The Keeping of a Sacred Garden : Why and How

(or even a windowsil)

Let's be real: most of us do not have the luxury of a full on glorious, Argonautica worthy, berry-filled, sun-bathed garden with all the deliciousness (and some annoyance!) that entails. Most of us, in cities and cement jungles, in the middle of the craziness of mundane life and worlds, sending emails, picking up calls and making appointments, very seldomly can afford to sit down and talk to plants.

Even thinking about it might seem silly, talking to plants.

The truth is, as I've mentioned in pasts blogs, however, that plants are an essential part of a practice rooted in the Sacred Landscape that surrounds you, and a fundamented practice cannot ignore the land it should be rooted into, no matter what your path is.

They're also magnificent, powerful spirits, very alien to our experience but in general sympathetic to humans, because we are all part of the same echosystem, whether people are aware of it or not.

As we know from literary sources, Hekate is closely link to the green world, even more so than we normally think would be associated to her, beyond Circe, Medea and poisons (although these ladies and poisons are an important part).

Our Goddess is the world soul, sometimes crowned with the epitheth "Physis" and even when not, She is always associated to the Other, the In-between, the wild oak and serpents. Taking guardianship of her sacred flora will help you build a strong connection to this side of Her and develop the knowledge that will lead into other paths in Her service, like Veneficium and Pharkamekeia. The keeping of a sacred garden or even a balcony or a windowsil is an extremely meditative, devotional practice that will make you learn several different skills that I feel are foundational for your daily magical life and enriching in the other more mundane parts of you.

In this blog I will share, in several entries, the things I would have liked to know once I started the green path, how to's, experiences with different Plant Spirits and the workings in and out you can expect when starting this project.

First of:

There is no such thing as a green or black thumb.

What I mean by this is, of course there is a lot of people with a more fine-tuned ear for plants just like there is people that can learn languages more easily than others. But, this is a learned skill - you're not cursed to kill your plant house guests, even when sometimes it feels like you are.

Speaking of languages, this is a very close approximation to what working with plants spirits feels like. The basis of this whole practice is to learn the language of plants. You will receive communication by them, I promise, reader, you're not crazy. To the more psychically inclined of you, in time and in trust, they can and will send you dreams, feelings or even sudden knowledge, as if you're whispered a fact in your ear. If this is not one of your skills, you will learn how to read their body language and eventually and with work for both cases, the communication will be very effective.

When taking on a guest, you'd make them feel at home. Talk to them, offer them a beverage, making them comfortable. The same should be truth for plant guests: When adopting a house plant into your space, you will need to make them feel welcomed, water them if needed, make sure you know how to care for the specific plant species you have.

Having said that

Plants have personalities

They often do not like things they should and like things they should not, as a beloved orchid companion of mine who trived in the direct, relentless summer Canarian sun. This is where practice of the language is fundamental. Something I do when I have a new plant is moving them from spot to spot in the apartment for a few weeks at a time, to get a feel of what kind of light they prefer. The kind of enviroment will also play a part, some plants like the quiet of bedrooms, some like the crazy kitchen rush (my Potos dislikes my kitchen even in so-called ideal sun/light/water conditions and will get lanky and wither)

It is important to stablish a stable relationship with the plant inself in order for the communication between the two flows more easily.

How to start a Sacred Garden:

First advice I can give you is look into the plants surround you. While we'd all like to have a large collection of rare and exciting plants (a Venus Flytrap comes to mind as a particularly cool friend to have) it is best practice to get to know the spirits that surround you and why. This will help you understand and read the landscape around your practice. Choose your plants carefully and in time, they'll choose you as well.

Look into the particular varieties that grow in your forests, for example there is a specific Mugwort that grows in the Canaries (Artemisia Canariensis) and a particular Datura that eludes classification but looks a lot like a mix between Stramonium and Innoxia. These are the Genie to start with first.

Once you have a chosen guest, you'll need to prepare the terrain:

Prepare the place the sacred garden will be in. Clear and clean it, consacrate it according to your specific practice. Leave an offering to the spirits of the land in form of water, milk, honey and coins and state clearly your intentions on the space.

Welcome the plant home and show them their place. Speak as it you were a friend and state your intentions with stablishing a relationship with the plant -What you do want from them, why are they there, what is your purpose?-

Give your plant an offering, as the ones above and take care of it, as a guest in your home. Soon enough you'll find it easy to "read" them, their pet peeves their dramas and preferences. Tell them your problems and your joys, speak to them frequently, specially when watering and caring for them. Explain them the changes in the space you make, the transplants and the prunes. Ask them for little favors and in time the relationship will developp.

Above all, keep in mind it takes time, trial and error, effort and a lot of patience, like every friendship does.