This morning there is a Berg wind blowing, a mountain wind that is hot and dry, signalling thunderstorms. I have been out in the garden picking olives to cure and made a wonderful miraculous life-changing discovery.
I have a small Halleria lucida tree, also known as the Tree Fuschia because of its discreet tubular apricot-orange flowerrs. It is one of our loveliest South African trees and a great place to hold a ritual — a crown of glossy bright green foliage and pendulant dancing branches. It has an abundance of green and black berries that birds love, berries with seeds as tiny black flakes buried in the flesh of the fruit. Birds go crazy for them and planting this little tree was originally a gift to my birds. Then I came to love the tree for itself and to watch its steady upright growth and glossiness like a green shimmer in the twilight. It has relations among the snapdragon and foxglove families, quite a magical pedigree.
The Zulu use Halleria lucida for skin and ear complaints. Dry leaves are soaked in water and squeezed into the ear to relieve earache. This tree is also considered to be a charm against evil. The twigs are burned when offering sacrifices to the ancestral spirits. The plants are set alight each year, the ashes mixed with crocodile fat and this mixture is smeared onto cuttings of Rhamnus prinoides which are then driven into the ground around the village to protect the community from malevolent wizardry and lightning. The wood can also be used to start a fire by friction. Halleria lucida timber is light coloured tinged with yellow, hard, heavy and strong, well suited to carpentry, but is not much used because the pieces are small. It was once valued for wagon poles, tools and spear shafts.
Such a powerful history for a small shining tree!
And this morning I found four baby dwarf chameleons sheltering in the foliage. I stood rooted in stillness and blessed beyond words.
The Cape Dwarf Chameleon (Bradypodium pumilum) only exists in a small area of the Western Cape in South Africa. Because of the spraying of DDT in the 1960s and the use of organic pollutants, this tiny chameleon is a Cites-protected Endangered Species. It is headed for extinction. And because I have spent six years creating an organic rewilding sanctuary, this rare and beautiful beast is breeding in my sanctuary space, mving between chocolate-brown restios and the Tree Tulip. The presence of chameleons has nothing to do with me personally, you understand, but I may have facilitated a Gaian mystery. O joy!
If I were a medieval virgin approached by a white unicorn in a forest clearing, I could not be more amazed. Ordelighted.
The fruit of your labor. Congratulations!
You are blessed.
May I ask for something? Some dear friends are expecting and are having difficulties. Could you please send some good magic to S in Vermont? I am in your debt.