> story of flowers. with it we celebrate the feminine. as a blossom, portal to the divine or your own life story.

As long as I remember, I was fighting my chaotic, non-linear, non-goal oriented traits. When stumbled upon a feeling, a story, a color or a texture, I would disappear in it. Lose track of time. Forget everything and get absorbed. This sort of a constant drifting vulnerability became almost unbearable when pre-school started. My wild wanderings in meadow fields were disciplined into time slots of things to do. And I hated the most of it.

The rigid was unmanageable and my dreamy flow was inappropriate.

Don’t get me wrong, I mastered thriving in society. But I kept retreating into this hurricane mode where processes and emotions, experiences, obsessions, daydreaming and memories were dancing over rules and results. Even after conquering all the challenges I felt that flowers and chaos was my sanctuary - while it brought suffering, too - because I was sure it made me look fragile. So, I kept it in my little inner cabinet de curiosities.

Happily one day (lots of events and serendipities led to it) made me realize the need to embrace that softness. Surrender to it. Be in peace with impulsiveness, accept effervescence and keep playing. That my creativity steams from this turmoil. That what I make of it is medicinal. For myself and for those around me. Hope you like it as much as I do!

// Yurga

INSPIRATIONS AND RESEARCH >

- FLOWER -

Blossom has such a power in it. And fragility, too.

What’s your favorite flower growing up? Mine were irises, astilbes and peonies. Plus all the wild ones that I would stroke, gather, arrange, dry them, make wreaths or play secrets - a game where in the ground we would burry flowers and cover them with a piece of a colored glass (for someone to discover).

A blossom throughout history symbolized the feminine principle. Rose Apple bloomed on a sacred tree of life. Worshipers of Aphrodite used to call their ceremonies - mysteries of the rose. Trees and flowers often embodied feminine presence in ancient Buddhist stories - “prescient and nurturing, these trees-cum-goddesses are expressions of the sacred feminine in the world” (Wendy Garling). Five petaled rose (cinquefoil) found in Gothic architecture was one of the multitude of hermetic symbols related to the myths of old societies were feminine was revered, as speculated by historians. Cinquefoil itself dates back to the Roman times when it was called the rose of Venus because it mimicked the pentagrammic path of the planet in the sky at night. In Italy and Greece, the earliest tree to awaken and bloom in spring is almond blossom which in ancient symbolism conveyed recurring miracle, promise of life and abundance. Barbara Walker in her dictionary of symbols and sacred objects gets even more specific - “almonds were female-genital signs and maternity charms from very ancient times. The virgin birth of the god Attis was conceived by a magic almond.”

- MANDORLA OR VESICA PISCIS -

Womb of the world and portal to the divine.

In Italian mandorla means almond nut, to which shape it refers. Mandorla is created by two identical super-imposing circles (Vesica Piscis). The mystical space of this intersection hold multiple meanings amongst ancient traditions. A lot of them point to the feminine principle - to the creative power that ignites in this overlap - birth canal. Basically, the matrix for all life on earth. Perhaps one of the most ancient sacral symbol known to humans, mandorla is indication of the union. By bridging dualities humans unveil deeper truths in themselves. Opening into the divine? A cosmic womb? “With an unintentional double entendre, the mandorla was sometimes piously interpreted as a gateway to heaven” (Barbara Walker). Vesica Piscis translates as bladder of the fish (or vessel of the fish) from Latin and as a sign depicts those interlocking circles. The overlapping plays with two energies and gives a third, sacred dimension of almond shaped secret. It can be read as dynamism of dichotomies - divinity / humanity, male / female, spirit / matter, heaven / earth, conscious / unconscious, right brain / left brain - and the truth of in-between. It also looks like vulva - or yoni in sanskrit - which stands for holy passage for the soul to the material world. Creative force, the Mother-spirit that gave birth to the world and the gods, the principle of both the birth and dissolution.

According to the Epic of Gilgamesh, the plant of eternal life grew in the deep, another term for the womb of the world (Barbara Walker).

Archeologist Marija Gimbutas devoted her life to the symbolism of Old European Great Goddess. In her book The Language of The Goddess, she wrote “that those sacred images and symbols remain a vital part of the cultural heritage of Europe. Most of us were surrounded in the childhood by the fairy world, which contained many images transmitted from the Old Europe (Neolithic period). In some nooks of Europe, as in my own motherland, Lithuania, there still flows sacred and miraculous rivers and springs, there flourish holy forests and groves, reservoirs of blossoming life, there grow gnarled trees brimming with vitality and holding the power to heal; along waters there still stand menhirs, called ‘Goddesses’, full of mysterious power. The Old European culture was the matrix of much later beliefs and practices. Memories of a long-lasting gynocentric past could not be erased, and it’s not surprising that the feminine principle plays a formidable role in the subconscious dream and fantasy world. It remains (in Jungian terminology) the repository of human experience and a depth structure.” (1991)

FLOWER PENDANT can be customized with the gemstones you want to wear >

ASTRO FLOWER NECKLACE with five astrological aspects unique to you: sun sign, moon, north node, your Venus and your ascendent. They are translated into colorful energies that you wish to harness to become your best self.

Pendant on your left is made with JUNETHINGS founder natal birth chart coordinates >

“(1) my sun sign in Gemini (cusp with Cancer) translated with a grape garnet from Orissa, India. The positive meanings behind it are openness, expansion, communication, and having a perspective. positive Cancer vibrations are heart, compassion, and intuition. I didn’t add the Cancer gemstone, I just know that it’s on the cusp, so a bit of both (that my twin is emotional and softer than the ones born at the beginning), let’s say, a dreamy Gemini.

(2) on the right, red Anthill garnet from Arizona translates moon in Aries. That adds wild fierceness for sure. Aries in moon high vibrations are courage, resilience, and knowing who you are (not always, I should say, some days are very foggy ). Don’t forget the lower tones that I try to catch as soon as I see surfacing, like being impulsive, impatient and everything else you don’t want to know.

(3) African emerald is for Virgo north node which tells me to be organized, pay attention to detail, responsibility, and be in service for others, also follow my intuition, bring uniqueness to the world (we-all need to find our gifts and talents & share it) - and feeling "good enough." We are using green for the virgin. It can be a more nuanced green diopside, but I wanted to emphasize those traits that I need to work on (NN is something to cultivate), so I chose a brighter shade as a reminder to “get it together” as I wear it.

(4) grape garnet on the left bottom is for my dear Gemini in Venus which says that in relationships I should be friendly, warm, open, witty, humorous, charming, lively, and everything else fun.

(5) peridot (from Arizona) on the high left is for the Leo ascendant that shouts not to forget to live open-heartedly, be vulnerable, show the soul to the world, open my heart without being needy of approval or attention to my persona.

Every time wearing the pendant I want to embody those positive vibrations of signs that accentuated the moment of my birthday and could be dramatically difficult, but I just made a damn fun game out if it.”

If you would like to explore the subject deeper and enrich your personal journey, these are sources to look at among others >

- Carl Jung on feminine and masculine principles
- Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype
- Barbara Walker, The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols & Sacred Objects
- James Hollis, The Eden project: in Search of the Magical Other
- Marija Gimbutas, The Language of The Goddess
- Riane Eisler, Sacred Pleasure
- Leonard Shlain, Sex, Time and Power
- Marion Woodman, Conscious Femininity
- Michaela Boehm, The Wild Woman’s Way
- Jean Shinoda Bolen, Goddesses in Everywoman
- Wendy Garling, The Woman Who Raised the Buddha: the Extraordinary Life of Mahaprajapati