Water at their roots, light on their leaves
Day 48 of my tree puja.
The showiness of spring has another side to it - nature is just getting on with being alive. Flowers, leaves, roots, branches, everything working together.
…warmth above and below and nothing to fear. The rose is sending long, ambitious red arms up into the tree…
Nature is on Tiptoes
Day 45 of my tree puja. Blossoms all but gone, lengthening days feed an abundance of light to the eager leaves.
This morning has the quality of mist – like a cat’s fur without the cat, or cherry blossom without the tree. Still, silent, and soft, nature is on tiptoes, quietly breathing, nothing else.
Leaves are the Support Team
Day 44 of my tree puja. As leaves replace the flower festival, the tree seems relieved. Now she can relax and replenish.
A glowing morning, after blessing rain.
I stood with my face in the tree, amongst the new leaves, and said hello to them, and welcome to them.
Nature is on the Alert
Day 43 of my tree puja.
As the blossoms fade and fall, other flowers have their time in the sun. The movement, the cycling of the season is ceaseless.
Spring is a time of adjustment and work. The changes come so fast and so much is to be done. We see the beauty and it looks so effortless and relaxed, but that is appearance only. Nature is on the alert. So much must happen now.
Here is Home, the Wild Home
Day 42 of my tree puja.
Spring is an energy moving through the garden, its air, soil and mind.
I went to the tree, and held her flowers to my face, burying my nose, eyes, mouth, appearance in the petals…
In the Deathliness of Space
Day 39 of my tree puja. With her spring blossom comes a fresh, enlivened energy and magic. My relationship with the ritual and the tree shifts into a deeper, more subtle and intimate place.
...bunches of petals have emerged from wood, a common miracle. She surrounds me. I squat, eyes closed, hands joined in prayer; I think towards her.
Then Zoomed Past a Car
Day 38 of my tree puja. Nestled in nature, I am disturbed by a passing car, an industrial invasion clashing with the blossom universe unfolding around me.
The flowers are very relaxed, just hanging there in mid-air, waiting for visitors on the wing...
The Throb of Life
Day 35 of my tree puja. Now the tree is awakening, the festival of colour begins, and I am simply present.
I feel the rain, I hear the birds of dawn, the breeze doing its rounds, I see the lush masses of leaves and flowers all around and I crouch there, part of it, nothing more, nothing less...
The Wide Arms of the Tree
Day 32 of my tree puja. A storm followed by peace and flowers.
The last weeks have been hectic. This morning, I finally visited the tree, its buds full with spring but not yet revealed...
I knew that something had changed
Day 21 of my tree puja. Sensing shifts in the tree’s energy according to the seasons was a remarkable aspect of the tree puja. Our urban, house-dwelling lives have desensitised us to this subtle knowledge. Reconnection comes with the routine of ritual.
And I knew that the tree was preparing for Spring, that its blood was starting to flow and its buds to swell.