The “Four-Beats” Way of Following Nature’s Rhythm : A Manifesto
The Canada Bunchberry (Cornus canadensis) is at the center of the Hemiboreal Nature Guild’s new visual identity. I kind of didn’t realize how much this plant resonated with me before I thought of the way I connect with nature through journaling.
In French, that plant is called by its common name Quatre-Temps, which can be translated to Four-Times, or Four-“Beats”.
Its geometric shape, the way its flowers sometimes grow in tandem with a set of four leaves, looks like a compass, and a cycle of four “times” or seasons. Spring, summer, fall, winter. It also seems to have inspired a vision I had : that of using a cycle with four different stages to deepen our nature observation, when we go out to observe its rhythms.
Of course, not everything we observe is in spring, not everything we create is in summer, and so forth! But I thought it good to tie the four “beats” of creative observation to seasons.
Observe — Create — Share — Grow
The way we observe nature is often tied to just that, observation. But through journaling and nature guide creation, we can share it with the world, either through the inscriptions we make, or the things we learn by going through these extra steps. Not everything we create has to be made public, of course. And then, we learn to grow through these experiences.
- Spring is a perfect time to observe, leaves unfurling, warblers arriving, flowers making themselves seen. Bees emerging from the ground.
- Summer is a great time to create, as the plants we’ve looked at for a few months now are preparing to flower and/or give seeds. The birds are active, out and about. The air is nice to be in.
- Fall is an awesome time to share, the seeds of plants which are now ripe, but also the fruit of our research, shared through discussions and common ground.
- And as nature falls asleep again in winter, it is a great time to grow, to reflect on the past year’s successes and challenges. And the cycle continues…
Four “beats” as a rhythm for four seasons, but the more we practice, the more cycles we live through. I encourage you to take your journal out on your next walk and try to do more than observe!
– Samuel LeGresley
