The Celtic Medicinal Gardens
- "The Celtic Reflection Gardens"
A Celtic Reflection Garden can have any form and our designer will adapt the central principles to the specific constraints and requirements of the site. A few common factors are requisite, however. A Celtic Reflection Garden is bounded to provide privacy. The boundary could be a stone wall, or a few wattle hurdles. It has a gate, or door guarded by a Janus figure. A water source, for you and for other lives in the garden, is a central feature. A Yew tree is a 'must'. The rest is up to you: veggies, herbs, flowers ...?
A Celtic Reflection Garden, by encouraging relaxation and reflection, will enhance your health and happiness. It will bring back the sense of the sacred to you, the life in your garden, and all life on Earth.
To enter any place where you want to rest and recharge you may:
- Prepare yourself before entering the garden, leaving the cares of the day outside.
- On entering the garden, leave some sign that you are in the garden and do not want to be disturbed.
- Prepare yourself to relax and convince yourself that you are in a quiet place.
- Sit and pursue the mode of relaxation most useful for yourself.
- Reflect on your life and the life around you.
To use a Celtic Reflection Garden you would do the following:
- Purify yourself by sprinkling your hands (representing action), heart (emotions) and head (thoughts) with Lustral water from a bowl on a plinth by the gate. The three most sacred Celtic herbs for this were Meadow Sweet, Mint and Vervain, plus Mistletoe to protect against all ills.
- Take the pebbles from the inward-looking eyes of the Guardian figure and place them in the outward-looking eyes.
- Make a libation (no matter how small) using the dipper in the cauldron by the pool.
- Light the Inspirational Oil in the lamp near your chair.
- Sit and breath slowly and deeply. ... On leaving, don't forget to set the Guardian to watch inside once more.
Rhiwallon's Garden, Llyn-y-Van-Vach and all of the four medicine gardens are what we call Celtic 'Reflection gardens'.