Earthdreamers

On a sunny Saturday morning in September, a small group of us participated in a dance and tree planting ritual in the centre of London’s financial district. Our intention was to energetically and symbolically return the Tree of Life – in this case a hardy little twisted willow – to its rightful place at the heart of our culture. We came together the evening before to dance, plan, give voice to our hopes and fears, and to talk through practicalities. This meant that next morning there was a strong sense of cohesion, connection and a clear plan of action. The weather was perfect, a brilliantly golden autumn day, and the ancient site we’d chosen felt welcoming and safe. We danced to a gentle, soaring soundtrack created for the day and downloaded onto individual mp3 players. It felt extraordinarily liberating and empowering to be out in the open, under a big blue sky, in the middle of the City of London, dancing for this earth, for our future. And it was great to know that Earthdreamers elsewhere, including a group of TreeSisters in Bristol, various individuals around the UK and a lone dancer in Iceland – were dancing with us (TreeSisters planted a tree, too). Several onlookers and curious tourists took delighted interest, with one white van man even calling, ‘Ecstasy rules!’ across the sound of the traffic as he roared away from the lights. After the dance, which lasted for 40 minutes or so, we walked in silence through the quiet streets of the City to a patch of ground where we carefully planted the little willow. Let’s hope it takes root…