The Cobbler’s Garden: Jakob Böhme and the Divine Language of Plants

On This Day
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:

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April 24, 1575

On this day, dear garden enthusiasts and seekers of celestial wisdom, we celebrate the birth of Jakob Böhme, a German philosopher, Christian mystic, and Lutheran Protestant theologian whose ideas continue to blossom in the fertile soil of human thought.

Oh, how the labyrinthine tendrils of the human mind intertwine with the intricate tapestries of nature! It seems our dear Jakob was predestined to unravel the celestial secrets woven into the very fabric of our earthly existence. A cobbler by trade but a visionary by heart, Jakob's musings on theology, Christianity, and the natural world have captivated thinkers for centuries, much like a fragrant rose draws the attention of passing butterflies.

Consider, if you will, Jakob's contemplations on Desire and Will, those two unruly companions that dance and tussle within each of us like playful breezes in a spring garden. Desire, the pious laborer, toiling diligently among the neat rows of our aspirations, and Will, the mischievous truant, frolicking amidst the wild meadows of our whims. Forever at odds, yet essential to our journey through life's verdant landscapes.

The incomparable Mary Oliver, that poet of quietude whose words are as gentle as morning dew, once remarked upon Jakob's "shining web" of thought. What a delicate metaphor for the intricate tapestry of ideas that Jakob Böhme spun! She writes:

I read Jacob Boehme and am caught in his shining web.
Here are Desire and Will that should be (he says) as two arms at one task; in my life they are less cooperative.
Will keeps sliding away down the hill to play when work is called for and Desire piously wants to labor when the best season of merriment is around me.
Troublemakers both of them them.

How often, dear gardeners, have we felt this very tension in our own lives? The Will to tend our gardens slipping away on a perfect summer's day, while Desire pushes us to labor when we should be reveling in the beauty we've cultivated.

But let us turn our attention to Jakob's most enchanting notion - the "signature of all things." Elizabeth Gilbert, in her captivating novel of the same name, explores this botanical vision with the deftness of a master gardener. Imagine, if you can, a world where each flower, leaf, and tree whispers secrets of the Creator's love, where every petal and stem is inscribed with a divine code for humanity's betterment.

Gilbert writes of Jakob's belief:

Jacob Boehme was a sixteenth-century cobbler from Germany who had mystical visions about plants.
Many people considered him an early botanist. Alma's mother, on the other hand, had considered him a cesspool of residual medieval superstition.
So there was considerable conflict of opinion surrounding Jacob Boehme.
The old cobbler had believed in something he called the "signature of all things"- namely, that God had hidden clues for humanity's betterment inside the design of every flower, leaf, fruit, and tree on earth.
All the natural world was a divine code, Boehme claimed, containing proof of our Creator's love.

While some may dismiss Jakob's ideas as mere medieval superstition, like weeds to be plucked from the garden of modern thought, they have found fertile ground in the hearts of those who seek a deeper connection to the natural world. His belief in the "signature of all things" invites us to contemplate the intricate beauty and purpose of every living being, from the mightiest oak to the humblest daisy.

As we tend to our gardens this spring, let us channel the spirit of Jakob Böhme. Let us look upon each unfurling leaf, each delicate blossom, with eyes open to the possibility of divine messages. For in the garden of life, each plant is a potential key to unlocking the celestial mysteries that surround us.

So, dear friends, as you plunge your hands into the rich earth, as you nurture seeds into blooming life, remember Jakob Böhme. Let his vision of a world infused with divine meaning inspire you to see the extraordinary in the ordinary, the celestial in the terrestrial. For who knows what secrets you might uncover in the gentle curve of a petal or the spiraling pattern of a sunflower's seeds?

May your gardens be ever bountiful, and may they whisper to you the secrets of the universe!

Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme
Jakob Böhme, posthumous portrait
Jakob Böhme, posthumous portrait
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

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