Diana Beresford-Kroeger defines mothaitheacht as a recognition of the sentience of trees and a “feeling in the upper chest of some kind of energy or sound passing through you.” (Beresford-Kroeger, 2019, p 80). Robin Wall Kimmerer, in her retelling of the Seventh Fire Prophecy, calls on readers to find our ancestral tools so that we may all move forward together. (Kimmerer, 2013 page 368). I take this invitation literally and with the idea that mothaitheacht could be one of my ancestral tools, I spent a few days in Devon, U.K. walking the land and visiting ancient trees of Dartington Hall. On my last day there, as I was lugging my suitcase across the cobblestones, I was stopped in my tracks by the light dancing with a Beech tree.

Date of Filming: May 30, 2023

Location: Dartington Hall, U.K

Credits: 

Danced by Beech and Sunlight

Sound score by Julia Aplin

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Beresford-Kroeger. (2019). To speak for the trees : my life’s journey from ancient Celtic wisdom to a healing vision of the forest. Random House Canada.

Kimmerer, R. (2013). Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants. Milkweed Editions.