Gratitude for Sanctuary Gardens
We offer Gratitude for sanctuary gardens, dedicated to the sacred, where there is safety for all beings. For those cultivated places where humans consciously co-create with Nature to bring beauty, healing, inspiration, peace, nourishment and remembrance.
We honor those, who in the name of whatever religion or inner soul-stirring have worked lovingly with soil and seed, water and sun, to bring forth beauty and to create places of spiritual solace. Temple gardens, monastic herbariums, labyrinths…
We salute the city gardeners, bringing nourishment to the urban”food deserts” which had become parched of life-giving Green. We witness the enormous effort of breaking up asphalt and shaking up rules, ordinances, and financial interests—or simple neglect—in the name of Life.
We give humble thanks to the Indigenous Peoples who have not forgotten the ways of the ancestors or who have threaded the way back to nearly-lost traditions: of planting and harvesting with prayer, acknowledging the kinship of spirit and seed and the necessity of working with the invisible worlds.
We honor the pioneers of scientific research who are discovering the molecular magic of aromatic oils and microbial worlds, and the intricate communication systems between species—revealing the depths of interconnectivity among all beings.
We give thanks for creators of garden sanctuaries like Findhorn and Perelandra, Avena Botanicals and Sweetwater Sanctuary, who have taught us new ways to connect with Nature Spirits. And for systems like permaculture which help us cultivate in conscious harmony with the soil, and biodynamics, which reminds us to consider the whole cosmos in our gardening.
We offer thanks
for Gardens of healing plants
for Gardens dedicated to preserving biodiversity
for Gardens which offer safe-havens for wildlife
and for rekindling the Wild within us
for Gardens devoted to beauty
for Gardens of Remembrance
for Gardens of healing peace.
We celebrate all the moments through the ages when our human souls have been uplifted by the presence of plants, winged ones, animals and elementals in our gardens, when we have become still and listened, when we have followed the guidance given by Spirit to create safe and holy places where the worlds can meet.
And we offer deep gratitude to the living soil, the blessed rain, the magical seeds, the indefatigable pollinators, the exuberance of blossoms, the wisdom of roots and stems and leaves, the prickly thorns. We give thanks to the weeds that pop up unbidden, offering their wild teachings and medicine. We give thanks for the life and breath and ability to move our bodies to work in service to our gardens, and for the capacity to open our human hearts to the immense love which Spirit pours into us through the Green.
Great thanks to the Sanctuary Gardens!
