When my son was two I positioned him by a tree for a photograph. I asked him to look at another tree and told him it was magic.

 His belief transformed both him & the tree. The actual magic shows in the subsequent photo of his transfixed face.

   Sensitive beings see magic everywhere. For example, a friend startled me with a strange fact: Aspens live in colonies connected by the same root system. In fact, they are the most widespread tree in North America forming continuous communities that spread from Newfoundland down to Maryland, from Alaska down to Washington & all along the Appalachians. 

   Scientist Michael Grant wrote about these magic trees in a 1993 edition of Discover Magazine. He named the colony he highlighted Pando (Trembling Giant – in photo.)

   "Pando is a remarkable massive colony…spread over more than 100 acres in Utah. Every tree in the area shoots from a single organism, and they share a giant underground root system. It's estimated that Pando collectively weighs 6,615 tons, making it the heaviest living organism on the planet."

   Grant writes that, "their intricate network of roots can ferry nutrients from one part of the [colony] to another. Roots near an abundant water supply, for example, may provide water to other roots and shoots in a much drier area."

   As one organism, Aspens literally nurture each other in an underground dance of caregiving. 

   Are the Aspens telling us something? Are we all connected by "a spiritual root system" nurtured by Love? 

-Erie Chapman

(Image rephotograhed from Discover Magazine for educational use)