Diana Beresford -Kroeger, Voice for the Trees

I've just finished the auto-biography To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey From Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest by Diana Beresford-Kroeger. 

I became interested in Beresford-Kroeger's scientific work and her spiritual inclinations after watching the documentary Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees at Docfest in Belleville. She is an intense and fascinating septuagenarian who grew up in Britain and Ireland but was transplanted and flourished here in Canada. She came from an aristocratic family but was orphaned as a child and might have ended up in a harsh Roman Catholic orphanage but for relatives. She suffered from disinterested neglect from some while her Irish relatives took her under their wings and raised her to appreciate ancient Celtic ways of medicine and knowledge of the trees. This eventually became the basis for a scientific career which has helped to redefine the intrinsic value of trees and our interdependence with them. 

Beresford-Kroeger discovered the synchronicities between Celtic spirituality and nature wisdom and that of Indigenous peoples in Canada and she has been engaged in collaboration and advocacy for decades. She has also written about living a life of simplicity as a counter to the consumerism of our society. 

I find it rather sad that as a child she lived under the threat of being shipped off to one of the notorious Magdalene laundries run as slave labour for orphans and "wayward" women by the Roman Catholic church. She also experienced the arrogance of church leaders regarding her research, although she didn't suffer fools lightly. I deeply appreciate her spiritual sensibilities which include reverence for the Earth and I regret that the church was an impediment rather than a catalyst for her explorations and discoveries. 

I borrowed the book from the library, so its not hard to find. And there is a link to the TVO version of the documentary

https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/call-of-the-forest-the-forgotten-wisdom-of-trees

Diana's Bioplan

Nature is the thread that completes the tapestry of life. All things are connected on planet Earth, from the burning eye of the volcano and the brilliant colours of a butterfly’s wing, to the chlorophyll of plants and life within the seas. In recent years the tapestry of life has been damaged.

The Bioplan is the tool to mend the holes in the fabric – so that forests will be planted, the seas will have fish and marine life, the air will have more oxygen and less carbon dioxide.

This is the pledge of mankind to share this planet because it is our divine contract to ourselves and to all others.

How to Participate

Most importantly:

• Commit to plant one native tree per year for the next six years.

Other simple strategies to help:

• Encourage your friends and neighbours to plant native trees.

• Protect the trees in your neighbourhood.

• Protect the native forests in your community by getting involved and writing letters to your government representatives.

• Help keep the Boreal Forest intact!