Cloistered spaces : a journey through sacred gardens in the Maltese Islands

Abstract

Cloistered Spaces is a collection of narratives which seem to echo the story of the moon, with her waxing and waning, when she is full, bright and illuminating the night with the promise of abundance, and when we, humans and mortals, experience the dark of the moon on some other nights.

A number of communities interviewed mentioned the waning period of their own orders, though Cloistered Spaces found the flames of renewal burning within the hearts of those interviewed and the ways in which they are working towards the regeneration of the Earth and their spirituality, to recover the greenness of the human heart.

Fernando Caruncho describes gardens in the following way: “The garden is the only living art work that men can do, and in which the walker enters an experience that transforms him by returning to his own origins.” Cloistered Spaces hopes that the reader is seduced into visiting these spaces of origins and enters into dialogue with them, with himself and herself, and with other traditions as well. The monastic cloister, inspired by the Song of Songs and the stories of Eden, can become an opportunity for interfaith dialogue, particularly with Islam and Muslim gardens, which are theology themselves, offering opportunities for meaningful encounters. The Jesuit garden style seems to borrow from the principles of the Japanese “Shakkei”, creating a sense of place through borrowed scenery which hide and reveal, inviting those visiting to contemplate the mysteries of our Creator and our own lives.