A Peace of Peonies for you after the Pervasive Patter of Politics.

Beauty is a revolutionary act at a time of great transition and unprecedented challenges. Nature holds a divine blueprint for order, harmony and balance amidst a world turned upside down, but where great opportunity can also be born out of crisis.

What kind of world do you want to co-create? What is your creative vision for a world in which all peoples across all cultures work together to restore, maintain and sustain the beauty of the Earth and all its progeny? Are you standing centre stage in your vision, listening to the quiet and knowing voice of your soul, or being drawn into the maelstrom of outer blustering?

‘The holistic human organism can be likened to a musical
instrument. Like all musical instruments, it performs
better, when it is kept in perfect tune.‘

Franchelle Ofsoské-Wyber

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/about

Enhance Life Experiences – Live Consciously

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/essences/plant-essences-63-84.html

‘The twenty-two native plant essences are made from a spectrum of different types of plants including trees, shrubs, vines, perennials, herbs and ferns. These natural emotional remedies are life enhancers designed to help enhance life’s experiences and to assist the soul to move through the twenty-two universal archetypal life challenges and situations encountered on the journey of life.’

‘No 79 Fragrant Fern – Hope

Tarot key: The Star

Soul Lesson: Redefining oneself and aligning with one’s destiny

Notes: Fragrant Fern – The ‘soother of sorrow’. Brings deep levels of cleansing and healing to the whole being: purifies blocked and negative energy in and around the energetic body. Use to tap into the highest energies for help, healing inner strength, inspiration, protection, guidance. Links one into the unseen but powerful forces at play in the universe. Extremely helpful for those suffering from lingering or chronic illness, at times of death or when assisting a soul to pass over. Brings rejuvenation and hope when feeling devastated by loss or destruction…’

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/essences/plant-essences-63-84/no-79-fragrant-fern.html

Image Fragrant Fern, Carpodetus Serratis thanks to Krysztof Ziarnek

Rose Claiden is a Medicine Woman: registered First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand^® registered practitioner, Art Therapist, Clinical Aromatherapist and Designer, see link for more details and contact information, as well as locating your nearest practitioner.

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/practitioners

May the peace of peonies be with you.

‘The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.’
W.B. Yeats

All peonie images from the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens on a windy day in mid November 2020.

Trial by Media: Harry, Starchart and the need for Compassion and Deeper Understanding

Tags

Astrology, compassion, Eclipse, Equilibrium, FlowerEssences, Holistic Health, IntergratedHealth, Loss, Nurture, PrinceHarry, Regeneration, Relationships, Transits

 

 

I’m not a fan of trial by media and you would hope that everyone would treat each other with respect and come from a place of heart, but Prince Harry certainly has some powerful transits happening today with the transiting Moon – just prior to the eclipse – at 11′ directly conjunct his Descendent at 11’21 opposing his Ascendant. The powerful stellium of planets currently in Capricorn is almost all in his 1st mansion of self-identity, self-acceptance and personal identity. All that tension would be played out via the Moon – feelings and emotions, habitual patterns – in Cancer, ideally a place of nurture, sensitivity and belonging, but under stress a key area of pain, anger and avoidance relating to home and family. His Natal Moon conjunct Ceres and his IC is also very important, referencing his mother, in direct opposition with Saturn in Scorpio conjunct the MC, suggesting dynamic tension between parents.

It would be extremely difficult to so publicly lose a mother that he cherished and that would make any form of ending/transition more difficult. Although the media has focused on the current ending’s similarity with Edward and Mrs Simpson, his chart and current transits also reference the loss of his mother and the unconscious effect this would be having on his life.

The three Cancerian First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand assist with over-reacting to emotional or family situations; stress, strain and anxiety related to abandonment, childhood and the home environment.

No 10 Starry Hisbiscus – Tenderness
No 11 Chatham Island – Nurturing
No 12 Native Harebell – Tenacity

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/…/flower-essences…

oznor

With anyone undergoing such pivotal changes in their 1st mansion of self-awareness and self-projection, you would also include flower essences to balance and bring into potential their Sun, Moon, Ascendant and North Node placements:

Sun : 22’57 Virgo – No 18 Purple Koromiko – Simplicity, transforming guilt and self-blame.

Moon: 21’20 Taurus – No 6 New Zealand Jasmine – Perseverance, transforming an exaggerated sense of duty, shouldering the burden of others.

Ascendant: 11’21 Capricorn – No 29 Mairehau – Achievement, transforming feelings of inadequacy, feeling trapped in one’s vocation.

