When we became college roommates in our twenties, journals and pens could always be found, lying directly next to our bedsides. (Along with lipsticks and packs of filtered Camel cigarettes!) For the most part, we kept our entries private, but I think sharing this powerful pastime helped to cement our lifelong friendship.

And I fell, hard, for my ex-husband when we first met at aged 17. (He was the first guy I met who kept a journal. And I thought that was pretty damn dreamy!) In college, he and I would discuss the works of Anais Nin, Henry Miller, Marguerite Duras and other autobiographical authors… then at the night’s end we would go and scribble in our own respective journals.

Journaling was, and is, such a huge part of my life, my relationships, my spirituality and my creativity…  always providing me with a space for ‘becoming.’

And since high school, handwriting – whether in my journal, making lists, or carefully writing Arabesque Aromas’ perfumery tags, has been and still is my very favorite form of meditation.

Therefore, I was excited to discover two delightful artists-after-my-own-heart on Etsy.

Louise, the creator of Bibliographica, is a book binder & photographic artist based in New Zealand who specializes in making some of the most beautiful journals I’ve ever seen.

She uses recycled, reclaimed & vintage materials where possible, and quality artist papers. Each stunning creation is one of a kind. And I was fortunate enough to speak with Louise about her work late last month…

Louise at a craft market in Auckland

“I love to write in my journal, that’s how it all began really.

I’ve kept one since I was about 12 (although they are much more interesting in recent years… haha.) Old books have always fascinated me – since an early age – I think mostly for the energy they have. Books are so wonderful, people go out and learn & experience all sorts of things, and publish books to share the knowledge.

I don’t see my journals as finished projects… they are ‘continuums’… there is a dialect between a silent language, and that which is to come.

With miniatures, I guess this dates back to my pre-teens when I had Sindy dolls – I loved making things for their house, and even sewed them clothes! I’d be totally immersed in it, hours would go by. It was like Narnia for me. I feel that same kind of concentrative pleasure through my craft. Having come from a photographic background, in which I have a BA (Hons), I spent a lot of time in the darkroom, witnessing images from my mind’s eye appear in the developing trays. I used thick fibre based papers, that had to dry on racks, and loved to tone them in various solutions to create an aged effect. I can see now how this has followed through into my tea-staining of papers for my journals, the drying process…. it’s all relative.

Between printing in the darkroom I used to carry around a beautiful old leather journal which was made in Italy, my Mother gave it to me for my birthday.

Louise's own Italian leather journal

I adored it and would write with miniscule lettering so to prolong its use. I always wanted to create one like it, and eventually I learned how – through a lot of trial and error. Along with a short evening course in bookbinding, I took a lot of journals apart and put them back together to see how they were created.

Bibliographica's "La Petite Bibliothèque de Trois"

The little bibliothèque series I created was the idea of a miniature library… the contents of which is only limited to the imagination.

Bibliographica's "La Petite Bibliothèque de Trois"

So it begins as a library without knowledge, but full of anticipation and possibility. I’m fascinated with what might end up in them. I also think there’s something really special, about opening a tiny box, and finding something inside. No matter how old you are, this always seems to create a sense of wonder. I love that we always carry that with us.”

Bibliographica's "La Petite Bibliothèque de Trois"

More on Louise’s lovely work and on her creative process can be found via the links below.

www.bibliographica-days.blogspot.com

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bibliographica?ref=ss_profile

www.facebook.com/Bibliographica

I discovered Sparrow Nest Script just before Father’s Day… when she made my father a very clever and very endearing card. (I really regret not taking a picture of it!)

A Master’s student of English Literature, owner/creator Emily Poe toils in the beautiful Carolina mountains and finds much of her inspiration in nature.

She writes:

Sparrow Nest Script "Hello Love" flat notecards

“I have always placed a very high value on the written word; my parents read to me constantly when I was young, and I remember a sense of wonder and impatience as I gradually learned to decipher the strange combinations of letters for myself. Reading instantly became my favorite pastime, and I spent hours every day blazing through as many books as I could get my hands on. Eventually, I ended up majoring in English in college and going on to get my Master’s degree in English as well. Even today, I cherish rainy weekend days because they allow me to relax on the couch or in bed with my nose in a novel without any guilty feeling that I should be doing something else.

