Practice from Lesson 2 (Finding Your Voice).

Does everyone have a tree? - image 1 - student project

Inspired by my favourite tree, the Witch Hazel,

Does everyone have a tree? A favourite tree that draws you in, invites you to sit with it, and rest for a while?

I have many. Some trees are my wishing trees, where I go to dream. Some are my backbone, energizing me with the subtle rhythm and sap flow beneath its bark. Some trees simply bring me joy or stillness or companionship.

My favourite tree is more of a shrub, a witch hazel. I visit it regularly in the short days before the Winter Solstice, awaiting for that joyous moment when it blooms, blazing microcosms of our sun from its branches, brilliant yellow petals rather than rays of sunshine.

Around it, the deciduous trees have dropped their leaves. The evergreens remind me that life goes on, even in the cold and the dark. Witch Hazel reminds me that each of us blooms in our own time, when it’s right for us. When we’re ready. When we have something to say. When we have something to share.

Della Ratcliffe

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