North Node: 29’37 Taurus – No 6 New Zealand Jasmine – Perseverence, doubly emphasising the need to transform issues relating to self-worth and exhaustion into the positive counterparts of loyalty, determination and experiencing true happiness from within.

Essence details above from the Sacred Plant Medicine of Aotearoa.

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/…/sacred-plant-me…

Rose Claiden is registered First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand ® practitioner, Clinical Aromatherapist, Art Psychotherapist, Usui Reiki Sensei, and Sound Therapist: MFA, MSc. Art Therapy, Dip. Aromatherapy, Dip. NZNFE. Certs. Healers, and Shamanic Studies. Contact rosearomas@gmail.com

Native Harebell image by Harry Rose, Starry Hisbiscus by Garonzi Stefania, Seedling image by Nandgopan429 Wikimedia Commons.

Waitaha, Volcanic Rocks and the First Cullen Skink in a Decade

Tags

Brailsford, Connection, Edinburgh, Environment, Owheo, Shamanic Essences, Stone, Travel, Waitaha, Waters of Leith

Brilliant sunshine and a rare dearth of wind greeted my first visit back to the Waters of Leith in ten years. By nightfall, there was torrential rain and I wondered why I hadn’t packed a brolly when heading north to Scotland. I was staying in an air bnb room in the Leith Toy Hospital – an adult size unicorn in for repairs straddled the corridor. It was akin to staying in a very loud, very friendly, magical hobbit workshop with needles spinning, puppets being brought back to life on workbenches and mermen in the bathroom – plaster. I ran for The Shore undercover of a lurid aquamarine mack/piece of plastic origami which offered no shelter from the wind. I flapped hastily to ‘A Room in Leith’ and thawed fireside. I was still in awe of just being in Scotland after so long away. The staff were very friendly and as the rain beat against the windows, a steaming dish of haddock, cream and potatoes arrived – the Cullen Skink.

A song caught my eye.

The Waterboys – Fishermans Blues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4UQJwd3awQ

The following day I reencountered this mighty volcanic rock from Dunedin. I first noticed this rock when I was studying in Edinburgh, Leith, ten years ago. I had admired the stone but then had no idea where Dunedin was or that Aotearoa/New Zealand would play such a pivotal role in my life.

‘Edinburgh Stone

The Edinburgh Stone was sculpted from Aberdeenshire granite rock by artist Sylvia Stewart in 2007 and gifted to the city ( Dunedin) to celebrate the sister city relationship. It was placed near the Forsyth Barr Stadium in November 2011.

A twin piece named Ōwheo sits on the Edinburgh waterfront. This piece was made from a basalt volcanic magma rock lifted from the Water of Leith( Dunedin) in 1999. Ms Stewart worked with Kāi Tahu to select the Dunedin rock and it was blessed before being removed from the stream.

In 2016 the Society was pivotal in the relocation of the Edinburgh Stone upriver to a spot near the Water of the Leith on the University of Otago campus. The new site makes a fitting connection back to the Water of Leith that our sister cities share.’

https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/council/sister-cities/edinburgh-scotland

In its name ‘Ōwheo’ Sylvia Stewart acknowledges the original Maori name of the Waters of Leith in Dunedin, she describes stones being used as ‘communication beacons’.

Stones hold great power and memory and connect into their place of origin as well as where they are placed. The dedication on the Owheo stone also acknowledges consultation with the Waitaha people.

Highly recommending Barry Brailsford’s Book – Song of the Waitaha

‘Song of Waitaha repairs the torn fabric of our past and opens doors into the future. If we are not gentle with life, the garden within us dies. The Histories tell of a society where many peoples walked in harmony with each other. It shows how they honored the land and waters to sustain life harvesting birds and fish to increase the numbers, cutting tall trees for waka and leaving the forest stronger, carving stone without breaking its spirit, respecting the rivers keeping the environment in balance. This treasure from the days of the ancestors journeys out of timeless realms where the people and the land were one beneath the stars. It carries wisdom born of the ancient trails of the spirit and adds a thousand years of wonder to our past. It reminds us if we lose our story we lose our dream.’

Wanting to give back to the stone, I worked with Shamanic Essence No 118 Silver Pine – Language of the Stones to honour this elder, the journey it had made, and all that happens in its presence.

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/essences/shamanic-essences-97-120.html

From Kunanyi to Arthur’s Seat – and back.

Tags

ArthurSeat, EdinburghCoffee, Environment, MedicineWoman, NanShepherd, Nature, Relationships, Scotalnd, Shamanic Essences, Travel

As I look out across the tall Holly Tree to the golden sandstone of Knocklofty, with an agile blackbird swinging on the wire and shaking dry his feathers, it still gladdens my heart to know that I made the voyage to Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh from Hobart. A magical experience and I can still feel the waters below the volcanic core and bask in the rare silence of the grasslands. My story will unfurl again.

