Aspen Reflections Intro

September 6, 2003

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I spent the first day of the aspen project making visual observations of the gorgeous aspen tree. Its bark is very smooth, which may be an indication of a soft and gentle spirit. The amount and diversity of flora in the aspen’s undergrowth is tremendous, at least for the Rocky Mountain area. This, to me, symbolizes a tree soul with a very strong sociable nature – a soul with a tremendous love for the company of the vast diversity of life. If the aspen were a human, I feel she would be the “life of the party” at any social event, and would be very comfortable in that position, taking great joy and pleasure in living a role that fitted her perfectly.

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The aspen’s trunk is on a larger scale very straight but on a smaller scale often awkwardly twisted and bent, a dichotomy, which to me reflects the simultaneous graceful beauty and awkwardness of human adolescence. And the aspen does to me feel like a very youthful, adolescent, tree soul. Or perhaps like a puppy or kitten, a bit awkward in their behavior but too young, innocent and unmarred to feel daunted in any way.

The elements that I feel most strongly in the aspen are the elements of earth and air. It burrows its roots very vigorously through the earth and sends up shoots everywhere. So it seems to be very friendly with the earth element. This is also indicated by how tremendously vital, alive and fertile the earth appears to be under the branches of the aspen.

At the same time, the aspen sheds all of its lower branches and keeps only a small smattering of thin branches towards the top of its crown. I could not see a single aspen with any large branches lower down on the trunk. This, together with how playful it is with the wind, strongly indicates its affinity to the air element.

Where old branches have been dropped off from the trunk, there is an inverted “V,” like an arrow pointing up towards the air and two lines pointing down towards the earth. Inside the angle of the inverted “V” there is an eye-like circle. This I interpret as an indication that the merging of the earth-air elements in the aspen gives her a piercing gaze, which, in spite of her youth and innocence, is able to penetrate, see through, and perceive things with clarity and depth. Though she is young and innocent, she is no fool.

To help give some semblance of stability and balance in its happy-go-lucky way of life, the aspen does have a series of horizontal lines on its trunk, symbolizing some kind of internal “righting” mechanism to keep the spontaneity of things to spin too much out of control and make her tumble or topple.

Finally, I wish to include a sentence about the aspen that I receive while communicating with the cottonwood: ”The aspen with her fast moving, heart-shaped leaves represent the emotionally passionate side of the heart.”

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