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Sacred Gardening
The History of Gardens Gardening dates back thousands of years to the first farming communities in Neolithic times, beginning in Europe and the Mediterranean around 6,000 BCE. About this time plants were first cultivated for food, people began to grow vegetables...
In Ancient Egypt from about 3,000BC, flowers from the Temple and palace gardens were regularly used in ritual processions, as offerings to the deities and ancestors as well as offered to guests at festivities or buried in tombs so that their fragrance might animate the Ba, the hawk-headed spirit within the mummy. To the Romans their gardens were as important as their houses and formed the focus of social events, even in cooler climates like Britain. The hortus rustica or the kitchen garden was next to the living quarters, which were often built around an ornamental courtyard with a square of open patios called the atrium. In the garden also typically was a large pool lined with stone and tiles. Bedding trenches first devised by Pliny the Elder were dug for growing roses and other ornamental flowers such as lilies. Flowering trees were entwined around timber framework just as in modern gardens while topiaries were made in the shapes of animals. Once Christianity was established in Europe, Scandinavia and the Mediterranean, monastery gardens appeared from around 500CE and flourished through the ages. Indeed many of these medicine gardens can still be seen even where the abbey or monastery is in ruins throughout Europe and Scandinavia., for example the herb garden Vadstena near Mjölby in Östergötland. Flowers and the deities Certain flowers have become associated with the Virgin Mary and before Christianity every goddess had her own flowers
The name of the marigold is derived from Mary’s gold, the Virgin’s special flower associated with at the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary on March 25 when the angel Gabriel told her she was to be a mother. The herb Holy or Blessed Thistle has white spotted leaves where the milk of Mother Mary according to legend, fell on the leaves. Gardens of Paradise The word paradise means garden and is derived from the Persian Pairidaeza. Heaven is described as a wonderful garden. Those who experience Near Death encounters children as well as adults when they momentarily die as a result of an accident or during a serious operation, frequently describe flower-filled gardens with fountains and wonderful fragrances as their spirits temporarily leave their bodies and have visions of these higher realms. Another garden became one of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, famous for its huge waterfalls and stones columns, fabulous plants and flowers. The date of its creation has been estimated around 600BC. It was green all the year even in such an arid region because the water from the river Euphrates was used for special pumps that could carry water to great heights. The Gardens were created by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife, Amyitis, who missed the green mountainous land where she had grown up. Therefore Nebuchadnezzar built a green artificial mountain with gardens on overhanging terraces. We know of the gardens from the Greek writer and geographer Strabo who was writing in the first century BC. Oriental sacred gardens
Most popular were tiny gardens in basins that were kept in offices and indoors. It was believed that rocks and mountain pines in miniature held the essence of actual mountains and tree-covered crags. The miniature gardens like their larger counterparts represented to the Chinese a pathway that might temporarily offer a glimpse of paradise. The miniature gardens were often made of crystals, notably jade, itself a stone associated with immortality. For Daoists or Taoists, followers of one of the early Chinese religions, perfection and harmony existed within the natural world. For others such heavenly bliss resided in alternative worlds like the real one without defects, disease and decay. In both cases the garden and the miniature garden offered the way to glimpsing such paradise while still on earth. In China and Japan today, gardening is still an expression of Divinity and a way of connecting with Divine Power, both through the creation and care of a garden and spending time looking it. In Japan Tsukiyama or hill gardens contain water, including ponds and streams, balanced by small artificial hills bridges and paths with carefully landscaped flowers and trees to recreate in miniature a natural beautiful landscape. Japanese Karesansui or dry gardens use rocks, sand and sometimes moss to symbolize a scene of mountains, seas and islands.
Miniature Zen gardens, called bonseki, are made in dishes with stone and sand. In these tiny gardens too stones and sand or gravel are used to represent respectively mountains and water. You can often buy these tiny gardens in garden centres, sometimes with Air plants and ceramic Oriental figures. Creating a beautiful garden It is believed by many gardeners that nothing happens by accident even in a seemingly ordinary garden. If you are given a plant or ornamental tree by a friend or find that your mail order contains bulbs or shoots you were not expecting, these will give your garden unexpected colours or unusual foliage. These unexpected incomers will emit a lot of good energy when you weed near it and maybe have healing properties you or a family member need. If you go to a garden centre even with a list, walk around and you may notice either a species or particular plant that attracts you. Even though you walk away from it several times and the label says it could not grow in your kind of soil, you are drawn back. Buy it and against all odds it will prove just what you needed to fill an empty corner and it will thrive. If you don’t you’ll see the plant growing everywhere you go – until eventually you give in – and as I have found usually paying far more than the original price. Making a Planetary garden Even with a very small garden or a patio or indoor area you can create a planetary garden with different flowers, trees and herbs so you can at any time draw upon the strengths of the planets. I have given a list for each but you need only have one or two for each planet. The associations I have given are traditional ones but I have changed some of the associations over the years as I gain more experience and work with different people who share their ideas. In flower beds you can divide the different areas with small bricks, tiles or stones. I have used the seven traditional planets that include the Sun and Moon. I’ve included in common with modern gardening trends lots of what were formerly called wildflowers, some of which are flowering herbs as these are especially rich in natural powers. If you don’t know or you can’t find out the planetary association for a specific flower or plant, as a general rule you can go by colours. The Sun
