Cultivating sacred space : gardening for the soul

Description: Gardening is gratifying, simply from experiencing the growth of flowering new plants as a result of our hard work and steady care. But when gardening becomes a way to bring the sacred into our lives -- when we garden with intent, vision, and a better understanding of how each act in the garden can reflect and enhance our everyday life -- then we are creating environments that provide spiritual well-being and nurture for the soul. In Cultivating Sacred Space: Gardening for the Soul, author and photographer Elizabeth Murray encourages us to transform our own private gardens into places that satisfy our need for the sacred, for play, for meditation, and for connecting with the earth. In the first chapter, Winter, we learn to reflect and rest in dormancy, gathering strengths and insights. Seven full-color reproductions of paintings and textiles are included as inspirational pieces for this introspective time, a period of deep "digging" and "thinning out weeds." In spring our creative juices start flowing, so Murray has chosen this section for investigating the many archetypal shapes and symbols that we can utilize in our gardens, such as gates (symbolizing transcendence), and labyrinths (for mediation and centering). She also explores the Chinese art of placement, Feng Shui; the divine proportion of the Golden Mean; and the Japanese aesthetics of Wabi. Sabi, and Suki. Murray's color photographs richly illustrate the Spring chapter. In Summer, we are invited to visit twelve of Murray's favorite spiritual places. Included are the Moss Garden in Kyoto, Japan; Monet's water lily garden in Giverny; the Rockefeller garden in Seal Harbor, Maine; and other well-known as well as private gardens (some of which are quite small and intimate). Lush photographs of each garden express the beauty and serenity of these magical places. The last chapter, Autumn, reflects a time of ceremony and sharing with friends. Here Murray talks about how our own gardens can be powerful places for celebration and ritual, and uses as a stunning example her own garden, conceived and built by her husband and herself for their wedding -- and later used as a memorial garden. The pictures of decorative elements such as bamboo flower holders, ornamental flags and vessels, and "flower fairies" leading the wedding procession are complemented by a magnificent color drawing of the garden plan. Cultivating Sacred Space is not only a valuable resource for finding ways to "garden for our soul"; it is also a visual treat, with over eighty full-color photographs and illustrations. Elizabeth Murray's intimate style of writing combined with her inviting photographs inspire us to become aware of and then to investigate the connection between the growth of our innermost selves and the flourishing of our sacred gardens. -- from publisher

Contents:
Winter: gestation.
Garden as relationship. -
Spring: regeneration.
Archetypal symbolism for a sacred garden.
Feng shui vibrations. -
Summer: expansion.
Twelve gardens of transformation. -
Autumn: fruition and harvest.
Wedding garden.
Healing garden.
Memorial garden.
Care of our sacred space.
Care of our soul. -
Gardens to visit. -
Recommended reading and resources.

FY2017 /