Chapter 3: THE END AND THE BEGINNING
Following the trauma of my partner Rowan’s near-death experience, the complications and challenges post hospital release, and the additional strain of Covid-19’s wrath, I became an unrecognisable version of myself. The anxiety and exhaustion left me unmotivated and uninspired about what had once stirred such passion within.
I neglected the online magazine that I had dedicated my life to for the previous six years, ceasing operations entirely the following year (in 2021). My desire to create—even on a smaller scale—plummeted. Socialising felt high-risk with Covid in the community and Rowan still recovering from meningococcal disease. I felt stuck in a state of survival mode and nothing else really mattered. I was home for close to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for months.
With the threat of losing Rowan feeling less imminent over time, and life slowly returning to some form of normality around us, I began emerging from the dark place I’d come to know. I found moments of inspiration in our plans to renovate and decorate our home—something I could look forward to that offered hope for the future we had been dreaming of before Rowan’s illness. We began venturing out more frequently, exploring local towns and collecting unique treasures along the way.
2021 arrived and offered the feeling of a “clean slate.” By the second week of January, Rowan and I had welcomed our two ebony oriental shorthair kittens, Onyx and Osiris, into our home. The new life within our four walls came with revitalised energy and further inspiration to create the reality we had been fantasising about: starting with our home. It was important to build a new relationship with it, away from the associations with illness and vivid memories of paramedics, syringes, and late-night temperature checks. I wanted to reconnect with the place I’d once fallen in love with and had developed such a profound sense of peace and security within.
It took time and there were setbacks, but through reconnecting with our home I naturally began reconnecting with my former self. The desire to create was reignited through styling the various ornaments, furnishings and curiosities that Rowan and I had scouted on our adventures. I enjoyed “the hunt” of finding the perfect piece and the reward of later seeing it on display in what had very much become our sanctuary again.
This chapter marked the end of a painfully dark era and made way for the beginnings of an illuminated new reality. With my newfound passion for sourcing and styling our special acquisitions, and the immense healing effect it had on me, I naturally wanted to share the experience with others. I wanted to help like-minded people find keepsakes that would offer them the comfort and enjoyment that I now had in abundance because of this one project.
With this thought in mind, on the day of Tuesday, 30th of August 2022, Venus in Scorpio Trading Co. was born.
Thank you for sharing in this sacred journey and the beginnings of this new era.
Welcome home.
♱ Susannah ♱
