Bartholomew Bartisimus Folistorious III
Photo of a beech tree in a woodland which has bent over so its main trunk is growing parallel to the floor. Branches are thrust upwards to the sky.
This tree’s name is Bartholomew Bartisimus Folistorious III and he is from the Chivalric Order of Beech Knights. As you can tell, he is bent over backwards in order to serve.
Bartholomew’s service is a sacred service. He was called upon when he was a mere sapling and takes his duty very seriously, as indeed he should. It is said that a wren first proposed the service to him, and that an entire intergenerational murder of crows performed the ceremony once he said yes. It took that many cawing and bobbing crows to call up the ancient animating power from the deep.
Bartholomew’s principal job is to connect the earth with the sky. You can see his heart-centre is open to the heavens and that his tree-arms and nose are similarly thrust skywards, linking the energy of above with below. Through this link, he draws down the cosmogonic forces of the sky into himself, and from there the earth beneath.
The reason Bartholomew’s service is so important, is because the earth is losing its connection to ancient cosmological forces. Too many humans think they’re the ultimate source of power and agency, and a great many animals and plants are desperately consumed with the act of trying to survive in the wake of human pollution. This means that there are hardly any beings on this planet linking us with the ancient cosmological powers. As Bartholomew is but one tree, his linking service is principally to the trees and woodland creatures of Box Hill, but walkers passing by, like my good self, can also reap the benefits.
If you would like to assist Bartholomew and honour his service, you can join him in linking with the cosmogonic forces of the sky. You can do this by spending a day on Box Hill, admiring the view from Juniper Top, ambling your way through the ramson and bluebell-filled woods if the time of year is right. When you do so, please take the time to run your hand along the length of Bartholomew’s body and tell him he is a beloved, thereby giving him some of your strength and will to go on.
Another way to help, if you can’t get to Box Hill yourself, is to go sit quietly with your own trees. Once you’ve found that special place of stillness inside, you should next place your hands purposefully on the floor beside you, then bend your body backwards in imitation of Bartholomew as you open your heart to the sky. A thousand birds may fly free from your throat, but don’t be alarmed, they will reenter through the base of your spine the next time you engage in some gentle, quiet sitting. All in, as I have said an abundance of times now, the more we get outside and connect with the earth, the more the ancient forces of power and wonder will suffuse our lives.