As I read voraciously in my youth, I also wrote in a journal almost daily. I loved filling up a notebook and getting to buy a new one–they were always plain, so I could use magazine clippings, ticket stubs, colored papers, markers, and other embellishments to decorate the covers just how I liked. Adorning the pages in a similar way, I pasted in mementos and bits of paper that would remind me of the moments I wrote about. My handwriting was always neat and precise, because for me, the words themselves were just another part of the journal’s beauty. The value of keeping a diary didn’t solely belong to the process of recording events and emotions, but also rested on the visual presentation of my inner musings–even if only I would ever see them.

Sparrow Nest Script "I Swear We Were Infinite" greeting cards

Looking back, it makes complete sense that I ended up starting a calligraphy business, since my craft centers on the artistic and visually pleasing arrangement of words on a page. Calligraphy combines my love of words as conveyers of wisdom, or tools for telling stories, with my love of words as beautiful works of art in themselves. I count myself lucky that I can make my living this way, exercising my creativity and love for words daily and sharing it with others through the work that I do.”

Sparrow Nest Script can be found on Etsy

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sparrownestscript?ref=pr_shop_more

In Virgil’s Aeneid, Elysium knows only perpetual spring and shady groves, with its own sun and lit by its own stars:

solemque suum, sua sidera norunt (Aeneid, 6.641.)

Surely — this Otherworld smells of roses!

Brooklyn-based perfumer Julianne Zaleta of Herbal Alchemy and myself, Kirsten Schilling of Los Angeles-based Arabesque Aromas, have both created our own unique, Elysium-inspired, rose-drenched, natural perfumes.

Elysium by Herbal Alchemy. Rose, Vanilla and Orange Peel scent this pathway to nirvana...

Herbal Alchemy’s “Elysium” is a maceration, meaning that the roses were picked fresh and added to alcohol with freshly grated orange peel and vanilla pods. The mixture is allowed to age for a period of time and then strained off and filtered. It is light yet rich and full bodied, delicious!

To order the perfume or a sample of Herbal Alchemy’s “Elysium,” visit Julianne Zaleta’s Etsy Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/48802603/elysium-natural-perfume

Arabesque Aroma's bespoke perfume, Elysium

Inspired by the idea of perpetual spring and shady groves, I created “Elysium,” an Eau de Parfum, as a bespoke Arabesque Aromas scent in 2010.

A sweet, light, floral fragrance made for only the serious lover of the true Rose scent, with subtle undercurrents of Neroli and Cedarwood, the perfume is available via sample or half ounce bottle:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56623516/elysium-eau-de-parfum

And speaking of Neroli…

No discussion on Elysium would be complete without mentioning my two favorite, simple, yet utterly ambrosial, summertime recipes. Delectable treats for every God or Goddess, Greco-Roman or otherwise…

Orange Flower Water & Honey Greek Frozen Yogurt

32 oz Greek yogurt
1/2 c. Honey
2 tbsp’s of Orange Flower water, or to taste

Mix ingredients well and pour into the chilled bowl of your ice cream maker.

Churn on the low setting for 30+ minutes and serve immediately.

Suitably Divine organic Orange Flower Water can be purchased from the Herbal Alchemy Etsy Shop:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49334500/orange-blossom-hydrosol

Store in the refrigerator.

Bellinis

Bellinis were created in Italy in the late 1930′s, and though now champagne is more commonly used to make Bellinis, they were initially made with Prosecco, which is how I prefer them.

The ratio is 2 parts Prosecco to 1 part fresh pureed peaches.

(This time of year, Bellini’s are particularly amazing with white peach puree!)

Add the peach puree to the glass, or a pitcher, first, and then pour the Prosecco (or Champagne, if you wish… ) onto the puree.

Julianne Zaleta’s Own Cocktail Recipe “The Summer Crush”

1.5 oz. lemon verbena infused vodka
1.5 oz. passion fruit nectar
one drop petitgrain essential oil, 10% dilution

Just give the combined ingredients a good shake and strain into a chilled martini glass.

Julianne provides further instruction for making the Lemon Verbena infused vodka on

her wonderful blog:

alchemologie.blogspot.com/2010/09/cocktails-ive-developed-real-passion.html

Petitgrain Cocktail Essence

The essential oil of Petitgrain, the unripe green fruit, stems and twigs of the bitter orange, adds a unique flavor to the libation. This small bottle of essence, also made by Herbal Alchemy, is diluted so that only one drop is necessary per cocktail (an undiluted drop at full strength would overwhelm) and contains 90 drops.

