The garden design is a universe in miniature encompassing symbols of nature that are common to all cultures such as the sun, moon, stars, sky, sea rainbow and earth. It is a reminder to us all that these symbols are universal; no-one owns the universe but we are all a part of it and must take responsibility for our planet and our own actions. Centrally in the World Peace Garden® burns an Eternal Flame, the heart of the garden representing the spark of light inherent in all people irrespective of religious, cultural or political differences.
The World Peace Garden® design is available to be implemented as either
a planted garden or a representation of the garden in mosaic or stained
glass. Each individual garden will be a beautiful environment for
local people to enjoy and each garden will link up to form a global network
of peace.
See a tour of the World Peace Garden®, courtesy of HALIEN, from the Royal Horticultural Society Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 1998, London, UK.
It is commonly accepted in today's age that individual and global health are inextricably linked. In complementary medicine, the concept of treating the whole person often involves a diagnosis which takes into account the condition of a client's society during their lifetime.
Pamela Pace, founder of Flight Of The Phoenix World Peace 2000 believes that, just as it is important to create a safe and healing environment for an individual, it is equally important to create such environments which work towards healing the hurts and ailments of modern society on a local and global level.
The World Peace Garden® project is a form of care which is dedicated to addressing such issues.
The aim of the project is to create many World Peace Gardens, or where more practical, replicas of the design in stained glass or mosaic, world wide. Its purpose is to provide spiritual upliftment through an environment of beauty and inspiration and to act as a universal language linking peoples and cultures as we walk through the doorway of the new millennium and thereafter.
It will also serve as an education project for schools, where pupils will be encouraged to link with other students of different cultures world wide for a few moments silence each day; an arts for health project in hospitals; and as a relaxation and healing environment for private homes as well as other venues world wide. The project directors, Pamela Pace and John Jameson, are particularly keen to see the garden implemented in areas which have suffered environmental or human trauma and for it to coincide with practical aid to its host communities.
In town centres, we hope to establish a World Peace Shop near the garden which would act as an information centre for the project as a whole and provide employment opportunities by retailing local crafts and products in keeping with the theme of peace. The shop would also have accommodation above so a homeless person can be offered job training and a place to live giving them a chance to re-establish their confidence in day to day life before eventually moving on to finding a place and career of their own.
How The World Peace Garden® Project Began
The World In 1996 the World Peace Garden® was a vision in one woman's heart. By 1998 the dream was not only to become a reality but was also to win a design award at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show and attract wide public and international media interest.
Pamela has no background in gardening, in fact she suffers from dyslexia and freely admits she lacks the ability to read and write easily. So how did it all begin, and how has she become co-director of Flight of The Phoenix World Peace 2000, a business based on the principle of sharing, which is already on its way to providing some of these objectives?
It all began when Pamela, a day to day housewife, was nursing her terminally ill mother. Intuitively she felt drawn to placing her heated hands in areas where her mother was experiencing pain. Slowly the pain would disappear and so her confidence grew in trusting this silent awareness that knew she could be of help to others.
After her mother passed away, Pamela, now a registered healer, began giving healing on a donation basis by visiting clients in their homes. Her taxi fares began outgrowing donations so she created a treatment room in her own house. Her reputation soon grew and professional training courses were developed so others, enthused by her approach to healing, could develop their own abilities and work alongside her. It was during this period that Pamela awoke one night with an overpowering urge to light a candle. As she lit the flame, she knew she was making a deep inner commitment which at the time carried her on a path guided only by an unseen vision within her heart. This was when the first seed of the World Peace Garden® project was sown. The one room grew to two and three and eventually, with the support of those around her, Pamela moved to larger premises and in 1986 established a Natural healing Centre offering therapies ranging from Osteopathy to Hands on Healing.
Clients varied from worn out social workers and Macmillan nurses to housewives, stressed business managers, pre-exam students and government officials. Residential healing programmes, incorporating many healing therapies, were developed and attracted clients from overseas. The centre also became known by social workers as a crisis centre acting as a last resort for clients suffering from mental stress prior to hospital admittance. Many were helped to avoid admittance and long term drug re-habilitation through the varying therapies available but more importantly through feeling safe in a loving environment away from the stresses of day to day life.
The work was hard and by now 12 therapists, some living in full time, were often working late into the nights. Behind the scenes Pamela was a strong guiding force, who ensured her therapists knew the importance of looking after themselves and dedicated many training evenings to developing inner strengths. The message that the need to be needed was not a foundation on which any therapist should base themselves was strongly emphasised. It was on these evenings that the lighting of the candle in 1986 began to become more tangibly understood. Everyone soon grew to know that if they were able to be in touch with own their inner power they were stronger for it and if they were able to help their clients do the same, they could enable them to live happier, healthier and fuller lives. It was the simplicity of this understanding, that the true answer for any individual's healing lay within themselves, that was so empowering. It didn't come from books, it was a natural unfoldment and non judgmental in its meaning. Small miracles of transformation within the day to day running of the centre were regular occurrences as were tears of laughter and pain as both therapists and clients discovered many truths about themselves and their lives.
Through working with a wide variety of clients over the years it became more apparent that there was a common root to many people's illnesses. Clients came to the centre not just because they had physical pain but because they felt either a void in their lives, unfulfilled by society, or worn out by a the competitiveness of the modern world. It was at these times that instead of crying when watching news coverage of children starving or families being murdered in cold war, people were encouraged to light a candle, say a prayer or even write a letter of support to whoever it was they were crying for - anything which would enable them to use their energy positively rather than letting it turn on themselves and cause anger or a lack of motivation. It was this conviction that formed the true driving force of the World Peace Garden® and its related projects. As more and more people discover how to heal their own lives they will want to help others. It is a natural progression. It is also clear that as more and more people feel alienated from society and stifled from using their true potential it can only lead to disharmony.
The WorldPeace Garden® seemed one way of combating such defeatism. The long term aim is to build a community village which would continue to offer the much needed services of the Natural Healing Centre and act as a base to the World Peace projects. It felt important that people of like mind could live and work together and create an environment of healing and truth for themselves and others which went beyond any religious, cultural or political systems. It will take courage and years to build but the journey in getting there is the real adventure.
A project that addresses issues such as peace is often prone, like many complimentary therapists were and still are, to ridicule and their work seen as escapism. The World Peace Garden® project is by no means an escapists venture! It has taken the project team sheer determination and belief in themselves and their aims along with the development of hard business skills to bring it to its growth to date. Turning the concept into an actual garden was the first hurdle to overcome. Seeing if others shared the same enthusiasm was the second. The projects aims were placed on an information leaflet which also requested support from interested parties. These were distributed at various holistic health events throughout the UK and volunteers who took the project into their hearts also shared the information with others world wide. The response rate was encouraging and the World Peace Garden® project seemed to have won the hearts of many. The next step was to build a show garden in order to establish the practicalities and costs of building future replications. As the different elements of the garden were gathered together in readiness for its launch, the project encountered some of the undesirable aspects of modern life. The group saw the desire of commercial business to control, possess and to profit from their involvement. It was important that people benefited, but not for the project to loose its principles or for its direction to be guided by those with ulterior motives. Offers of help, sponsorship and interest in building the garden in a city centre came with provisions of rights over the original design. Persistence and hundreds of telephone calls eventually found sufficient sponsors in tune with the project to enable the first demonstration garden to be built and launched at the RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show.