The image above reminded me of how impossible it was to photograph yourself with a book of magic – a friendly stranger came along, wanting his own image recorded, so we did a shot-reverse-shot and helped each other. I’m not including the previous images of me trying to do it alone with the precious book under my extremities.

https://www.eighthraymagic.com/

Whilst in Edinburgh, down to my last 5-pound note, I was inspired by the writings of Nan Shepherd and her deep knowledge of the Cairngorms. She adorns one of the Scottish notes and I read her words before having to change the note for my last cup of, surprisingly, good coffee at Waverley Station – recommending Williams & Johnson Coffee Co.  https://www.williamsandjohnson.com/pages/find-us  It is even possible to access their cafe dragging a 30kg limonene 4-wheeled suitcase with a wheeling-squealing mind of its own. Don’t attempt the toilets! A constant issue in Edinburgh – a city renowned for conscious bladder control – the loos below in the shopping centre are extremely expensive and also don’t work, involving a hearty leap across the barrier.

 

‘As well as an image of Shepherd, the RBS £5 note features a quote from the author’s first novel, The Quarry Wood – “It’s a grand thing to get leave to live” – and one from her meditation on the Scottish landscape, The Living Mountain:

“But the struggle between frost and the force in running water is not quickly over. The battle fluctuates, and at the point of fluctuation between the motion in water and the immobility of frost, strange and beautiful forms are evolved.”’

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/25/nan-shepherd-first-woman-scottish-bank-note

I know that my own relationship with Arthur’s Seat is just beginning – I may be on the other side of the world but our stories are interconnected.

“Knowing another is endless. The thing to be known grows with the knowing.”
― Nan Shepherd

Thank you to all my gracious sponsors and the magical happenings that made this possible. I worked with No 118 Silver Pine – Language of the Stones whilst walking the realm of Arthur’s Seat.

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/essences/shamanic-essences-97-120/no-118-silver-pine.html

 

 

Tinsel Bling conceals Ancient Stones

Tags

21stCenturyMedicine, Integrated Health, LeyLines, Sacred Stones

 

I’ve been into St Davids in Hobart to reconnect with some very special stones but they’re currently festooned with Christmas bling – one sporting a standing snow-covered stag and some ambient tinsel. I tried to get a clear view but kept being shepherded towards Christmas cards – which I will buy eventually as some support very good causes – but the presence and magnificence of the special stones is well visually hidden. The stones anchor in energies – some of the stones dating from the 6th C. in Pembrokeshire. There are two from St Paul’s Cathedral, one from the reredos, 11th-century church stones from Glastonbury and Clerkenwell – and I’m looking for Sherbourne but there’s a consciously weighty festive bookcase obscuring a few.

With one culture originally trying to supersede the ancient and abiding cultures here, and with original churches being blown down then replaced, you can see why some powerful stones were brought in to add presence. No photographs as sacred stones and tinsel are too incongruous- but remembering the mighty London Stone, 111 Canon St – more stories of that to follow swiftly. I highly recommend reading this article as it goes so far beyond accepted Roman interpretations of London his-story into ancient Druid ways: 

https://www.invisibletemple.com/druid-prehistoric-london-ley-lines.html

As I travel, it is a joy to work with this Shamanic Essence – No 118 Silver Pine – Language of the Stones:

‘Environmental shamanism; ghostbusting; lays the spectre, ghosts or grievances of the past to rest; clears or liberates the energies trapped in locations, land or buildings; transformation of the energy of spaces; liberates old stuck unproductive energy.’

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/…/no-118-silver-p…

Blasting off from Mass Consciousness, Standing Place of Power, and Envisioning a New and Creative Future.

Tags

Authenticity, Chakras, Holistic Health, Inner Guidance, Integrated Health, Intuition, Moon, New Futures, Peace

Image: NASA

“To be nobody but
yourself in a world
which is doing its best day and night to make you like
everybody else means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight and never stop fighting.”
― e.e. cummings

How do I strengthen my intuition, value my own uniqueness and break free of limiting patterns of reality?

How do I envision a new and inspired future, for myself and the planet?

Monday, Moon-day, a day aligned with the powers of the Moon and the third eye chakra. It can be a challenge to develop and strengthen inner awareness in everyday life, especially when dealing with the inertia of mass consciousness and pervasive influence of mass media. Strengthening, protecting and vivifying the third eye chakra enables us to see clearly, to trust our intuition and to link into higher psychic capacities ( 2009:311).

