Generation, Regeneration, Resurrection
Trillium holds the mysteries and miracles of the number three.
Birth, death and rebirth. Maiden, mother, crone. Mother, father, child. There is also the long standing trinity in the Christian tradition, that evolved out of even older stories of triads, or groups of three gods common in ancient mythology, such as the Egyptian triad of Isis, Osiris and Horus, or the Greek triad of Zeus, Athena and Apollo. And there were many, many more. There is something magical about the number three, and this is trillium’s magic for me.
One is solitary. Two is a pair, a binary, and the play between the two generates a new thing, a third being from the tension of the two. Life requires this third thing—this new life—to disrupt the status quo and move life forward. There are five thousand years of philosophy and theology discussing this concept, but I prefer the ecological simplicity of the trilliums wisdom, quietly bringing forth their three petaled blossom each spring. Always and endlessly generating new life. And this is the resurrection for me. The new life that always finds a way to be born and then reborn.
Trillium, who is sometimes called Wake-robin, says, “I emerge from the dirt before the robins awaken, flowering after seven years of growing in the dark. I am the fruition, the peak of a life cycle, bringing you three red petals, the generating life force of the number three. Three is the third thing, the breakthrough, moving the circle of life forward. I generate new life from the womb of the dark earth.”
I also want to share this prayer/poem/reflection on resurrection from my friend
. Her books, her writing, and her incredible workshops have been such a deep inspiration for me.Today I pray for resurrection...
of the great forests and the old trees
of the colonies of bees
of deep black dirt
of rivers and oceans and streams
I pray for the resurrection....
of devotion
of listening to the voices of birds
and the wisdom of stones
I pray for the resurrection
of the body and its joys
I pray for the resurrection of the body of the earth
a curse on abstraction, mindfulness, expertism, progress, and the human agenda
I pray for the resurrection
of this earth and my place in it
I pray that we all begin to know that we will be reborn into the world that we have made
Perdita’s next workshop beginning April 3rd is Saints Alive! – Making Miracles with a Team of Holy Helpers. Being raised Protestant, I never understood the saints. But Perdita shows us how they are so much simpler and more helpful than I ever imagined. She says:
“Traditionally, those ancestors that show up and help us from the other side have been known as saints. Long before institutional authorities got involved in beatification, ordinary people knew that the dead each had areas of interest and expertise. St. Anthony, for example, helps us find things, St. Christopher protects our cars on the road, St. Rita and St. Jude show up when all hope seems lost. They were saints, simply and powerfully, because they were helpers.
“But what if anyone on the other side could be a saint?
“In this four-week journey with Saints Alive! we will explore the saints as ancestors. We will try to determine what saints might be reaching out to us, and how we can respond best to access their magic. We’ll revel in the diversity and multiplicity of helpers available to us from the other side—from saints and pagan deities to the many manifestations of The Virgin Mary as well as modern figures who, upon death—and with the right devotions—can function like the saints of old. We’ll look at traditional devotions, spells and prayers, and folk traditions, which we’ll adapt to our own use. We will look at what it means to become devoted to the dead, and how that devotion can change lives and the world we live in.
You can find out more here: https://takebackthemagic.com/saints-alive-workshop.../
Trillium grows lavishly in the woods just outside my lawn and is just as lavishly companioned by the green Mayapple umbrellas. Much to my surprise a few years ago I found a four petaled wake robin. I transplanted it to a place I could watch it under a tree in my yard with a screen over it for protection. The bloom did not persist quite as long as the regular trillium and I looked for it to return the next year in vain although wake-robins persisted in that spot. I suppose I was privileged to see a one-time sport.
Where I live, in western BC trilliums are white and bloom with pink fawn lilies and chocolate lilies in wild places. The BC wilderness is vast and there must be many secret locations where they flourish but development along coastlines has destroyed much of their habitat. As the white trillium age they turn a lovely pink, with wrinkles.
Thank you so much for this lovely and thought provoking post.