The rowan tree offers protection
Recently while looking for inspiration for a logo I moved through the entire gamut of predictable yoga logos, becoming increasingly more demotivated with every spirally turn I took. Then I remembered what is always my source of inspiration; nature and in particular the trees and then I remembered my favourite wee tree the Rowan, nature’s own protector.
I have always been a bit of a tree hugger! My dad was a carpenter and had a deep love and respect for the trees, which he passed to me. My first word, I am told, after the usual mummy and daddy was “roots daddy!!” He was thrilled and a fascination with trees and their roots was born in me! My dad spent hours teaching me the names of trees, hours which were greatly wasted on me as I remember very little but the Rowan tree is one of a few I remember. Perhaps because of its distinctive red berries and delicate leaves but probably because of the Celtic folklore that surround this beautiful tree. It is said that the Rowan tree is the ultimate protector tree and twigs were hung in houses and carried for protection against disruptive spirits. The berries themselves even have a five pointed star on their underside, the symbol for protection. Rowan trees were planted outside the Croft’s of newly weds in the highlands to provide protection to the new family. This particular Rowan sits outside my old home, which is at the head of the street I still live in. She was one of the first things I noticed when I saw the house, one of the things that drew me in. I still look at her every day as I pass. She stands as if protecting our wee street and I am grateful she is there.
During this strange year I have found myself drawn back to the connections I laid down in the natural world many moons ago, was comforted and reassured once again by nature’s rhythms, smells, sights and sounds just like I had as a small child. For so much of my adult life I had walked through these same hills, forests and fields that I do now but I realise I had stopped seeing them, I had lost my presence in them and with them.
The Rowan leaf is now of course my logo and will serve as a reminder to not drift too far from nature’s path again, to always pay attention when I am in her company knowing that her roots connect me to my own true wisdom. As the constraints of the pandemic start to ease, what will you take with you from this experience? What will be your protection as you step out into this new and altered landscape?
