sea. Pluto holds the space for creative thought to manifest. It is the eye of the storm. Pluto is the breath between Om’s. Pluto is the X at the crossroads. The crossroads signifying an impasse before the storm breaks and life becomes disrupted.

Potentially volatile, a great tension remains until one takes a step one way or the other. Pluto is the time out plate on the field of living, but it is not home plate. One can not stay on Pluto.

The reigning in or harnessing of a force just before release is the essence of Pluto also. Although loving and honest, as all essences are, Pluto remains detached from powerful desires. A temporary balance, which may feel like a state of détente, is overcome by Pluto willingness to help you come to grips with your identity.

It is the suspended moment when you take off your rose colored glasses and see things for how they really are.

We decide who we are, and who we are not. In Pluto essence we mark our position. We decide this is who I am, this is why I am, this is how I am, this is how I am different from others. I, alone, must decide. I alone am the responsible party.

Trusting life to take is proper course will give you a sense of peace. The exotic and formal flower of the coalia is unique in form. What looks like the flower is actually called a spathe that wraps around the club-shaped spadix on which the true flowers are located. The flower color intensifies in high light and cold temperatures. Fading occurs under lower light and warmer conditions.

Just like silence is a sound. All flower essences teach you to have a willingness to let go and trust. You obtain a quiet confidence in the future and are unlikely to allow self-doubt to undermine your ability to trust. It is the desert of the real. The planet essences magnify this in the highest proportion I have experience to date. I have worked with strictly flower essences, gem essences, animal essences, sea essences, channeled essences but the planet, tree and mineral blended essences are the most sublime yet.

In the labyrinth of time lays all of the planet’s essences. When you have reached the center of the labyrinth and receive the answer, you meditate on it on the way out. Mercury essence is the quickening of expectation as you walk the out of the labyrinth on the other side to see the end.

Mercury essence is the white dove of the desert. It brings a message of hope and faith in a wounded heart world. Mercury softens the edges of cynical spaces. When life’s dealings have hardened your heart to the point of cynical expression, Mercury lends you the sweetness of spirit. It is the blinding dawn on the horizon of a terrible storm.

The choice point to balance your cynicism will then be yours. Mercury puts the sweetness of life back into the balance. Mercury was not hot and spicy or peppery like I expected at all. It was the introduction of soft, spring air. Fresh, clean and lovely to follow around like wandering in a meadow sniffing flowers.

Mercury is almost ghost-like in that it is hardly there. It is a whisper, a little window on the world. The sweetness it brings helps you to develop and balance the sweetness in your life. Full, juicy sweetness that requires a ripening first.

Things do not get truly sweet unless they are allowed time to become ripe. You must respect that “ nature takes its course” is Universal Law. As such, the labyrinth of time’s swirl has to be allowed it’s elliptical course to successfully swing around with the message. Don’t kill the messenger before they complete their mission. So many times potential is squished before any nurturing or allowance of time to mature is implemented. We want instant gratification and perfection.

Love ripens, friendship ripen, marriage ripen…….or not. Without the sweetness of attitude, your relationship can die on the vine. This essence would be especially good for mid-life crisis, which you experience it at any age. Despondent teenagers could benefit from Mercury essence for the same reasons the mid-life crisis benefit. People who feel that they are not getting older but they are just getting bitter would benefit from the Mercury essence. Any one who may not see, feel, smell or hear sweetness in their lives would enjoy Mercury’s breath of fresh air.

When I first meet the Venus Essence I had all kinds of expectations and preconceived notions about her. As usual I was not completely on track with regard to her signature or pattern. I found her to be a lot more resistive in many ways such as how the pigment would splinter in fragments along a straight line. It was sort of like pulling a cat’s tail backwards. No matter how careful I was the line kept getting thicker and thicker as I tried to straighten the edge. My brushes have suffered long abuse as they grind the pigment in order to mix the colors but there was no reason for every one of the small brushes to be bad.

I thought of Adam and Eve, Original Sin, the Greek Mythology of Venus, the meaning of the Lover’s card in Tarot, and love it self. I thought of the Daisy petal picking of “ he loves me, he loves me not” and the mating dance.

Venus essence shows you the every thing.

This essence is a virtual cornucopia of idea, sensual, arousal, creating, churning pot of potential. All of it delicious-But what to choose ? Life is so full, so rich you want it all…NOW! But you can not have it all.

The Judgement of Paris is a Greek Myth in which Paris had to choose which of the three goddess was the most beautiful.

