The Real Witches’ Garden: Spells, Herbs, Plants and Magical Spaces Outdoors

Holding their image in your mind, turn slowly around three times and open your eyes. Look over the whole of your garden with these thoughts in your head and you will surely be able to see the best location for your new space. If you are considering placing your area indoors use the same invocation to help you to determine the best place. Once you have found the right spot, walk to it, close your eyes again and say:

‘I give thanks to the Goddess and the God for showing me the way. I undertake to work and tend this place in their name in gratitude for their love, and in token of this I make this offering. Blessed Be.’

Place your token in the centre of the area. If you have a particular deity or deities in mind then you can call upon these by name and choose your offering specifically with them in mind.

I find it useful to mark off any area I am about to work on with a few canes tied together with string. This has the effect of alerting my young son and his friends that this is not a play area, thus allowing me a clear working space and giving any plants time to establish themselves. It also encourages me to get on with the job, as sticks and string make it obvious that work has not been completed!

Having located your quiet area you need to work on it and to Dedicate it.

DEDICATING THE AREA

As with the preceding chapter, dedication is more of a process than an event. Remember to visualize the Goddess and the God every time you work on the area, and ask them to help you. Apart from the aspect of making the place special to them, any task dedicated to the Gods benefits from their energies and will therefore be easier and more successful. Try to leave one small, last task in the preparation of your area for your rite of dedication. Perhaps a last prune or trim, or maybe the placing of a single plant or object.

CONSECRATING THE AREA

Once you have set up your area to your satisfaction then you will want to consecrate it. It is best to do this at the Full Moon and at the time of day when you feel you are most likely to be using the site for meditation, contemplation or just to be closer to nature and the Gods. For some this will be early evening, but it could just as easily be any other time of the day. For me this is in the morning, after the ‘school run’ but before I actually start working, as I find that a few moments with the Gods both clears the mind and helps to inspire me.

Take with you into the area some water in a suitable watering vessel, a chalice with a little wine, or fruit juice, and any tools you may need for that last small task which you saved. Place all these to one side of your area, settle yourself down and compose yourself. If it is safe to do so, remove your shoes and go barefoot, so that you are in actual contact with the earth. Spend a few minutes in silent contemplation of both the area and the Goddess and the God. I find it helps to focus on my breathing for a couple of moments before I start, as this helps me to concentrate on what I am about to do.

Picture the Goddess and the God actually being present with you, and imagine them moving through the area, smelling and touching the plants. When you can see this clearly in your mind’s eye, call upon them saying:

‘I welcome the Lord and Lady to this place, which I have planted and tended in their honour.’

Next, complete your reserved task saying:

‘As I take this last step towards completing this space, may they witness my care for the land and all living.’

As you finish this last step, say:

‘Blessed Be.’

Now take the water in its vessel and, holding it in both hands, say:

‘I call upon the Goddess and the God to bless and consecrate this water, may they nourish and care for this place, even as this water nourishes these plants.’

Sprinkle a little onto all the plants in your space and then say:

‘Blessed Be.’

Next take the wine, or fruit juice, hold it up to the Goddess and the God and say:

‘May the Lord and Lady bless and consecrate this wine. May they continue to guard, guide and protect me, even as they do so for the earth and all that lives upon it. Blessed Be.’

Take a sip of the wine and pour a little on the earth. Don’t pour it too close to a growing plant, as it won’t drink fruit juice or alcohol! If you are doing this for an indoor area, you might like to take a drop or two on the tips of your fingers and just transfer it to the soil. Thank the Goddess and the God by saying:

‘I give thanks to the Goddess and the God for being with me. May I ever walk in their ways. Blessed Be.’

Lastly, remain and contemplate your space, perhaps finishing the rest of the drink.

CONTINUING CARE

Unlike the Sacred Space described in the preceding chapter, there are no particular times when you are more likely to use your area of contemplation. It could be daily, monthly or whenever you feel the need. As a result you will not have a lunar- or calendar-driven reminder to tend it. As I use mine nearly every day, it is a simple matter to take a look around and tend to any small jobs there each time I visit it. This way there’s rarely much that needs attention. If your visits are likely to be less frequent you may need to set yourself a regular date on which to check if there are things which need tidying, watering, weeding, pruning, etc. However, in common with the Sacred Space you should always remember to call upon the Goddess and the God when working on the area, and let them guide you and aid your efforts.

USING THE SPACE

Having created a quiet and tranquil part of your garden there is no limit to the ways you might use it. As mentioned before it can simply be a place where you go to take a few breaths of air and to set yourself up for the day. It might be a place of refuge where you leave behind the hectic technological world, a sanctuary from TV, the phone and the computer! Mine is a place where I remind myself daily that the Goddess and the God are all around us and that the earth is the true home of the Craft. But there are other, more formal things you can do.

Meditation and pathworking are two techniques Witches use to draw closer to the Goddess and the God, and to seek the answers to questions. Meditation is a technique of stilling the mind by focussing on a single item or concept, and a space dedicated to the Gods is an excellent place for this. Pathworking is a form of guided meditation whereby you follow a story to a deity or destination where you are given the opportunity to ask a question and receive guidance; again your area is ideal for this.

An area dedicated to the Goddess and the God is special in its own right and, if private enough, a place to perform a self-blessing. The Rite of Self-Blessing can be performed whenever you feel tired, frustrated or just in need of a lift of the spirits. Those of you who have read my other books may already be familiar with a version of it, but for those of you who haven’t, please read on.

Take a small bowl with some water into your area. Bless the water by drawing an invoking Pentagram