This morning the heavy machinery is out in front of the house again, digging up the street and sidewalk to put in new valves for the gas line. It is so assaulting. The whole house shakes when that huge jackhammer starts pounding. What I’m most concerned about is the sycamore out in front of our house, a towering street tree that has been there for a hundred years.
It is such a violent thing, pounding the earth like that and ripping up whatever is in the way, roots included. And yes, I appreciate the hot water. I appreciate the warmth in the winter. But there has got to be a better way.
I long for the day when we are in tune with nature, when we take a lesson from the trees. They open themselves up to receive the energy nature freely offers. They don’t go blowing up mountains for coal, or drilling into the ocean bed for oil, or fracking the land and poisoning the water to extract every last pocket of gas.
I want humans to become more like trees. I want us to sit at the base of their trunks and listen. I want us to let them teach us how to live on this planet. How to root ourselves in this fertile, abundant Earth. How to reach out and open ourselves to the Light and turn it into a living thing. How to stand there, just stand there, being what we are, becoming what we are, expressing what we are.
We are such a young species, and so naive. So ignorant about how life works. I long for us to become wise and compassionate, and if we absolutely must dig around a century-old sycamore, I want someone on the crew who knows how to communicate with trees. Someone who can put their hands on the trunk and let the tree know what they need to do. Someone who can convey to the tree that they will be as gentle as possible.
And after they are done I want them to put their hands on the trunk again and comfort the tree, then sprinkle some holy water at her roots, bless her, and let her know we want her to thrive.
This is what I want us to become: a mature species that honors and reveres the web of life, cooperates with it, supports it, nurtures it.
We’ll get there. I know we will. And until that day comes I will continue praying for all the trees and all the living beings on this planet. I will continue asking them to forgive us for our ignorance.
And this afternoon, after the crew is gone, I’ll go out to our tree with my own holy water to bless her and let her know how much we love her, how much we want her to thrive.
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Please give your sycamore a loving hug from me as I send loving thoughts to that dear tree under assault. I fully understand what you have written today. I often stop to admire and/or sit with a tree. They really do hear us. And yes, we will get there….we just have to keep doing the “work”. (Braiding Sweetgrass 🙂
Namaste
What a beautiful share. There are so many of us who – just like you – long for a time where we honored Mother Gaia and all her inhabitants. Thank you for reminding me that WE are still here, still sending out our deep love each and every day. Love wins. We just have to get through this messy middle to get there. 💜🙏🏼
Thank you for this. So beautifully spoken. This is how I too envision us living as we create a New Earth.
What you say is so heartfelt. I have always had an affinity for trees. My childhood memories are of being in the woods and orchards. My favorite picture of my twin granddaughters are of them in an apple tree. My dog and I spent our time in the woods. My mother taught me the names of the trees. In my retirement I have become an artist and I paint landscapes. There is usually a tree in the starring role in my landscape. Some I just call tree portraits. I spend time with the tree before I paint it. I paint what I feel, not necessarily a photographic reproduction of the tree.
So many heartfelt comments. So perfectly said. Thank you, Patricia for reminding us to be tender and loving with all of our fellow beings, whatever their expression. They have so much to teach us.
I am so grateful for your loving article and even more so your actions. You inspire us all to keep up with our own practice. To not lean into despair but to continue to envision a more holistic world.
Beautifully expressed. I said a prayer and surrounded your beautiful tree with Divine Light of love and protection. Your blogs are so inspirational and loving…thank you for helping us all hold a vision of how it can be.
Thank you Patricia… I love that you feel so deeply for the trees.
I recently went on a workshop about communicating with Nature Spirits down in the Weleda Gardens in Derbyshire with Susan Raven who lives in the mountains in Wales and can sense Beings in nature..
She told the story of how one day she was walking the lanes near her home and berating herself for some mistakes that she had made and felt that she shouldn’t have made again and… for a moment it was as if the veil parted and she could see the elementals covering their ears and turning away… She understood that they really find it difficult and uncomfortable when we have negative ,judgemental feelings… especially about ourselves….
We also learned that when we can be joyful and happy we come closer to the vibrations of the elementals and so it’s easier for them to communicate / co create with us and …us with them.
I join you to send love and gratitude to this majestic tree. May our thoughts join with all our strong, sheltering, protecting trees and may Heaven and nature sing🎶 together to honor them.
Thank you Patricia for such a heartfelt reminder to honor the trees and all sentient beings. As Robin Wall Kimmerer has so beautifully stated in her book, Braiding Sweetgrass, all of nature is our ” kin. ” Your post is a reminder to remember our interconnectedness with all of life and creation. Your words are a gift and inspiration, a refreshing drink of nourishment and I appreciate receiving them into my heart. Blessings to you 🙏🏽
Yes! We have so much to learn, to be good relatives. Thank you for the reminder.
Thank you for your comforts & love to that tree! We have a sycamore across from our house. There used to be another, along with other trees. Yes, we need to mature & that time will come!
We Are the Middle of Forever: INDIGENOUS VOICES FROM TURTLE ISLAND ON THE CHANGING EARTH Edited by Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth
This book is filled with wisdom from contemporaries on how to live on this planet. If we only could honor it.