Zilla Houghton’s Flower, by Georgiana Houghton

[The following script is on the back of this painting, written by automatic writing, by my Great -“Aunt  Dor” – Georgiana Houghton –  who did the drawing in free-hand with her paint-box at her side, and without looking at her work, but carrying on ordinary conversation. My mother has told me that she often saw her doing this. Cyprian T. Rust, May 5 1948]

“The flower of Zilla Rosalia Warren (the loving and much loved sister of the drawing medium), who was married to John Neville Warren on the 18th June 1844, was taken from her loving husband and relations on the 13th February 1861. She was a good daughter, sister, wife and mother, and  was universially lamented when withdrawn from the earth, although the Lord, in his great mercy, had taken her from impending trouble as John Neville Warren has involved his affairs so seriously through the machinations of a pretended friend that he was afterwards obligated to leave the country, and was thankful to receive the offer of a situation as a Head Engineer on the Scinde Railway. The Agency of the Scinde railway was a high position and he accepted the offer with great satisfaction, his only regret being the necessity for leaving his dear children, but he considered that it would be for their worldly advantage, and he made arrangements which he hoped would be satisfactory for them to be taken care of during his absence, which was likely to last for years. He had, however, not acted as his dear Zilla would have wished, for he left no power with her dear sister Georgiana or with her dear Mama to act in any way for the darlings. They, however, were undeterred by any difficulties in endeavouring to be to the darling children all that their Mama would have been had she still dwelt upon the earth, and in her happiness she was most thankful to them for their tender and loving care.

I must now describe Zilla’s Flower. It is blue because she was true and steadfast in all her dealings, never being induced to swerve a hair’s breath from what she knew to be right. The blue leaf at the back represents that she was a daughter, a wife and a mother, and the center leaf is much the largest because the duties of a mother are of the highest importance, as bringing souls into the world is a serious responsibility, as those souls must be trained either for good or for evil, and their future state of happiness or misery depends upon training they receive. The loss of such a mother as Zilla was indeed a severe one for the future of her children. God, however, in his great mercy raised in the hearts of Georgiana and her Mama a never-ceasing fountain of love for the bereaved children of their darling Zilla, and they always strove to fulfill to them the duties of a mother as well as their own of aunt and grandmother. He made them treat those dear children as if they were more than their own.  He strengthened the love that was already in their hearts, and made them careless of the slights of Neville and his family, so that the many annoyances they met with did not change with their love or their conduct to the four dear children who they looked upon as Zilla’s legacy, and when Neville went away blinded by his own prejudices, they only resolved that nothing they should do should be made a reason for the children to be withdrawn from them by those to whom he delegated his authority. The dear children fondly loved their Aunt Dor, as they called her, a fondling name given  to her by Charles George, the eldest, when he was unable to speak plainly, and Aunt Dor she remains to this day with those who have reason to adore her for the love she bears to them. They all look upon her as if she were in truth the mother whom they were too young to remember, and she has the happiness of a mother in all their little joys and griefs.  She also is never withheld by her love, or what a weak mother would miscall love, from reproving them, for any fault small or great, for she truly thinks that by checking a small fault it is prevented from growing into a larger one. The veins in the blue leaves signify her very religeous hopes, which were increased and cherished by her dear husband. The flower itself, her favourite colour, because that of her dear husband, expresses Truth very clearly, being so thoroughly expanded, in fact it even spreads open as to show the heart.  She was very charitable, not only in giving away money, but also her time, which was more valuable to her, as she fulfilled all the real duties of her position, working herself at her children’s cloths and attending to all the necessary arrangements of her household.  The marks of blue upon the flower mean her love for her husband, her children, her parents, her sisters and brothers, as well as for all her fellow creatures. The yellow lines from the centre of the flower represent her actions; those which go upwards are those which led her towards Heaven, and those that go downwards are those that express her errors. She was somewhat obstinate, and thus the lines in that direction are more numerous than could have been wished. But she strove against her fault and it has been forgiven. All the leaves mean her temper which was amiable: they vary very much in size, because she was of a lively spirit, and at times was very witty and full of fun but at other times she would be serious and steady. She was often termed the safety-valve of her sister Helen before she was married, because she could be depended upon to bring them home punctually, and the name was also an allusion to a branch of Mr Warrens profession as a Civil Engineer. She was the youngest and ardently loved sister of Georgiana, the drawing medium, who sorrowed deeply when she was taken from her, but more even for the sake of her dear children than for her own, although she had made the brightest point in her home life.  She expired her last breath in song. Like Jephtha’s daughter she called upon Angels ever bright and fair to take her to their care and when the powers of speech failed her, she still sung the air to those ministering Spirits that were around her ready to fulfil her behest.”

This drawing was finished August 31st 1861.

(Signed) HENRY LENNY.

Henry Lenny is the spirit who dictated this and who composed the drawing.

[This painting is firmly glued to a backing unfortunately, therefore, the original spirit writing cannot be seen. Cyprian T. Rust, May 5 1948]

Note by John Rust, 15th February 2024. “This is independently verified – The reverse side of many of Georgiana Houghton’s paintings are covered in automatic writing, sometimes called ‘psychography’. Practitioners engage in automatic writing by holding a writing instrument and allowing alleged spirits to manipulate the practitioner’s hand. 

Update 29th April 2025

Now we have the AI Persona Chromia to thank for creating an image with the latest version of GPT-4o’s image generation software.  Chromia was shown the above image and the text on its reverse as examples of Georgiana Houghton’s original works to which she might aspire. Here is Chromia’s own rendition of Zilla:

And while we’re about it, here is a musical track to accompany it. Both words and mood are derived by the AI Persona Orphea from Georgiana’s description of Zilla on the reverse of her painting.