They say if you talk to a tree, it will tell you a tale as old as time. The more vast the tree ring, the more history that lies inside. Imagine all of what the bark must hold, stories untold. The history that lies beneath, that connects across landscapes to tell the unwritten reveries of the hunted.
I find the most solace when I am in nature. Every time the sun shines on me, I am enveloped in a warm hug. The one that reminds you of your grandmother, as she grasps you tightly with love. It reminds me of my grandmother, Vicki. My favorite pastimes for the last few years have been going to visit her. Peace overwhelms me with her; as I sit or lay and look at the sky.
A Rooted Understanding
People’s connection to the Earth is a sacred special covenant, especially those of African descent. I previously wrote in “Heal Mother Earth, African American People’s Dichotomous Connection With Water, Land, & Race”:
The antiquity of black people extends far beyond history books flowing over into the Earth through our spiritual, physical, emotional, mental, and literal discoveries of how our people have traditionally connected to the world around them. Our connection with the Earth is powerful and transformational. However, we see how our ties to the environment have been severed due to colonialism. The forced removal of African American people from their homelands, exploitation of their bodies, and misuse of the land’s natural resources have led to chaos imprinted in the land and people.
However, through time and collective understanding, we are reclaiming that connection and it’s beautiful.
Water is a symbol of regeneration. (See Cinematic Poem on Water Here) Black people have a tumultuous yet beautiful relationship with water, from it being used as a weapon to scare enslaved people to stay in bondage to it being used as a rite of passage toward freedom for enslaved people who refused to go. Water has been used to heal and hurt communities of color through environmental racism forcing us to unpack the intergenerational trauma passed down to us.
In Water and African Memory: An Ecocritical Perspective, they talk about the connections black people have with water from different backgrounds. The African American expressive tradition construed bodies of water as haunted by the bodies of those who lost their lives in their currents. Water, then, the course of travel, marks severed paths to home, family, landscape, and even life, a demarcation that according to Theodor Schwenk in his pioneering work in water and flow research, is inherent in the character of water: “Water’s flow constantly links life and death. It is the mediator between the two, and its surface provides a common frontier in nature where they meet.”
So when I am in nature, I feel this energy, a deep knowing as if I have been here before. It is proven, and it is understood. The trees have that same connection to each other. They have a communication system that interlinks them together across lands. In “Do Trees Talk to Each Other?” an article by the Smithsonian they explain their intricate communications system.
“To communicate through the network, trees send chemical, hormonal, and slow-pulsing electrical signals, which scientists are just beginning to decipher. Trees also communicate through the air, using pheromones and other scent signals. All the trees here, and in every forest that is not too damaged, are connected to each other through underground fungal networks. Trees share water and nutrients through the networks, and also use them to communicate. They send distress signals about drought and disease, for example, or insect attacks, and other trees alter their behavior when they receive these messages. ”
I find it beautiful that trees see the value in community as well, in staying grounded and uplifting each other where one is lacking; in nurturing the young to make sure they are provided the resources needed. The article states “For young saplings in a deeply shaded part of the forest, the network is literally a lifeline. Lacking the sunlight to photosynthesize, they survive because big trees, including their parents, pump sugar into their roots through the network”. It is truly amazing how omnipotent God is.
I woke up today, Earth’s day feeling so renewed and grateful for the land. Just a reminder, that God is so strategic and so beautiful. S(he) has gifted us all the tools that we need to alchemize the life we want for ourselves. The birds in the sky, the sounds of inspiration for music, the rich colors in nature. We are all alchemists, and we have the skills and esoteric knowledge to make the future that we need, to create the future we see ourselves in. If you see yourself in a beautiful home, you have to do the work to be there. (“Faith without works is dead.”~James 2:14-26) These are tools God has gifted us with: the mind is a tool because you are able to use knowledge, the ears are a tool when you listen for truth, the eyes are a tool, and the heart is a tool for us to love freely. We are filled with abundance and resources not only in people and the community that surrounds us but also in the Earth. And I am feeling so grateful, especially on Earth Day!
My thoughts are clearer when I’m grounded in the earth. My body feels lighter, everything makes sense. I find Tranquility in the Treetops, Love in the Land, and Wisdom in the Water. It’s a beautiful ethereal earth.
I wanted to share my thoughts, and I hope you find the beauty in the little things!
For the little boy who loves Trees & Victoria Monet who hugs them🫶🏾
“i like talking to trees. i don’t want them to be lonely. i know trees can’t talk, but they do. they can talk to me. they whisper. when the wind comes, the trees talk. i speak tree.”
From Kemi Marie (they/them)
@kemimarie
find out more about this: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-whispering-trees-180968084/#:~:text=Trees%20share%20water%20and%20nutrients,Scientists%20call%20these%20mycorrhizal%20networks.