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My wife and I have made profound changes in our lives through green Paganism and simple, ecological living, which have resulted in unforeseen, yet very positive opportunities for peace, joy, laughter, and success. In fact, these opportunities have been so powerful, that I was stirred to share them with others, and not keep all these amazing discoveries to ourselves. We 'unplugged from the matrix' that is the cause of so much distraction and busyness in our lives and created a magickal Pagan homestead. I will share some of these discoveries of how, as a Pagan, you can simplify your life, while living more in sync with your purpose, nature and open up an incredible world of opportunity and possibility.

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Intentional Gardening

As the year begins its inevitable change to spring, my attention on the homestead turns back to the outside, and more specifically to the gardens. With warmer days comes the opportunity to work outside once again. At first it’s in short shifts between rains and cooler days, allowing me just a tease of what’s ahead, but I still love it. Living the purposeful lives that we do affords us more opportunity for reflection, and planning, while still being able to be in the moment; I’m very grateful for it!

Some people love the idea of planting a garden, but talk themselves out of it by convincing themselves it’s either too much work or just won’t do well because they lack experience. That is exactly what I used to think too, and I also didn’t have the motivation to care for a big garden either. This was years ago before I came to the understanding of things I now have. I really wanted to have a garden, to grow some food and flowers, but didn’t know where to start, and wasn’t sure I’d want to keep it going. Motivation or follow through, is tough when you’re uncertain; so in steps intentional gardening!

 

“Growing food or flowers” is open-ended and not a very inspiring thing to most people. If I had to get up before dawn every morning to “grow food and flowers”, I don’t think I could honestly do that every day as part of my life, probably not even as a hobby. At first, tending gardens seemed daunting, boring, and a unrewarding chore until I discovered that if I put a tangible purpose and goal to it I really wanted to do it! An intentional garden is one that has a specific purpose beyond “growing”. It just so happens that us Pagans, and especially us witches that use all kinds of natural components in our magick have a lot of reasons to garden.

So if you really want to garden, even just to give it a try, I highly recommend to have a reason outside of just doing it to see if you like it. To start out, how about growing a small herb garden, the results of which can be used in Earth magick, hearth magick, and just about any kind of ritual or spell. How about a magickal herb garden used which will help create all the ingredients for a Samhain ritual with your coven? or fill a number of protection mojo bags that you’ll gift at Yule? I’m sure you’re starting to see that the possibilities are wide open for this kind of thing!

Once you have a purpose for what the garden will grow, and a reason to tend it, you can use the act of tending that garden as a daily or weekly ritual. It is so refreshing to lose oneself in the ritual of gardening, while meditating on the intention of the garden you’re tending. You’re surrounding yourself with the sights, sounds, smells, and direct contact with the soil, plants, and water, and I can find nothing so powerful. When it comes time to use these ingredients, you’ll have all the memories of these daily or weekly experiences to draw upon during your ritual or spell; talk about a power boost to your magick!

Here is a short list of excellent intentional garden ideas:

  • for your ancestors or the ancestors
  • protection
  • healing (medicinal and/or magickal)
  • abundance
  • new beginnings
  • new job
  • so many more!

Do you use intentional gardening? are you more interested in it now that you’ve read this?

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Peter is an American of British and German ancestry who lives in Missouri with his wife Mary, where he is (re)discovering his connections with nature and the Gods. When he's not tending to their homestead, which feeds his family and provides an expression of gratitude and work in veneration to the Gods, he writes for several blogs, and works as a freelance artist/graphic designer. Having many years of experience in various forms of occult systems, including Asatru, Celtic, and Dragon Hollow Wicca, and Witchcraft, Peter finally found what he had been looking for all his life in a blend of Traditional Witchcraft (the nameless art), Heathenry and personal gnosis/exploration (vision/mystic).

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