The old maple tree

I have a friend who loves photographing the old and funky, especially deserted areas where happy people once lived and loved…so we go out together, because wherever there is an old home…there is sure to be an old tree. Trees in such places grew up with that long ago family and frequently contain images that reflect how the family, nature and the tree inter-related.

Old Serpentine Home

Around the Brandywine Valley area of Pennsylvania, these deserted homes are often stone, dating back to the 1800s. Some, such as here, are built of a distinctive green serpentine that is quarried locally.

Serpentine Carvings

This beautiful old serpentine home was loved by many generations, who would carve their initials into the stones around the various doors. Out back is a large yard with very old trees – and beyond that is fertile farmland still in use today. Look at the difference in energy between the deserted, no longer loved homestead and the healthy crop of corn, planted by some aspiring farmer of today.

Corn Field in Pennsylvania

Horned Being and Poison Ivy

I enjoyed this tree, who lives behind the house at the back edge of the cleared area. Originally it would have faced a large stretch of farmland and woods populated with all kinds of wild beings, including bears – now a rarity, pushed out by civilization. So this tree was a demarcation line, alerting various life forms not to pass any further. It was doing its part to protect the family.

Bear Spirit in a Maple Tree

The tree’s energy, like that of the deserted home, is in a state of disarray. But still present, next to a healthy poison ivy vine (nature’s warning device to stay clear), is a dark horned being with aquiline features.

On the other side there is a friendly but protective bear spirit. In this area of the Brandywine Valley, I have found a number of bear spirit images in the trees around old properties. Bear spirit is fiercely protective of its loved ones.