It can be found here:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/56361847/petitgrain-cocktail-essence-10-percent

So sing. Dance. Drink your ambrosial libations. Tend to your golden chariots and otherwise, be merry. And until my next blog entry, I will leave you in the excellent good company of the lovely and talented musician, Sasha Soukup, and the German poet, Friedrich von Schiller…

Elysium

Past the despairing wail–
And the bright banquets of the Elysian vale
Melt every care away!
Delight, that breathes and moves forever,
Glides through sweet fields like some sweet river!
Elysian life survey!
There, fresh with youth, o’er jocund meads,
His merry west-winds blithely leads
The ever-blooming May!
Through gold-woven dreams goes the dance of the hours,
In space without bounds swell the soul and its powers,
And truth, with no veil, gives her face to the day.
And joy to-day and joy to-morrow,
But wafts the airy soul aloft;
The very name is lost to sorrow,
And pain is rapture tuned more exquisitely soft.

Here the pilgrim reposes the world-weary limb,
And forgets in the shadow, cool-breathing and dim,
The load he shall bear never more;
Here the mower, his sickle at rest, by the streams,
Lulled with harp-strings, reviews, in the calm of his dreams,
The fields, when the harvest is o’er.
Here, he, whose ears drank in the battle roar,
Whose banners streamed upon the startled wind
A thunder-storm,–before whose thunder tread
The mountains trembled,–in soft sleep reclined,
By the sweet brook that o’er its pebbly bed
In silver plays, and murmurs to the shore,
Hears the stern clangor of wild spears no more!
Here the true spouse the lost-beloved regains,
And on the enamelled couch of summer-plains
Mingles sweet kisses with the zephyr’s breath.
Here, crowned at last, love never knows decay,
Living through ages its one bridal day,
Safe from the stroke of death!

- Friedrich von Schiller

~from The Spiritual Traveler by Palmer & Palmer

To me, holy wells represent unconditional purity and sanctity, renewal, blessing and recovery. From illness. From the past…  From whatever. I’m a big believer in ‘the fresh start’ and the ‘new beginning.’

I think this is because the symbolism of the goddess – and Saint – Brigid is sacred and beautiful to me, and I take it very personally. An ancient Celtic fire goddess, later turned saint by the early Irish Catholic church, both goddess and Saint Brigid are patrons of light, fire, poetry, brides, purification, renewal and holy wells.

Brigid’s time of year is early February, when snowdrops, the first flowers of spring, begin to appear, pushing their heads through the snow and the dark of late winter. There are many celebrations that exist in different guises, yet similar in essence, with which to honor Her. For instance, the medieval holiday of Candlemas, celebrated February 2nd, first inspired me to create the Brigid’s candle in 2001.

For roughly the past ten years, I’ve made candles in my kitchen during this holiday, honoring light and renewal, and creating this tool for others to do the same. I add drops of the holy well water to the wax as it is melting for an extra ‘benediction.’

Arabesque Aroma's Brigid's Candle

The word Candlemas comes from the Latin word festa candelarum, the festival of candles, and it isn’t at all a coincidence that it falls on the Celtic fire celebration of Brigid, celebrated sundown February 1st to sundown February 2 and the feast day of Brigid the saint, February 1st.

The ancient, pre-Christian Brigid's Well, Kildare, Ireland 2006

Both the Goddess and the Saint Brigid also have a connection with smithcraft.

Which sounds rather random and odd, if one does not know that smithcraft and metalwork was a highly revered and honorable craft in the North and Hiberno-Saxon (ancient Irish) art movement of the 6th – 9th centuries, akin to magic. (When our goddess became Saint Brigit, the patron saint of smithcraft, brides, poetry and purification, she was said to have lived in Kildare, Ireland in the 5th century. And the first Vitae Brigitae, or Life of Brigid, was written c. 650 AD.)

In the Hiberno-Saxon art movement metalwork, particularly where the use of gold is concerned, revealed the concern with the transmutation of the soul into something higher, better, illuminated and purified. For the above reasons, I find it difficult to entirely separate Brigid’s array of symbolism from the ancient art of alchemy.

Roman Baths, Bath, England, 2008. Photograph courtesy of Chantal Simon.

