Within the contemplation of the Three Fates and of Ananke is to consider how you are both an architect and a gardener.
One way to speak of the difference between an architect and a gardener is the difference between right-brain and left-brain activities.
From the left-brain perspective, both architect and gardener must consider the structure that they want to create and sustain. The architect grapples with concepts like the strength and durability of materials, the condition of the land, the functions which need to be included and supported, environmental impact, and the technical steps needed to bring the idea to fruition. The gardener must understand and work within much of the same elements such as the nature of the soil, the temperature gradient, and the shape of the land to be incorporated.
Within the endeavors of the right brain, come the creation of aesthetics, the design of the project, the incorporation of balance, and that je-ne-sais-crois which illuminates the creation with pleasure, joy, and peace.
Both architect and gardener must be able to integrate both their intellect and their creative spirit to find success.
They both must do this within an environment which they do not have direct control over. Neither the architect nor the gardener controls the weather, the motions in the surroundings of their project, and must adapt as the unexpected arises. Often the design of both will incorporate response to the expected unexpected to move through disruption and interference.
The gardener brings forward a view of nature within the natural environment. The architect brings forward structure that sometimes is integrated with the natural environment but can also stand in stark contrast to its surroundings. And yet the gardener can also create a garden which has no bearing on the surrounding natural world.
What they each creates comes from intention and vision of the end in mind, adapting as needed as the project proceeds.
This recalls the idea of the Three Sisters where finding the elements which work together to bring forward the vision doesn’t happen without the Fourth Sister. Both architect and gardener are Fourth Sisters.
This also brings to my mind the Three Fates (the Moirai). Clotho spins the thread of life, bringing forward creation and possibility. Lachesis draws out the thread, designing and designating allotment of that which is and will be. While Atropos cuts the thread when the destiny of life is complete.
Yet, the Three Fates cannot find their gift nor contribute to the whole without Ananke – Necessity – that which uncoils the serpentine nature of creation itself, providing the platform for destiny to unfold, bringing forth the impetus of creation itself.
Like Ananke, the architect and the gardener are part of the same cycles of life and bring forward that which is both physical and spiritual in both nature and nurture, intrinsic and created.
They are part of the necessity and envision the necessity.
Like the creative elements of the Three Fates, the Necessity of the gardener and the architect both are reflections of the intrinsic capacity of each human being.
Participating in the cycles of being and becoming, each person experiences a reciprocity which sustains and is sustained by the flow of Necessity within all