NOVEMBER- "The feeling of the presence only got stronger until I turned around..."

I was working in the woods one day with my aunts boyfriend who I was staying with in Italy. We had to cut down a portion of an oak tree so that we could replant it. We were also doing some other work that day in the forest and the garden. I went into the back of the property and into the forest to start helping him cut the tree and he said, "Don't worry I'll take care of this tree and finish cutting the rest of the wood off of it. You just go up a little further to collect dirt and soil for the vegetable garden."


So I walked about 50 yards deeper into the forest, not too far away from my friend. As always, there is a significant presence in these parts of the woods, a certain vibration. The feeling was very prevalent that day. I started walking on until I felt that I found a good place to dig. As soon as I began digging, out of nowhere hundreds and hundreds of leaves around me began to fall to the ground. I could barely see what I was doing, they were everywhere. All of a sudden I felt this overwhelming feeling that there was something watching me. I stood up and turned around and all I saw were trees. So I continued digging. The feeling of the presence only got stronger until I turned around to notice that I was standing directly in front of a massive, ancient oak tree. 


I got this eerie feeling that the tree itself was demanding to know the reason for my presence in the forest . I felt like it was staring directly into me, questioning my intentions. I can't begin to describe that feeling or explain how I could have understood something that a tree was trying to communicate to me, but I did. So the only thing I could do was respond. Meanwhile, the leaves were still falling as far as I could see. I directed my thoughts to the tree communicating that I was collecting soil for the garden and that we were only trying to save the other oak tree down by the property, not harm it. After I completed that thought, the leaves stopped falling abruptly, completely all at once, just as if it had never happened and everything around me fell silent again. When the leaves stopped falling I felt astonished and also a strange sense of relief that the so-called interrogation was over. 


I walked down to the property and asked my friend if he had noticed any leaves falling and he replied that he hadn't. He looked at me a bit strangely, because I probably appeared a bit shaken. His response meant that the leaves had only fallen right around me and that my environment in those moments had made a direct, interactive connection with me. I felt as if that tree had peered right into my soul, and I will never forget that.

Thomas Januzzi, Italy

Aritst- Karen Prosen Karen's flickr