ELM TREE

The Elm tree ceremony was the first one and took place on the front lawn on a Friday morning. Elm's magical properties were presented to me through wind, pain, and light. Elm's message for me was to be aware, receptive and to emanate or spread. My heart's affirmation with Elm was to feel the wind, get rid of fear, and to accept lightness and pain as parts of life. My temple journey involved physical contact with the earth while tiny roots spread from me into the ground below and connected with the tree's roots.        

Amba's and Jeff's spritual presences were there at all times. Amba's voice carried instructions, stories, and songs. Sunlight overhead filtered through my eyelids and through the leaves and branches and clouds and sky. The wind could be felt the whole time. The ground had distinct energy channels. I became less aware of my physical self and the people around me as the journey progressed. I had no fear or anxiety. This first ceremony seemed to prepare me for the other journeys. I learned to ask permission before interacting with trees, including touching them, from that day forward .

A week or so later, while in my art studio, I recalled the Elm tree ceremony and relived part of it. I wanted to represent an essence of my personal experience on canvas, or at least try. I had been writing in my journal daily and was curious about the ideas and beliefs expressed by others at the retreat, some of which were new to me. It was difficult to resist looking stuff up online and to stay focused on creating a visual of my Elm temple journey. 

I painted this piece in a matter of seconds after spending a lot of time comtemplating and waiting for the call or urge to paint. The strokes on the bottom half represent the active communication pathways of the tree's roots and my connection with those roots through what seemed like my nervous system. The strokes on the top half are the vertical flow upwards inside the tree where we traveled. This particular Elm appeared to be a merging of three trunks into one large tree, and the three brushstrokes reflect that structural attribute. I had no desire to continue to work on this painting because it seemed complete after just one session, unlike some of my other tree ceremony paintings that underwent several major transformations. Next tree...