If you’ve followed me long enough, you’ve read that a lot my art is about balancing life force and death forces, how we hold and transmute those energies (particularly women bec I think were are better built for that kind of processing).
My scales have tipped recently toward the darker side, more to work through than usual. But, it’s to be expected during cleanup time. Often, things get messier before they clear up. We’re seeing that process unfold on an accelerated, collective, grand scale right now.
Which is prob why, when my favorite houseplant (which has thrived for years) suddenly and rapidly began dying over the course of a few days – for no particular reason except maybe mirroring my energy shift? – I only tried to save it once.
Counter to my usual instincts to rescue and heal, I just let it go before my eyes, everyday, noticeably with the same attitude I have looking out my proverbial window at America right now: If some poison, illness, toxicity has to rise to the surface and die, so be it.
You better dip out and clean yourself up, too, when you need it – if the forces of good are to come out the other side thriving. Do not feel guilt or shame. While you put it down, I’ll pick it up.
And when I put it down, I’ll know someone else is picking up my load. Soaked in death force energy from the time I opened my eyes this morning, I hid for awhile and then slunk outside barefoot and bare-backed to prune dead branches, dig in the dirt, and pull weeds til my bare skin itched all over and I was thoroughly sun-soaked.
And suddenly I wanted to save my plant. I collected it from inside, trimmed off all the dead and yellow, and replanted the roots in fresh soil.
That’s transmutation – a more relatable word to me than “self-care.”
A deep listening, an instinctual following that leads to the other side-life force balances death force. You can trust that.
And you know what, if she still dies, I’ll plant something fresh in her place.
—ruby roth
Flommist Ruby Roth is an artist, designer, creative strategist, and the author-illustrator of four leading books for kids. Her work has been featured on Today, CNN, FOX, NBC, ABC News, and other major media outlets. Copyright © 2020 Ruby Roth. Pictured up top: Watercolor on paper, approx 5x7 inch, contact for sale inquiries.
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