Ultimately his choice led to the Trojan War. His example warns of the dangers, pitfalls, and consequences of the choices that we make. Increased self awareness equips us to take responsibility for our decisions. Your response is your responsibility.

Nobody is being generous with giving love these days. 2000 has presented itself in a series of Tower tumbling ways for everyone. We feel like we have been taken by the scruff of the neck and shaken....Hard. As we come out of the stupor we realize the precious fact that we must have – need to have- affection, caring, petting, adoration, acceptance- all of the things that Venus evokes, not just Eros.

During courtship, two banana slugs will circle each other, often for hours of premating. Both partners engage in ritualized bouts of lunging, nipping and sideswiping with their tails that may last up to twelve hours. The two slugs may also display their disproportionately large sex organs. The penis size is reflected in the scientific name of one of the banana slug species: dolichophallus-Latin for “long penis.” The sight of a courting pair of slugs majestically circling one another and ceremoniously rasping each other’s flanks while they solemnly wave their enormous penises overhead puts one in the mind of Athletic Giants. The Great Gray Garden slugs are able to copulate in midair suspended by a stretchy strands of mucus up to 17 inches long.

As courtship progresses, a banana slug pair intertwines, wrapping themselves in a “ S” position and stimulating each other for several more hours. Their genital areas swell as the pair move even closer together. Penetration takes place, then each slug alternately releases and receives sperm.

But in the case of the banana slug, that is hardly the end of this amazing routine. Now the slugs must disengage. Just like Venus essence reminds us there are repercussions to every choice made. It is a challenge for two slugs so amply endowed and thoroughly covered with sticky mucus to separate. After long bouts of writhing and pulling, the pair may resort to what scientists call apophallation. Translated, this means that one slug gnaws off the penis of the other. The apophallated slug cannot regrow the penis lost and is now obligated to be a female and forced to offer eggs. Adrian Forsyth, author of A Natural History of Sex suggests that the castrator can raise his reproductive success by increasing locally the density of females. Slug scientist Albert Mead has suggested that apophallation may be nature’s way of maintaining the species. Only by submitting to the act can banana slugs maintain their hermaphroditic inordinate organs of both male and female reproductive organs. They can mate with themselves only if no other slugs are around.

These creatures demonstrate beautifully the art of lovemaking and the consequences of choice.

Saturn Essence

October 14, 2004

Many of us have spent our entire lives trying to get into our lives, our noses pressed up against the window. By that I mean we often are born into families that are dysfunctional due to alcoholism, sexual abuse or just plain emotional disjunction. It is like being the little match box girl who is in the snow trying to get anyone to buy her matches. She tries her best but ends up freezing to death from the cold. The caretakers are ill equipped to offer any support, nourishment or warmth. So no matter what there is nothing available to the little match box girl.

Yes, I was raised that way and so were many, many, of my girlfriends. We seem to find each other but it is not hard because there are so many of us. The Raggedy Anns that are left out in the yard.

Just like the eucalyptus tree shreds and sheds it’s bark to make tender for a self-imposed ring of fire, the little match box girl may need that form of upbringing to be all she can be. To endure to excel. The seed pods of the eucalyptus can only burst when the flames from the ground tender climbs up the bark shreds and ignites the pods.

Raw clarity of destroying to rebuild. The phoenix who rises from the ashes. The circumstances and situations in which we find ourselves that restrict and inhibit our capacity to develop fully can now be cleared out to build a new structure that supports our own beliefs and values.

We live on the Ring of Fire of the Pacific Rim, which stretches from Australia to South America. When I asked Michele Henson, patron of this painting, how she could get away from all of the upheaval in her life simply by walking out to this panaramic view, only a slight 100 yards from her parent’s “ ring of fire”,
She replied “ Because it was all behind me when I looked out here.”
She had her back turned to them and could block it out.

Reality, reality, Oh, the pain of reality. But whose reality is it? Face the fear and let it pass through you. Holding on to the fear is the problem. When you confront the condition of your upbringing with Saturn essence, suddenly understanding that this is no longer a reflection of who you are. You need to strip away, like the shedding bark, anything that is not truly your own. Do this in order to live by your own internal dictates. Even though this can bring turmoil, a new kind of freedom and psychological growth are now possible.

Had you not walked with Saturn essence and through this glass ceiling, this Ring of Fire, the seed pod would stay forever shut with no promise of tomorrow.

