Ask Mother Nature - Ellen Vande Visse
A Gardener's Guide to Communicating with Nature Spirits and Devas
Author Ellen Vande Visse has written Ask Mother Nature as a collection of stories about co-creating organic vegetable gardens with nature consciousness. She was inspired by a visit to Findhorn in Scotland where the legendary spiritual community were growing herbs, fruit, and vegetables in poor soil and less than ideal conditions.
The Findhorn vegetable gardens were started by Peter and Eileen Caddy and Dorothy MacLean. They were guided by contacting and communicating with the consciousness of the plant, which came to be called devas or nature spirits. In this way, the now famous 40 pound cabbages grew alongside a variety of other vegetables.
Communicating with Nature Spirits and Devas
From those small beginnings, Findhorn has become a famous spiritual eco-community. Following her visit, it is no surprise that Ellen Vande Visse would be a convert to the idea of communicating with nature spirits. The book covers everything from the Nature Intelligences that talk about the weather to the Deva of the Soil that advises on composting.
Controlling Slugs Naturally
Ask Mother Nature works as a book because of the light-hearted approach and humour which Ellen Vande Visse brings to it. There is a funny exchange between the writer and the Deva of Slugs in her organic garden in Alaska.
Anyone who has had a garden will identify with the challenge of controlling the slug population. However, when Ellen Vande Visse contacts the Deva of Slugs, she is told that the slug population is connected to the human population.
“If people would keep their population in control, we could do the same!”
It appears that the chaotic energy of too many people living too closely together affects the slugs and causes them to multiply too quickly.
This could be a good argument for controlling the world population, since slugs are probably the most disliked of all garden pests. It did come as a surprise further on in the controlling slugs conversation when the Deva of Slugs suggested that rebel slugs that were not complying with the boundaries agreement should be “exterminated” and that a quick death is always appreciated.
Other Garden Pests
Ask Mother Nature gives advice and recipes on dealing with all manner of garden pests as well as which fertilizers to use. There are short pieces on topics such as interplanting and companion planting, but for a more detailed look at these try In Tune with The Moon.
It is not necessary to be psychic or a convert to communicating with nature spirits in order to gain a lot from the book, although the easy to follow advice might surprise those who try it. It’s a great read for organic gardening beginners and would offer additional ideas about controlling garden pests to seasoned gardeners.
Source:
- Ask Mother Nature by Ellen Vande Visse, Findhorn Press 2009, ISBN 978-1-84409-163-8.
Ask Mother Nature By Ellen Vande Visse
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