I never gave flowers a second thought, other than buying them every now and then and sometimes remembering to put an aspirin in the water. Then I read Letting the Lotus Bloom. I found it to be both strong and delicate, like the flowers it celebrates. I loved the voice and the stories. And not surprisingly, it left me with a new respect for flowers and the people who work with them. What did surprise me, however, was how powerfully, Letting the Lotus Bloom connected me with soul in general, my soul in particular, and the beauty of soul;s unfolding. I will read this book more than once and I will give it to friends, with and without an accompanying bouquet.

--Victoria Moran, author of Creating a Charmed Life

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Color and Seeing

Chapters

Flower Arranging, Art and Soul,

Letting the Lotus Bloom, the Expression of Soul through Flowers

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Letting the Lotus Bloom, the Expression of Soul through Flowers by Kevin Joel Kelly

Foreword by Thomas Moore

Whether you are a professional floral designer or someone who loves to artfully arrange a simple bouquet from the market or garden this book is for you. Letting the Lotus Bloom goes beyond the craft of flower arranging and looks deeply into its soul. By weaving his personal stories with rich metaphors Kevin Joel Kelly speaks directly to the imagination and soul of this elegant art.

Letting the Lotus Bloom, the Expression of Soul through Flowers is a series of reflections on both flower arranging as an art and as a metaphor for living one’s life as art. While the specific topic is flower arranging, Kevin’s insight is for all who look for deeper meaning in their creative medium or into the art of their existence.

Kevin shares many of his own experiences while discussing many of the elements inherent in quality flower arrangements, but he does not go into the do’s and don’ts of the craft. He leaves that to other authors. Kevin’s concern is with the relationship of the inner life of the flower arranger to the act of creation. Kevin encourages the readers to explore their art in relationship to their inner life from which all creativity springs. To that end, while there are some lovely black and white photographs of blossoms in this book by Kansas City photographer David Biegelsen, there are no pictures of flower arrangements. Instead, Kevin wants each reader to imagine the flower arrangements he or she would create.

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There are those who will continue to use weapons to solve humanity's conflicts, but Kevin and I will go on our soft and silly ways, trusting the beautiful to educate the soul toward peace and creative Expression. Jesus said "Behold the lilies of the field." I try to behold them every day, and I behold this beautiful book, knowing that it offers more toward the healing of contemporary anxiety than all the burdensome expertise and all the hyperactive building that crowds our inner and outer space, leaving little room for the flowering of our landscapes and our souls. Let it teach you to arrange your life on the model of flowers artfully and gracefully set in a vase, transforming the world around them

.--from the Foreword by Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul

This book is a gift to all of us on the creative path! It reminds us that successes, setbacks, joy and tears are all a part of the process, but that like the lotus, we will always bloom. It is how we are designed.

--Ardith Beveridge, AAF, AIFD, PFCI, CAFA, MSF, Founder and director of the Koehler and Dramm's Institute of Floristry