TreeSits

This Leafing Out time is great for encounters with trees. All trees are portals to elsewhere. Those roots, branches, bark, sap, the birds, squirrels, and claw marks from larger animals. So much is going on. Yet it’s so easy to take trees for granted and overlook the opportunities they offer. I’m suggesting a TreeSit.

You and another (a friend, a child) choose a tree to just sit near, under, up against, in. Maybe in the musky fallen needles of the 3 Pines at the Warwick Community Center, or in a cemetery, local park or the arboretum.

You need no particular tree. Trees, and all plants, vibrate. They give off electromagnetic energy that humans can sense, and absorb. It has a lot to do with the notion of reciprocity – that we are in an exchange with the world around us all the time, whether we are aware of it or not. But be ready! It’s not all sweet sentimental happy tree-hugger stuff. That smile of the Green Man is more mischievous than happy. Our ancestors were arboreal. It’s in us. Trees can carry stories of estrangement, threats, memories of trauma and other complexities of life on earth.

When you TreeSit, pay attention to what shows up: animals, birds, bugs and people. They are all part of the Story. In deep history, many people have believed that Trees were the entrances to Other Worlds, where time warped, a day was a year! Just a friendly warning.

Before this TreeSit, maybe look at The Lorax by Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein’s odd book, The Giving Tree, both published 60 years ago.

Let me know what trees and stories you encounter, please. Better yet, meet me at the Warwick Community Center on April 27 for a community cleanup at the 3 Pines Nature Playground. Bring gloves and clippers.