Whipping up some love

Whipping up a batch of lavender hand cream in a
 self made mixing bowl. Photo by Matilda

I love Herbs. Nearly as much, or most likely just as much as I like Clay. They are after all, each their own person, deserving of my love and attention. For now though, with no dedicated studio space to spend time with Clay, my creative liaison is with Herbs and we enjoy many a pleasant hour together in the kitchen and garden.

Even so, clay and herbs are of the same earth that speaks deeply to my soul. Both tactile, versatile, sensuous and alive with sun drenched energy, they lift my spirit in no time. I read that our sense of smell plays an important part in our emotional well being. Fragrance travels via our olfactory nerves directly to the area in our brain that deals with emotions. I just have to think of the nostalgia that surges through me when I smell pancakes with cinnamon to know this is true. I do believe that the fragrance of the rose geranium speaks directly to my creative centre. The closest I can come to describing the feeling I have when I brush past the geranium bush and smell the sweet fragrance rising from it, is that I feel a light and feathery tickle inside of me that makes me want to DO something or make something!

For years I have been making a rich hand and body cream, which was born of need as my potter's hands were getting worse for wear with every passing day. I needed something that would heal, nourish and protect my skin. It also had to be inexpensive because I was using copious amounts of hand cream! From my herbal books I gleaned that lavender would be a good choice. I started experimenting with lavender oil, derived by means of an ancient method of demarcation rather than distilling. I found a very good natural base cream and after letting the oil sit in the sun for a couple of months, I combined it with the base and started using it.

I was in awe with the results. Not only did it do wonders for my hands, but it soon became a complete first aid kit in a jar! Burns, cuts, insect bites, bee sting, allergic rashes, sun burn, hemorrhoids, nappy rash, bruises and skin blemishes all miraculously healed much quicker than I had ever seen them do.

Soon I was supplying cream to friends and family and it did extremely well when I started selling it along with my ceramic ware at craft fairs. I like to think my hands did the talking. Lavender has incredible healing properties and it works by speeding up the body's natural healing processes. But I have also come to realise that right from the start I did a couple of things right, quite by accident, which now, with more recent advances and knowledge in alternative healing therapies, make a whole lot of sense.

Infusing the oil with sunlight, I harness what is known in chromotherapy as white light, which purifies and uplifts. In mixing the cream by hand, my loving intent was and still is to produce a wonderfully healing cream with this amazing natural ingredient growing in my garden. Right from the start I used only glass jars as plastic leeches unsafe substances into the content.

Of course, my home made wonder cream had not been scientifically tested, and so I have no proof for my claims, but satisfied customers do not seem to care for such trivialities.

Today as I stood whipping up a new batch of cream, sunlight brightening the kitchen, the fragrance of lavender heavy in the air, the moment felt infused by God. Every minute detail of colour, fragrance, variety, use and beauty matters. Everything matters. Everything speaks of care. Of love. Of God.  

Matilda