Healing like the Gum Tree

The scarification of COVID-19

Photo by David Clode on Unsplash

Last year, I wrote a number of stories about world reversals or pachakuti, as I have come to call them after working in the Central Andes. In the Andean way of thinking, a pachakuti is a person, place or an event that brings about the destruction of the current world order and the creation of a new one. Almost a year ago, my stories focused on how life-changing events transformed my little world. I did not expect that very soon after the entire whole would be turned upside down. Now, a new world is emerging from a dark and liminal time. Like many, I incurred losses during the upheaval and I was shell-shocked for a time. As I learned in the past, when your world is turned upside down, one of the best things you can do is become silent and deeply listen to Mother Nature, for she is our best ally and most faithful guide. So, when I found myself asking, ‘what do I do now?’ I sat in silence and observed her. In this story, I share what she revealed through the Australian landscape, and in particular, the gum tree. May these messages be a salve for you during this deeply unsettling time.

Bleeding losses and bloody trees

In mid February, as China continued to impose lockdown in Wuhan and just before the first COVID-19 death was recorded in California, I was walking down one of my favourite side streets…