Potent Steam
This direct-print bottle design serves as a glow-in-the-dark nightlight, a sustainable water bottle, and a magic spell for genius cultivation. triple-threat!
The seed
In 2014, I took a deep dive into the art of genius cultivation. One tried and true method I discovered was rooted in the art of psycho-magic. With psycho magic, a wildly elaborate ritual is designed to influence the subconscious mind to “get on board” with the conscious will. The more elaborate the ritual, the more you trick your subconscious with the subliminal messages “spell-cast” from your conscious intentions. The spell works like this:
a letter to your heart:
Light a candle and write a love letter to your Heart, asking it to provide wisdom on how you might better honor its divine genius. I like to use cursive and then perfume the page, as though my Heart were my greatest love. Blow ut your candle to close the container.
Then, go for a walk, take a forest bath, or practice moonlit yoga. Ultimately you just want to step away from the 1st-person P.O.V. of your letter. When you return to your letter, set the stage for the psycho-magic.
dream-speak:
Light a candle to establish a container for the spell. Allow your heart to read the letter and, on a freshly prepped page, allow your heart to respond in dream-speak. This sounds a lot like Lewis Carol’s Through the Looking-Glass. My heart responded with the following:
Lick ye gnarly fizzlestrumps. The heavenly fog lingers low where you lie and you milk the utterly pregnant steam. When the marauder of the motte calls, come running.
Once the letter is complete, blow out the flame.
The next step is quite critical. The idea is to honor the preposterous profundity of our hearts by reverently following our heart’s instructions in elaborate detail. The more elaborate our little rituals, the more we convince our subconscious minds that our hearts are worthy of honor. So I followed my heart's instructions.
I donned my favorite nightgown and kissed the gnarliest of trees in the forest. I laid beneath the low lingering clouds and “milked the utterly pregnant steam” into open bottles via a secret patent-protected process. And when the “marauder of the motte" called, I chased my beloved feline through the forest to muse her magic.
Deepening the ritual
I realized I had a marketable product… bottles filled to the brim with potential. I honored my heart even more by designing labels and packaging for the bottled steam, complete with a magic spell that allows the users to tap into the genius of their own hearts. I sold Potent Steam at music festivals while roving as a maniacal, steam-hocking witch.
Please enjoy the experience of your heart’s wisdom.
