Tree Maiden

Class assignment for Magic and Ritual.

This piece is actually in response to something written in Halifax’s book The Fruitful Darkness. In the seventh chapter entitled “The Way of Nonduality”, she mentions a group of Native American peoples who were called the Warao or “Canoe People”. She describes the procedure that a man must go through in order to cut down a tree to make a canoe. The dialogue between the canoe-maker and the tree as well as Dauarani, the Mother of the Forest, I believed was quite elegant. This is one of the things that truly stood out to me while I was reading Halifax.

Following, is the specific excerpt that I took inspiration from while creating my art piece:

This respect for trees is well understood among the Warao, who live in the Orinoco delta of Venezuela along the Caribbean seaboard. Wa means “canoe,” and arao means “people”: the People of the Canoe. According to the anthropologist Johannes Wilbert, the Warao believe that the forest is a tribe of animated bushes, palms, and trees. Some of them were given origin by old gods, others are metamorphosing, and still others have always been “tree people.” The red cachicamo tree, used for canoes, is thought of as the Mother of the Forest, known as Dauarani. She is the guardian of the forest, and in earlier times, she prohibited the killing of large mammals and the unauthorized felling of palms and trees.

The trees and palms, to the Warao, are like other people with whom they have kinship ties and trade relations. When a Warao man wants to become a master canoe maker, he must first receive an invitation from Dauarani, the Mother of the Forest. If he is granted permission to create a new canoe, he is in effect sacrificing one of the daughters of Dauarani. Before he cuts down one of her daughters, both Dauarani and the victim, her daughter, must consent to the act.

If permission is given, the canoe maker-initiate and a shaman-intercessor approach the tree-maiden, who appears in the shape of a young woman with a comb in her hair and a necklace of blue, white, and red beads. Before the work crew arrives, the shaman-intercessor sings to her: “Don’t become upset. Be happy and smile at me. I am like your own offshoot. I am the one you accepted. I am fond of you. I came to touch your body, to caress you lovingly.”

The maiden smiles and replies. “You are a neophyte master canoe builder. I can tell from your new ornaments. Do with me according to your vision: Kill me and thrust me down on the very soil that raised me.” The tree-maiden and shaman-intercessor continue this dialogue until the work crew draws near. She then enters the tree that is to be sacrificed. (Halifax 144-45)

This (very long) excerpt is what I drew inspiration from as I was working on my art piece. I used Adobe’s Photoshop CS2 and stock images that I found on DeviantArt.com as a basis and as a reference for my image. The image is actually of when the Tree Maiden enters the tree that must be sacrificed. By merging the image of a young maiden and tree together, I hoped I would capture the idea of a Spirit that dwells inside of any tree. Hopefully, I portrayed this concept successfully.

Tools:
Photoshop CS2

Stock from *BlackDove-stock and Dove-stock.