Silver Maple

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/GlIW/~3/wZL39jy7VNk/silver-maple.html
Topics/Categories: Unitarian Universalism, Druidry, Paganism, NLP
Something that touched me: Probably the very first thing I looked at when I saw this blog was the picture that denotes the author, his avatar. As he says:

This is free Microsoft business clip art and has been out there for many years. The keywords associated with it are-

arrows, business, businessmen, choices, choosing, crossroads, decisions, dilemmas, directions, doubts, fork in the road, futures, men, metaphors, night sky, paths, persons, roads, scratching head, signs, stars, travels, uncertain

Perhaps this is an accident and the artist simply made an interesting picture? Perhaps there is a guerilla paganista artist at Microsoft sneaking in bits of really interesting pagan clip art? The jury is still out on this one, but it seems unlikely that the faery crossroads and the four elements and center could have appeared here so succinctly without some intent.

The funny thing is, I’ve used this picture in a power point presentation! In the presentation, this picture symbolized the confusion confronting a researcher to find information as they explore the “deep web.” Of course, as this picture is described above, I can see why I used it so readily!

Review: The Silver Maple, although the national symbol for Canada, means something completely different for David, author of the blog by the same name. And since many of David’s posts touch on druidry, I would advise you to move past thinking of the Silver Maple as “just a tree.” As I have found an excellent and articulate mission statement written by David, I figured I’d put it here in entirety. The beauty of this mission statement is not only David’s clearly stated goals for his blog, but also an invitation to those traveling a similar path. This, from the post Silver Maple FAQ:

David brings his exploring to different levels…as a reader, you are on an intellectualized adventure, a recording of notable sojourns out of ego, out of mind, out of judgement…or, perhaps I should say into trees, into NLP, into curiosity, into compassion. For example, from the post Dialog with the Heart:

I asked for a heart of compassion and the wish was granted for a brief time. Judging abandoned me. I saw this rhythm in people, their personal rightness though it was not a rightness that I would embrace for myself. My heart felt like it literally had doors that were wide open and would not shut. It required no work at all.

And that, I note, is kind of a subset of David’s exploratory theme: his ability and desire to dip into the machine of the universe, on whatever level that may be from brain mechanics to the genus of a tree, and still see the mystery and marvel in it. There is a great phrase that David uses throughout his blog- “Druid geeks only…” or “Extreme Druid geekiness…” If you feel that you fit into this category, you should certainly check out Silver Maple. Not only will you be pleasantly surprised by the xylem and phloem of Silver Maple, but by the forest of friends, peers and fellow bloggers that seem to have grown up around David. Enjoy, and many thanks to David for this wonderful blog!

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