Neptune Essence

January 28, 2006

Like sleeping beauty, who falls into a deep sleep, Neptune essence is a transparent, mesmerizing, transformative, informational vibration.
You find yourself asking, “Is there something you wish to tell me?” At the same time you are somewhat transfixed, like a kitten being carried by the neck. You are paralyzed but aware.

Primarily, Neptune represents the twins of reflection. These twins are not exactly identical all of the time like tree rings are when they are split vertically. Many fine pieces of furniture and cabinets rely on this accountable sameness, but Neptune essence is more like the reflective twin. Distortions are allowed and welcome because of the watery nature of Neptune. The inverse of an image is similar of the Northern Hemisphere to the Southern Hemisphere, with the equator as the reflection line. They are different from each other but the same. In math it would be the exponential function graph line and the logarithm function graph line with the asymptote as the reflection line.

Criticism, judgment, discrimination from other people is a mirrored reflection because criticism, judgment and especially discrimination of our own behavior are the graces we also try to attain. As we age, we realize that strength and beauty wane and all we are left with is grace. It is the reflection of who we are and what we have become. Other examples of mirrored images are the photographer’s lens or the reflection from a shining tabletop. It is upside down but connected at the bottom. Neptune assists in you seeing your life or situation in that way for a fresh perspective without detachment.

You feel paralyzed but aware because you are the bottom reflection looking up at yourself. You can envision being encased in the water, observing your motives and actions. For those looking for self-awareness it is the perfect essence but very deep. I quickly found that taking Neptune Essence alone would take me down to where I would not function day to day. I would look so deep into my reflection pool that I would not come back. Once again, I turned to Sun Essence for support through this work with Neptune. Sunshine helped to keep me balanced and reaching for the warmth in spite of my watery encasement. The Sunshine essence supported my work without getting in the way of Neptune. It managed to keep my head just above water while I navigated Neptune’s depths.

Jupiter Essence

June 2006

IF ONLY
By Patrick Edward Bennett

If only I could find a way to be of use for just one day
To be needed or wanted anytime at all
Or to have a friend to whom I could call
If only my life had some value or worth
To be able to serve a purpose on earth
I would like to be able to just a short while
Have joy in my life and be able to smile
To have a place where I can be greeted and welcome honestly,
If only I had something to give maybe I could find a reason to live,
My life is empty, void and lonely but to fill it someday is to say,
If only

Patrick Edward Bennett committed suicide at a young age. If only he had known about Jupiter Juice essence.

Both good and bad have their inevitable place in the order of things. Without the constant interplay of opposites we would not be able to recognize when we have danced through the X of infinity.

Using Jupiter essence is like going through the proverbial knot hot. At first it seems easy to slip your head and shoulders through. Then all of the sudden you are stuck at the hip. You can not go in and you can not go out. It is usually the first reaction to panic, struggle and lose hope over time.

But when you relax, accept the situation and breathe, you may just find yourself slipping through that knot hole very easily. Jupiter juice essence is the ride on the infinity line, the sideways figure eight. You loop around thinking you are in a living hell of your own making only to find yourself at the X cross roads struggling to slip through to the other side. Rest assured Jupiter will take you through the worm hole, eventually.

The key to the process is to have faith in the universal law and wait for the arm to swing back. Just like the woman who cuts off her hair in rage of betrayal or punishment, it will, in time, grow back, if left alone. So will her heart pain ease and cease. The greatest desire is to live but to do so one must kill and eat, be it plants or animal food. We don’t live on air alone nor do we suffer endlessly. It is a silent drift. Just like the plants, we sometimes grow back stronger than ever.

Jupiter is an over looked gem. It is a big essence and an even bigger planet. It is 318 times the size of earth. To assume it has no influence in your life is to be naïve. Because legends look different close up one should look to the crossing of the X for the perfect balance. Jupiter is an expansive, introspective, luminance mirror image of itself. Thus like the figure eight; both sides look the same but are a refraction, different from each other. The X is the median of integrity and clarity.

Mars Essence

March 2007

Mars essence kicked my ass.

Complacency is not allowed. Anyone I spoke to about Mars Essence was quick to assess it as an angry essence, full of venom and force of will. Since essences by their nature are a teaching modality, what I came to discover was not anger but courage. It is the essence for the discovery of the courage to be vulnerable. This may not seem like such a big deal on the surface but once you delve into this Mars concept you quickly realize just how all encompassing a concept it is.

