Take a look at this portion of Stevens’ c.1905 map of the Forest: You may know the area, it’s by the ruins of the former priory at Groenendaal.
For some months the site of Jan van Ruusbroec’s chapel was covered by forest trimmings, rendering it invisible. A few days ago I passed that way and I saw it revealed again, with a line of carefully placed logs now leading the eye towards it from the O.L.V. van Loretopad.
You will also see on the map, clearly marked, ‘Tilleuil van Ruijsbroeck’ his Linden tree. Like nearly all of the named trees on the full map, such as the Raefeyck, a subject of a former post, and the Hêtre Visart, it is no longer there, but young lindens, tilleuls, abound, perhaps its descendants.
The tree was a place where Jan van Ruusbroec contemplated God and life, leading to what we call ‘mysticism’: a disciplined way of living, inwardly attentive, moving beyond thought into direct awareness, and experiencing a deep, active connection with something greater than oneself, without withdrawing from ordinary life.
It is a holy place, one of many that abound in the Forest, so should you pass, pause there, and the place settles around you as if it had been waiting, and you begin to wonder how many others have stood just so, and left without quite knowing what they carried away.
A friend assures me there is energy here, palpable energy.
Note:
I have been faithful to spelling ‘Ruijsbroeck’ when referring to Stevens’ map and used the present day version ‘Ruusbroec’ elsewhere. The name has meandered, shifted like the Forest itself over time.