The Bottom Line
Clea Danaan manages to show how a garden can be so much more than a patch of dirt with some plants in it. In fact, she shows how the soil itself can become an instrument of change -- not only in your own life, but on a global level. A worthy read indeed, for anyone who has ever wanted to plunge their fingers into moist earth and reconnect with the land. Simple organic techniques can help feed your spirit, sprout environmental change, and create political awareness all at the same time.
- Absolutely unique; probably the only book of its kind on the market
- Divided into sections on earth, air, fire, and water
- Danaan knows her stuff, and offers tips on soil improvement and irrigation as well as plants
- If you're looking for a simple "plant this here" book, this isn't the book for you
Description
- "Sacred Land" can teach you how to re-assess your relationship with your garden. Are you just digging or are you connecting?
- Organic techniques are included for folks who want to learn how to compost, irrigate, using earth-friendly methods.
- Each element is addressed as a separate aspect of gardening, along with corresponding rituals, deities, and magic.
Guide Review - Review: Sacred Land
Clea Danaan's lovely book Sacred Land: Intuitive Gardening for Personal, Political and Environmental Change is one that any gardener will find worth reading. It's not just another gardening book, telling you to plant peas over here and some chervil in the corner. Instead, Sacred Land is a journey deep into the earth and the soul.
Danaan combines her love of holistic gardening with the joy of meditations, and adds some Goddess information into the mix. Equally as important, she shares stories about people who have managed to use their gardening to make a difference in our world. They're from a variety of backgrounds -- an herbalist from the mountains of Vermont, an urban gardener in Denver, a landscape architect from the Pacific coast -- but they all tell stories about the impact the land has had upon them, and vice versa.
In addition, there is information provided about elemental allies, such as garden sylphs, fire allies such as salamanders, and critters you may find dropping in at your garden, such as turtles and frogs.
The end result is a fabulous journey into the earth itself and all that is connected to it. Learn how planting, sowing and harvesting your garden can bring about spiritual change for yourself, and how it can lead to a sense of global awareness as well. The section on Air Magic discusses the power of Community, and Danaan's ideas are beautiful in their simplicity.
She ties in the working of the earth to womens' mysteries, and makes the point that "Mother Earth depends on our reclaiming our power as women to heal, to shake up the status quo, and to breed compassion." Indeed, we can be the stewards of the land, and of community. The concepts and principles put forth in Sacred Land can help you be part of that very ideal.
