A BOULDER DREAM

I met Sharon a few years ago, while I owned a retail store, selling all kinds of spiritual and nature items. We first connected as I asked her to make a special anointing oil for the store. We connected instantly. Sharon is a very talented essential oil therapy practitioner. She started working with essential oils in 1997 and studied ethnobotany at the New York Botanical Garden. I was amazed by her connection with spirit. Our collaboration led to a teaching relationship and then to a fabulous friendship. Sharon taught me to connect with Nature on a deep level and to listen to my inner self. My training with her has been life changing and I will forever be grateful for our connection. This interview represents how deeply she is connected to Nature and how she made it a lifestyle.

If you are ever curious about essential oil therapy or in need of deep healing, you can contact her through her website.

Sharon Slowik

https://liquidamber-ltd.com

•Hi Sharon, could you give us a little presentation of yourself, where did you grow up, where you lived, and where are you located now? What is your job/career?

I was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan.  Having a creative passion, I majored in art and design in school and came to New York City to study textile design.  My career in textiles spanned 30 years which included work as a textile colorist, in design, research, and development for companies such as Manhattan Industries, Cluett Peabody & Co., Banana Republic, Express Inc., and Aeropostale.

During that time, I nurtured a personal interest in natural healing and herbology, which eventually led me to study essential oil therapy.  To expand my interest and dedication to the healing ability of the plant kingdom, I studied Plant Spirit Medicine, Therapeutic Horticulture, and Ethnobotany. I have been practicing essential oil therapy since 1997.

I presently live in the Catskills Region of New York.

•What are your passions?  

My passion is creating and working with Nature. Working with the plant kingdom in general, gardening, learning about the healing properties of plants, the mineral kingdom, and creating textiles inspired by patterns in Nature.

•Can you give us a quick description of your home?

Our home is built approximately 2200 ft above sea level. The kitchen, dining and living room are a double height open plan and can be viewed from the main entrance area. The house is built on 5 levels; the 1st lower level is the living room which is around the base of the boulder, the 2nd is the kitchen level which “floats” over the boulder, the 3rd level is the main entrance and makes the connection between the top of the boulder to a rock ledge, the 4th level is the bedroom and bathroom area which is located over the rock ledge.  The 5th level is my studio which is reached by a staircase from the main entrance area.

Our home is built on a north/south/east/west axis. It is aligned with True North and Magnetic North. True North is a fixed point whereas magnetic North follows the magnetic core of the earth – it’s not a fixed point. Magnetic north is the point a compass will direct you to. The magnetic North point of our house was determined around 2005 when we began building, so magnetic north may have shifted slightly since then.  The difference between true north and magnetic north shows up as an angle in the walls of the kitchen and the kitchen deck.

In preparing the land for the road and building site, we cut down some trees which we had milled and used in doors and trim.

• How and when did you find your land? What attracted you to it?  

My husband John and I made a list of all the things we desired for our home, such as proximity to basic amenities such as a hardware store, hospital, grocery store, etc.

The first and foremost aspect was finding property with a boulder large enough to build around.  We described what we were looking for, but most real estate agents were not thinking big enough and didn’t get it.  A friend of mine recommended looking in a particular area because he felt it had the features we wanted.  Finally, after several years of searching, our real estate agent found our property with several huge boulders laid out.  One configuration of boulders naturally laid out into a “hallway leading into a room with a window.” (Which has since become an outdoor shower area) Eureka! 

 •How did you know it was the right place? 

After each property we visited, I brought the image of the place into my morning meditation.  Each morning and throughout the day, this property kept coming back into my awareness and kept getting stronger each time I sat with it.  Even when I wasn’t focused on it, it was there in the background of my mind, persisting.

 • How did the idea come of building a home around a huge boulder?

My husband, John, grew up in the Allegheny Forest of Pennsylvania.  When he was 7 years old, his father took him to their Christmas tree farm in a nearby area.  There, he saw a dilapidated old barn that had fallen into the side of a huge boulder, and he said to his dad, “Pop, one day I’m going to build a house around a boulder.” And that’s how the journey began.

• Can you describe the spiritual process and journey of building your home?

John drew the plan for the house on a cocktail napkin, which we still have. We owned a small house in Sullivan county for about 20 years – we had lots of parties, visitors, barbecues, a garden, etc. We took all the years of experience in entertaining, living, gardening, and enjoying that house and put them into this house. 

I wanted a deck facing west to watch the sunset at the end of the day.

a mudroom,

a pantry,

a deck to barbecue in rain or shine, 

a studio to do my work and projects,

• The journey with the boulder.

Since my introduction to plant spirit medicine in 1998, I have made numerous journeys with plants.  So, when we purchased the land in 2003, and knew which boulder we were planning to build around, I had to do a journey on top of the boulder to gain more information. I shared our plan to build around it.  I shared my desire to build a fireplace in the kitchen.  Through dowsing*, information came that we had to have 3 points of fire in the home, so we built a fireplace in the kitchen, living room, and the bedroom.  In addition, there also must be one outside.  Originally, we had a fire pit below the back of the house.  We moved that, and recently John built a fire table below the kitchen deck out of a rock from the quarry in the lower part of our property. Now that’s the outdoor point of fire.

 During my journey with the boulder, there was a sense of pleasure to be part of the human experience.  The boulder would be part of our experience and we would be a part of the boulder’s experience.  There would be an exchange of energy. 

The movement of time for the mineral kingdom is very different from the movement and measurement of time for humans. Our lives as humans are a nano-second compared to the span of time for the mineral kingdom. 

*Dowsing can be compared to muscle testing or applied kinesiology. In dowsing, a pendulum is used as a focusing agent to determine positive or negative answers to questions.  The pendulum is a tool used to “read” energy.

• What is your advice/ tips to people who want to live a life closer to Nature and connect with it on a deep level/ living in better harmony with the laws of Nature.

Learn to listen with an open heart and “don’t know mind”.  This is a process of letting go of outcomes and expectations.  Spend time in Nature observing and listening.  If you can, walk or stand in your bare feet to ground yourself and connect to the earth.  Let go of a timetable.  Nature has its own rhythm.  Be humble. Be open. Observe and ask Nature itself and allow information to come to you.

Start small.  Consider a project you would like to create.  Set your intention and walk around the area where you want to create.  Imagine it in your mind or you may also talk about it out loud.  Then let it go.  Keep going back to the spot regularly and allow yourself to FEEL if your idea is compatible with that area. Ask permission.  You may receive a feeling or information in a dream or later when you are not thinking about it.

When you have formed an idea to create something in Nature, consider how you want to feel when you have completed the project. Set your intention to create in harmony and balance.  Ask what the most beneficial way is to approach your idea, where your needs and desires are in alignment with what is also best for the environment in which you wish to create. This is a process of co-creating with Nature. This involves bringing your idea to Nature and listening.  Be open to adjusting.  What you create may not work out in the way you expected. What you might consider a “failure” is a key part of the learning process with Nature.  What may look like failure may just be the beginning of building something that you haven’t even considered.  That is why it is important to let go of what the outcome “should” look like.

• What are your future projects in connection with your house/ garden?

Continue with projects in the garden area, expanding it and terracing the back of the house.

Continue to build this as a place of connection, collaboration, and co-creation with Nature.

Eventually, to create a Foundation, but we are still creating.

Thank you so much!