In this 'The Wisdom of Snails Canvas Art Print' you can see some of our slippery (but clearly wise!) shelled gastropods crawling into prime position on a Yin-Yang symbol.
In addition there is a cheeky little fellow, waiting in the wings for his turn.
(Only, my guess is that he isn't in much of a hurry, because he is sitting on top of an apple. Check out the size difference! That is equivalent to me standing on a pizza the size of my car! Tasty!)
Over on the right you can see a dandelion.
Why a dandelion?
Well, because they are one of natures most obvious 'trigger-hair' plants. You only have to look at one slightly cross-eyed for it to up and distribute all of those oven-ready seeds all over your garden.
Interesting Factoid... The average dandelion has between 150 and 200 seeds per flower, and each of them has its own 'parachute' that allows it to be easily carried on the wind. While we usually think of them as 'weeds' (which basically seems to be the definition of any plant that just cracks on with its business and really doesn't need any help from humans to spread far and wide). It has some great health properties for treating liver conditions, constipation, joint pain and lots of others. Dandelion has even been shown to have anti-diabetic properties.
So, what does the dandelion in this artwork represent?
Well, if you notice the Yin-Yang symbol at the heart of this picture then you will see that the theme is really that of duality. Exploring how contrary forces can actually complement each other.
What may on the surface appear to be chaotic can actually be highly charged towards the positive.
But, at every stage that doesn't mean that we aren't on the trigger-point between two outcomes.
This may display itself in economic terms. For example, if we lose our jobs. It may be that this appears to be a moment of darkness. But perhaps it is also a moment of transformation? It may not seem it at the time. But what if it leads to a new career? Or a move to a different place?
There is an excellent book called 'Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind' by Yuval Noah Harari that explores this in greater depth. The idea that one of the distinctions of being human is that we can create 'fictions'. And not just of the Agatha Christie kind. But rather that how we view all events is essentially being filtered through our own internal ideas, reinforced from our background, culture and experience of how the world 'should be'.
All of us stand at the crossroads of own minds.
To spark energetically. To frown. To smile. All of these are contained in the Yin-Yang duality of where we focus our energies at each point in our lives.
So, whether we crawl through life like the snail.
Or sail on parachutes in the air.
Our life remains in our hands.
Let this artwork remind you of that (or get it just because you like snails!)
