By John Madsen AKA Commander Zero

Since March,  I've had a day job that requires me to drive between several communities in Tunica and DeSoto counties. As the spring emerged, became vigorous, and transitioned into summer, I took the opportunity to observe the different forms of wild and cultivated plant growth, and almost welcomed each new stage of growth as if it were all my offspring. Early on, I noticed tiny thistle plants that set almost microscopic blossoms. Later,  the mimosas set out their blooms, sensually pink and white, ethereally wispy. White cranes fed in some of the flat fields of seedling rice which extended to the horizon, white parabolic shapes sparse against deep brilliant green.

Also - I've been wearing a pendant I made - the Celtic triple crescent form. In its' deepest meaning, it symbolizes the Celtic belief in the physical world as a triune form - sky, earth and water existing separately, yet as one and within one.

So, one morning, humming along, it dawns on me that this triune form is also an excellent analogy for the process of photosynthesis. Simply put, this is a chemical reaction in plant tissues whereby light, water, and mineral content are conjoined and catalyzed to produce oxygen and a plant-useable carbohydrate. By this means, plants feed themselves and create, as a by-product,  30 tons of harvestable carbohydrate for each person on the earth annually, as well as all the oxygen in the atmosphere. Without this animated tryptich, all life on the planet comes to an inglorious end.

What elegant wisdom for the ancient of us to have known this intuitively, and to have expressed it artistically in so many wondrous tri-forms.

And, in case you need any more proof that the Source is a loving entity, consider that a key player in photosynthesis is chlorophyll, the chemical that gives leaves and grasses their  coloration.

How about that? This elegantly calibrated, cheerfully mute, endlessly generous process, going on all around us, independent of us, nourishing us, and giving us all the beautiful variations on the color green.

Blessed be - no foolin'.