In August of this year, I made a pilgrimage to the giant sequoias of the Sierra Nevada in California. I visited Alder Creek Grove, joining a group from Save the Redwoods League who helped purchase the property to preserve the largest remaining giant sequoia grove owned by private landowners. A disk in the ground with my name marked the space of a tree not far uphill I affectionately called the “Penelope Sequoia”.


Pepito at the Penelope giant sequoia tree marker

The trip was originally scheduled for last year, but intense fires raging in California ended up spreading through Alder Creek at that time. Sadly, the drought-driven flaming torrents killed thousands of the hardy, fire-resistant, thick barked, ancient giant sequoias in the area. Very few in Alder Creek Grove died, since it had been better cleared of fire fuel in previous years than the forests around it.

Last year I was very grateful that the fires did not head north to the Giant Forest, the home of my friend and mentor, General Sherman, the largest living tree in the world. This year, less than a month after I visited General Sherman, fire assailed the sequoia forests again. Thankfully, the Giant Forest groves had been managed to reduce fire intensity with controlled burns and forest debris removal for decades. For added safety, the firefighters wrapped General Sherman and other giants with ten feet high fire-resistant aluminum wrap, continued to clear out logs and other matter around the trees, and started small burns to take out the fuel load around the trees.

Each of the five times I have come into the presence of General Sherman, sacred awe envelops me. Our communication runs soul deep. I have danced and chanted in a circle around his giant girth in meditation and honoring celebration, coming early in the morning to avoid the chattering, photo-snapping multitude of visitors from all over the world.


This time, General Sherman and I entered into an even deeper state of oneness. Together we communed with all the other great trees and held a space of light and life-giving energy for all on Earth.

It was harrowing to watch the news reports of fire approaching the Great Forest and burning the trees at its entrance. General Sherman assured me that he and the other great trees would be okay, but I couldn’t help bursting into tears at the threat of fiery destruction to these mammoths.

After that emotional release, even though I checked the fire news often, I dwelled in the calm reassurance of General Sherman. I had a vision of how he gathered to his form and those around him an ethereal misting spray from the ocean hundreds of miles away.

At about 2 AM on the Equinox, September 22, I woke up and experienced another mystical connection with General Sherman. I felt myself inside his massive form and saw cascading light swirling in all directions, particularly skyward and spreading over the planet.

I saw and felt how all the trees are connected to each other by waves of light energy through their crowns, branches, and roots. The largest and oldest trees emanated the most light and anchored the greatest amount of energy into and through the Earth.

I knew how these great trees were also united to the great whales, who also hold a similar sustaining role for all life on Earth. Without the great life force and breath of these great ones, there would be massive destruction of ecosystem balance more drastic than what we are witnessing now from the effects of human-propelled climate change.

Let us all do all we can to support those without whose sustenance we could not survive in physical form. Communicating with the trees and other plants and animals around you can help you discover who they really are and your role in supporting them.