Behaving as if the God in all Life Mattered Book
Review of M Small Wright Gardening Assisted by Devas, Nature Spirits
Machaelle Small Wright's book is part autobiography, part mystical treatise on what she calls 'co-creation' -- gardening in harmony with nature, by opening one's awareness to devas and nature spirits.
Machaelle Small Wright's Autobiography
The author seems to have led a troubled early life, with an alcolholic mother and an uninvolved father, apparently left to fend for herself from early teenage years. The tale is harrowing, but something in it does not always seem to ring true. It was included to show the spiritual thread of the author's life. The early isolation perhaps led her to be more open to other influences, leading her to the revelation that working in harmony with the elemental beings of the garden and its plants would be more rewarding, and it appears that this has been very fruitful.
Co-creation -- Working with Devas and Nature Spirits
Machaelle Small Wright intimates that these entities represent a collective consciousness of many of the parts in a garden - the spirit of the place, as well as beings that are the essence of particular species of plants.
None of this, of course, is acknowledged in conventional horticulture, though there are parallels with some of the ideas of Rudolf Steiner's biodynamics. To her credit, much of the second part of the book seems to be consistent with itself and it develops a coherent narrative, though based upon a premise of the existence of beings most people are unable to perceive. However, there is compelling logic in the author's assertion that a garden is fundamentally a co-creation between humans and nature. Gardens do not appear at random in the wild, and the plants found in gardens normally grow where the habitat and conditions are right for them.
Towards the end of the book there are some exercises and examples of how readers can sensitize themselves to perceive the conciousness both of the place where the garden is located and the plants within it. For readers who can make this work, the author asserts that there is the possibility of co-creation by being aware of the flow and balance of the natural world. This would result in a less prescriptive approach to cultivation than biodynamics.
Behaving as if the God in All Life Mattered is a fascinating read and will appeal to gardeners who have a new-age or mystical outlook on life. The author's research site Perelandra is in Virginia, USA, but the principles could be applied to gardens anywhere. The author description on the back of the book gives some indication of readers needing to be open-minded " Machaelle Small Wright is a spiritual pioneer with the profound ability to "see" and "hear" the invisible forces of nature."
Publisher: Perelandra Ltd
ISBN: 0927978245
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The Findhorn Foundation Garden - some of the inspiration for working with devas and nature spirits came from her visit to Findhorn
Behaving as if the God in all Life Mattered cover
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