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To Speak for the Trees
To Speak for the Trees: My Life's Journey from Ancient Celtic Wisdom to a Healing Vision of the Forest | Diana Beresford-Kroeger
10 posts | 5 read | 20 to read
Canadian botanist, biochemist and visionary Diana Beresford-Kroeger's startling insights into the hidden life of trees have already sparked a quiet revolution in how we understand our relationship to forests. Now, in a captivating account of how her life led her to these illuminating and crucial ideas, she shows us how forests can not only heal us but save the planet. When Diana Beresford-Kroeger--whose father was a member of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy and whose mother was an O'Donoghue, one of the stronghold families who carried on the ancient Celtic traditions--was orphaned as a child, she could have been sent to the Magdalene Laundries. Instead, the O'Donoghue elders, most of them scholars and freehold farmers in the Lisheens valley in County Cork, took her under their wing. Diana became the last ward under the Brehon Law. Over the course of three summers, she was taught the ways of the Celtic triad of mind, body and soul. This included the philosophy of healing, the laws of the trees, Brehon wisdom and the Ogham alphabet, all of it rooted in a vision of nature that saw trees and forests as fundamental to human survival and spirituality. Already a precociously gifted scholar, Diana found that her grounding in the ancient ways led her to fresh scientific concepts. Out of that huge and holistic vision have come the observations that put her at the forefront of her field: the discovery of mother trees at the heart of a forest; the fact that trees are a living library, have a chemical language and communicate in a quantum world; the major idea that trees heal living creatures through the aerosols they release and that they carry a great wealth of natural antibiotics and other healing substances; and, perhaps most significantly, that planting trees can actively regulate the atmosphere and the oceans, and even stabilize our climate. This book is not only the story of a remarkable scientist and her ideas, it harvests all of her powerful knowledge about why trees matter, and why trees are a viable, achievable solution to climate change. Diana eloquently shows us that if we can understand the intricate ways in which the health and welfare of every living creature is connected to the global forest, and strengthen those connections, we will still have time to mend the self-destructive ways that are leading to drastic fires, droughts and floods.
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Suet624
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Pickpick

The author is many things: a medical biochemist, a botanist, & an author just to name a few. This book, part memoir & part call to action, was what I needed right now. Overcoming her lonely childhood, thankfully living in the summers with relatives who taught her the essential Celtic wisdom of nature and its gifts, to her eventually creating her own vision of Eden by collecting nearly extinct trees from all over the world, this woman is amazing.

46 likes3 stack adds
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ravenlee

Interesting article, and now I‘m off to find some of her work!

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/24/climate/celtic-wisdom-trees-climate.html

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MargaretPinardAuthor
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Pickpick

The memoir parts were fascinating and heartfelt, and the tree—ogham part was more like a meandering through a forest of interesting details—will want to go back to listen to that one, as my phone was having tech issues...
Loved listening to Diana!

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MargaretPinardAuthor
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I‘m no good at cropping but this. Book. Is. Beautiful!
So far it‘s got Brehon law, Anglo-Irish feuding, aristocratic child neglect, mental health discussion, and plant lore. And the author reading it is delightful.
SIGN. ME. UP! 😁🌿

#plantlore #brehonlaw #ancientireland

25 likes1 stack add
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Twocougs
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Pickpick

So now I want to go plant lots of trees, create a big beautiful garden, visit Ireland, go back to school and study the celts or study dendrology. I ❤️ this woman and her ❤️ of 🌲🌳

MrBook 😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 4y
41 likes3 stack adds1 comment
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Linsy
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Pickpick

I loved this book so much!!! Part personal narrative, part love letter to nature, part call to action, this book is just plain lovely. The audio is read by the author and you can feel her love for her subject. If you're interested in plants and/or folklore and/or Celtic culture and/or protecting our planet and/or great storytelling, I can't recommend it enough!

Book 3 of 5 for #JumpStart2020. Almost there!

P.S. Plant a tree.

LittleBug Sounds great! Stacked!☺️ 4y
Clwojick Way to go! You‘re getting there! 4y
86 likes5 stack adds2 comments
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Lindy
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Diana Beresford-Kroeger was orphaned at a young age in Ireland, then taught Celtic wisdom by her maternal ancestors. She became a respected botanist & moved to Canada with her husband, where she encountered universities who wouldn‘t hire women—some of this memoir reminded me of Hope Jahren‘s Lab Girl. Undaunted, Diana has carried out her own research and is an expert on global forest ecology. An inspiring #audiobook narrated by the author.

Crazeedi Hmm I'm going to look for this one 4y
Lindy @Crazeedi I really liked it. 👍 4y
47 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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Lindy
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In her memoir (tagged), Diana Beresford-Kroeger mentions the documentary Call of the Forest: The Forgotten Wisdom of Trees in which she explains the science of trees. I discovered it can be viewed online:
https://www.tvo.org/video/documentaries/call-of-the-forest-the-forgotten-wisdom-...
(internet photo of the author)

Fridameetslucy Wow ty for this link. Lots of interesting material there! 4y
Lindy @Fridameetslucy I‘m glad to share it! 🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳🌳 4y
37 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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I want to remind you that the forest is far more than a source of timber. It is our collective medicine cabinet. It is our lungs. It is the regulatory system for our climate and our oceans. It is the mantle of our planet. It is the health and well-being of our children and grandchildren. It is our sacred home. It is our salvation.
(Author photo from internet)

JazzFeathers That is so true. 4y
Lindy @JazzFeathers 🌳💚 4y
41 likes2 comments
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Lindy
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...blackberry ... a plant that wears barbed wire stockings...

Cathythoughts 😁😁😁awww the blackberry is very prominent here ... we go picking them & making the jam at the end of every summer .... happy times (edited) 4y
Cathythoughts Blue/black stained fingers 🤣 4y
Linsy I loved that description as well! 4y
Lindy @Linsy 👌 4y
53 likes1 stack add5 comments