Update: February 14, 2021
P L A N T
S O M E T H I N G
And if you want success, balance and health, partner with nature.
This Valentine's Day, we are taking a break from our regularly-scheduled Sunday Garden Series installment to bring back a favorite Environment Series message and remind you to show nature some love.
The point of our Environment Series is to help you, to help us, to help everyone take action to better the environment. Often our suggestions include links to alternative, sustainable resources for simple change and action that will counteract climate change, biodiversity loss or environmental damage.
Today, we are going to boldly suggest a resource offered by Perelandra.
In The Perelandra Garden Workbook, Machaelle Wright lays before you everything you need to successfully work with your nature partner for any goal. It's a kind, encouraging — and no bull — gift from Machaelle. And in it, she gives us all a tremendous gift from nature as well.
There's an example Machaelle shares in her first autobiography, Behaving as if the God in All Life Mattered, about her early gardening experience. It's a valuable lesson that is fitting here, and explains that when we say, "show nature some love" — we are not talking about hugging a tree.
Based on my continuing luck with the moles, earthworms and cabbage worms, I decided I would contact the Deva of the Japanese Beetle. Much to my astonishment, I touched into an energy that I can only describe as that of a battered child. It was an energy of defeat, of being beaten into submission. Yet it still had mixed in with it anger and a strong desire to fight for its life.
I was told by the deva that what I was experiencing was not devic but from the consciousness of the Japanese beetle itself. I needed this experience in order to understand what our relationship with the beetle had already done to it before I made any requests on the devic level about removing it. You see, the Japanese beetle is not indigenous to the United States. It was introduced to our country by one person who brought in several beetles to be part of his insect collection but accidentally released them. They do not have enough natural predators here, and they have multiplied into a serious problem for our agricultural industry. Consequently, for the past fifty years or so, we have waged a war against the beetle. What I touched into was the result of that war.
Under the circumstances, I felt I had no right to ask anything of the beetle. So I simply asked that the beetle recognize Perelandra as a sanctuary and invited it to join us so that it could begin to heal. I stated that we would not damage or destroy the beetles and would make every effort to enhance its healing process. To seal the bargain, so to speak, I stated that we would leave unmowed a specific area of tall grass that was a favorite of the beetle.
I then addressed the issue of the corn. Still hoping to salvage some of it, I decided I would try to raise the vibration of the individual stalks—perhaps the ears would fill out in spite of the Japanese beetle. I spent three days putting my hands on each stalk and LOVING it. At the end of three days, nature had had enough of this nonsense and I was told to leave the corn patch and not return "until further notified."
Devas and nature spirits do not respond to what they call "gooey, sentimental love." Their love is a love of action and purpose, and it is that kind of active love they desire from us.
I stayed away from the corn patch for three weeks, until one morning I was told to return. I found that every ear of corn had filled out — but not fully. Only half filled out. The devic pattern of the corn had shifted, making it possible for the ears to mature without using the natural tassel/pollinated silk process. I was told that half the ear had matured because this planting of corn was to be fed to the birds at Perelandra for the winter, and only the amount that was needed matured. A later planting standing right next to this corn, and not yet damaged by the beetle, would be for our use exclusively and would be allowed to fully mature in the natural process.
A month later, the second planting matured untouched. In the years since making the agreement with the Japanese beetle, I notice that they have increasingly become more calm and fewer in number. For several years, they damaged only the roses. Still, I didn't disturb them. It wasn't easy, since my natural impulse was to whack them off the rose bushes. But after some mental adjustments on my part, I could actually invite them to enjoy the roses. Now they do not "flock" to the roses, but I'll still see a manageable number on the bushes from time to time. Because of the shifts and changes on the part of the beetles and the gardener, I've found that I have not had reason to request anything special from them. Their presence here feels in balance.
[Behaving, pp. 147-150]
You can establish that kind of health and balance in your environment. You don't have to drop everything else in your life, move to the country and plant a huge garden to affect change, or to make a real difference in environmental balance on a local or even global scale. Just follow the bouncing ball in your Perelandra Garden Workbook and marvel at the results of being a co-creative gardener.
You can have a simple goal:
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"To supplement our family of four with healthy vegetables."
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"To supply my own culinary herbs, and no longer contribute to the industrial and plastic waste or carbon footprint of the store-bought stuff."
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"To landscape my front yard to support the health and balance of local pollinators while still conforming to my local HOA regulations."
Even if you have never touched dirt on purpose in your entire life, you can do this. Start with a potted plant. Hell, start with an air plant. But get crackin'.
We give you loads of support, so no excuses. Our Gardening Series gives one simple step to do each week. Follow here or sign up for our emails here and watch your inbox for our Sunday emails.
The Perelandra Garden Workbook, Updated Softcover Edition