Local artist Hélène Williams calls herself a plant whisperer, investigating the mysticism of nature through sculpture, paintings and performance
What does plant whisperer and mysticism of nature even mean?
I believe that there is a consciousness in all organisms which we can connect to through practice. For some time, I have intuitively communicated with flowers and trees receiving healing messages and symbolic visions that I transform into poetry, paintings and oracle cards.
Sitting on an oak tree seat in Blean woods, hands touching roughened bark, my gaze was drawn towards an oval-shaped hole. Eyes shut, I travelled through to the “other” side: a cavern, a hearth and, sitting upon a throne, the Great Oak King. Was this a tree spirit? Magic? Or merely my imagination? I started to sing:
SONG OF OAK
Uruz,
Uruz.
Mother of all creation.
Signer of runes across a blue morning sky,
read by that all-knowing, all-seeing eye.
Solar rays shine forth through wooded web,
the deer watchers in another world,
flow and ebb,
flow and ebb.
Golden light frames your curled arms,
that shape the in-between.
Mother Oak, soother and protector, the Emerald Fairy Queen.
Uruz,
Uruz.
Your womb-shaped holes form a portal to the other side.
I sense that Duir may be a spirit guide?
As I wander through to the inner core,
a masculine figure emerges from distant folklore.
Golden cloaked, antlers and barked skin,
down I bowed to kiss the feet of the great Oak King.
Around the surround, inside and out,
strength, surety and wisdom swirled roundabout.
Quercus energy a sacred gift from this tree.
With honour and respect I accept from thee.
I raise my heart to your leafy crown,
blessed boughs and hallowed gown.
Uruz,
Uruz.
Uruz is the ancient Nordic rune similar to the shape of the oak tree in Blean woods signifying the void from where all is created.
By communicating with nature we are linking into the psychological, physical, and spiritual aspect of ourselves. Nature heals through its ability to connect to our own sacredness, our soul that is not bound by a physical body but is outside time and space.
The idea of symbolism within nature was familiar to me since a child, as I had been brought up on the teachings of Swedenborg, where the spiritual world is mirrored within the natural through the concept of correspondences. In order to understand deeper this idea that there are seen and unseen worlds, I studied for an MA in Myth, Cosmology, and the Sacred at Canterbury Christ Church University. Certain academic subjects such as the Graeco-Egyptian Hermetic (300BC-1200AD), Neo-Platonic (204-270AD) and Renaissance texts revealed to me a philosophy entitled “natural magic”.
This encompassed the idea that we are all linked by sympathetic resonance, our life force is connected to the universe’s life force, including the solar system, plants, minerals and animals ultimately forming “the One”. Natural magic understands “the One” as the sum of everything and at the same time present within every microcosm, a spark at each level of existence. I had linked to the plants via sympathetic resonance, through the process of imagination, my perception of the world had stretched beyond the five senses. When I visited Peru, I found that Indigenous shaman communicate with plants in order to heal physical, spiritual and psychological maladies. Maybe in Europe at one time we also held this knowledge.
Earlier in life I studied sculpture at Camberwell School of Art and trained as an arts psychotherapist followed by courses with the plant spirit healers and authors Pam Montgomery and Emma Farrell.
More recently I have started to work within the divinatory practise of rune magic, where the runes are symbols that can also be reflected within nature. All of these studies led me to where I am today, channelling plants that guide me on a psycho-spiritual healing path, painting visions and teaching others in plant communication through workshops and oracle cards.
Being in nature or rather be-ing nature is a daily practice; for over 20 years I have lived in a caravan in my back garden and regularly walk along the Kent coast or through Blean woods talking to the trees, wild flowers and even seaweed. You may also find me on the equinoxes and solstices marking these seasonal changes, performing rituals with poetry and music in the woods and by the sea.
You are invited to join me for a poetic performance at the private view of the ‘Be-ing Nature’ exhibition held at the Sarah Baulch gallery, Herne Bay on June 1st 3pm – 5.15pm. (Performance at 5pm).
Exhibition opening times:
May 29 – June 8
10am-5pm Wednesday to Saturday; Sunday 11am-4pm.
Alongside visionary flower/tree paintings, this exhibition will show new ceramic works in glazed terracotta and textile wall hangings from which woodland creatures emerge, inspired by the local forest of Blean, Canterbury.
For anyone interested in learning how to communicate with plants, there are box sets of garden flower oracle cards with an instruction booklet with step-by-step healing exercises to guide you into a deeper relationship with each plant. These are a culmination of the knowledge and visions I have received from my plant communication practice over the years. Box sets and framed pictures start at £30.
If you wish to meet me in person during the week at the gallery, text me on: 0781 828 2056.
Hélène’s work has been exhibited internationally in: India, Mexico, France, the Netherlands, Mallorca, and the UK and reviewed in the Times, Independent, Time Out, Hindu Times, Kentish Gazette and Whitstable Whistler.
More art on website: https://www.helenewilliams.com
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/224188906039412
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/be_ing_nature/#
Film where I communicate with oak: https://vimeo.com/803806822?share=copy
Past performances in Whitstable:
Soul-ar, poem to Isis: https://vimeo.com/807122880
Milking the Coast:
The Gateway between Two Worlds:
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