 

Image: Krysztof Ziarnik

Living in the world, we can experience ‘reality trauma’ having our own unique perspectives disbelieved and invalidated. This can lead to self-doubt, disillusionment and an inability to trust our inner awareness and what is real and authentic. The First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand® work potently, synergistically and co-operatively together to clear energetic imprints of trauma from the energy field, No 42 Star Fern, to strengthen and protect the third eye chakra, No 49 Miro, and to seed in new creative patterns of awareness, No 56 Inkberry.

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/…/tree-essences-4…

 

Image: Krysztof Golik

Rose Claiden is a registered FLFENZ® practitioner, qualified Art Therapist and Aromatherapist currently in Brisbane and available for First Light Flower Essences of New Zealand® consultations and blends, as well as worldwide via skype and email, rosearomas@gmail.com and see: http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/practitioners

The Sacred Plant Medicine of Aotearoa (2009)

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/…/sacred-plant-me…

 

Why is the Sacred Plant Medicine of Aotearoa unique?

‘New Zealand is home to some of the most ancient and unique flora on earth, and is recognised by science as being a biodiversity ‘hotspot’. Aotearoa known as New Zealand, split away from the southern continent of Gondwanaland about 120 million years ago, and became a unique isolated oasis. New Zealand’s pristine flora has evolved in isolation for millions of years producing plants with unique qualities not available anywhere else in the world.

“From the outside looking in, New Zealand is a
piece of precious green jewel floating in the
enormity of the Pacific Ocean.”

Dr David Bellamy’

                                       http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/about

Each dawn and nightfall marked by the cry of the Pied Currawong – five more days at the House of Hamish, and the light that lit up my heart

Tags

Animals, Crowdfunding, Environment, HamishandtheHerosAdventure, kunanyitoArthursSeat, Poetry, Regeneration, Relationships, Travel

Days begin and end with the sound of the pied currawong.

Hamish ambles into the predawn garden, checking for kittens in the back shed and being swooped on from the pinnacle of the Hill’s Hoist. He has put out the midnight yowling for my new home as his beloved humans are soon to return from Venice.

My crowdfunding is not exactly flying, more hovering above ground. I am still holding the intention for Scotland but have to create a new home in the interim, hearing the sound of imminent deadlines. Thank you to all my sponsors.

‘ I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.’ Douglas Adams

https://www.gofundme.com/from-kunanyi-to-arthur039s-seat-reimagining-home

Hamish guided me to downtown Sydney to find some scenic locations and costume changes for his epic adventure – Hamish and the Hero’s Journey.

This required coffee and a certain amount of getting lost. Finding sunshine within the skyscrapers was like revivifying an ancient Egyptian art form.

 

 

In trying to find the Power House, we meandered through the Chinese Friendship Gardens – Hamish being in favour of the Lenient Garden. We climbed to mythological heights, through mountain gates, traversing lion and horse guardians on the pathway to the Clear Pavilion. On the eve of winter, we celebrated the beneficial plum, bamboo and pine of the central pagoda before paws passed through the Moon Gate and ogled the golden carp shining below.

 

 

Moon Gate with animal allies.

 

The Clear View Pavilion:

 

 

After leaping lithely through the Moon Gate – see video below – sustained by Banh Mi and caffeine, Hamish selected potential disguises for the adventure ahead.

You can contribute to the story-lion through the crowdfunding link above – giving Hamish new supurr powers and very magical allies and taking Rose one step closer to Arthur’s Seat.

 

Throughout the long and vivid night, with sparkling and pulsing human ingenuity, the light that lit my heart was still the slow sunset across the paperbark trees in Centennial Park.

Creative Mews, Icewater Bathing and give her a Penthouse

Tags

Cats, Coogee, Crowdfunding, Home, kunanyitoArthursSeat, Travel

Swimming has become a tad more challenging with temperatures plummeting in Sydney. I know the staunch and friendly elders will still be at the Coogee saltwater baths – with pickaxes to part the ice if necessary. Hamish has been fed and watered, is contentedly paw washing and is about to mount his radiator throne. He looks like a feline version of the BeeGees with thermals wafting through his fur.

As creative mews, Hamish was giving me telepathic updates on how to design the crowdfunding campaign last week. I was at a Coogee cafe scribbling down his ideas – the ancient way with pen and paper – when a be-towelled and topless businessman sat down at a neighbouring table. Tanned, toned and festooned with gold he set up his svelte laptop and began business speak. As I was trying to creative gratitude boons and manifest modest funds for travel, he was loudly decrying ‘She wants a million?…give her a penthouse.’ All being relative. The tone of his voice made me wonder about a non-conscious uncoupling court case/divorce or he may have just been a downtown real estate magnate.

