Familiar
A Poem (Read for Free, Audio for Patrons)
You are my kin.
We have matured together
you and I
engulfed in flames.
Regrowing limbs
enduring drought
our fruits pressed hard
beneath unrelenting burdens.
But our blood will always run
golden, green, and shining.
This is a poem dedicated to one of my Plant Familiars, a mythic tree of my ancestors: the Olive. Despite over 5,000 years under human cultivation, the Olea europaea remains wild-looking and ancient, with some trees surpassing 1,000 or 2,000 years of age. Surviving fires, drought, and even a complete cutting back to the stump, the olive tree will just not give up.
This is a formidable, primordial, and powerful tree, a teacher of perspective, and a reminder of the ancestral gifts of awe, gratitude and humility. Associated with the goddess Athena, as well as Zeus and the patron of human culture, Aristaeus, the Olive was a sacred symbol of divine blessing and wisdom for the ancient Greeks. Still prized today for the oil pressed from its fruit, the olive is a staple of modern Greek cuisine.
Learn more here about the Olive in ancient Greek myth and culture, and how to invite this mythic tree into your own ceremonies and traditions.
