Maple Syrup Magic
Spring is Coming - It's Time to Reconnect
It’s maple syrup season.
(Remember I live in the wilderness of Québec, so that's a big deal!)
A few weekends ago, my husband got a text from our neighbours:
“Sap’s running… time to tap our trees!”
We bundled up…
Mark grabbed his drill…
And we headed out to the woods behind our house.
We found our neighbour Stephen pulling a large blue sled overflowing with buckets, hoses, and other maple-extracting equipment.
My husband, Mark—a Canadian and an engineer by training—seemed right at home among the trees and equipment.
But this California girl was baffled.
I didn’t know a thing about making maple syrup!
It was time to learn 😁
Did you know it's a tradition that goes back hundreds... if not thousands of years?!
Making maple syrup is quite a nifty little process—
You drill a hole a few inches deep into the tree, stick a spile in the hole, and tap it into place.
The spile has a little spicket on it that basically looks like the spout on a party jug and there’s a little hook on the bottom to hang a bucket.
I got to hang the first bucket 🪣
There are even lids that hook to the spile with a bit of wire to complete the ensemble and keep rain and snow out of the sap as it collects.
Since we just moved out to the country last May, I’d never taken part in “maple season”.
I had no idea what to expect.
As per usual for me, I was focused on things that my neighbours had probably never considered in all their years tapping trees...
I was excited to talk to the trees and find out how they felt about the whole thing!
Was it like a haircut to them?
Or did it feel more like highway robbery?
Did they submit willingly year after year?
Or was this a weird form of Canadian tree torture?
It never even occurred to me that they might LIKE it!
But to my great joy and surprise... the maple trees seemed almost as eager and excited as we were.
There were a few who endured the drilling like a trip to the dentist…
But the older trees—the ones who had seen the most syrup seasons—looked forward to the cameraderie, the fires, the transformation.
As I ran my hand down the trunk of the great maple that my neighbour Stephen calls “Big Mama,” images and information flashed my awareness.
BIG MAMA WHISPERED TO ME OF—
🔥 People through the years sharing space ‘round the fire, while a great cauldron of sap boils down to steam and syrup.
🥹 Joy and awareness of the impending and inevitable transformation of her sap—her life blood.
🌀 A deep understanding that the molecules of her body would soon become the building blocks for mine.
🩸 Her life-blood mixing in the great cauldron with the other trees all around us—connecting her to her brothers, sisters, children, and friends more deeply.
🥘 How proud she was to provide much-needed nutrition through the centuries.
💫 A sense of being in community with humans in a deeply traditional and ritual way.
🌱 The awakening consciousness all around—her flowing sap the harbinger of spring.
Collecting maple sap is an ancient tradition.
Originally an indigenous practice, it was only later taught to the colonizers.
Maple syrup is not only sweet and delicious, it’s filled with vital nutrients that have sustained humans through hard winters.
Now—as the ancestors have before me—I sit by the fires waiting for the sap to boil to syrup.
I chop wood, tend the fires, and tell stories with friends. 🪵🔥
I re-member that I am a creature of Earth with a place in the family of things.
We don’t always get to experience the magic of being fully alive in our skins.
Our daily lives in the modern world can often feel disconnected from the ancient realities all around us.
This weekend, join me in reconnecting—with our magical community and with ourselves.
You don’t have to be tapping maple trees in the Canadian wilderness to find your roots.
The Earth is all around us, patiently waiting for us to hear her whispers.
Spring is coming… it’s time to reconnect.
Community Energy Magic
Saturday, March 16 @ 10am PST / 1pm EST / 6pm CET
Join the community to get the details
Tapping in,
Allysha Lavino
P.S. My energy magic sessions are usually $120 for an hour, but I’m now offering this work as part of our community membership! Get access to Community Energy Magic and more for only $11.
P.P.S. The extraneous “u” in the word “neighbours” is intentional… to denote that they are Canadian 😂