There is something decidedly other about ancient pollards. Apparently this can extend the life of a tree and the process gives a boost of vitality. Like coppicing or cutting back roses. I get that. But there is a rather odd vibe about these trees. They are wonderful, don't get me wrong, but there is a kind of concentration about them and a "holding" - as thought they have to keep themselves together.
In a fantasy novel I've been listening to (free on Audible), the shaman, once he becomes a shaman, is blinded. So that his seeing is focused on the... inner or the spiritual or whatever. The analogy is not that clear or exact... but it's something like this.
Perhaps a mutilation.
I have been brooding on this as I was planning to bonsai the little rowan I have bought. I mean, I can't grow it in the garden. And the guy who grew it, grew it to be a bonsai. He's directed me to various resources and offered hints.
Then I thought, but wait, surely that's cruel?
I mean, if one has a view of trees as beings for whom things can go better or worse.
But then again, like pollards or coppices, bonsais can live a long long time. If they are willing to be mutilated.
No decision as yet.
In the Beeches, I was looking for my "tree of the day". And it was not a huge tree or an ancient tree but, instead, a kind of... er... deformed tree.
I was taken by this oak because it's not always the biggest, the oldest, the most beautiful or the most majestic among us that flourish.
The message to me from this tree was to be how you have to be, to do what you have to do, to be unashamedly eccentric and unique.
Another message - it's not just us, but the natural environment itself that can "mutilate" a tree.
Good messages from the deformed tree.