The Future Is In The Flowers

10 blooms

one
It rained on Summer Solstice. I swear I could hear the flowers sigh in relief as they glugged up the water from the moist soil. Overnight the garden greenery doubled in size.

two
Foxgloves stand ten feet tall around the pond. I drew one of them in a sketchbook and wrote, the future is in the flowers around the drawing. I had no idea what the phrase meant but it came to me as swiftly as the rabbits run away when I startle them in the meadow and I thought the words were worth capturing. 

three
In Druidry studies last week we discussed the possibility of our lives being influenced by the future, not just the past. I remember a previous spiritual teacher telling me my path was already marked out with flowers and all I had to do was follow it. Follow the flowers, the future is in the flowers.

four
I changed my name. Not all of it, just the second part. Many, many reasons why, but mostly I wanted to set off from the Solstice on a new path that wasn't connected to who I'd married, nor whose name I adopted at birth. I've cheated though because England is still a name passed down through my family, albeit the maternal line. I told you at the start of the year I'd change my name. At least that's one item I can tick off the to-do list!

what i said:

five
It's so hot I've been sleeping down in the basement spare bedroom which is as cold as our freezer. I have three thin, vintage quilts on the bed but I still had to pop an extra blanket on last night. Mr C painted up an old chest of drawers we found for $20 in a lovely yellow ochre (one of my fav colours) and I popped this old painting I did in 2021 on top of it. I wake up every morning and think, I like that painting. It's called "Accidental Flower Arranger" and it's about a woman who wanted to travel the world but somehow ends up with kids, house, domestic chores. Yes, it's partly my story.

six
the future is in the flowers
the future grows in wild places
the future blooms in languages of seeds and shoots

(i don't have any more lines yet, lol)

seven
My earliest drawings are recorded in my mum's old copy of The Observer's Book of Wild Flowers. See, my path WAS laid out before me. I started following it when I was a girl. If you're British you'll know how iconic these little Observer books are; they're considered "collectibles" now. I don't think mum was very happy about me scribbling in her book but I imagine she picked it up in a charity shop because on the inside cover, written in pencil, it says, "from Jennifer". There are no Jennifers in our family and mum bought almost everything from charity shops, so it's not like it was a precious gift from a favourite Aunt, unless there was a secret Aunt Jennifer in our family, which wouldn't surprise me at all. I wish I could ask my mum. I miss her.

eight
I'm considering becoming an officiant (British celebrant). I'm imagining wearing long, linen robes, flowers in my hair and coming up with all kinds of gardening metaphors for weddings, naming ceremonies and memorials. I don't mind public speaking, I've done a lot of it, and I love ritual and ceremony. I think I'd be pretty good at it. Wild Creative Celebrations or Ceremonies? Hmmm, I have to get the name right before I commit :) Before you get excited and start booking me, bear in mind that I've had plans for a Wild Creative Florists, Cheesemaking Studio, Kombucha Lab...and on and on. Neuroqueer ADHD brain, what can I say?!

nine
Art is like a flower that continually blooms. Curating an exhibition is like gathering different flowers into one beautiful bouquet. I've shifted into the curation mindset in the studio. I think I have enough art to fill Tate Modern's turbine hall, I just need to get it in order and be clear about the story I'm telling. After sending last week's video to paying subscribers, which was all about noticing what I'm doing in the studio and NOT judging what I'm creating, I realised I've been in critique mode since the start of this year. If Brian Sewell (look him up) was still alive, even he would tell me I'm being too harsh. What I've considered prep work IS the art! I just didn't see it. 

ten
a vision of the future

With love
Jacqueline x

PS My legal name remains Calladine. I’m using England as my pen name (and brush name, if such a term exists, which it totally should.)

PPS No AI was used at any stage of this writing.