Gifts from the Sentient Forest
Communication & Collaboration Between People & Trees in Northern Finland

Photo Credit: Francis Joy (2025) (Click the image above to view a complete sequence of 70 rowan leaves)

 

Francis Joy's complete paper  The Sentience of Rowan Trees and Leaves (2025) can be downloaded as a PDF here.

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Each autumn, streets, hedgerows, fields, river banks, woodland areas and forests areas around Rovaniemi, the capital city of Lapland, Northern Finland, are illuminated with the shades and colours of rowans. These trees invite us to be near them in order to absorb their delicate positive energies. By mid-October, many trees here in the Arctic north are bare. Through contemplation of leaves both on trees and fallen to the ground, the layered colours appeal to the senses, especially when the leaves are still attached to their stems. The different colours communicate the essence of the sun’s power that has been absorbed by the mother tree throughout late spring when the first buds appear and then, during the summer months, when they grow to their full strength and mature by the beginning of the autumn. The trees’ colours signify their maturity. 

I tend to see the colours of rowan leaves as an expression of the slow but profound release of the energies of the sun’s fire with which they have been nurtured and sustained throughout their annual lifecycle before shedding begins. On reflection, similar colours could be considered visible within different sunrises across different sunset times in the sky over the western horizon here in the Arctic north during winter months. These colours are deepened and expanded notably during the coldest days of the year, making these times particularly interesting to be outdoors.

The sentience of an arrangement of rowan leaves whilst they are still attached to their stems, which makes them look featherlike, is clearly evident through what their colours communicate and how these are encountered by our senses. And, then, in what manner we choose to respond in terms of drawing inspiration that has the potential to become creativity. The leaves inspire poetry, art, photography, or painting as we feel the call to deepen our relationship to trees and the natural world. Some people whose senses have been touched may choose a special focus for meditation to help enhance spiritual practices such as colour healing or other enhancement of psychological or emotional states that can develop when working with the spirit and powers of a particular tree, supporting a sense of purpose and well-being in life. 

Photographing the natural and colourful arrangement of leaves and looking at them closely on the asphalt and through both the phone and computer screens and then editing the pictures to make them a suitable size for presentation was a series of processes that lasted over one and a half hours. As I examined each one, it was clear through observation of both their colours and shapes, they have their own personalities, despite the stems being detached from the branches of parent trees. This is what I would call rowan sentience because of the ways their forms and colours communicate these individual qualities, touching me deeply and light-heartedly during the processes of studying them. By the time I had built the file it was as though I have been deeply engaged in many observations and levels of awareness, altered states of mind and understanding I had not encountered before.

Some of the coloured leaves felt like dancers, others performers, whilst still others felt confident. There were also different levels of tenderness, vulnerability and shyness evident in many instances, too. This was particularly evident through colours and non-verbal forms of communication, combined with different states of emotion and sensory awareness, which was transformative because of the depth of them. I had decided on only having sixty photographs in the file but then the following day I felt the aspiration to add more to it and so went and collected more. It was important to follow this momentum because it was a way of adding more to building the connection with the leaves.

I was reminded how different kinds of sentience can be built into different art forms and that trees, their leaves and colours can open up doorways to multiple forms of inspiration and therefore, communication, which are personal experiences. The invitation to engage with nature in this way is to pay respect to trees. One of the ways I do that is by photographing them and being delighted in observation of both the beauty and simplicity of what they hold, especially in the season of autumn when their spectacular colours are abundant. Through approaching and working with trees in this way, transformation can take place, which is felt and experienced deeply in the heart and mind.

Another way of studying or enhancing communication with trees is, for example, to sleep beneath a rowan tree whilst the colour of its leaves are strong. Making a clear intention to the universe and spirit of the tree to help aid, for instance, in spiritual development or the healing of troublesome moods or emotions. These moods and emotional states can be altered and reduced through absorbing the tree’s colourful atmosphere and vibrations that accompany its delicate frame.

Another approach to understanding the ways rowan trees express sentience is to contemplate how, after gorging themselves on berries in the autumn, songbirds may sing for hours afterwards. This indicates that the ingestion of the berries and their powers is associated with the different frequencies of sound and music in the form of singing or whistling. It seems no mistake either that the wood from rowan trees is used to make musical instruments with and, in particular, in some cultures, flutes. 

But irrefutably, the strength of the rowans’ sentience lies in both the atmosphere and colours of the trees in the late summer and season of autumn. It should also be noted how rowan trees are also called mountain ash in many cultures. The fact they grow high above on mountains likewise affirms their spiritual qualities as they stand between heaven and earth and thus, are repositories of special kinds of knowledge and powers.


