The morning of the Findhorn Fires, April 12, 2021, I was amazed that most of the trees adjoining the Sanctuary and CC seemed to have survived the devastating flames. Coming from British Columbia, where I had witnessed many forest fires, I would have expected many of these trees to become instant torches. But as I visited all the trees, I realized that they were traumatized. In order to survive and recover, they needed comfort and therapy as much or more than people..
Synchronistically (in the Findhorn fashion) I met on Humanity Rising (daily webinar run by Ubiquity University since the beginning of pandemic) Jim Conroy, Tree Whisperer and his wife Basia Alexander, Chief Listener. After contacting them, I sent them photos of the Findhorn trees I had taken on the morning of the fire.
I invited Judy McAllister to join me on a Zoom call, where we told Jim and Basia the story of our trees. Jim and Basia (located in New Jersey, USA) had already worked with trees from the California wild fires and survivors of Hurricane Sandy. They started by asking permission of the trees to work with them, and they got in touch with the trees “at distance”.
Beginning with the Sanctuary, we viewed photos of nearby trees. The beech hedge section immediately behind the Sanctuary, was not going to survive; it needed support to release its nutrients back to the soil. The tall pine trees in the wild garden were badly scorched and may not survive. But the 2 large cedar trees in front of the Sanctuary, although badly singed were strong in their will to survive but needed help to rebalance. Amazingly the apple tree right beside the Original Garden gate would also survive (at time of writing it was hesitantly blooming and leafing).
Around the CC the first tree Judy asked about was the “climbing tree”. My photos still showed it quite green, but in the ensuing weeks the foliage fronting the CC started to brown and the base of the tree has blackened. But it clearly said it could survive; it wanted help to re-balance its life force. And it wanted the children back as soon as possible. We sent it love and assurance, and let it know the site needed to be cleansed from the toxic asbestos residue before the children could return.
We could see the rowans standing guard between the CC and Homecare were smoke damaged, but apparently strong. (Unfortunately, one has been limbed to enable machinery into the site – but you can see healthy wood exposed.)
The last tree we looked at was the cedar beside the metal stairs opposite the Runway entry gate to the CC. From the Runway this tree remarkably looked green and alive – but from the CC side, half of the tree had been burned away – like a sword had cleaved it from top to bottom. Even with this severe damage, the message from this tree, was that it could survive. Sadly, this message was not communicated to the right people and the tree was removed at the same time as the haunting “stairway to heaven”.
Jim and Basia work with the “intelligences of Nature” – and not surprisingly had met Dorothy MacLean when she was still travelling, and very much resonated with Dorothy’s wisdom. Jim checked in with the damaged Findhorn trees about their 3 major functions: circulation, cell division and photosynthesis. This involved inquiring into the tree’s root system, its circulation system through trunk, branches and bark and into the foliage canopy. He encouraged the trees to reconnect the broken feedback loops in these inner functionalities.
We can all help our beloved trees to recover, by asking permission to connect with them, and then sharing our energy through our hearts, prayers, meditations to support their inner reconnections. Any of us who do energy work with humans and animals, can offer to the trees: reiki, bio-balancing, destressing, trauma release, etc. Hopefully, by living our Findhorn Principle of Co-creating with the Intelligences of Nature, we can help our trees recover and prevent the loss of these vital members of our community. (Watch for signs of recovery when the trees push out little green shoots through the blackened trunks and branches.)
I am deeply grateful to Jim and Basia for so generously sharing their expertise and sending 6 of their many books on Tree Whispering. Learn more from their several interconnected websites that share their healing and restoration principles, methodologies and case studies. Start with this one: https://www.thetreewhisperer.com/
Leave A Comment