We honored to share this guest blog post by the lovely Megan Lendman on plants, healing and storytelling. Megan is a graduate of our Certified Sacred Women's Circle Creatrix Training and an incredibly gifted healer. This will be a three part series coming out every Friday over the next month so be sure to check back each Friday! Please comment below and let us know your thoughts!
continued tales of a Luminous Gardener...
Along with the outdoor sanctuary of Glenwood Gardens, I inherited a beautiful spread of exotic indoor plants and the most magical bay window of every plant lover’s dreams. Creating relationships with plants older than myself is sometimes difficult because the personalities of the plants are well established. Have you gotten close enough with a plant to witness its personality? They don't express themselves quite like you or I. No. They express themselves with how they move with the light, by the shape of their leaves and where they stretch them, and through a way of speaking to the inner ears of people. In this plant window, there were two ferns that were about 50 years old and a few hanging plants in the succulent family that are about 30. Connecting with them took greater effort than with a younger plant. I think maybe its because they are still getting to know me as caretaker.
How I introduced myself to this new garden was by keeping a regular watering schedule and acquainting myself with the types of plants within this ecosystem. Some of them are quite exotic and I have yet to identify exactly what type of plant they are but I have at the very least established what general ecosystem they belong to: tropical, temperate, or desert. This identification is crucial to understanding how much water a plant thrives with. Over the years, I have gained much knowledge about the watering natures of plants through openly asking questions to my friends or really any plant owner with a similar plant to my own. However, the most knowledge always comes from observing the plant itself. For example, if you happen to miss a watering for a fern, their leaves begin to crust and turn a dry brown. This is because ferns live low to the forest ground, generally under the cover of a full canopy where the water-retention is potent and the land is always moist. For this reason, ferns should be watered very regularly and quite enjoy a good misting. Sometimes I too enjoy feeling a mist of rose water on my face and love when my feet stand bare in the mud. Plants often reflect parts of ourselves and healthy plant caretakers honor these reflections as guides to understanding plants more deeply.
-Part three will be revealed next Friday on the GoddessCeremony Blog so stay tuned!-
~Megan Lendman
About the Author~
Megan Lendman comes from a long line of women healers, both indigenous and immigrant. As a Certified Sacred Women's Circle Creatrix, Professional Photographer, Luminous Gardener, and through her family's naturopathic practice The Remedy House, she holds space for people to be their authentic selves and heal from the inside out. She is based in Grand Rapids, MI and her services are available around the world. Find out more about her at www.meganlendmanphotography.com or her instagram @meganlendmanphoto
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