All the residual material from a lavender vegetable stone experiment was too complex and interesting to be discarded.

How should we proceed? Is there a use for it? Practical minds offer different opinions, but what about the non-functional, non-useful possibilities?

The Caput Mortuum, light gray and soft, felt like clay in our hands—easy to mold into figures of the imagination. Once bread, then soap; it was the positive of a negative which is the void between the palms of a pair of hands.

The coffee and lab filters (2+2), each from a distinct round—now unstructured, loose and opened, almost dissolving—crystallized the story of a process through the violet spectrum. They hold the vivid organic record of a not-so-clean filtration of the sulfur.

Two circles intersected, uniting centers and perimeters, resting on the flattened halves of the radiating cones. Then, the rejected—the anti-stone, dead head—by breaking into three, held all the stories together in geometric alignment by pin pointing sequences of three, two, and three. An abstract opening flower.

All action leaves traces. How should we proceed?

This sculpture represents the Sahu, or personal energy pattern. It contains the four elements: the solid wooden base represents Earth; the blue resin, molded to the given shape, represents Water; the cork, with its upward movement, represents Fire; and the agate stone, with its translucency, represents Air.

The stability of these four elements represents a state of inner balance, in which each person has their own particular elemental proportion. The space the sculpture occupies represents the fifth element.

An experience from working with Sundew.

The traditional correspondence of this herb with antimony in the metallic kingdom drew me to the work. In a strange way, I think of antimony as I think of wine within the vegetable kingdom  something rich in history, with possibilities concealed within its work. I came to see Sundew as a gateway, preparation for work I may eventually approach through metals.

Working with Sundew also raised a question about the operator. If we seek to touch subtle levels of Nature and ourSELF, we cannot be completely scattered inwardly and expect to perceive something subtle.

One day, while preparing to work with its honey, my new heating mantle ran hotter than I believed. I stepped away briefly and returned to find I had lost the spirit. I felt that fire rise within me.

Instead of forcing everything back to my plan, I simply allowed what had happened to happen. And something began to unfold.

The experience reminded me that the laboratory isn't merely a place where we act upon matter. Sometimes the work puts us through something as well, and we must become quiet enough to observe what Nature is doing without interfering with her.

I'll continue working with Sundew perhaps eventually attempting a stone from it. Because every time we return to the same matter, perhaps we are not the same operator who worked upon it before.

One Love, All is All

By Nature, Not by Design

I dry distilled my own Sal Nitre to receive the Spirit of Niter. Then I distilled one portion over Sea Salt. The Gold was prepared „Indian Style“ with a lot of time and Shodhana.