Welcome to Tephyr's Garden!

Dedicated to The Devic and Nature Spirit Realm, Co-Creative/Co-Partnership Gardening,
Medicinal and Metaphysical (Magical) Herbalism and more. Copyright: 1994 - 2012 S. Tephyr Burgess.

Tephyr passed from this world in 2015 after a 13 year struggle with LMS: Leiomayosarcoma.
She encouraged me to start Alternative Nature Online Herbal in 1997 and contributed as long as her health allowed.

Channeling and Meditation

I first started consciously opening to the Devic Realm back in my teens after reading the book The Magic of Findhorn by Paul Hawken.

I say consciously because as a child I had always been open to the Plant Kingdom but thought my experiences were something singular with myself and something to keep secret. (Suburbia in the USA was not the place to tell people you believed in and in particular saw "Fairies").

I had no idea how to go about communicating, so as I gardened I would simply "open" my mind and hope that the impressions I got were correct. I think I did pretty well.

I gradually began to sit quietly, leaving myself open to any impressions I might receive in regards to the work that needed doing that day. As time passed I got better at it.

Eventually I was guided to a Hollow in the Berkshire Mountains, where as I usually do when in Nature I opened myself to the Spirit of the place. I was, to my surprise, Welcomed Home.

I said that wasn't possible as we had no money at that time to purchase land. Within 24 hours we were offered to purchase land in the Hollow by the owner who financed the whole thing; and it is now my home and where the physical form of The Garden is.

A few years later, I was given Machaelle Small Wright's books from Perelandra and I tried many of her techniques, which I briefly get into on the page about Kineseology.

I do occasionally use "muscle testing", pendulums and sometimes dowsing tools to confirm things, but for the most part I still just sit in The Garden and "listen".

It wasn't until just a year or so ago, I was having dinner with two woman who are Psychic Channelers, that on hearing their description to me on just what Channeling is; that I realized that it was an apt description of how I communicate with the Devic and Nature Spirit Realms. One opens oneself and receives "messages" which are usually written down, so that they are not forgotten.

Many of the "articles" in this site were received in that manner. Where I� sit quietly in The Garden, note book in hand. Sometimes I have a clear concept of what I want to discuss,
for example what or where should something be planted. But sometimes I just ask if there is anything that I should know about or the Devas and Nature Spirits would like to tell me.

Often things don't make much sense but in time they usually become more clear. Other times I don't like what I hear but that gets into Trust again.
For example, being told to bring people to The Garden to learn to open to them....
this made no sense at the time;

I had just moved here, knew no one and I was very shy and withdrawn.
As time unfolded, I had friends and colleagues; found myself teaching about plants and eventually had the inner strength to start discussing the Spirit side of things. And here we are today: They were right!

They were right to direct me to build a Fire Pit in the middle of the back garden and it has become a favorite place for me to teach as well as my family, friends and students sitting around the fire at night listening to the Coyote Sings up in the Hollow.

Channeling or getting myself into a meditative state is my preferred way of communication, it may not be the best way for each individual or it may not be the best way to learn; but I think it should be given space and time to try.

Update for 2012

12 years is a long time: in 2001 I was diagnosed with LMS: Leiomayosarcoma. I stopped teaching in 2005 as it became more difficult to do so. I have had to let much of The Garden go wild and it's considerable much smaller then it used to be. I'm slowly catching up again and am now feeling in a good space to start updating this site. Many of my opinions and ways of doing things have changed over the years and I want to share them here. As well as the above blog on my trials with LMS, I also have another blog on The Garden as well as what's going on in my studio: Tephyr's Garden.

Nature Spirit and Co-Creative page

* a site dedicated to helping to keep Native Indian Americans culture whole and to alert the public on Ceremony/Culture stealers and outright frauds. They have very strong opinions but are worth listening to and checking with before you take classes from a potential charlatan.