Landscaping with rocks and Carl Jung

                           “Here stands the mean, uncomely stone,

                             ‘Tis very cheap in price!

                             The more it is despised by fools,

                              The more loved by the wise.”  

                                              12th century Latin Alchemist,Villanova

     Last night I came back from southern Arizona where I had been staying with my mom, helping with odd jobs, mostly landscaping on her ranch.  Placing rocks in landscaping turned out to be the biggest job, and the most fun.  My father died earlier this year and since he was a “rock guy” ( a geologist, rock collector and rock polisher, and loved landscaping with rocks), this project became a way for me to connect with him.

     If you are drawn to stone as I am, the reasons for  landscaping with stones are obvious.  But if you do not like stone, or  do not see any reasons for the hassle, consider these possibilities.  Stone instantly adds groundedness to your landscaping.  They root and anchor your design in a way that is pleasing both aesthetically and psychologically.   They also add a timeless quality that is irreplaceable.   Seasons will come and go, even loved ones pass away, and rocks remain constant, like the wise old soul.

     Rocks, especially boulders, also add strong shape to your design.  Depending on their shape,  they can evoke serenity or protection, as with the vertical ones, or be warm and inviting, such as with the horizontal flat or rounded ones. Rounded smooth stones tend to give a more aged feel than angular ones.  It is also good to use surface texture and qualities in your design.  One of my mother’s large rocks had whitish streaks of quartz, and I angled it so it would reflect back the sun and sparkle for passers by.   I spotted another small boulder with lichen on it, and moved that to our border, for it especially conveyed rest and agelessness.  One rock, that I called “el negro”, black in color and oval, fell backwards into a place neither of us expected, and we instantly were struck with how it looked like tombstone.  I could not help but wonder if this was dad, rearing before us again, wanting more recognition and remembrance?  He would have wanted some stones in his honor.

     As good luck would have it, this ranch sits next to a dry, rocky river bed, or wash, and so collecting rocks was “muy facil.”   We wanted large boulders for these new beds being landscaped, so good thing we had available a tractor, dragging chains, a pickax to break up the dry desert soil, and a hired hand (with hands much stronger than mine).  

Our first border had no landscaping, and someone has dropped there two very large boulders, that looked too large for the area.   These rocks looked more like asteroids fallen from space.    In this small area by a entrance gate,  we replaced the asteroids with smaller to medium size rocks, ones that looked more natural, and added a few plants.  (at left)

     Since we aimed for a natural style of  landscaping,  the placement of rocks had to look natural, which meant partially burying them (1/3 under is a good rule of thumb),  having sedimentary lines parallel with the ground, and using smooth rounded shapes that evoke age.  (at right)

     Doing this work made me think of  Carl Jung and his Tower at Bollingen, ( written about in his Memories, Dreams, and Reflections.) where he built by  himself  a highly personal, simple, and soulful stone home with two towers, which he called ” a concretization of [his] individuation.” His first tower represented to him the “maternal hearth,” and then he became inspired to build a second tower, like what he had seen in Indian houses, for spiritual contemplation, yoga, and solitude.    Here we were working on the “maternal hearth,” my mom’s home now, and I was meanwhile fantasizing about what stone creation I would build someday (when finances allow) for retreat and contemplation, and no doubt, with some homage to dad.   

     At Bollingen, Jung also made a monument outside of stone to express what the place meant to him, which faced the upper lake of Zurich.   He tells a funny story of serendipity, where the quarry delivered the wrong cornerstone for this garden, and yet he instantly decided he must have it, sensing the rock had a purpose for him.  On one side he carved the quote at that top of this article as an inscription.   On another side he said he “let the stone itself speak,” in Latin of course, and the amazing words he carved are here:

                 ” I am an orphan, alone; nevertheless I am found everywhere.  I am one, but opposed to myself.  I am youth and old man at one and the same time.  I have known neither father nor mother, because I have had to be fetched out of the deep like a fish, or fell like a white stone from heaven.  In woods and mountains I roam, but I am hidden in the innermost soul of man. I am mortal for everyone, yet I am not touched by the cycle of aeons. “ 

                                    Carl Jung, on behalf of the stone,  from Memories, Dreams, Reflections

     Reading Jung’s story of his Tower is quite intense, and it inspires one to be deeply creative when using stone and to tell a personal story.    We can use stones in our landscaping and designs without great expense too, and even find them in serendipitous ways,  for rocks present themselves to us and attract us. In the creative process,   one can even  let the stone speak for itself, as sculptors claim they do as they bring a design out of stone, and as Jung did here.