"Action Creates Reality"
Meet Shirli Dagan Levy, a graduate of the beginners and advanced courses that recently completed the advanced course and submitted her final project. Shirli chose the topic Action Creates Reality. It deals with pregnancy and parenting.
“My name is Shirli and my project is about pregnancy and parenting. I believe that action creates reality. My husband and I have been happily married for four years. We had a rough year when I gave birth prematurely at week 24 and unfortunately lost our twins. We are now in the physical and emotional process of becoming parents, G-d willing. This process is one of ups and downs but it is always optimistic and positive. It is from this place that I chose the raw materials for my project that represent my emotions:
Caressing Ranunculus, strong flowers like Ornithogalum, flowers with healing properties like succulents, and shiny flowers like the wax flower. I also chose my main color as orange.
The color orange belongs to earth tones and represents vitality, health, happiness, creativity, imagination and emotion. Orange is a warm and energetic tone that represents happiness and joy and the symbol for female energy and sexuality. Orange allows us to create a balance between our physical and spiritual bodies, releases thoughts and feelings and allows the body to move with ease. The choice in flowers and color allowed me to keep the image of the fetus in flow with the body and soul together, stemming from the full belief that I will be rewarded to be pregnant again and G-d willing to give birth with full hands.
Each flower was arranged personally and wired with full attention. Each flower was another point in the whole process of a loving and caressing work and each flower was a milestone in a long and fruitful process.
My word association circle was about action creating reality:
Realizing a dream.
Equal among equals.
Family.
My husband and I as a couple.
A corrective experience.
What is my place in society?
Wants and desires.
Love.
Giving and receiving.
Good things will come.
I am very moved. This is a creation from deep in my soul. I created my dream, to become a mother. The design experience was wonderful and magical, quality time with me, my feelings and my thoughts (also my husband who helped…) One day it will happen, without us noticing something will change, something will calm us down, something will touch us and there will be nothing to fear. It will arrive like a line carved on the palm of a hand, it will come sure of itself as if it had always been there just waiting for us to notice.
Shirli’s reflections on the course:
I’d like to thank the one and only Orit Hertz. Thank you for your vast knowledge, your encouraging hand, patience, your humor and what you have meant to me. Thank you for the magical flowers and the opportunity to meet you. Thank you for your friendship and the wonderful class sessions, full of humor and enjoyment.
Shirli
Photography: Hadar Hernes
On a personal note:
Beloved Shirli, I know fate will have it that our paths will cross once again. When you told me you’d be signing up for the advanced course I knew your final project would be on this subject matter and that you’d turn your difficulties into empowerment through flowers.
From our short acquaintance it was clear to me that you’d look fear in the eyes, bring up the pain and difficulty and break them down by means of flowers. This is exactly what you’ve done; you’ve taken a great loss and diluted it in a world of beauty, love, aroma, growth and abundance.
As a person who has experienced something similar to the loss of a child, I felt your great pain though you and through your project. I hurt along with you and also experienced your great hope.
I love you and am proud of who you are and what you bring to this world and of your wonderful and touching project that you created. Your beautiful technique and choice of materials was done with professionalism and the result is breathtaking.
A wonderful friendship has developed and it will continue for years to come with happiness, laughter, children and much love.
With love and appreciation,
Orit