From Little Acorns Mighty Oaks Grow

This day, may I be like a tree:

A shelter for all who come;

Growing towards the light,

Bending with the wind,

Bearing good fruit;

Rooted in the Earth

And grounded in Love.

I begin every day with this spoken and body prayer. I then walk the dog in local woods. I am grateful for the calming presence of the trees, as I walk, sit and sing beneath their welcoming canopy.

Oaks have always been one of my favourite trees. On the farm where I grew up, a huge oak stands at the edge of the farmyard, guardian of farm and family. I am not the only one to consider oaks special. Oak is the national tree of many countries. There are a number of famous individual ancient oaks in the UK, including the Major Oak in Sherwood Forest (said to have sheltered Robin Hood), the Royal Oak (in which Charles II hid after the battle of Worcester in 1651), and Macbeth's Oak in Birnam Wood, Perth. 

Oaks can live for over 1,000 years. The Big Belly Oak, the oldest tree in Savernake Forest, was a tiny sapling at the Battle of Hastings in 1066! Gog and Magog, the 'Oaks of Avalon', in Glastonbury, may be 2,000 years old.

Oak trees have captured the human imagination for millennia. They were sacred to thunder and lightning gods, such as the Celtic Dagda, the Norse Thor and the Greek Zeus. Druids held their sacred rites in oak groves. Oaks feature frequently in the Hebrew Bible, where they are sometimes known as terebinths – for example, in the stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, and Obadiah – in which they symbolise stability, faithfulness, and the power and protection of the divine.

In shamanic practices, oak is often the axis mundi, serving as a doorway to other worlds, enabling the practitioner to travel through its roots to the lower realm of ancestors and nature spirits, and through its branches to the upper realm of angels and ascended masters or enlightened ones.

Oaks are great spiritual teachers, offering us freely their lessons in resilience, generosity and nurturing community. Oaks can survive the harshest conditions and adverse events like being struck by lightning. They teach us the importance of staying grounded and steadfast in the face of adversity, and growing wise by learning from experience. 

Oaks epitomise generous service to the community. They play a huge part in our ecosystems, and are ecosystems in themselves. UK native oaks (pedunculate and sessile) support over 2,300 different species – birds, mammals, invertebrates, fungi, lichens and bryophytes – 326 of which are completely dependent on them (such as the oak leaf blister fungi), and another 229 that are rarely found on trees other than oak (such as the oak leaf-roller beetle). All stages of the tree – from acorn to sapling to maturity to deadwood – support obligate and highly associated species. 

Trees contribute to woodland ecosystems by providing shade, adding leaves and deadwood to woodland floor litter, and nutrient cycling through the interactions between their roots and other soil organisms. The shelter and support that oaks provide for myriad other life forms can inspire us to support those in need, care for one another, and contribute to the well-being of our wider communities.

With their extensive root systems, oaks encourage us to maintain a deep connection with our heritage, our roots. I recently discovered that one of my Transcendentalist heroes, the writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau, had a passion for ancient oaks. In 1860 he spent several months exploring the ancient oak woodland of Inches Wood in Boxborough, Massachusetts, cataloguing trees and recording his findings in his journal. On 3 January 1861, with civil war approaching, Thoreau wrote that Inches Wood was, “likely to be cut off within a few years for ship timber and the like.” His fears were realised when, by 1862, the owner had cut all the old trees and sold the timber to the Union Navy.

Today, the survival of oaks is threatened by climate change, development, and disease. Worldwide, over a third of primary forests were cut down between 1900 and 2015. Britain has lost almost half of its ancient woodland since the 1930s and is now one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, with only half our biodiversity left. Woods and forests are biodiversity hubs. We neglect them at our peril.

Since 2014 southern England and Wales have been affected by acute oak decline, caused by drought, waterlogging, and pollution, which stress trees and lead to infections by bacteria, fungi and insects, causing leaf loss, cracked bark and 'bleeding'. Affected trees can die within five years.

There are many things that we can do to help the cause of our precious ancient trees. Here are two actions you might like to consider:

1. Join Unitarians for Climate Justice (U4CJ) – we share information, inspire and encourage each other, and come together to take action. Our latest action was joining the multi-organisation march Restore Nature Now in London on 22nd June.

2. Support the Woodland Trust, whose work includes planting trees, funding research on oak decline and other tree crises, managing the ancient tree inventory, and calling for full legal protection for all ancient trees.

In these times, when our society seems more divided than ever before, may we be inspired to welcome all to our expansive canopy, and do all we can to provide everyone with nourishment for body and soul. As the saying goes, from little acorns mighty oaks grow. We grow strong when we consistently nurture one another in belonging.  

A last word from Henry David Thoreau's poem Friendship, which describes his friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Two sturdy oaks I mean, which side by side

Withstand the winter’s storm,

And, spite of wind and tide,

Grow up the meadow’s pride,

For both are strong.

Above they barely touch, but, undermined

Down to their deepest source,

Admiring you shall find

Their roots are intertwined Insep’rably.”