The Shamanic Garden
(Several years ago a friend who knew we were remodeling our garden offered me an old spa that she was ready to have move on. She and her father loaded it up on a trailer and hauled it over an hour as a country drive outing for her children. Since I was in the very beginning stages of the redo, we parked the spa upside down next to the garage and covered it with a big blue tarp. There it sat until the 2016 when I was ready to place it in the ground. After we marked off where underground pipes and lines were, we dug the hole—no easy task. Our youngest son and I flipped the spa into place where it sat over the winter, slowly shifting its position so that the next Spring I had to have our oldest son help me flip it back out and redo the bottom of the hole. Once this was accomplished, I filled most of the spa with composted leaves, then soil over the part of the design where I wanted plants to flourish and sand over the part I intended on covering with rocks.
Some aspects of this garden can be seen in the photo below (a view taken from the central seating spot of the sister Meditation Spiral). The downspout empties beside the left upright repurposed utility pole feeding the three wetland grasses planted between the spa and the utility pole pieces. They have been very happy all summer long, establishing themselves since being relocated from northern Ohio in May. A thriving bed of yarrow sits to the right at the back, monarda (bee balm) thrives on the left. The yin-yang aspect will presumably continue to fill out so that the moss will grow together.There are assorted rocks atop the pole pieces which will be featured in other photos as this garden is finished.
This garden still has a major component left to complete. I'm hoping to make headway over the Winter and will definitely update this page when it's complete.
Some aspects of this garden can be seen in the photo below (a view taken from the central seating spot of the sister Meditation Spiral). The downspout empties beside the left upright repurposed utility pole feeding the three wetland grasses planted between the spa and the utility pole pieces. They have been very happy all summer long, establishing themselves since being relocated from northern Ohio in May. A thriving bed of yarrow sits to the right at the back, monarda (bee balm) thrives on the left. The yin-yang aspect will presumably continue to fill out so that the moss will grow together.There are assorted rocks atop the pole pieces which will be featured in other photos as this garden is finished.
This garden still has a major component left to complete. I'm hoping to make headway over the Winter and will definitely update this page when it's complete.
The photo gallery below shows the progress of this garden as it evolved into the state it is in today.
.The Meditation seating area anchors the southern corner of our garage and is sister to the Shamanic Garden. Both of these areas were created in 2017 Though the Shamanic Garden was started with the original digging of the hole in 2016, I had yet to decide what I was going to do with it. Below are photos of the process of making the Meditation seating area. I had originally planned on working this area over the winter between 2017 and 2018 but found a mix of perfect weather and pause between processing our abundant crops so took advantage. In order to create this area, I had to remove a Japanese barberry that was planted by previous owners. You can read about this process in my Mother Earth News blog post here.
I was inspired to create the yin-yang Shamanic Garden after a visit with our eldest son. When he visited, I had just returned from a shamanic retreat. I'd brought some grasses home with me along with some of the grandfather stones from our sweatlodge (those ended up being added to the Medicine Wheel). As his visit progressed and my experience of the Retreat sunk further into my being it became obvious what shape the garden was to become. I have on several occasions stood near this garden and filled with its energy. Because it is such a fulfilling place to be, I was compelled to create the seating area nearby. I look forward to spending a lot more time there. I laid out the spiral in a way that it catches the energy flowing off the Shamanic Garden. It didn't activate until I added the two extra rocks to the center seat. There are rocks in the Meditation Area that are connected with the Shamanic Garden and I added some of the rocks dug out of the Seating Area to the drainage part of the Shamanic Garden. I am very thoughtful and intentional when creating my sacred spaces. Next up for this area is cleaning the adjacent beds and adding more arborist mulch.