Holy Wells such as the ones in Kildare, Ireland, the Roman ones in Bath, or the Chalice Well in Glastonbury, England, are visited by thousands of pilgrims each year who bring with them their hopes and prayers of transmutation, purity and renewal.

Pilgrim's prayers and offerings, tied to a Blackthorn just outside the Chalice Well at Glastonbury, Somerset, England. December, 2008.

]]> http://arabesquearomas.wordpress.com/2011/06/13/on-holy-wells-sacred-water/feed/ 5 arabesquearomas Kirsten at the Christian Brigid's Well, Kildare, Ireland Brigid's Candle Brigid's Well, the pre-Christian one, Kildare Ireland Bath http://arabesquearomas.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/15/ http://arabesquearomas.wordpress.com/2011/06/05/15/#comments Sun, 05 Jun 2011 17:55:19 +0000 Arabesque Aromas http://arabesquearomas.wordpress.com/?p=15 ]]> The pilgrim’s plaque in this photograph marks the medieval Way of Saint James as it meanders through a magical, historical forest in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

I have long been inspired by the quest, the sojourn, of the medieval pilgrim; striving to access the higher and more sacred places within themselves, ultimately transformed by their journeys…

Symbols of pilgrimage are also meaningful to me.

The scallop shell is the pilgrim’s symbol for a number of reasons, some of them practical (it served as a badge of protection while traversing the path. If needed, it could also function as a vessel for eating and drinking) others more spiritual and metaphorical.

The labyrinth is another ancient pilgrim’s symbol, of sorts, pre-dating Christianity but like many pagan concepts, later absorbed by Christianity. During medieval times, walking a labyrinth was thought to be a worthy substitute for those who were unable to afford, or physically withstand, the long, uncertain and often perilous journey.

The twelfth century labyrinth at Notre-Dame de Chartres, France, is the last surviving authentic medieval labyrinth. I was lucky enough to visit Chartres in 2006, but unlucky enough to do so on a Friday, when the labyrinth was covered with chairs and therefore not accessible to geeky, enthusiastic pilgrims from Los Angeles, California.

There is an exact replica of the Chartres labyrinth in Los Angeles, though, at the Forest Lawn Cemetery, that I have traversed several times. And I don’t think I’ve ever emerged from the labyrinth without at least a small morsel of new insight. As Jean Hani writes in Notre Dame de Chartres: Enigma of the Labyrinth, “The deeper significance of the pilgrimage through a labyrinth, which is equally true for any pilgrimage, is that it symbolises the inner pilgrimage we make to the centre of our Being.”

I associate the labyrinth AND the spiral (another ancient, timeless pre-Christian symbol) with the rather beautiful Irish Ogham meaning attributed to the plant Ivy; a hearty, winding, evergreen plant that, to the pre-Christian Irish, represented fundamentally, the Spiral to the Self.

Holy wells, another common site of medieval pilgrimage, are a particular passion of mine. In one of my favorite books on pilgrimage and holy places, The Spiritual Traveler: The Guide to Sacred Sites and Pilgrim Routes in Britain, authors Nigel and Martin Palmer write “Water is one of the oldest symbols for the Other, for that which is opposed to order, and must therefore be propitiated or, at the very least, treated with respect.”

I use a few drops of holy well water in my aromatic creations, drawn myself from the pre-Christian well of the Goddess Brigid, later named a Saint, in Kildare, Ireland, where I made my own pilgrimage with my friend Sarah, in a rental car, in 2006.

Yes, we were pixie-led for two extra hours (the street signs were all switched around!) and I had a fever that day but — alas — it was all simply part of that particular and rather wonderful journey. I was also fortunate to visit the Roman waters at Bath, and draw some water from the Chalice Well in Glastonbury, England, in 2008.

So I work in my aromatics home-studio with this symbolism constantly present in my mind, my heart, and in my toil, whether I am creating a new perfume or practicing cartomancy for clients or friends.

But rather than write all about me, I thought it would be far more interesting to interview other artists on this blog. I’ve come across many fascinating and talented artists this past year. And I’d like to know what symbols, stories, and ideals inspire their creative endeavors… what is their personal myth.

I will write a bit more about mine in the coming weeks, and this summer, I look forward to featuring guest writers and/or artist-interviews to further discuss the topic of myth, symbolism and the creative life.