Spirit of place: Birmingham Peace Gardens

Today I visited a place that I've only just discovered existed, despite living near it for years and years. I found this place while reading Quaker blogs on their witness of simplicity & plainness, a subject I shall no doubt return to. You can't dress much plainer than plain black (although a witch's motivation may be slightly different from a Quaker's), and my plain speaking may be partly responsible for the rate at which I lose friends & alienate people!
This is what Wikipedia has to day about this place:

On the night of 11 December 1940, all but the fine tower of St Thomas' and classical west portico was destroyed by German bombs. The church was never rebuilt. The grounds were laid out for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 when the gravestones were removed and the dead reinterred at Warstone Lane Cemetery. The gardens were re-designed as the Peace Garden in 1995 in commermoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of World War II. The First World War Memorial colonnade, which had been built as part of the Hall of Memory in 1925, was relocated here when Centenary Square was laid out 1989. Railings with doves of peace were erected, sculpted by Anuradha Patel.
Within the Peace Garden is a memorial to British service personnel who were killed or injured as a result of nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific Ocean.
When the world leaders came to Birmingham for the G8 summit in 1998, each planted a tree here. Each premier choose a tree that most represented their respective countries and they are now a living symbol of peace.

Source
The gardens feel nice. It is pleasing to see that despite the memorials from the great & good, when I went the main users were a homeless man asleep on a wall, & a group of men who may or may not have been homeless sitting chatting on a bench. I know they live near the (h)edge, because they nodded to acknowledge me, & it's difficult to see a witch coming unless you (have) live(d) on the edge.
There are peace messages from different nations & religious groups. Unfortunately the actual remains of the church have deteriorated recently & have been fenced off to prevent access. If it hadn't been broad daylight in a populous area, I'd've nipped over the fence & had a look inside!
Finally, I include a picture of the British Nuclear Test Veterans' memorial, despite both me managing to cut off the top of the memorial, and the memorial having a misplaced apostrophe, since 'all we want is justice' is probably closest to the witch's view of peace. Unless we collectively deal with what prevents peace there will always be a lack of peace, & what prevents peace is that people are never satisfied. This over-simplistic sentiment actually conceals the whol magical philosophy: that if I am in my 'place' it will not conflict with yours, & if I relentlessly want more, it will inevitably bring me into conflict with others. We live in a world where a ridiculously large proportion of power is held & jealously maintained by a very few people, which is the living embodiment of the opposite of the magical peace principle above. Needless to say the peace garden did not include wishes for peace from a witch, so here they are from me:
May all people do what is right,
May all people live as is right,
May all people live with others,
May living over others come to an end,
May all people actualise their inner divinity,
In all the Names of she who says,
'I am that which is attained at the end of desire.'
So mote it be.
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