Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

These beautiful phalaenopsis orchids are happily blooming, growing in a pot on my dining room table. Sometimes they are referred to as moth orchids, because apparently a botanist from Sweden first saw them through binoculars in Java in the 1750's and thought the orchids were a cluster of moths ( probably not this colour). Such a mundane name for such an exotic flower, I think, but then moth lovers may think differently?   Coincidentally, I am currently researching aspects of Chinese art for an essay, and it appears that the orchid traditionally, of all flowers, has had a significant impact on Chinese culture and society. Confucius particularly had somewhat of an obsession with orchids. He gave the orchid a noble character, drawing a connection between his own personal situation and those of wild orchids  ....  Confucius was shown to have developed a special love for the orchid from an early age. It happened that he had been seeking a ministerial job with the ...

Today my sister-in-law had an operation on her pelvis. Before going to the hospital, we were talking about her friend who told her that she needed to think “yellow” as a special healing colour. I had coincidentally been reading about colour therapy, so we spent the morning researching and discussing theories about healing and colour. Here’s what we discovered about yellow from www.colourtherapyhealing.com : "YELLOW relates to the solar plexus chakra, situated below the ribs The organs to which this chakra relates are the liver, spleen, stomach and small intestine. The endocrine gland is the pancreas. Healing properties: Yellow helps strengthen the nerves and the mind. It helps awaken mental inspiration and stimulates higher mentality. Thus, it is an excellent colour for nervous or nerve-related conditions or ailments. It also energizes the muscles. Dark yellow soothes pains in the nerves (shooting pains)…. “ So while my sister-in-law was in the operating theatre this afternoon,...