The courage to be vulnerable is a warrior’s courage that requires taking a great
deal of risks. Can you imagine yourself dancing nude on a stage while reciting a heart wrenching story of a lost love or limb? After months of taking and working with the Mars Mead I saw the performance of Annica at the Del Arte theater. This performance was done in the nude or partially clothed to create an impact. It was not performed by the most physically attractive but more by the beautifully disfigured, be it a missing limb or a broken heart. It helped me finally realized what was required. I needed to dare to risk, to be vulnerable to be made whole. To step up to being venerable, judged, exposed-self and found worthy by my own self.

As a baby boomer, I am in the elite group of one of the most privileged segments of any people yet to live on earth. We had been taught to have very high expectations of gratification. With the personal computer these gratifications grew to instant gratifications. No longer did we plant a seed and wait for the grass to grow with care and nurturing. Now we rolled it out just like the urban sprawl of the over priced housing it decorates. Being naked and exposed to feelings and consequences was not part of our training. Entitlement was part of our training.

Like a mirrored reflection on the water we were trained to see only the top half and its reflection. Somehow we knew our bottom half was there but it was unseen under the water. Like an ice berg tip, we had no idea of the depth of the complete self. Disillusion then begins to set in. We get stuck in a feeling that every thing is okay but we know it is not. In spite of ourselves we start the search for the missing half. Sometimes that starts by cutting back the dead wood of the soul, spiritual nuclear waste, or the pain and the sorrow, or by calling back your love. Finding your empowerment by satri, letting go, and being vulnerable. Mars is the essence one would use to endure the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.

Uranus YooHoo Essence

May 2008

Uranus-sundial bridge 003-fixd.jpg

People don’t see. They look, but don’t see the rainbow of colors that affect their every day. Impressions are so often ignored because of learned behavior. While I was painting at Architect Santiago Calatrava’s Sundial Bridge in Redding, California, the light of the day changed the color of the snow white bridge many times. I depicted the 10 A.M. light which reflected the turquoise deck of the bridge onto the suspensions, thus making the supports appear to be the turquoise, also. The 2004 Sunset Magazine photograph of the Sundial Bridge shows a lovely orange-gold on the white bridge suspension as the evening sun light bounced back. What color it is depends on your perspective and the time of day.

Uranus YooHoo Essence is the Rainbow Bridge, or at least Uranus YooHoo Essence will take you to the rainbow bridge concept. This concept is widely respected in Astrology and Astronomy as the Chiron Return. This is when in your life you find the self that you have always been looking for while maturing. Now you are here, all grown up. It is the rainbow bridge between the inner and outer solar planets, the charka conception of the higher self and lower self. The Uranus YooHoo Essence bridge is an invitation to develop, heal, link and weave the inner planet of child personal issues, with the outer planet’s adult transpersonal issues. It is an invitation to transmute now and avoid the rush. If the planets were a pattern of some larger celestial concept, Uranus would depict the spread of the wing shape.

The Sundial Bridge jets up to the sky like a soaring wing, greeting you, after it issues an invitation to cross and the invitation has been accepted. You cross, look up and know you are part of something much bigger than yourself. The pulse of the Sacramento River, flowing very fast, great and swift to its destination helps you to unite body, mind and soul into a wholly blended being as you make your way across to the wing that tells the time. You are the crowned hermaphrodite that is both male and female which represents integration and completeness. It is somewhat like a Rubik’s Cube that all of the sudden clicked into place leaving you free to soar, as a integrated human kind, not just man kind.

Becoming the evolved light body is a basic principal of Universal law which has no way around it. But then why would you want to get around it and stay so base? There are no pockets in a shroud. Leave the wounding, the wounded, the shadow side, solar plexus in your personal life weave. Do a study of the composite creatures to ease the confusion and cross the bridge to inner peace. The Centaurs or Gekhmet, who has the head of the lion from Egypt are good examples of composite creatures. Demeter, had the head of the mare, Huldra, from Norwegian mythology, has the tail of the cow and in Mayan history there are many gods and goddess that are composite creatures with human bodies and animal features. These are the symbols of a universal language like the golden mean or the labyrinth. We, our completed selves, are the ones we have been looking for. Duality of the powers of the needy child and the prime adult are resolved. We are all one takes on a new meaning when expressing our selves in this Uranus way.

Lastly, Uranus defines us. This is all - what defines each of us beyond duplication. A study published in the December 2007 Proceedings of the National Academies of Science found that not only are humans still evolving, but we are doing so at a faster rate than ever before, with genes that affect our diets and brains leading the race. University of Chicago neuroscientist Bruce Lahn said, “Eventually our reasoning centers will develop more control over our emotional ones. That would make for more rational, tolerant beings.” Blessed be…..