Friday, October 5, 2012

Communing With Trees in the Taiga

google image Siberian taiga

At Real Toads, for her Transforming Friday prompt,  Hannah has issued one of her intriguing challenges, to explore a landscape foreign to us, this time the taiga. I immediately thought of a series of books I own, one of which is titled The Ringing Cedars of Russia, about trees in the Siberian taiga who have been storing up energies for many hundreds of years and, after a time, begin to ring. The author, Vladimir Megre,  was told of this by a Russian elder, went to investigate, met an amazing young woman named Anastasia in the forest, who was utterly in tune with nature, and his life was forever changed. He wrote a series of books through the 1990's on all he learned from her about living in harmony with nature, and about communicating with it.

These books caught on, and are transforming the culture of Russia. Now eco-villages abound all across Russia. Take a trip with me to the Siberian taiga, to listen to  the ringing cedars of Russia.

I travel through time and space
to a Paradise-like glade
in the Siberian taiga.

She meets me there,
on the edge of the forest,
beckons me to follow.
All is silence.

Putting her finger to her lips,
she motions me to stand still
before the ancient trees,
and listen.

photo Sherry Blue Sky

At first I cannot hear it,
but then my ears attune:
there is a ringing.
I arch my brows, she nods.
It is coming from the trees.

"These ancient beings
are filled with cosmic energy
from many hundreds of years,"
she tells me.
"They are trying to teach us
how to live with
all life on earth,
how to attune our energies,
how to align ourselves
with the natural world,
learn from it,
speak to it."

www.siberianhuskies.com

As I watch and learn,
I see wild animals -
wolves and foxes,
bear and mountain lion-  
all in her domain
approach her humbly,
without fear,
seemingly tamed.

Moscowtopnews.com

"The trees, the animals,
--all of Mother Earth--
is inviting us
to step into a world
of Love,
where all beings
live in harmony
with the earth."

Yes.
This is
the only truth
that makes sense,
and I am learning it
from a tree
and a forest sprite.

In listening to
the song of
this old tree,
I have stepped through the veil
of transformation,
and my vision is
 forever changed.

The tree
sang its song of love to me,
and I must answer.
With hope.
With healing.
With joy.
With love.

anastasiasgarden.com

In researching further for this poem, I came across this house, which I SO TOTALLY want to live in. When I lived in Tofino, some of my friends actually did live in trees, or in dwellings such as this, or in yurts high above the forest looking out to sea. Tofino then became Whistlerized and they were evicted by district council. But they lived in heaven for those years.

I read that there are now 150  Anastasia communities, with 100 residents in each of them, spread across Russia. There is also an Anastasia community  forming on 100 acres in the Shasta Valley in Oregon. They are looking for pioneers. My idea of heaven - intentional communities of aware humans, living in harmony with Mother Earth, and joyously.  

I also discovered, while reading,  that "Trees are like bioelectric condensers of cosmic energy." (Anastasiasgarden.com) And the cedars in the Siberian taiga, when they are 500 plus years old, begin to ring to ask us to use their stored up energy for the benefit of the earth. If their call is not answered in three years, they begin to burn up from within, a process that takes 27 years.

Amazing stuff. This world has so much in it we aren't aware of. We have so much to learn - and fast.


20 comments:

  1. Fascinating. I've always loved trees, and have always thought of them as having feelings. not the same as we know them but, same as water, very much alive. I wonder though what they want humans to do with that energy?
    Certainly not cause more destruction for sure.
    Off to read more about this woman now. She sounds so intriguing.
    Great answer to the prompt Sherry

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  2. Amazing and fascinating Sherry ~ I like the idea of living with nature, listening to the ringing, the song of the wild ~

    Happy Thanksgiving dear ~

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  3. Beautiful, Sherry... like a legend, really.

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  4. Love the message you have imparted, Sherry. I wish you a happy Thanksgiving as well.

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  5. Sherry!! What a joy to find you here just ringing with the glory of the trees!!

    So much I didn't know about before you've caused me to hunger for more on the ringing tress and the experience of this magical in-tune woman.

    Your poem is written so beautifully...carried me right along.

    Thank you so much for writing to Real Toads Transforming Friday, Sherry!!

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  6. Again, I love this poem and see it fit into "your work" of beauty. I am trying to have a conversation between such a tree and a Great horned owl. I keep channeling "The legend of the Guardians."

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  7. What a fantastic write Sherry. You have lived such an interesting life. I grew up in the woods half tamed. Thanks for sharing this with us!!

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  8. Wonderful poem Sherry and I so enjoyed the information as well about the author and the communities in Russia. I visited a house that was a ring of redwoods once in the Eureka area and it was so very neat. I really wanted a house like that too. And thank you for commenting on Mary's interview of me. I always like looking at your Pup's picture--our Belle looks so similar.

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  9. This is so enlightening, Sherry and I love the point of view you took in narrating the poem. Just lovely to think of those trees ringing out their energy.

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  10. what a cool house...i would love to be so attune to nature....to hear the trees and their energy...it is a really cool thought...i often retreat to the trees just to find peace...so i know there is truth in this....

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  11. What a dreamy house....I love the serenity it feels when I am out in nature.

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  12. Love the outdoors, living with nature! Amazing to know about the latent power. Must be some cosmic energy or something waiting to be released. Nicely Sherry!

    Hank

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  13. Sorry Sherry. Hit the wrong key and didn't finish my thoughts.

    This is fascinating. Yet, it's no surprise to me. Reading this made me feel like visiting forest and just being there. But I have no forest near, so I'll go out and just be with the few trees around my house. I find I rarely acknowledge them or appreciate them. Yet, perhaps they are there, protecting and reaching out to me always. Love this post Sherry.

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  14. Sherry you are such an over-achiever! Wow, great job researching, and what a poem! I feel like this is straight from your heart. I love the images you have with it too. Although, you're house looks like it could use a haircut, lol. I would love to visit you there, but for myself I think I'd prefer living in a Hobbit hole! :o)

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  15. Fascinating .. words, images! Writing about nature, the Earth, far away places, your life ~~ you shine like a star in the constellation!!

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  16. I do believe this, Sherry. Trees stand and seem to wait, or witness, and their root structure keeps them literally grounded farther and farther down into the earth. Your poem is brilliant, and the afterword gave us more info.

    I'm so glad YOU wrote about this subject, because you're my favorite Earth Mama! Love, Amy
    http://sharplittlepencil.com/2012/10/04/little-lajwanti-lost-brothels-of-india/

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  17. What a wonderful and educational post, Sherry. I love the thought of trees ringing wanting to share there energy and knowledge.

    Elizabeth
    http://soulsmusic.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/one-day-road-trip/

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  18. I loved this poem and all that you shared~ I so wish people would listen to the knowledge of the trees!
    The Earth is crying and needs our help~ This is a wonderful poem and needs to be shared! :D
    I loved the photos and you are always in tune~

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  19. What a gift ... what a beautiful gift you have shared. Thank you.

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