Gardening with the Cosmos

I can't garden. Sounds defeatist, but if you saw the "graveyard" of dead plants in my apartment, you'd agree. However, listening to Jayme Melrose, a holistic gardening enthusiast, makes me believe I can plant anything!

Melrose is leading a workshop this Saturday, on the relationship between gardening and the universe: the stars, our planet, and the moon. If it sounds a little hoo-hoo to you, don't write it off just yet. Apparently, biodynamics has a long history, and is taught at various institutions. "The Egyptians wrote in their hieroglyphics about the relationship with the cosmic moon and stars. So did the Mayans. So did the pagans, " she explains in a sparkling voice. There are scientific elements in her holistic approach. As one example, she states that, "The moon pulls water. And plants and us are mostly water."

I am very intrigued by the "wholeness" of the biodynamics approach, and ask what workshop participants will do. "We're going to do a sit, and feel what it is for you to be on this planet. Like a guided meditation. Then we'll share what that experience is for us. We'll talk about the 4 elements, and [explore] what they are. What they are emotionally, physically, and what is in your garden. So it'll be conversation, meditating, and mapping of the cosmos."

"Ideally people will come out with more language around the cosmos and patterns of it. And an idea in their heads of our planet in the cosmos, and how those subtle energies affect us and our gardens."

Oh well, if only I wasn't working this Saturday. I would love to sit on a cushion in the middle of a garden, and be at one with nature and the universe. Sounds like a spiritually calming and righteous way to start the weekend!

Photo courtesy of dinesh_valke at Flickr.