A room (or greenhouse) of one's own

RETURN TO REVERENCE

JULIETTE JARVIS

We were recently gifted a charming, hand built green house made from reclaimed wood, PVC pipe, and greenhouse plastic. It’s a practical, helpful, and thoughtful gift that fits right in with our cottagecore aesthetic with driftwood shelving and twisty branch doorhandles.

As a final touch, our friends strung up fairy lights inside. It was a quiet signal that this space was not only about our gardening needs, but also our soul needs. A place to be slow and creative in, to take tea in, maybe a rainy evening spent wrapped in a blanket with a book. A place for drying herbs and sun dyeing wool, for singing while transplanting seedlings, for making a mess and being cozy in.

It reminded me of how important it is to cultivate personal spaces for soul tending, and how too often, we may go long stretches without such a place.

Keeping a touch stone, or reminder of something important on a deeply personal, medicinal, or spiritual level can become an incredible source of solace, strength, and healing. A nook, corner, shelf, or even a pouch kept in our pocket that is truly our own, for our own purpose, can be a vital medicine way.

Depending on what we need most, we might work with our personal space to honour a deceased beloved, keep imagery of compassion and kindness, found natural items tuning us into the seasons, representations of our faith, tools of creativity, books to comfort or movement based accoutrements like a yoga mat or workout gear.

The mundane running of busy lives, space constraints, and navigating family or work environments, are all aspects that may present a barrier, along with thinking such a space needs to be sheshed/man-cave sized or filled with store bought decor, but truly, the intention is simply to hold sacred something meant to fill us up or bring remedy to ourselves.

It can be as minimal and ordinary seeming as a photo on a night stand or as elaborate as a corner dedicated to meditation. A little space that instills a medicinal feeling when we see it in passing or feel it in our pocket while out and about. A place reminding us that more exists, more is at work, and more is possible than the surface bustle of life, even if we aren’t fully able to “go there” just yet or in that moment.

It holds something for us, we can enter into silent dialogue with it, invite and intend with it, and support our deep selves while we do.

Juliette Jarvis offers sacred living programs online, devotional arts, and divination sessions. Find her at SelkieSanctuary.com and 3FoldBalance.com