Rewilding, as defined in Wikipedia, is ‘a form of ecological restoration where the emphasis is on humans stepping back and leaving an area to nature, the aim of which is to increase biodiversity. The word was coined by members of the Earth First! appearing in print in 1990 and was then refined by conservationists.’
This subject is very dear to me because Queen Maeve of the fae has been voicing her concerns over the way humanity is treating mother earth, right from when she first connected with me many years ago. She wants us all to leave a portions of our garden wild.
‘The time is now for us to return but you must create sacred spaces for us to make forays into your world and connect with your seers. These places in Nature must be wild and dedicated to the fae. Large swathes of land, wild and rugged, are already frequented by us. We see you love your gardens, your little green spaces, where you attempt to reconnect with your true natures through the natural world. We propose a liaison between the fae and yourselves, through dedicated wild spaces in your gardens. They have become too manicured and regimented and the life force is not as strong as it would be in a wild uncultivated place. Certain plants create sacred natural energies, and certain configurations upon the earth, in rock and crystal, create favourable conditions for portals where we as a race can come and go at our pleasure… and it is our vain hope that we will be able to interact with the seers of your realm and forge links into humanity’s consciousness, into the closed minds of men’.
So creating wild areas in our gardens, as well as helping to increase biodiversity and therefore support a wider variety of wildlife, also allows the fae to inhabit our gardens – both elemental and the fae races due to its increased vitality. We probably have all experienced the completely different feel to a wild area compared to the vibe of a garden with a manicured lawn and tidy flowerbeds. Wild places are also far more revitalising for us too.
This is such a challenge for me as someone who has tidied up gardens for clients for years and finds it challenging to surrender. In fact I suspect that as well as flowing against the cultural norm of viewing neat gardens as caring and messy gardens as lazy, for me it’s also about complete surrender and seeing what happens. As a lifelong ‘needing to be in control’, type of person this is going to be a huge challenging experience!
So I aim to give over half my garden to wild and the other half will be to carve out a sacred space to run circles and for a family area. The wild area will include my native mixed hedging, a wildlife pond and allowing some lawn to grow to see what wild flowers might come up. I am going to plant a native tree that is good for wildlife ( probably a mountain Ash)and grow native plants that are good for wildlife from seed. I shall be asking the fae and Queen Maeve what plants they would like me to add. They have already asked for bluebells, wild garlic and roses.
Then I am going to observe what wildlife visits my garden or takes up residence. Of course this is a slow process but that’s what I like about nature. Her cycles and seasons reminding me of mine. Being with, flowing with and gaining inspiration from. Seeing myself as nature. As I meditate in my wilder garden, I shall see if the elemental faery presence increases and hopefully at some point it may support a portal to the fae races like the Sidhe. This is beyond exciting!
For more inspiration do check out Mary Reynolds website Wearetheark.org where she talks about how we need to become guardians of our land, not gardeners and give back half of our land to nature and wildness.
I am also aware that re -wilding my garden is about re-wilding myself, since everything ‘out there’, is our mirror. I will be posting about this on my instagram @nurtureyournaturewithzorah wed 26th May 2021. If it gets too long it may well turn into a blog post!