Sun plants include : Acacia, angelica, ash , bay, buttercup, carnation, celandine, chamomile, forsythia ,juniper, heather, lotus, marigold, mistletoe, olive tree , peony, orange tree, Michaelmas daisies, palm, rosemary (also ruled by Mercury), rue, sunflower, St John’s Wort, vine plants and , any orange or golden yellow flowers The Moon
Moon plants include: Bamboo, banana, black and blue cohosh, burdock, coconut, clary sage, dog rose, eucalyptus, knotweed, gardenia, jasmine, lemon, lemon balm, , lotus, (also ruled b the Sun)dahlia, marsh marigold , moonflower, orchid, pinks, poppy , saxifrage, snowdrop, stocks, water lilies, willow, wintergreen, any white or ivory coloured flowers especially small ones Mercury
Mercury Plants include Almond, caraway, cumin, daffodil, dill, eglantine or sweet briar, fennel, fenugreek, fern, fuchsia, iris, lavender, lemongrass, licquorice, lily of the valley, myrtle, narcissus, pomegranate tree, parsley, rosemary, tarragon, trefoil, valerian, any yellow flowers especially small ones Venus
Venus Plants include: Apple blossom, birch, bluebell, camellia, catnip, crocus, cherry blossom, coltsfoot, elder, elecampane, feverfew, forget me not, geranium, lilac, lily, magnolia, peach, periwinkle, pinks, rose, , sorrel, strawberry, Star of Bethlehem, sweet pea, tamarind, vanilla, vervain, violet and yarrow, any pink flowers. Mars
Mars Plants include: Anemones, barberry, Basil, Blessed Thistle, borage, coriander, chives, cypress, Dragon’s blood, garlic, gentian, ginger, hibiscus, hollyhock, ornamental grasses, lupin, all mints, passionflower, pine, thistle, sweet tobacco, tulip, thyme, any red flowers. Jupiter
Jupiter plants include: Anise, cedar, chervil, chestnut, cinquefoil, chrysanthemum, cloves, cornflower, dandelion, dock, delphinium, echinacea (purple cornflower), fig tree, fir and pine tree, honeysuckle, hydrangea, hyssop, lime tree/linden blossom ,narcissus, polyanthus, meadowsweet, moss, maple, oak, rhododendron, sage, walnut any blue flowers. Saturn
Saturn Plants include: Bistort, comfrey, cypress, gladioli, foxglove (be careful round children) harebell, hyacinth, harebell, hibiscus, holly, ivy, lemon verbena, mimosa, mugwort, mullein, pansy, patchouli, black and white poplar, saffron/safflower, sloe bush, Star flower, Solomon’s seal, vetivert, wallflower; any purple flowers If you have enjoyed this article you may like to read Cassandra Eason’s Complete Book of Natural Magick(Quantum/Foulsham) or her Fragrant Magic, also published by Quantum/Foulsham
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Using your Planetary Garden to improve your life
Making a protective magical garden The protective garden is a very old concept and the majority of protective plants seem also to attract good fortune and prosperity to the home
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Gardens have always been magical places. The
world began, it is said, in a garden and the Garden of Eden, now part of
Iraq, though a little bedraggled, still has Adam’s tree or one of its
descendants. Throughout the Orient gardens are the abodes of deities and
sources of harmony for humans who contemplate in or near them.
Indeed in the Near East farming began as early
as 8,000 BCE. Because people were able to stay in one area as opposed to the
earlier hunter gatherer way of life, they grew not only crops but herbs and
spices for medicines. Wealthier people had temple and palace gardens with
areas for flowers and recreation as well as ornamental ponds containing
fish.
Roses were dedicated to Ancient Egyptian
fertility goddess Hathor - Isis had her lotus and her lily - the
latter sacred also to Juno, consort of the Roman father God Jupiter. Young
women in the Victorian era would surround their love petitions with roses,
pansies and violets. the blooms of Venus, the Graeco-Roman love goddess
To the Chinese the wider natural landscape in
miniature. For example the garden of a house offered escape from the
bureaucratic ordered world people were even hundreds of years ago forced to
live in, especially in urban settings.
Zen or contemplation gardens, first created in
China in the sixth century, came to Japan from China with the spread of
Buddhism and have greatly influenced Karesansui. They have been recreated in
cities in America and Europe as well as their original lands, as a counter
to modern urban pressures.
Use your Sun plants for a pure injection of
the life force, for improving or maintaining health, for good luck, for new
beginnings of all kinds, for personal fulfilment, wishes and power, for
self-confidence, for inventions and innovations and for any creative
ventures
Use
Moon plants for matters concerning home and family, mothers, children and animals, for fertility and for
worries about ageing, for healing powers and for alternative healing
methods, protection of all kinds, for increasing psychic powers and for
keeping secrets 
Use your Mercury plants for money-making
ventures and reducing debts, for taking examinations and tests, for
conventional medicine and surgery, to receive expected good news, for all
forms of communication, for improving memory and concentration, for selling
or media work, for short-distance travel and house moves, for gambling and
speculation, to guard against gossip and against those who steal your ideas
or possessions.
Use your Venus plants for attracting new love,
deepening love and affection and for fidelity in long term relationships.
for increasing your inner radiance, for developing gifts and expertise in
the arts, crafts and music, for mending quarrels and the slow but sure
growth of prosperity or improvement in health.. Also for fertility (like the
Moon), for women’s health and for all matters concerning wildlife and the
environment
Use Mars plants for courage,
assertiveness, positive competitiveness, initiating change and taking the
initiative, for working towards independence or self-employment, passion
and consummation of love and for physical strength 
Use Jupiter plants for gradual increase and
expansion of opportunity, good luck, career prospects or obtaining
promotion, for long distance travel or house moves, for justice and legal
matters, partnerships of all kind, leadership, for honest dealings,
long term learning, wisdom and altruism
Use Saturn plants for unfinished business,
endings that lead to beginnings, all slow-moving matters and for accepting
limitations, as well as for overcoming obstacles; also for addictions,
compulsions and cutting destructive ties, property and financial matters;
dealing with officialdom, slowing the outward flow of money and to
encouraging those who owe you favours or money to repay.