The Fig Tree
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- Written by Anita Brown
I feel very moved to share a story with you. A story that may seem simple but is a huge part of my growth.
Several years ago, when my children were small. (They are adults now) I went with my dad to the Philadelphia Flower Show. It was a great day. While I was there I purchased I little fig tree. A mere branch with three leafs. Making our way through the show it took some bumps and bruises and lost a leaf. Then another on the way home. The last, well, if fell off as soon as I planted it. My children thought it was funny that mommy had planted a stick. Its new home was in the far corner of the yard. Its lack of leafs didn’t deter me.
There was something special about my new little friend. I would go out and tend it often, sometimes with a cup of coffee or a good book. It became my resting place. I didn’t know it then but looking back now I can see so clearly that we grew together. It was around this time that I really started seeking, for lack of a better way to put it, the meaning of life. The meaning of my life. I meditated next to it and then as it got bigger under it. I felt a sense of peace in its presence. As time went on I began to study Reiki, then crystals, sound therapy, shamanism. I started to heal, to find myself and to like what I found. After many years of study and seeking my path lead me to embrace my calling as a Healer. I ventured out and began my practice. I worked out of a beautiful space with a good friend of mine for a few years.
This was an amazing time. I learned so much.
So back to my fig. By this time it stood about 22 feet tall and 30 feet wide. It was lush and fertile. We had so many figs we had to come up with ways to use them. Jams, wines. We gave them to friends. But most mornings I just grabbed a cup of coffee and had breakfast from the fig tree. Grateful for every fruit I plucked. Sweet as candy. The yard was always full of wildlife when the figs were ripe. Squirrels, birds, deers, raccoons and a multitude of bees. Just like me, they loved the delicious fruit.
One Spring early in the season we were out doing yard work, getting ready for planting. I had taken a break and decided to visit my old friend. By this point I could sit in the branches. I crawled in ready to snuggle in for a warm hug, only to find a feeling of unease. Something wasn’t right. I felt destress. So I went to find my husband to share what I was feeling. He can and helped me look to see if we could find the cause. We found some branches that needed trimming but nothing obvious. I half heartedly hoped she was just still asleep since it was early spring, but my heart knew. About a week later we noticed that there was weeping about knee high all around the trunk and tubes coming out. My daughter had studied environmental science so I asked her if she knew what it might be. She said “mom this is bad, really bad. You need to take a sample to DENREC but I am pretty sure it is an invasive beetle.” Sure enough, she was right. We were told we need to cut it down and burn it to avoid the beetles moving to the soft woods of our forest. I was devastated!! I sobbed and grieved the entire time we burned her. It was on of the hardest goodbyes of my life.
Eventually I decided I wanted to move my practice back home. Trying to decide what would be the best way, we build a cottage on the property. I was concerned that maybe it wouldn’t be a well received move. But it was truly magical.
One day I am having a conversation with a client. We are discussing nature and our relationship with the nonhuman world. I told her the story of the fig tree. When I said “The cottage wouldn’t be here today if the fig tree was still alive. It grew right below where we sit now” I had a huge revelation. The fig tree never left, it was still showing me how to grow and expand. While it may not longer have its body, the spirit of the fig was infused into the walls of the cottage. The fig and the cottage were one, transformed. I could see it all so clearly in that moment. The creation of this healing space could not happen without the fig shedding its It physical existence. It also explained why people felt the energy as soon as they walked through the door. It holds them the same way it held me. Just goes to show, love never leaves us. It just transforms.
