Gardening might not seem like a ritual, but to many of us it is. When the earth thaws and we think toward a summer of abundance, we plant seeds both real and metaphorical. What ideas do you want to plant and nurture into existence? What intentions do you want to set now, and then act on, to bring them about? Getting our hands dirty in the rich earth of spring is both grounding and inspiring. Louse Hay once said, if you want to bring something into your life, don't get impatient. If you plant a tomato seed and then a green plant emerges, don't rip it out of the ground because it doesn't look like a tomato. Nurture it and let it become what you wanted. So in spring I plant a garden, and I plant the seeds of all the ideas that have swirled around in my mind during the more restful time of year - the winter.
There was no garden here when I moved into this house 3 years ago. So I made one. But instead of long rectangular, rows of beds, I wanted something different. I created a garden shaped like two half moons, two halves of a circle, with an empty space in the middle where I built a simple bench. I love the shape, it is more organic and more feminine than the typical line of sharply angled beds. I made the border out of wood as it was all I had in my budget, and a friend brought over a hug load of great farm soil. Last weekend I turned the beds, reclaimed the bench area from the dead grass of last summer, fixed the fence to keep the dogs out, and added compost to revitalize the beds. This weekend I'll plant peas! I live in Coastal Maine so we're a way off from most other seed planting. I am an acupuncturist and herbalist so this year I am going to add a medicinal garden so that when my kids have sore throats or headaches or upset stomachs, we can go pick our remedies right from the garden. It's a little witchy magic that will make my half moon garden even more fun, and useful, and enchanted feeling. Connecting me to the healers and herbalists of so many past generations of women. Because when I garden, when I get black soil under my fingernails and make my muscles sore from pulling and raking and turning, I am intentional, I am present, I am consciously creating the garden energetically as well as physically, this spring and summer activity for me is a ritual. Connecting me to the past, to all the gardens that have kept me and my ancestors alive for all these generations. Connecting me to the earth, sacred and abundant. Connecting me to my children, and this year to my partner's daughters who will join in the gardening fun. And connecting me to myself, grounding me, supporting me, nourishing me and inspiring me to grow just a few carefully selected dreams that I want to flourish in the garden of my life. #spring #gardening #organicgardening #magic #herbs #herbalmedicine #ritual #stonefeatherfire #energyhealing
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