The Sentience of Trees

What is it about trees that captivate us? We are drawn to them, inspired by them, feel an innate kinship with them that is hardly ever explained to us by our typical western institutions and schools. Yet we feel their energy, their sentience and their spirit. 

I was hiking with a friend near Alsea falls the other day. There are Douglas fir and western red cedar there that are huge, ancient, some at least 400 years old. The love and wisdom emanating from them was so powerful. We would end up just standing still on the trail for quite awhile in awe and communion with them. As we did that we could feel their energy reaching out to us, and see that sometimes they created faces that would form in the bark to speak to us on a level we could relate to as humans.

I could see little paths coming from the main trail leading a short way to several giant firs where people have been called to go to them to stand next to them, greet them, and most likely hug them. Trees really like that, especially if we ask them if we may first.

Not long before I went on this hike, a friend sent me a video about a trend on TikTok, which I am not subscribed to so didn’t know about, where people film themselves talking to trees. They ask the tree to touch their shoulder and the trees do just that. The experience recorded is emotional and sometimes transcendent. And people are moved to say thank you to the tree. 

So many young people today have grown up immersed in technology and a digital world. I have felt like maybe that replaces playing outdoors and they miss out on being in the energy of Nature, and getting to know the trees, the wind, the wild beings that are our neighbors. But now seeing people blending digital technology and Nature, and interacting with trees and recognizing them as sentient beings, well it gives me great hope.

I remember many specific trees in my life as friends and landmarks for feelings and memories.  All the trees in my childhood yard and in the neighborhood had distinct personalities. Some, like the maple we climbed in our front yard, were easy to play with and welcoming.  But the maple tree in our  back yard always felt prickly, and even though we tried to interact with it by hanging a tire swing from a low branch, it felt uninterested in us so we didn’t spend much time there. The huge weeping willow next door felt like a sacred place to me and I always felt her Goddess-mother energy surround me as I entered her space. These relationships and feelings were a foundation for my life and how I felt and saw the world.

My dad was a botanist and naturalist, and I know he loved trees, and probably knew them deeply as friends. But did he ever tell me that they are wise elders? Maybe. I’m pretty sure he didn’t tell me that some would speak to me, give me advice, hug me and love me. I would find that out on my own. 

Did I ever tell my daughter? I’m sure I did, but to what extent? When she was young we would often visit a very old cottonwood by our house that we called Grandfather. Did he become a landmark tree friend in her memories? She’s grown now, but we still share a love of trees and I think I will share the video with her. Then we can talk about tree friends and kin we have known, and she probably has some of her own tree stories to share.

Alsea Falls trail - photo by Gayle Mair