Say More: At Last She Writes It

No. 26 | October 2024

photo by the author

My Rowan Tree

by Rebecca Bigelow

I have watched a tree for seven years, cycling every season. This tree

has become my tree, and it protects my home with shade and beauty while providing sustenance for the insects, birds and forest wildlife. Every spring, green leaves bud out, and fragrant white flowers cluster on my tree’s branches. Pollinators flock to the flowers eager for nutrients after the long winter. Moose and deer graze on her leaves and branches. Lush green leaves fill her throughout the summer providing much needed shade. Fall turns the leaves a vibrant yellow and red while small orange berries develop. Leaves drop in the winter nourishing the earth under her canopy, while those berries plumpen and develop into bright, red, full berries hanging on strong, naked branches. The berries drop onto the snow below in the middle of winter, and the robins feast on those sweet berries. She stands strong and stark in the cold winter. In early spring this starts afresh with leaves budding out, and the white flower clusters start the cycle anew. This is my Rowan tree. 

I watch the forest understory cycle in color each season. The first showing of Spring is white Serviceberry, then followed by a glorious emergence of yellow. Balsamroots, Yellow Bells, Spring Gold and Buttercup. Then the pinks and purples emerge. Lupine, Violets, Wild Rose, Primrose. Whites come again with a profusion of Yarrow. Then a dry gold is predominant in the grasses of late summer. This is my colorful wildflower blanket. My comforter. Fall brings shrubs and trees expressing themselves in a final burst of red before all is blanketed in snow. Winter is stark, bare and cold. The leafless trees are strong and resilient. The evergreens stand tall and proud protruding from the white snowy cover. Nature rests. She rests so that she can produce the vibrant rainbow of all colors that come between the black and white of each winter.

I feel Mother God in my tree and in my wildflowers and in the cycle. The divine feminine is not a goddess in the sky or a numbered wife, she is right here alongside us and always within us. A companion while we are journeying through our mortal life. Earth Mother, Mother Nature, she is the Creator, the Nurturer of the flora and fauna, and of our spirit. In our connection to Her, we receive the rest we need in this life, the rewards so vital in nourishing ourselves and others, and we see the glory in Her creations. I carry my Rowan tree and my wildflowers with me and gather strength, rest, and power from Her. They are my connection to Mother God.