Secrets of the Forests: Lives Within and Beyond the Trees

Part of ‘The Re-Enchantment Series: Unlocking Magic & Inspiring Action’#

We’ve fallen out of love with the world. It’s clear from the way we treat it.

Every other Monday in central London from 8 October to 3 December 2018 we will be re-igniting curiosity as we explore aspects of daily life including consciousness, quantum physics, trees, holistic science, native spirituality, sacred geometry, storytelling and sound.

Mass mental illness and climate change are not inevitable. They are the result of certain narratives, behaviours and habits. Let’s shift perspectives, empower ourselves for change and co-create a future we want to be a part of.

With special thanks to Sharon Blackie and her 2018 publication The Enchanted Life: Unlocking the Magic of the Everyday.

“To live an enchanted life is to pick up the pieces of our bruised and battered psyches, and to offer them the nourishment they long for. It is to be challenged, to be awakened, to be gripped and shaken to the core by the extraordinary which lies at the heart of the ordinary. Above all, to live an enchanted life is to fall in love with the world all over again.”
— SHARON BLACKIE

Kay Haw#

Exploring our Integral links to Nature

It is essential we work together to protect our natural environment, but this is not just for its own benefit. Humans have integral links to nature and there is increasing evidence to show the significant benefits it provides our physical and mental health and wellbeing. Trees and forests provide amazing, beautiful places that unwind and inspire tired bodies and minds. Learn about how we are connected to the natural world and discover some simple but effective ways to get involved in the conservation of the UK’s trees and woods.

Dr Alan Rayner#

Understanding Trees, Fungi, and the Evolutionary Flow of Life

Alan will explain how his studies of trees, fungi and their diverse ways of relating to one another in natural communities contributed his new understanding of creative evolutionary processes based on the receptive-responsive relationship between intangible space and energetic flux. He will discuss how this understanding can help us to appreciate our human place in the natural world and enable us to live in a more passionate, compassionate and sustainable way than we currently do.

Martin Bidartondo#

Fungi and Plants working together

We are learning fast about the ancient and intimate links among living plants and fungi. It turns out that most plants do not have roots, they have fungus-roots instead. From the tiny first land plants, to today’s huge forests, fungi have always been crucial facilitators. Their essential networks are underground, so their study has been largely out of sight and out of mind. However, we now know that these widespread fungal-plant interactions control nutrient and carbon cycles in our rapidly changing planet. Come to learn about mutualism, cheating and pollution in the world of fungi and plants.