Garden Champions
In the Permission to Bloom virtual garden, champions of beauty and strength watch over the landscape. Champions include archetypes, goddesses, gods and mystics. Their influence has been felt in my life and I’m grateful for the energetic pattern they established.
Now more than ever we need their wisdom to see the cosmology of the whole, our relationship to ourselves, others and the planet to spark our authenticity, connection and championship of a world that works for all life.
Think of a lovely garden. As you walk the paths of the garden, statues grace and add a presence of elegance and beauty. They imbue a resonance of permanence and tranquility. This is the feeling tone here.
The intention is to activate the guidance of these archetypal energies and cosmic expressions in our transformation and their protection during this time of planetary evolution. This list is not meant to be exhaustive in the information provided or to represent that only one symbol encompasses their totality. The symbols and connections here reflect my inspiration from each of them. I invite you to assemble your own team of champions to call upon in your journey.
More ideas of champions to be added here are welcome. Contact me here.
Feminine Champions
Connecting us to the fire and compassion of the Divine Feminine and Mother Gaia
Mary Magdalene
Jesus of Nazareth’s closest disciple and some hold his life partner, powerful healer and mystic in her own right, Mary Magdalene was once maligned by traditional church leadership. Now she is venerated by millions of followers worldwide.
In the Garden: The Iris
Inspiration: Sophia, the holy wisdom, the embodiment of the divine feminine, keeper of the Light.
Guanyin
Known by many names, the goddess Guanyin is a symbol for grace, beauty and compassion. Found in many cultures through art and prayer, she continues to call us to hold each other and the planet with respect.
In the Garden: Throughout the Orient, the “Flower of the Goddess” was the red China Rose, or scarlet hibiscus, five-petaled like the classic rose, before modern multi-petaled variations.¹ Also the Lotus.
Inspiration: Mercy and Compassion.²
Isis - Universal Goddess
A powerful female goddess³ from early human history, Isis the goddess has transmuted into many archetypes representing the power and majesty of the divine feminine energy.
In the Garden: Water
Inspiration: In early times her influence was over the entire cosmos. She was the provider of rain, enlivening all of the natural world.
Corn Mother - Native American Indian
Mother Earth and Father Sky, the partnership of energies holding the planetary cosmos we call home, is a holistic view from Native American lineage. Corn Mother takes several forms as a matriarchal and maiden goddess archetype.
In the Garden: Corn
Inspiration: Abundance4, seasonality, fertility, grounding.
St. Hildegard of Bingen - 12th Century Mystic
Hildegard of Bingen was an audacious 12th Century Mystic, abbess of two communities, creative (music, art, holistic medicine) and a powerful voice who spoke truth to power, male leaders of her day.
In the Garden: Egg, seed
Inspiration: Holistic approach to all life. A consideration of the whole of life, a cosmology that includes humanity but is not holy centered upon humans only. A reverence and awe for all life.5
Masculine Champions
Helping us embody evolved masculine models
The Green Man
In the Garden: Trees
Inspiration: Ecological awareness. Honoring of our dependence on the natural world, greening, robustness, the natural marriage of Mother Earth and Father Sky, a renewed defense and championing of Mother Earth.
The Blue Man
In the Garden: Heart
Inspiration: Creativity. Activating compassion (passion in action) to work to lift all life.
The Spiritual Warrior
In the Garden: Light
Inspiration: Bravery and compassion in service to others. Shining a light on injustice, ignorance and defending those who are endangered including animal and plant life on the planet.
The Hunter-Gatherer
In the Garden: Curiosity, mental strength
Inspiration: Search for truth. The gathering of solutions to heal and transform.
- The Women’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects, Barbara G. Walker, Page 433
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guanyin
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isis
- https://journeyingtothegoddess.wordpress.com/2012/07/02/corn-mother/
- https://www.matthewfox.org/books/book-reviews-new/hildegard-bingen-saint-time
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man
- https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2019/05/27/the-green-man/
- https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2019/06/06/the-blue-man
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krishna
- https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2019/06/02/the-spiritual-warrior/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiritual_warrior
- https://dailymeditationswithmatthewfox.org/2019/06/05/hunter-gatherer/