A couple of nights ago I dreamt of a king who told me he was going to die overnight and there was nothing that could be done to save him. The dream left a deep imprint on me throughout the day. The love I felt for this king was deep and was shared with an entire nation. The grief we shared on his passing was tangible and real.
When I later learned that the Sycamore Gap tree had been felled overnight it touched on the same grief.
And then to learn that a 16-year-old boy - now released on bail - has been arrested in connection with this got me really feeling.
I do not want punishment for the person or people who did this, I want them to be freed from the distortion that led them to believe it was okay to take down this tree. To be freed from the distortion that leads to profound disconnection.
Our ancestors would be more likely to send them back out to sit with the tree and all the land spirits and ancestors who could midwife them through the rite of passage into being an adult. Who would initiate them into what it truly means to be given the keys to the kingdom. Who would teach them that instead of chopping down the kings who sustain them, they can take their place amongst them?
What if we could all gather as a community to help them across the threshold to take their rightful place as an adult, as the kings and queens they are?
This isn’t just my wish for whoever took it upon themselves to fell this tree, but for all people who are struggling to navigate what it means to be alive in these times we find ourselves living in, disconnected from the truth of nature.
To move beyond the age of spiritual adolescence into a time of belonging and reciprocity.
📷 Thomas Jackson