Lotus Garden: Earth-Friendly Decor and Design

What a beautiful week doing what I love most... Has the privilege of sharing my bamboo knowledge with the legends of Let It Grow Foundation at the Johannesburg City Parks Huddle Park Nursery, a gem hidden in Linksfield. The team took to it like ducks to water, and I am inspired again by this amazing plant

Make space

Magical moments fantastic spaces beautiful faces... Lotus Garden Art loves creating unique spaces where the magic can happen, collaborating with killer artists and attracting great minds and big hearts. .hugo

Traveling buddha on a huni kuin magic carpet powered by rose quartz candlelight and king Protea... This guy is just hysterical at the things he meets on his journey through life and nomadic inspiration always

Flowers and candles maketh a woman happy

It's possible to make beautiful prayers in the smallest spaces, out of suitcases, inside dark places... Packing up a beautiful dream house and moving into a backpackers at the age of 40 (for now) ... Feels good to be on the move, to follow some dreams... And if they're only just dreams at least they will be adventures

King Protea... Muddy roots reach up to the light while Laughing Buddha keeps cheerful watch over purple amethyst ane smoky quartz Brandberg crystals that hold millions year old water bubble inclusions, rainbows and light captured in essence. Altars... Hold steady sentinels over life's ebbs and flows yet transient and inexplicable, prayers lifted to the most high on spiraling swirls of scented smoke

3 crystal skulls and quartz merkaba pendulum... The Mystery of the 13 Crystal Skulls are famed for their curious origins, believed to hold the mysteries of the universe. The merkaba form is believed to represent the energetic grid of the human body, connecting above and below. These talismans were brough from travels in India, the skulls gifted by a dear friend who had traveled through Jaipur and the merkaba from the Rishikesh street markets. Portents of future journeys

If you meet the Buddha on the road... Can yourself! This buddha was gifted by my oldest friend geez 15 years ago , before Chris was born. He got moved about in boxes and stood on shelves for years, but I only really met the Buddha one night recently, on a long and arduous journey, deep in contemplation when I looked up and there he was laughing his head off at me and my thoughts... He said to me, People are people, everybody has stuff, baggage, don't take it on, don't take it personally, he said... LIGHTEN UP and laugh at life! But, but, but...I would protest... Then he would laugh even harder, and I began to laugh... We laughed and laughed at the absurdity and delight of life. I learned to laugh again that night, heart and baggage lighter. Love you Buddha

Elements of an altar... Depicted here - one of a set of antique Quan Yin candles bought in Simonstown - an item of untold and unrepeatable blessings and many hours of wonder and joy, smoky quartz and amethyst double headed crystal from the now closed Brandberg crystal deposit in Namibia, rainbow makers and suncatchers concentrating the light, antique lotus garden brooch and dedicated skull chunga pipe

Mami Wata... Or Yemanja under another name in another place. She first came through in a drawing exercise exploring The Mother, attendant with symbols I could not explain but was compelled to include... The ocean, a beehive and a lioness. While chatting with a Brazilian friend of mine (accidental Huni Kuin singing autopiloted youtube in the background) he showed me the picture of the beach where he had his first Rainha do Mar ceremony, and I sent him the Pic. In Brazil she is Yemanja, transported with West African people during the years of Portuguese slavery. In West Africa she is Mami Wata...I started reading up on her, and friends were randomly sending images of her to me. Mother of the Water. I was visiting a friend some time later and just before I left he said, do you want a present? Sure, I said. Do you want a vudu infused present? Yes please! He snuffled around his room, where is it, where is it? And then presented me with this iron snake. He said, this comes from the temple of Mami Wata in Benin (where he traveled to to meet the high priests of vudu) and it was blessed by the high priestess of Mami Wata, who wore white and blue and whose shrine was filled with souvenirs from the sea. When I presented it to she said it told her, 'come find me, come find me, come find me'. I've always felt such a strong connection with the Ocean, as if Mami Wata has been ever-present. So she travels with me

Where does one begin, unpacking an altar? I'll start in the heart... Kali- MA, mother of creation and destruction, slayer of the ego, keeper of the alphabet... On a 6 month sojourn in India I'd find myself lost and confused and bewildered many a time in places and situations far out on the orbits of my world of experience, overwhelmed by crowds of the Kumbh Mela, seeking needles of Neville in haystack of the Juna Akhara sadhu camps, wondering aimlessly in the streets of Hardwar. I'd stumble into temples to catch my breath. And Kali would appear, provide refuge and protection. On my return to Jozi the first thing I found was an exhibition by a Kalu acolyte. When I made my first bamboo harvest my first customer was using the bamboo for the Jandhi ceremony, with Kali the goddess of honor. She's always close, warrior, protector, benefactor, blesser... Tucked in below the Ace of Spades and Queen of Hearts minicards from my grandmother, a 6 of Swords found serendupitiously under a bush in the giant Retiro Park in a Madrid right by the Statue of the Fallen Angel qt just 666m altitude... A card from the deck devised by my brilliant friend Peter (now passed over) and wizard Angus... Handcarved Ivory animal figurines my grandparents were given in their times in the Caprivi, including my guardian and guide, Ingwe Yasehlatini, Leopard of the Forest (more on that later), bushman tool found with my father in the vast desert near the brandberg mountains, a stone each from the holy Ganga River in the holy city Rushikesh and ancient Hampi temple complex... Housed in a beaten copper box I remember from my earliest childhood in my grandparents sitting room... Truly Pandora's box from which a great wealth of stories and delights spring forth