These are my writings on the process of co-creating magical gardens with the nature spirits and elementals.
Turning the soil in one of the horseshoes I hit a rock with the shovel. “Bam!” When I pulled the stone from the dirt I was amazing to feel a hard potato-shaped rock. Or maybe it was a petrified potato?
It was dirty so I couldn’t see its elegance. I left the stone at the garden.
A day later, I saw a section in a book called Personal Spirit Stones. (The Medicine Wheel Garden Creating Sacred Space for Healing, Celebration, and Tranquility by E. Barrie Kavasch. p. 48) I love this book as she blends Native American, Celtic teachings and sacred gardening.
The author writes…”as you break ground for your … garden, look for a special stone.”
I remembered my stone and washed the dirt off. The stone is a beautiful, reddish rounded stone that fills my palm. The colorations of black and gray and shovel markings look like petroglyph symbols. There is something mysterious and special about it.
According to Ed McGaa Eagle Man it is important to find your own wotai, your special stone. Your stone will serve as wotawe, a personal charm guiding your work. “Your stone has sicun, its own soul or spirit. Sicun wotawe wotai is a Lakota word for ‘a special stone whose spirit is obvious and comes to the bearer in a special way.’ It can be a touchstone and protector for you during this time.”
Ishnatae, the Ancient Stone Grandmother, is one of the Spirit Council of Thirteen Grandmothers. She is present when we find stones. She helps me connect with the patient energies of stones as carriers of ancient memories of Mother Earth. You can call on her too. (Visions of Wisdom Message from the Spirit Council of the Thirteen Grandmothers by Judith K. Moore & Sean Sands)
I feel blessed to have found my personal spirit stone.
A week later I was digging with a friend, Heather K, and we each surfaced a small stone. The stones seem to connect with the energy for that specific horseshoe 3. And then I found an odd piece in another horseshoe 4. We’ll see how these stones want to speak to us as we listen deeper to the spirit of the stone, garden and each horseshoe in it.
Tend your garden as you are tending your soul.
