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--- identity_of_trees_walks [2014-08-01 16:33] – rasa
+++ identity_of_trees_walks [2014-08-12 14:19] – rasa
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-A long time in the future… after events that changed our world, a silent political Party of Trees was formed. Not to rule the world or make laws for the economic profit of selected individuals but to advise, feed and protect all species of this earth.
+A long time in the future… after events that changed our world, a silent political Party of Trees is formed. Not to rule the world or make laws for the economic profit of selected individuals but to advise, feed and protect all species of this earth.
-With their heads high in the sky they stood for the rights and duties of all beings, and the natural patterns of life and death. Rights that every living creature deserves equally. Duties that many of them performed already, but were made to do even more or live in poverty or even to hide their existence by the dominant species.
+With their heads high in the sky they stand for the rights and duties of all beings, and the natural patterns of life and death. Rights that every living creature deserves equally. Duties that many of them perform already.
-The silent political Party of Trees was formed from Arboreal persons chosen to represent every aspect they stood for:
+The silent political Party of Trees is formed by Arboreal Persons chosen to represent every aspect they stand for:
   * love and beauty
@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
   * symbiosis…
-Chosen trees understood the importance of their engagement and the responsibilities that they would have to carry on their shoulders from one age to another. Their party was formed not out of boredom, fancy, or private ambition but pure necessity for this planet and the universe.
+The chosen trees understand the importance of their engagement and the responsibilities that they have to carry on their shoulders from one age to another. Their party is formed not out of boredom, fancy, or private ambition but pure necessity for this planet and the universe.
 Are we ready to allow and embrace the necessity?
-You can join the silent political Party of Trees by completing one of these walks and by listening to the stories thees trees are telling you.
+Any one of us can join the silent political Party of Trees by completing one of these walks and by listening to the stories the chosen trees are telling you.
-  ===Tree walk in Forêt de Soignes===
+----
-  in the framework of [[http://www.bessst.be/|Bessst]]
-  [[http://libarynth.org/_media/watermaal_bosvoorde_treewalk.png|Link to map]]
-The trees in the Forêt de Soignes are the arboreal persona with most rights in the Brussels' region.
+==== Tree walk in Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud ====
-//History//
-//EU Green corridor//
+Initially developed in collaboration with Z33 and Heath Bunting and performed in the framework of [[http://www.bessst.be/|Bessst]] in April 2013
+=== Itinerary ===
+== Start ==
+Entrance Drève du Comte/Graafdreef, Enfants Noyés/Verdronken Kinderen, next to the former Hippodrome, Watermael-Boitsfort/Watermaal-Bosvoorde; walk down to the water
+**Accessibility**: You can take the tram 94 from Louisa (direction Musée du Tram), get off at Coccinnelles/Lieveheersbeestjes and just cross the road; you can also access by car and leave it on the parking space near Drève du Comte
+**Duration**: +- 1 hour
+{{:forestwalk_map.png?200|}}
+// Click on the image for large view (with many thanks to [[http://http://www.openstreetmap.org|Open Street Map]]) //
+**A little introduction**
+During this walk you will meet the trees who gave birth to the Silent Political Party of Trees. These trees are part of the Forêt de Soignes/Zoniënwoud, the only forest in Belgium that has always been forest. Even if the forest has been totally replanted by Jacques Zinner in the 18th century with the beeches we know and the large lanes, the ground that feeds these trees has never been manipulated. The soil as such is turned into a delicate archive open to scientific research.
+The trees that belong to this forest enjoy exclusive rights compared to other trees in the Brussels' region. They are part of 'Natura 2020', an environmental protection program that aims to guarantee biodiversity in Europe (50% of mamals and 30% of fish are in danger). Since 2007 this recognition is implemented in the Belgian law providing specially protected zones. In most parts of this forest, trees have such privileges that humans are not allowed anymore to approach them, climb them, go near them. The solidarity that is inherent of a tree's way of life made them act to protect their less fortunate collaegues, and all other species (including us, humans) who are dependent of trees for our survival.
+They decided to found the silent Political Party of Trees. The first idea they whispered in their leaves was to consider them as 'arboreal persona', a legal entity equal to natural persona, organisations, companies.
+You can read more on the construction of the arboreal persona [[http://libarynth.org/parn/arboreal_identity|here]].
+**Walk & become a member of the Silent Political Party of Trees**
+By chosing to walk and become a member of the Party of Trees, you're not joining any regular type of political party you know. They will not represent their ego nor short term views. Trees are networked species. They aim for their own survival, that is true, but they will always realise this in collaboration with others.
