FROM THE GROUND UP
It’s always challenging to face the blank page, whether it be for writing or drawing, and even more so when it’s been a few weeks, as is the case today. I’m sorry to have been silent for so long but it’s been a busy time, the details of which aren’t necessary here. Suffice it to say that I’ve been to London and back.London, itself, is not home to me in terms of where I grew up, but it is where I learned to grow up as a teenage runaway, so returning to it now, as possibly the future home base, resonates in a new way. What stays the same, the thread running through my memories and constant love of my homeland, are its trees and on this recent visit, having decided we weren’t yet ready for theatres and museums, it was friends and trees that peopled us. We are fortunate to have Hampstead Heath a few minutes away and it was during one of our walks there that two trees spoke to me.Trees, I think, have symbolism for all of us; the tree of life, the family tree, and at this time of year, the Christmas tree. A quick bit of Googling as to the origin of the Christmas tree informed me that although in terms of Christianity it came into being 16th Century Germany, the use of evergreens actually dates back to paganism and the celebration of the winter solstice, with different connotations for Egyptians, Romans, Celts and Vikings. I have to admit, having discovered a few years ago, via a DNA test, that I have Viking blood, I am rather partial to the Viking’s belief that evergreens were thought to represent one of their gods, Balder (something my hairless husband might appreciate), Balder being the Viking god of light and peace, two things we are all much in need of during these trying times.When Joel and I made our first book together, we would travel around Tuscany, with no plan in mind, and when something in the landscape made us both gasp, we’d immediately park the car. Joel would set up his large format camera to capture the image and I would stand in the landscape and wait until I connected on a deeper level. I wasn’t interested in describing the image, but rather articulating what exactly it was that made me gasp.So, what is it about trees that resonates in me so profoundly? Is it, that as an adoptee I do not have a family tree whose outspread branches name relatives past and present? To be adopted is to have no ancestral roots and although it is the above ground shapes and forms of trees that we admire and connect to, their resilience, strength and nourishment comes from their roots.Let me take a closer look at my response to those two Hampstead trees. Why them? Was it that they were so obviously unrelated in terms of species, form and origin? Partly. But more than that it was their winter nakedness that spoke to me. Unadorned, leafless, rooted and reaching for the heavens, they revealed their strength and vulnerability.
Vastly different from each other, they show us that there are different ways of being in this world; of surviving. The one almost angrily fisted made me shudder and thrill at the same time. Its defiant stance claiming its right to be here. Come summer it will disguise that part of its nature, dressed once again in its leafy finery. The other tree couldn’t appear more opposite; almost feathery in form, its branches staying in close contact to each other, its delicacy shivering in the raw air of an November day. These two trees stood on opposite sides of a narrow road and as I write about them now, they feel like a metaphor for where we all find ourselves these days: young/old, strong/vulnerable, vaccinated/unvaccinated, conservative/liberal, black/white, rich/poor, aggressive/fragile. At times this divisiveness is frightening and sad. Yet, like trees, we are of the same species and as different as we may appear on the surface, we are all rooted to the same planet. Perhaps the lesson we can take from trees, going forward into a new year, is that we need to help our roots entwine, support and nourish each other and in order to best do this we need to stop plundering the earth and nourish it instead.I wish you all peace and compassion, along with good health as we journey forward, branches reaching out to each other.
With love, Maggie
