Just inside the entrance to Gaia Luna is this hand made faux stone bowl. Rainwater collects in the bowl (West/Water). This direction is also associated with water/release/flow/culmination.
The bowl was sculpted from a mixture of portland cement, perlite and peat moss, very durable and lightweight. Here's some info about the process, though I learned about it at a workshop. It is the only object in the garden that isn't made of natural stone. The plants behind it are lambs ears, planted in a circle around the central bed.
EARTH (North)
Walking toward the left around the garden, is the North/Earth/Winter/renewal/wisdom stone. The Earth stone is the larger brown stone in the background. The color associated with North is white. Plants closest the Earth Stone are winter savory, horehound, garlic and horseradish.
Sitting in front of the Earth Stone is the Moon Stone. This stone was added in June. It circles the garden according to the phases of the moon. This picture was taken last Tuesday when the moon was new (dark). The correspondenses of direction and moon phase according to traditional moon lore are: North - New Moon, East - Waxing, South - Full, West - Waning.
AIR (East)
East is the direction of Spring/Air(Wind)/Inspiration/Beginnings (color - yellow). After I arranged the stones for East, I discovered that the ancient symbol for air looks very much like the shape made by the top two stones, a triangle with a horizontal line crossing it parallel to the base.
The small square stone in the front is a resting place for other objects, including the Moon stone during its waxing phase.
The plants are lady's mantle in the front, lemon thyme on either side, and dill behind, just barely visible.
FIRE (South)
The only recent picture I have for Fire/South is shown in the photo from a previous post with the barn in the background. South also is the direction of Summer and the Sun, as well as passion/enthusiasm/proliferation. I chose to plant with colors associated with direction by some native american traditions - blue and purple.
For obvious reasons, some traditions assign red and orange to Fire/South. I chose to follow the traditions that link red and orange with West and Fall because culmination and release relate more closely this phase in the cycles of a woman's body.
WATER (West)
We are back at the entrance where we started. The photo above shows one of a pair of stone figures that form a gateway. Created by balanced stones, they have a similar meaning to the inuksuit (singular inuksuk) or stone people built by the Inuit, though mine are built on a much smaller scale. The red flower beside it is bergamot.
Just down the hill in this direction are the calm tidal waters of the Mystic River.
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