The Medicine Wheel Garden: Creating Sacred Space for Healing, Celebration, and Tranquillity [Paperback]

E. Barrie Kavasch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2002

The American Indian medicine wheel was an ancient way of creating sacred space and calling forth the healing energies of nature. Now, drawing on a lifetime of study with native healers, herbalist and ethnobotanist E. Barrie Kavasch offers a step-by-step guide to bringing this beautiful tradition into your own life--from vibrantly colorful outdoor circle designs to miniature dish, windowsill, or home altar adaptations. Inside you’ll find:

• Planting guides for medicine wheel gardens in every zone, from desert Southwest to northern woodlands

• A beautifully illustrated encyclopedia of 50 key healing herbs, including propagation needs, traditional and modern uses, and cautions

• Easy-to-follow herbal recipes, from teas and tonics to skin creams and soaps--plus delicious healing foods

• Ideas for herbal crafts and ceremonial objects, including smudge sticks, wind horses, prayer ties, and spirit shields

• Seasonal rituals, offerings, and meditations to bless and empower your garden and your friends, and much more

Practical, beautiful, and inspiring, The Medicine Wheel Garden leads us on a powerful journey to rediscovering the sacred in everyday life as we cultivate our gardens . . . and our souls.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

The transcendental nature of gardening is the focus of this pair of books. Both discuss humans' innate need to cultivate and nurture the earth. Ethnobotanist and herbalist Kavasch (American Indian Healing Arts) delves into Native American mystical symbolism to describe how to put together a garden that heals body and soul. He clearly explains the basic layout of a "medicine wheel" garden a circular arrangement built along axes running north/south, east/west, and even into the air and into the ground and how to adapt it to every zone. Also covered are traditional plants and why certain colored plants belong in the different quadrants of the circle. He also offers an illustrated encyclopedia of 50 healing herbs, as well as recipes that incorporate those herbs. Norfolk, a retired English osteopath, uses a much less structured approach in his lovely meditation on the importance of gardening in today's hustle-and-bustle society. During his 40 years of practice, he observed that his happiest and healthiest patients were green thumbs. Here, he introduces his concept of the "soul garden." He draws from literature and scientific studies, among other sources, to back up his claim that, like Voltaire's Candide, people would be happier and less stressed out if they would just sit back and watch their gardens grow. Kavasch's book is recommended for public libraries whose patrons appreciate Native American mysticism and gardening; Norfolk's is recommended for all public libraries. Pam Matthews, M.L.S., Olmsted Falls, OH
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In the wake of September 11, there seems to be a natural tendency to seek solace in comforting, "cocooning" activities. Fortuitously, the idea of "garden as sanctuary" is one whose time has come full circle, literally and figuratively. For Kavasch, this means harkening back to ancient times when Native American cultures revered "medicine wheel gardens," stone circles interplanted with healing herbs and other indigenous plants, creating sacred spaces whose mystical and mythical powers soothed the soul and calmed the spirit. An herbalist and ethnobotanist, Kavasch presents a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to how primitive traditions can have modern applications. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (June 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553380893
• ISBN-13: 978-0553380897
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,173 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

E. Barrie Kavasch was born in MoundBuilders territory in Ohio more than half a century ago. She honors both European and American Indian bloodlines, and is a direct descendant back through 16 generations to Pocahontas. Barrie has written a variety of natural history books especially on the cultures and cuisines of American Indians. She is an herbalist and ethnobotanist with more than 25 books in print. She has recently published her fifth book of poetry, HAIKU MOMENTS (2009). Barrie teaches creative writing, poetry, and American Indian ethnobotany; her home and studio are in the Northwest Hills of Connecticut.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing Native Landscape Plan!!! I love this book !!!, June 14, 2004

By 

Katie Politano (Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Medicine Wheel Garden: Creating Sacred Space for Healing, Celebration, and Tranquillity (Paperback)

Creating Sacred Space means more to us today than every before. I feel that this suthor has really offered us bold new perspectives along with numerous alternatives for coming to balance in these trying times. This book is a valuable, in-depth gardening guide with far more sensitivities than are usual!
1. I find the resource guide in the back most valuable.
2. The herbal lexicon that is the central third of the book is amazingly detailed; here is the info I need to propagate native herbs & wildflowers.
3. Research on the medicine wheels as ancient landscape features is the best I've yet encountered, & offered with great respect & reverence for sacred space.
4. Part III in this book is filled with imaginative new ideas, recipes, & suggestions for gifts & projects to make from one's gardening success.
What a fine book!
The most unique book on this subject, likely to make other gardening books out dated...

45 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Spiritualism in the garden, April 23, 2003

By 

Jessica Ferguson "threelittlebirds" (Woodbury, NJ) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Medicine Wheel Garden: Creating Sacred Space for Healing, Celebration, and Tranquillity (Paperback)

Based primarily on Amerindian healing and spiritual practices, The Medicine Wheel Garden details using a circular garden design as a personal, sacred, reflective space for pleasure, renewal, and as a home for wildlife. While much of the book is given over to explanations of symbolism and ceremonies including the use of spiritual and ceremonial items in the garden and details for performing seasonal healing rituals, chapters are included on choosing a garden site, style and plants. 50 herbs are profiled with short sections on history, modern and traditional uses, cautions to use, growing tips, and a sketch. Additional chapters provide culinary recipes and craft ideas as well as many recipes for beauty aids such as skin scrubs, shampoos, lotions, and soaking teas. While mainly a guide to creating a sacred space, gardening information is sound and conservative and includes the importance of compost and mulch as well as the importance of selecting the right plant for the right site. The Medicine Wheel Garden takes the rejuvenating and healing properties of gardening a step beyond.

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Mediine Wheel Garden, January 9, 2007

By 

L. P. Barreca (Garden State, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Medicine Wheel Garden: Creating Sacred Space for Healing, Celebration, and Tranquillity (Paperback)

Very thorough and informative. Lists many plants, uses of the plants, terrain differences - in consideration with reference to locating and designing your garden - I thoroughly enjoyed this book - and - like most other selfhelp books - do not have to buy more titles to get the full picture.