Suggested Guided Meditation/Visualisation

Below is a suggested guided meditation/visualisation for connecting with the sentience of a rowan tree or trees in the autumn for different purposes. A powerful time to do this exercise is as sunset is approaching because it means its powers are metaphorically speaking ‘between the worlds’, and therefore, this time supports spiritual and artistic practices.

On a fine autumn afternoon or evening where possible look around a woodland area, field, or other location in your garden or somewhere where there is a rowan tree that you feel drawn to. If you find it difficult to connect with trees, here is a short exercise to help you build power in order to help achieve contact with trees.

Stand between 1–2 meters away from a rowan tree and contemplate how trees are creative beings. Take a deep breath and relax your body. Feel your feet on the earth beneath you (bare feet are good if it is not too cold), and take several deep breaths. As you exhale, allow your body to relax and let go of any tension you might be holding.

Then look at the tree for several minutes. Once you have become aware of the richness of its colours, try breathing some of these energies in, noting if you feel a kind of expansion or increase of energy or awareness. To follow, see if you can acknowledge and feel the tree’s atmosphere and make an observation of its physicality, its shape – how it is formed, how far its branches extend from the main trunk. What does its base, which goes into the ground, look like? Then try the following exercise.

With eyes closed, look in your mind’s eye at the tree and imagine there is a symbol of infinity above the crown of the tree in the shape of a figure 8. Hold the image of the symbol there for 30 seconds, and see how the tree responds. This is a way you are offering-inviting communication with the tree by reaching out for love and connection and making a statement to the tree that you mean no harm.

Keep the senses open and observe through your feelings any sensations or changes in the trees atmosphere or in your mood or emotions, which would signify a response or form of communication. Remember that trees tend to communicate through feelings and sensations and also through the language of symbolism including colours or even a sound or accent on the wind. Therefore, you can also watch with your eyes closed for the appearance of any imagery or evidence of a response that would signify contact.

If there is a response, find a comfortable place to sit or lie down (a blanket is also good to rest on) where you are under the tree’s canopy and ask the tree, for example, for inspiration or healing, or whatever you are realistically wanting help with. This may just be for relaxation purposes.

You may wish to ask for colour healing for yourself for your aura-energy field if you are feeling depleted and run-down, or help for a loved one or friend, or an animal which is ill or in distress. Trees are remarkable healers, and we know this because of the medicines they produce. Therefore, also be prepared for the unexpected.

If you are skilled in meditation/visualisation practices through experience, then you may wish to try this exercise lying down. Holding the image of the infinity symbol about the crown or the tree can help create a vortex or energy field between the ground and top of the tree in which you are present.

Allow yourself to open up to the positive, nurturing energies of the tree for as long as needed.

Typically, there will be a shift in energy/atmosphere/mood when the contact on any given occasion ends. Some people may even eat rowan berries an hour beforehand as a way of establishing a link with the tree. It makes good sense to offer some words or thoughts of thanks to the tree afterwards, and then breathe deeply several times as this takes place put one’s attention on the souls of the feet and move the toes and fingers to make sure you are fully back, present and grounded.

Whatever the experiences are that one encounters – always give thanks and show gratitude respect to trees.

A gallery of naturally formed arrangements of rowan leaves accompanies these texts as an example of the different colours captured and in what ways each one communicated its own sentience and essence. These natural colours can be beneficial to contemplate during the darkness of the long Arctic winter days and months because they can help increase energy and induce relaxation.

Encountering the Colours and Powers of Rowan Leaves

A poem by Francis Joy

The colours of arrangements of rowan leaves are incandescent on a mid-October morning.

Fallen from the mother trees they experience the earthly descent.

They lay in some places heaped around the base of the matriarch parent.

Beneath them lie coiled and asleep are the invisible emblems of dragons.

Encompassing the roots, which are deeply embedded in the soil of the earth.

On a day when all is still one may hear them breathing as they protect.

Ready to navigate victory over the dark, cold, northern winter, which is triumphant in spring.

When the sap rises again whilst their blood stirs and seeks expression.

As new buds, which appear first as children awakening into a new life.

One which will grow and become rich and berry-full through the summer’s heat.

Blessed by the sun’s radiant eye under which they grow rounded and full.

Upon which songbirds will feed frenziedly and then sing many songs.

Which will go out into the ether as magical flames invisible to the eye.

Umbrage absorbing the colours of a celestial oven, which will become visible in late summer.

Whilst the aurora borealis dance and add a touch of their alchemy too.

And soon, there they are again, witches trees in all their splendour as they cycle completes.

One more time in the backdrop within the theatre of life between eight seasons.
 

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