+Giving your trust to trees is very easy: they will not abuse your rights, you will still have the right to cut their limbs, when that seems to be necessary for your own survival.
+By giving your trust, you choose to connect with the energy of the trees, and to live and think with them as they will become your close friends. In return you will regain the connection with the nature and become the unseparable entity of it. You will rediscover the wisdom and instincts inside you. They will empower you as a human being and as a part of the living society on earth.
+So if you're happy with all this, just put one foot in front of the other, and take the Sentier des Endymions/Boshyacintenvoetpad. Immediately at your left hand side, you will find a beautiful oak surrounded by beeches.
-When you walk down the Drève du Comte from the parking space, you find a beautiful oak at your left hand side, just before taking to path that leads you to the field with picnic tables.
- ** * Oak**
+ ** * Oak, Eik, Chêne, Quercus robur**
 {{:dscn0607.jpg?200|}}
+// The best way to listen to the oak, is to stand against it, touching its strong scarred skin. //
 Please meet the oak, the father, priest and the guardian of the world.
-Three of the past, the present and the future. This oak has lived more than 100 years and will survive us by another 150 to 200 years if the climat does not change too drastically.
+Tree of the past, the present and the future. This oak has lived more than 100 years and will survive us by another 150 to 200 years if the climate does not change too drastically.
 Oak grows as deep as it grows tall.
 It provides shelter and food to millions species in the forest.
-One grown oak is equivalent to a metropole as big as New York. It can have up to 350 species living in, on, around and from him.
+One grown oak is equivalent to a metropole as big as New York. It can have up to 350 different communities of species living in, on, around and from him.
-Among the sacred trees in many legends, the mighty oak stands noble and tall as The Tree of Life. The oak tree in folklore and myths represents great symbolic meanings to the pantheons of mythology, to the druids, the faeries, and many cultures around the world.
+Among the sacred trees in many legends, the mighty oak stands noble and tall as The Tree of Life. The oak tree in folklore and myths represents great symbolic meanings to the pantheons of mythology, to the druids, the faeries, and many cultures around the world. It is the representative of truth and justice.
 It is a slow grower. So it is all about time.
-Just imagine growing trough your life so slowly that 500 years can fly by. Imagine species, landscape situations you could witness. Well Oak does. It is a time machine. If we learn its language maybe we we could learn a very different history from the one we know now.
+Just imagine growing trough your life so slowly that 500 years can fly by. Imagine species, landscape situations you could witness. Well Oak does. It is a time machine. If we learn its language, we will take on the habit of looking back, living now and projecting ourselves in a far future, and all this at the same moment. We will discover a very different history from the one we know now.
+Take your own time with the oak. Once you're done, walk on and concentrate on yourself, your breath, your heartbeat, your body, your rhythm.
+**//More about the oak//**
-**//More//**
 Throughout the major cultures of Europe the oak tree has been held in high esteem. To the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Slavs and Teutonic tribes the oak was foremost amongst venerated trees, and in each case associated with the supreme god in their pantheon, oak being sacred to Zeus, Jupiter, Dagda, Perun and Thor, respectively. Each of these gods also had dominion over rain, thunder and lightning, and it is surely no coincidence that oak trees appear to be more prone to lightning strikes than other trees, whether because of their wood's low electrical resistance or the fact that they were frequently the largest, tallest living things in the landscape.
 The Druids frequently worshipped and practised their rites in oak groves (the word Druid was probably a Gaelic derivation of their word for oak, Duir, and meant men of the oaks). Mistletoe, probably the Druids' most potent and magical plant, frequently grew on oak trees and its presence was believed to indicate the hand of God having placed it there in a lightning strike.
 Ancient kings presented themselves as the personifications of these gods, taking on the responsibility not only for success in battle but also the fertility of the land, which relied on rainfall. They wore crowns of oak leaves, as a symbol of the god they represented as kings on Earth. Similarly, successful Roman commanders were presented with crowns of oak leaves during their victory parades, and oak leaves have continued as decorative icons of military prowess to the present day.
 Oak leaves' connection with rainfall also survived in more recent folklore in a variety of similar rhymes about which tree's leaves appeared first, such as the Irish saying:
 If the oak before the ash,  then we'll only have a splash. If the ash before the oak, Then we'll surely have a soak!
 In Celtic mythology, oak is the tree of doors, believed to be a gateway between worlds, or a place where portals could be erected. In Norse mythology, the oak was sacred to the thunder god, Thor. Some scholars speculate that this is because the oak, as the largest tree in northern Europe, was the one most often struck by lightning. In Classical mythology, the oak was a symbol of Zeus and his sacred tree.
