This gorgeous flower is called Akelei, in Norwegian (and also in Dutch), they're also known as columbines. They're a genus of perennial flowering plants and there are gorgeous natural variations all across the northern hemisphere, but you can find both natural and introduced flowers all over the world (except Antarctica).
They are really cool as they posess both male and female organs and they are capable of self-pollination with and without pollinators. Yet, caution is adviced as parts of the plants are toxic to humans. It is why my Akelei grow quite protected where the cats or the kids cannot get too close. It doesn't protect it from me though, grabbing every chance to watch those gorgeous colours and petals!
All throughout the season there were only leaves visible and very very slowly in the middle a stem would grow larger, eventually developing those enveloped petals you see on the picture. So this one came in quite late, nonetheless being a pleasant surprise in what I may call: a wonderful first year for the Garden.
It also reminded me sternly that growth, beauty, resilience and showing ourselves happen at their own time. Sometimes it takes longer than we want, sometimes it happens faster than we can anticipate.
I care a LOT about what I do, I am so personally involved that it physically hurts sometimes, I suffer and I am being blessed by the art that I create and I tried to dust that part of myself away so many times to appear more "professional", to appease to the masses.
But if I learned one thing this year: you cannot force something that isn't in your blueprint. I cannot pretend that I don't care when things are quiet and the world continues to turn without me. I cannot pretend it doesn't hurt when people ask me if I blocked them because they find out 7/8 months after I deleted my socials that this is not the case.
I want to be beaten up by my own tarot cards, I want my garden to tell and show me I pruned too much and tried to hard, I want to see the frog hopping away into the pond because I approach with such enthusiasm that it got scared. I want to feel the tingling sensation of playing the harp again, I want to sing and play beautiful music, do fantastic hair, have my soaps and balms and scrubs take over the world.
I tried to fit in again. Changed my whole website to Norwegian because I work here, no change. I changed my prices: everyone who wanted me to work for a bargain left. I changed my attitude, lost people I thought were friends and adults. I changed my way of thinking - it created space.
The world never became a prettier place because we all fit in the same mold, because we all do the same things, read the same stuff, sign up for the same stories. The world is pretty because we resist, we change, we feel, we wish to grow, to build and to nurture.
That is what Akelei is teaching me right now and with the Autumn Equinox on the doorstep: I fully allow it. She is also connected to fairy presence by writers like Thomas Keightley and John Brand (18th and 19th centuries). It is said that there where they grow, different kinds of reality may touch. With all that I've seen and experienced in the garden this year, I would definitely not deny the possiblity!
Happy autumn!
Lene
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