The new calendar year has begun and many are casting a glance over their shoulder to the year that was…difficult for many and with, as yet, unseen consequences for all…
It was both a good and bad year for Mother Earth, as the race of mankind faltered and slowed in the never-ending quest for more. She breathed. She burned. The pain was endured.
She exalted in the trees that were planted by her loving children and grieved as the Great Burning on several continents brought death and destruction to many of her precious sentient beings. What is done cannot be undone, but we can move forward and do better for the Great Mother and ourselves.
I finished off the last month of 2020 by planting twenty three trees into the woodland of Bealtaine Cottage. This first week of 2021 I have bought four bare-root Irish Oaks to continue the planting of much-needed trees.
Much of what we do in this life is centred around our needs. We seldom think about the needs of our habitat, taking it for granted most of the time. We look after our cars, our homes and sometimes even each other, but rarely cast a thought to what actually sustains us…Mother Earth!
The benefits of planting trees are outstanding! By planting trees you create the right conditions for people, animals, and food to survive and thrive! Trees provide a natural carbon filter for the air, thus absorbing and dealing with much of the pollution we create with of “must have more,” lifestyles! Trees provide shade, preventing other living things from being damaged by the sun or heat. Trees also help protect the pathways of streams, rivers, and other sources of water, through filtering, absorption and slow release into the soil. This helps keep the water clean, prevents flooding or overflowing, and creates an even regenerative ecosystem for aquatic wildlife, from the rivers into the oceans and all in between!
This is now the seventeenth year of the Bealtaine Project and I am aware that my tree-planting is limited by fences. I am also aware that many of you are planting trees, turning lawns into woodlands, potting up a small tree for your balcony, starting or supporting a Community Garden…Blessings on your sacred work, Blessings on you.
Perhaps 2021 will be the year when I can begin planting another woodland, who knows? I am guided by the Great Goddess…She will create the energy and the path.
Blessings X Colette