Huginn and Muninn

These two trees are halfway down a road I use when I take my walks at Cottesbrooke. A kestrel often hunts around here, bur usually perches in the ashes on the other side of the road. I had not paid these two much attention, but on this day, well, I figured I'd eat my lunch in their canopy.

As I approached, I saw memorial signs all across the gate in front of them.

You often see these on benches around here, but not so much on gates. there is a bench opposite, which is made of metal and so unsuitable for plaques. The view it overlooks is lovely. Yet, at the same time, I felt that the trees called this response from people... somehow.

They stand close together, with the one by the road bending over as the other grows straight up.

It is like being under one huge tree - the branches seem to make room for each other - intermingling without overlapping.

The two felt like a one... sharing root systems and sunlight... and I thought of how the story of Huginn and Muninn is told in the excellent novel I am reading - The Absolute Book, by Elizabeth Knox. This is superb, by the way and I heartily recommend it. I bought it because it has raven on the cover (!) and the blurb reads "Ranks alongside His Dark Materials."

Anyway, Muninn and Huginn, described as the sisters, play an important role. They have a kind of shared consciousness. They say they were one until they ate Odin's eye and became two - and then accompanied him always, representing Thought and Memory. Interestingly, though, the real meaning of their names is more like thought and spirit... or intuition, imagination... something like that. They represent two styles of thinking and knowing rather than just thought and memory. It's a bit like the Iain McGilchrist idea of left and right hemispheric activity.

So, that's what I was thinking about with these sister oaks. Yes, in terms of trunks, they are so distinct, but then above me and below me, all is shared... all is in common. There was a really good vibe under that canopy - and a lovely view.

There were also a lot of mushrooms which looked as if they had been disturbed, maybe eaten, by animals - and one coming into being - an unexpected purple!