Sacred Gardens And Landscapes: Ritual And Agency

"Studies of rituals in sacred gardens and landscapes offer tantalising insights into the significance of gardens and landscapes in the societies of India, ancient Greece, pre-Columbian Mexico, medieval Japan, post-renaissance Europe, and America. Sacred gardens and landscapes engaged their visitors into three specific modes of agency: as anterooms spurring encounters with the netherworld; as journeys through mystical lands; and as a means of establishing a sense of locality, metaphorically rooting the dweller’s own identity in a well-defined part of the material world. Each section of this book is devoted to one of these forms of agency."