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Recently I found another frog statue in my garden. I suppose I probably put it there once, but finding it really helped me feel better about having to take out some trees. I had been feeling slightly bad about that even though I had waited until they were in full winter dormancy and also bade them goodbye and thanked them and let them go, like I would do for any thing, living or not, that I felt had some sort of spirit and which was dead or broken or otherwise had to go.

I would not have found it if everything had gone exactly to plan. A Keystone Cops level of incompetence by a series of 4 different companies led me to be the one that had the spade in my hand that day. It was meant to be; I was meant to find it, for my personal reassurance from the spirit of the land.

In all cultures, paradise is a flower-filled extravaganza. Eden was a virtual jungle; Kama Sutra lovers Radha and Krishna made love among petals, clinging vines, and scented trees.

Plants and flowers will infuse your environment with bliss. Cut flowers in the bedroom and parlor never fail to captivate. As a horticultural courtesan, your lover will come to appreciate more than just your green thumb! Try cultivating a few of love’s most captivating blossoms.

A great relationship can be cultivated, literally. By planting and carefully tending flowers that have special properties—like night-blooming jasmine for heightened sensuality, or lilies for lasting commitment—you can nurture your relationship along. During a new moon in the Venus- ruled signs of Taurus or Libra, plant an assortment of flowers that will surround you with the beauty and energy of sweet devotion. A few of my proven favorites are listed in the garden of Indra that follows.

Before you place your hothouse posies or seeds into pots or flowerbeds, bless the ground with a prayer of health for your plants, yourself, and your relationships.

A great relationship can be cultivated, literally. By planting and carefully tending flowers that have special properties—like night-blooming jasmine for heightened sensuality, or lilies for lasting commitment—you can nurture your relationship. During a new moon in the Venus-ruled signs of Taurus or Libra, plant an assortment of flowers that will surround you with the beauty and energy of sweet devotion.

Before you place your hothouse posies or seeds into pots or flowerbeds, bless the ground with a prayer of health for your plants, yourself, and your relationships.

Whew. There's the garden finally planted. First we did the work; now we do the magic.

We dance leaping dances to show the crops how high to grow.

(“The higher we leap, the higher they grow: around and around and around we go!”)

We plant wide-hipped little terracotta goddess figurines around the edges, to encourage and oversee.

We make love in the fields, that most sympathetic of sympathetic magics.

In the 2005-7 BBC series Rome, set in the time of Julius Caesar, ex-centurion-turned-senator Lucius Vorenus (Kevin McKidd) is finally granted a latifundia (country estate) by the Senate. In the official rite of seizin (land-taking), he and his wife Niobe (Indira Varma) process, along with the estate's people and the village priest, out to a newly-plowed field.

As the others respectfully look on, they walk together out to the middle of the field. Niobe lays down in the midst of the furrows; Vorenus lays on top of her.

Nature is the ultimate creator. At a nearby gardening or hardware store, get an assortment of seed packets to plant newness into your life. If your thumb is not the greenest, try nasturtiums, which are extremely hardy, grow quickly, and will spread to beautify any area. They also reseed themselves, which is a lovely bonus. Light the following candles, charging them with appropriate gems and stones: 

• Green candle with peridot or jade for creativity, prosperity, and growth 
• Orange candle with jasper or onyx for clear thinking and highest consciousness 
• Blue candle with turquoise or celestite for serenity, kindness, and a happy heart 
• White candle with quartz or limestone for purification and safety 

Put the seeds under the soil with your fingers and tamp them down gently with your wand, the branch, which you should also stick in the ground at this time. Water your new moon garden, and affirmative change will begin in your life that very day. Get ready for the exquisiteness of new love. Ahhhhh!