So, not requiring a penthouse but still whirring away at the kunanyi to Arthurs Seat – gliding like a swan with my webbed feet paddling underwater. Thank you to my latest sponsor – one step closer!

https://www.gofundme.com/from-kunanyi-to-arthur039s-seat-re…

May the spark of inspiration grace everyone today – Moon is Aries, so a good time for innovations.

‘…This is a time for action, new beginnings and initiating new projects. A good time to gain a new perspective, to break old patterns and take a risk…’

http://www.medicinewoman.com/mooncalendar/the-moon-in-the-zodiacal-signs

Coogee Corroboree at the beginning of Reconciliation Week in Sydney, 2019.

Hamish and the Hero’s Adventure

Tags

Adventure, Cats, Ecoliterature, HamishandtheHerosAdventure, HerosJourney, kunanyitoArthursSeat, MagicalAllies, Superpowers, VideoStorytelling

Hamish and the Hero’s Adventure – what will inspire him to move?

Can he leave behind the comfort of the radiator to set his furry pawsteps on the pathway to adventure?
( He needs a few superpowers to get going!)

You can co-create Hamish’s magical journey by:

* Suggesting supurr powers

* Selecting magical allies – these are good:

http://www.firstlightfloweressences.co.nz/essences/shamanic-essences-97-120.html

* With scintillating settings – where will his paws take him?

 

Hamish as creative mews is assisting Rose, step by human step, on a parallel voyage to reach Arthur’s Seat. Each heroic Hamish edit can be sponsored for $30.

For details see:

https://www.gofundme.com/from-kunanyi-to-arthur039s-seat-re…

To watch the ongoing Hamish adventure, see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oie7UFRYkF0 

 

The Sock of Plenty to Scotland

Arthur’s Seat: Gary Campbell-Hall, inset: Irene Groeneweld Dekker.

“Your soul knows the geography of your destiny. Your soul alone has the map of your future, therefore you can trust this indirect, oblique side of yourself. If you do, it will take you where you need to go, but more important it will teach you a kindness of rhythm in your journey.” 

John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

Welcome to my venture to make a creative leap of faith to Edinburgh.

The Sock of Plenty to Scotland: from kunanyi to Arthur’s Seat – Reimagining Home 

A creative research project to design video storybooks to assist children displaced from their homelands to form deep connections with their new environments. 

I will be working with eco-literature, drawing, sound recording and video imagery and connecting with the Scottish Poetry Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre and Intercultural Research Centre in Edinburgh.

I was accepted into Heriot-Watt University for PhD research into this project in 2018 but did not receive the funding I applied for. I think that this creative project would be very valuable work to undertake at a time when many children across the world are displaced from their homelands. Having worked as an Art Therapist, I have seen the power of visual imagery and storytelling to assist children in recreating their own lives. Working with video storytelling, inspired by research undertaken in Scotland, would enable benefits to be shared worldwide.

To find out more about the project and how to participate, please see: https://www.gofundme.com/from-kunanyi-to-arthur039s-seat-reimagining-home

The project has already begun – I have left my home in Hobart, under kunanyi/Mount Wellington, and am preparing to transit from Sydney to Edinburgh on June 11th.

I have already been sponsored to travel to Sydney and already have $350 in the Sock of Plenty – thank you to Paul, Hamish, Chreh and Sonya.  I am also applying for work in Edinburgh. Without further funding, I will not be able to undertake this project and I would be very grateful to anyone able to assist – I will be offering photographs with poetry, friendship videos, and credits in the final video in return – as well as myriad other boons.

For a full list of Gratitude Boons please scroll past Hamish ( the cat/Russian Zsar) featured in the Gofundme project.

An example of a previous Random Acts of Friendship video, available to be customised:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nZ06UY9z5k&t=10s

Current videos using images from the voyage will be available soon.
Here is another example of a video advocating for elephant welfare:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSINVkwDYjY

Currently, I am at the House of Hamish caring for this beautiful cat. Due to his chest condition and need for sunbaths, most of my writing now takes place between the kale leaves and pumpkin patch.

Hamish sponsored my first night at the Meriton – discombobulated after condensing all my belongings into three bags and 70kg. Soon he lured me to his own home for feeding and radiator control and has been my creative muse for the ongoing voyage.

Cat-nesting in winter sun.

By participating, you can also be part of the Video Voyaging clip charting the journey to Edinburgh. This will be updated with new sponsorship and locations: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_N6ccA45zeU

18 days to go to – I look forward to hearing from you! Some beauty from Centennial Park in my current location.