Every gardener knows it—something majestic touches us when we are deep in the soil.

“To have a garden… is a great privilege.” Gunilla Norris opens her slim volume of essays and poetry with that unequivocal pronouncement, but she isn’t trying to instill in readers a sense of obligation. What Norris tells us in these delicate offerings is that our gardens lead us into grace, into a wholeness of spirit that exists naturally in the relationship between humans and nature.

A Mystic Garden is best read in small doses, taking time to consider, digest, and live the observations. Through brief ponderings paired with poems that run slightly longer than haiku and could easily be taken for koans, Norris shares her contemplation of the garden throughout the seasons.

• Winter “…is a womb in which to grow.”
• Spring “…is the time… to be open to renewal.”
• Summer “…is a fullness born of need.”
• Autumn “…is a ripeness, an urgency to complete, to go to fruit and seed…”