 The Oak tree is traditionally sacred to Serbs and is widely used throughout Serbia on national and regional symbols both old and new. In the Bible, the oak tree at Shechem is the site where Jacob buries the foreign gods of his people. In addition, Joshua erects a stone under an oak tree as the first covenant of the Lord. In Isaiah 61, the prophet refers to the Israelites as “Oaks of Righteousness”.
 The oak tree is used as a symbol by a number of political parties. It is the symbol of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom, and formerly of the Progressive Democrats in Ireland. In the cultural arena, the oak leaf is the symbol of the National Trust (UK) and The Royal Oak Foundation.
-**  * Vlier, Elder, Sambucus**
+**  * Elder, Vlier, Sureau, Sambucus nigra**
+{{:elder6919lg.jpg?200|}}
+// The best way to listen to the elder, is to smell its flowers, to touch its spotted skin, to taste its leaves and to look closely at all its details. //
 Please meet the pharmacist of the forest.
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 **//Healing power//**
 The entire tree is to be used for healing purposes.
 Flowers and berries are used in treating the flu, alleviating allergies, and boosting overall respiratory health.
@@ Line 86: / Line 137: @@
 Eating raw berries can cause nausea and stomach aches.
-Washing her face in dew gathered from elderflowers was believed to enhance and preserve a woman's youthful beauty, and derivatives of elder continue to be used in skin cleansers such as Eau de Sareau, and eye lotions. Elderberry wine, elderflower cordial and dried elderflowers for infusion are all still commercially available. A couple of cups of hot elderflower tea before bedtime helps to bring on a cleansing sweat to combat cold and 'flu-like symptoms, and elderberry drinks were formerly prescribed to sooth throat complaints. A fine elderflower champagne can be made using the yeasts naturally present in the blossoms, which can also be dipped in a batter and eaten as fritters.
+Washing her face in dew gathered from elderflowers was believed to enhance and preserve a woman's youthful beauty, and derivatives of elder continue to be used in skin cleansers such as Eau de Sureau, and eye lotions. Elderberry wine, elderflower cordial and dried elderflowers for infusion are all still commercially available.
+A couple of cups of hot elderflower tea before bedtime helps to bring on a cleansing sweat to combat cold and flu-like symptoms, and elderberry drinks were formerly prescribed to sooth throat complaints.
+A fine elderflower champagne can be made using the yeasts naturally present in the blossoms, which can also be dipped in a batter and eaten as fritters.
 **//Traditional uses//**
 Branches from the elder are also used to make the flutes. Magic flute? Sounds can heal deepest illnesses...
 In common with other trees with white blossom, such as hawthorn and rowan, the elder had strong associations with Faery- and Goddess-centred mythology.
 Like rowan, the elder was thought of as being a protective tree, and it was auspicious if it was growing near one's dwelling, especially if it had seeded itself there. If the rowan's place was traditionally at the front of the house, the elder's was at the back door, to keep evil spirits and other negative influences from entering the home. The aroma exuded by the elder's leaves has long been known to repel flies, so this folklore may have been born out of the need to keep such insects, and the diseases that they carried, away from the kitchen and food. Bunches of leaves were hung by doorways, in livestock barns, and attached to horses' harnesses for the same reason. Elder was traditionally planted around dairies and it was thought to be efficacious in keeping the milk from 'turning'.
 Cheese cloths and other linen involved in dairying were hung out to dry on elder trees, and the smell they absorbed from the leaves may have contributed to hygiene in the dairy.
 Elder trees were also traditionally planted by bake houses as protection from the Devil (what with all those hellishly hot ovens within!) and loaves and cakes put out to cool under the elders. Any foods left out overnight under an elder however were considered a gift to the faeries.
 In common with many other native trees and plants with potent pagan associations, the elder subsequently had negative Christian legends associated with it, to suppress earlier beliefs.The elder was doubly cursed as being the tree from which Judas Iscariot hanged himself, as well as being one of several trees 'accused' of having supplied the wood for the Crucifixion Cross (oak and aspen being other popular culprits), though the small size of the elder trees and the fact that Jesus would not have struggled under the weight of a crossbar made of such a lightweight wood as elder make this highly unlikely.
 Notwithstanding these negative beliefs, elder continued to be put to such a wide range of medicinal uses that the mediaeval herbalist John Evelyn called it "a kind of Catholicon against all Infirmities whatever".
-  *** Hazelnut, hazelnoot, corylus**
+  *** Hazelnut, hazelnoot, noisetier, corylus**
+{{:dscn0604.jpg?200|}}
+//
 Please meet the witch of the forest.