THE LEGACY OF LUNA:
TWO-YEAR VIGIL
IN A TREE
THE LEGACY OF LUNA:
TWO-YEAR VIGIL
IN A TREE
In the beginning... Saving all the earth starts with one place, one time, one tree one person. In the book Legacy of Luna, Julia Butterfly Hill recounts the touching, harrowing and ultimately fulfilling story of her quest to stop the destruction of one tree, one very special and ancient tree. Luna, a 1000 year old Redwood, towering over the last remains of a once proud forest, witness to generations of human carnage, had her own story to tell. Julia came to the forest to listen and ended up telling the story to the whole world...
The overwhelming power of nature, manifested in Luna's brilliant life force, cast a profound spell on Julia when she visited the forest. She was a traveler, on what she believed would be a brief visit, looking for adventure. She couldn't explain why she was so drawn to the tree, to the cause of stopping the desecration of the ancient forest, other than to know in her deepest heart that it was the right thing to do, perhaps the only thing to do. As Julia concludes in her book, "Tree sitting is a last resort. When you see someone sitting in a tree trying to protect it, you know that every level of our society has failed."
Climb a tree, sit until the lumber company gives in, climb down and mark the victory. It sounded simple enough. From the very first day, it became much more complicated, and much more dangerous. Julia's climb to the upper reaches of Luna's sprawling majesty evolved into a two year struggle to preserve not only the tree and the Headwaters Forest, but the Earth at large. She learned to stand strong as helicopters buzzed the tree, as loggers harassed her, as corporate might was marshaled against her and Luna. In the rain, in the dark, in the cold, in the wind, Julia wielded a cell phone more powerful than any machinery the lumber giants could throw at her and she stood tall, hand to branch with Luna, while the world took notice...
As Julia and Luna weathered one threat after another, she called upon the Universal Spirits to give her the strength to carry on, to find a way to change the hardened hearts and minds of those who could threaten a being as pure and powerful as an ancient tree. As she recounts, "One day, through my prayers, an overwhelming amount of love started flowing into me, filling up the dark hole that threatened to consume me. I suddenly realized that what I was feeling was the love of the Earth, the love of Creation. Every day we, as a species, do so much to destroy Creation's ability to give us life. But that Creation continues to do everything in its power to give us life anyway. And that's true love."
Although Julia's determination and vision resulted in the crafting of a preservation agreement for Luna with Pacific Lumber Company, and she finally descended from the tree after more than two years, the work of saving the rest of the forest, and the whole Earth, continues today. Once you read The Legacy of Luna you will find it difficult not to join the struggle. The Circle of Life Foundation strives to inspire, support and network with individuals, organizations and communities, working together to create environmental and social solutions to the problems facing humanity and the planet. Julia's message is simply that, as planetary citizens, we need to become informed about local and global issues, and then do our part to make a better world...
Written by: Circle of Life Foundation
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