The Ceiba, Sacred Tree of Life

This is the magnificent ceiba. It is the sacred tree of the Amazon. It was one of the first things I learned about when I started doing my research into the Amazon, I learned that for many of its inhabitants the Ceiba represented the axis of their world, the tree at the center of their world. They believed that it had the power to connect the planes where their ancestors lived, the sphere where their daily lives of hunting and taking care of their needs took place and the world beyond, found in the sky above. Because it hovers over the forest canopy, thanks to its very thick, buttressed roots it was usually left standing when wood was cut for primal sustenance, though that is no longer true when commercial logging takes place.
I learned to love the ceiba long before I saw one. I fell in love with its mystical meaning, its towering presence, like a beacon of hope and protection over the other vegetation, seeming to be keeping a lookout and stand ready to defend the well-being of the forest. I dreamed about it often, and sometimes it was populated with little children climbing on its branches and playing on them like monkeys, something practically impossible in reality due to the ceiba's lack of low branches and challenging slender trunk. I dreamed that it was covered with butterflies too, and whenever I remembered such dreams I felt that the vision had a message for me, but I never could quite figure it out when I was a teenager.
As I grew up, I learned about the tree of life and then I wondered if that was my dreams were trying to help me understand the true significance of the ceiba. Once life finally allowed me to arrive at the Emerald Forest I was already twenty years old, and I will never forget what I felt when I read the words that welcomed me to Tarapacá, a little caserío on the Putumayo River, which was were I first lived in the Amazon. The letters were written by Jorge, my life partner, as he described Tarapacá and prepared me for my eventual arrival there. "You will know you have arrived when you see the Ceiba of Tarapacá".
Sure enough, it truly was my first sight as the pilot excitedly told us to get ready for a rough landing, I saw the magnificent Ceiba and I knew I had arrived to the place I had longed to see for so long, and to learn so much from the sacred tree of life and the people who so wisely had divined it to be their chosen guardian.

With love,

Lina Cuartas.