A Medicine Wheel Garden

We are making a medicine wheel garden based on the book The Medicine Wheel Garden: Creating Sacred Space for Healing, Celebration, and Tranquility by E. Barrie Kavasch. I decided to make the garden for several reasons: 1)The current location of my herb garden is too shady and not big enough--I want to expand from culinary herbs to include medicinal herbs. 2)I have been thinking for a while now about creating an intentional sacred space on our property--someplace set aside for contemplation and healing, some place where I can practice qigong and sacred movement, a place that calls us to prayer and mindfulness. 3) I need someplace to put my Mom's ashes.

When Mom died last summer, she was cremated and Lee gave me a small bag (or poke) of her ashes. Right now they are in my sideboard, nestled in among my good dishes, until I have a place to put them. I think Mom would agree that this is a little creepy, but I can't just scatter them anywhere. It has to be a place that she would have loved and appreciated.

In the days after her death I thought a lot about all that she had been to me and what I really wanted to cherish about her life and take with me into my own life. For some unknown reason, I kept thinking about stones, small stones that would fit in your pocket. Stones that you could rub between your fingers and find strength. It eventually occured to me that the most important thing my mother taught me was that if you hold a stone in your hand and sit with it until your heart is quiet, the stone will have something to say to you.

Then when we went to her memorial service in Statesville, the Heart Friends, a group of women my age that Mom mentored in a small sharing group setting back in the early to mid 80's, conducted part of the service. They had created a reading, paying tribute to Mom for all the ways she guided them and helped them grow when they were young women seeking their sacred connections. Mom had used a book with them called Circle of Stones: Woman's Journey to Herself by Judith Duerk. Following is a description of the book:

Long ago before the patriarchal period, in many places on Earth, the Goddess was worshipped. Circle of Stones draws us into a meditative experience of the lost Feminine and creates a space for us to consider our present lives from the eyes of women's ancient culture and ritual. Incorporating the most ancient symbol of spirituality-the circle of stones-Duerk weaves stories, dreams, and visions of women to lead each reader into a personal yet archetypal journey, posing the reflective question, "How might your life have been different if ...?"

Mom had also given me a copy of the book, all those years ago. At the time, I was living in Louisville, KY, seeking my own sacred connections by attending seminary. The book was very meaningful for me, but I hadn't thought of it in a long time.

So here I am at Mom's memorial service and here are these same women, now older and wiser, standing sort of scattered around in the front of the church. They take turns reading, and every time one of them reads, she brings a stone and puts it with others, creating a circle, and then she takes a step closer to her friends. By the end, they are no longer scattered individuals; they are a cohesive group, standing around a circle of stones.

When their reading concluded, I stood up and shared my own reflections on stones, telling them that I had been wondering why I kept thinking about stones, and now I knew. Mom had a way of calling people to silence, reminding us of the need to listen to the still small voice of the true self. She is calling to us still, in the circle of stones. After the service, the Heart Friends presented me with a small glass bowl containing small stones around a white votive candle. My own portable circle of stones. Amazing!

So this medicine wheel garden will be my big circle of stones. I will plant some of Mom's favorite flowers, "geraniums red and delphiniums blue," and I will plant healing herbs. I will use it as a simple labyrinth for walking. It will have a 5 foot diameter center, just the right size for practicing qigong. It will sit right there in the front yard where I will see it in my comings and goings. It will be a place that Mom would have loved.