Visualize a bouquet, please. As you arrange the flowers in your best blue vase you assimilate the message. Not a message on a card. No-no. The flowers are the message.
It goes something like this: I have bougainvillea and fuchsia for you, and sending you this bouquet required a lot of protea. Translation? I have passion and humble love for you, and sending you this bouquet required a lot of courage.
I have Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s novel The Language of Flowers to thank for this quaint, delightful idea. Flowers (and their foliage, I assume) were once upon a time a prevalent non-verbal form of communication.
If I gave you a lavender posy I doubt you’d thank me if you understood the language of flowers. Lavender = mistrust.
My camaraderie with the humble, overlooked dandelion has been rewarded. I smiled smugly when I read what the sunny flower conveys: rustic oracle. Dandelion has got good old country-bumpkin-common-sense-wisdom and a hotline to a deity or god. Not too shabby for a plant labelled a weed.
Taking my cue from this momentous reveal, there are three plants downstairs (the above intro being upstairs, of course). Take your pick of the herbs featured in the slideshow and read your corresponding message in the basement (even farther down). You can go with more than one if you can’t make up your mind. You’ll know, when you get a taste of the leaf, if it suits your palate. If it doesn’t, don’t eat it.
This is a timeless reading/message. When you find it is when you’ll want to mind it.
Before you go to the slideshow and messages, please accept my cactus…
…my ardent love.
Y O U R M E S S A G E S
Never again will you tend someone else’s garden, receiving little of the fruits of your labor.
Good news. Your grace ushered in spring, closing out the winter of your arduous transformation. You have the whole world in your hands. You stand apart.
Perhaps you’re planning to do something online? Or build a business that allows you to grow independently without needing to conform? Create something with, and for, people who value you?
You can spread your wings. Do you know that? You have such passion, such purpose, such purity. Still, you’re a little sleepy, a little reluctant, a little hesitant to take off. Are you afraid to fly? You’ve got a big mission, a big sky to navigate. Yes, you’re a novice, newly emerged. Don’t let that intimidate you. Don’t let the fossilized husk of your past immobilize you, make you small, flightless.
You’re a rare butterfly who escaped being held back, pinned down. You no longer fit into the workplace or community you were once a part of. They know you’ve changed and they struggle to appreciate or honor that. Your’re different and it unsettles them. They treated you with disdain and hurtful, mocking disregard. In some cases, even cruelty, trying to tear your delicate wings.
Allow your creativity and intuition, and most importantly, all those hurts and betrayals that made you curl up in the dark, to inspire you. Wear your battles with pride. They’re what polished you. Use all of it to make your own sunshine. Bring warmth and value to the world that awaits you, fair Coriander.
🤍
You’re chained to a tree. You summoned extraordinary strength to break the tree’s trunk so you could at least move around a little. You carry the tree everywhere you go. You can’t go very far, and certainly not with any speed or ease.
All in good time are not words we’re fond of, and you’ve certainly done your time.
Justice is here and she’s urging you to get help, find the tool that can cut the chains. Doing so will turn the wheel of destiny and you’ll be free. Not only free, but filled with an adventurous spirit and a zest for life.
There’s an aspect of your emotional past that causes anxiety. The roots of this anxiety tree might have found fertile soil in traumatic or negative childhood experiences. You listen to the nasty little gremlins who remind you that, when it comes to love and relationships (of any kind), you stumbled, were susceptible to illusions; failing, they say, to make good, healthy decisions and choices. You question your ability to truly see what, or who, is before you, distrusting offers and opportunities. Are they what or who they appear to be? Or just a scrubbed clean replica of those dirty, unsavory circumstances and characters you endured in the past?
Release the burden of these haunting thoughts, memories, and frightening scenarios. You are not that person anymore. You are not stuck in the past. You are no longer the victim of deception, wounding love, degrading interactions, cold and heartless treatment or expectations. If you have not done so already, shed that skin.
Choose to give yourself justice by declaring the past done and dusted.
Acknowledge your power and strength, the maturity and wisdom you gained while stumbling beneath the weight of your chained-to-me-tree.
You are Rosemary, uplifting and cleansing, and that’s the true remembrance of you.
🤍
I don’t see joy here. I’m so sorry. This feels sad and hard. You’re dealing with heartbreak and loss, possibly of a stable family life and resources. Some legal action has been taken (or should be taken).
If you’ve lost a partner, children, family, or stability due to divorce or some other crushing event, I can see and feel your immense grief and trauma. Please know your pain is being witnessed and acknowledged.
Thoughts of how unjust and cold and heartless it all is might consume you. As might guilt and remorse, be they warranted or not. The tenderness and joy and warmth you once experienced has gone. It feels deeply unfair.
You suspect nefarious, manipulative tactics were employed, that the entire process and catastrophe was underhand and heartless, ripping you’re life and everything you nurtured apart.
You cannot understand how things like this are allowed to happen.
I asked what would console you. The answer is: if you feel you’re not capable of making wise decisions right now because you’re not thinking straight, that is so. Don’t pressurize yourself, or succumb to pressure from others. When you’re ready, you will have the wisdom and the information you need to move forward. Until then, stand tall but sit tight.
Also, it is crystal clear that you have a loving, alive relationship with any children involved in this situation. The emotional bond is profound. Keep doing what you’re doing. You do it from the heart and that is felt by those around you and by those at a distance.
You are a passionate, warm human being with immense emotional intelligence and a refined character. In this bleak time it is imperative you remember who you are – your empathy and quiet strength, your truthfulness and captivating charm, your maturity. These are qualities, not things, and you have them in abundance.
Please take care. Talk to someone you trust. It’s important you feel heard.
It doesn’t seem likely right now, but childlike joy will return to your life, as surely as winter turns to spring.
Much love to you, and a big hug too.
xxx ❤ TeaShell Michele
🤍
PS Doing Oregano was tough. Yesterday, I drew cards that had a similar message. I walked away from them, deciding to be stubborn about the kind of message I will deliver for this choice. This morning, despite my adamant stance, the story was again a teary one, even more so than yesterday. Someone really needs this message, and that takes precedence over my preferences.
MantisWheel 