In the traditions of a number of European spiritual practices, the Winter Solstice and the beginning of the festival of Yule mark the moment of transition of power from the Holly King to the Oak King – the nadir of the period of darkness in the northern hemisphere and end of the waning of Gaia’s annual cycle having been reached, the light once again begins to return and the visible rebirth of the natural world once again begins. But this single example is not by any means the only one that could be offered regarding oak trees as representational of both a renewal as well as sustaining of the cycles of life; oak trees run deep in both the physical as well as mythological and spiritual landscapes of human history.
After spending two years sitting with and studying the venerable Honywood Oak, Dr. James Canton, has made a number of remarkable discoveries, or perhaps better described as “re-discoveries,” about oak trees, particularly the relationship we humans have long had with them – a relationship that has, with the many changes in our technology and societal practices, unfortunately deteriorated but to which attention should be paid and a renewal begun. What he learned about this age-old relationship during his time in the presence of this ancient oak – what he would like us all to explore for ourselves – he has collected in his recently published The Oak Papers; a book that is as evocative as it is enchanting.
Compared by some reviewers to Helen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk and Peter Wohlleben’s The Hidden Life of Trees, The Oak Papers may indeed be read as a complement to either or both of these works – particularly the latter – but it well stands all on its own, just as the Honywood Oak that forms the center of its narrative now does. Exploring as he does the significant but often subtle relationship of human beings to oak trees, as well as the larger natural world in general, Dr. Canton’s book draws connections in our history with these astonishingly long-lived life forms that touch upon a range of topics spanning as widely as what we once ate and how we perhaps came to do so, to the metaphors we have used in our attempts to understand and explain the cosmos.
Of course, The Oak Papers is not only a work recounting the spiritual re-awakening of an individual taking to the natural world in pursuit of personal healing and renewal; it is also an intricate collection of the sort of observations and reflections that are only made possible through prolonged and patient time spent in the presence of such a tree as the Honywood Oak. From descriptions of both the seasonal and year-upon-year changes to the tree itself, to the detailed, often minute observations of the hundreds upon of hundreds of other forms of life that rely upon such a tree for either part, or all, of their biological needs, Dr. Canton’s chronological entries present the reader with a portrait of a single tree that is both extraordinarily specific and at the same time grandly expansive.
In Dr. Canton’s presentation of the Honywood Oak, it becomes, if you will, a Quercus variation of Yggdrasil, the sacred ash tree of Norse mythology, whose branches and roots reach into all the nine realms of existence. And just as Yggdrasil’s continuing existence makes possible the continued existence of the nine realms, so the existence of the Honywood Oak and others of its kind makes possible the existence of all those forms of life that depend upon it – including us.
We – well, some of us, at least – have long understood that the global ecosystem relies heavily upon trees for the maintenance of the conditions that make life as we know it possible. However as Dr. Canton describes in The Oak Papers, it may not be only our physical existence that such trees as the Honywood Oak sustain. He goes to great lengths to explain how his own feelings were changed by being, and having been, in the presence of the tree. How touching its bark, sitting under its boughs, allowing his body to be cradled in a curvature of its trunk, brought about increased contentment, calm, security, wholeness, healing. His is feelings are in no sense unique.
As one who takes the time to stop and touch, and when possible spend time sitting beneath the shade of, old trees, I can readily second what Dr. Canton reports of his own experiences. Call it biophilia, call it shinrin-yoku, call it grounding – there is a deep and transcendental sense of re-connection that can be achieved from being in the presence of old trees. It is comforting. It is restorative. It is the caress and embrace of a mother holding her child. It is impossible to believe that it is an experience that is unique to our own generation. Too many stories of so many cultures spanning so many centuries past place such immense trees as the Honywood Oak at the center of their narratives to think that our connection with trees is anything less that a commonality throughout our species.
In a time when so many of us have become so dangerously and destructively disconnected from one another, and from the myriad layers of the global ecosystem itself, the invitation from one human being who has taken the time to explore and chronicle his experiences, both physical as well as metaphysical, in the presence of one such representative of the World Tree as the Honywood Oak is not to be ignored. The Oak Papers is not simply a book that should be read – it is a book that must be read.
Title: The Oak Papers
Author: James Canton
Publisher: Canongate (UK)
Format: hardcover
Pages: 256 pp.
ISBN-13: 978-1838851507
Published: July 2020
In accordance with Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, it is disclosed that the copy of the book read in order to produce this review was provided gratis to the reviewer by the publisher.
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