The first Ginkgo earrings I made were made with leaves from a tree in Retiro Park. One Christmas I went to collect more leaves and I found that they had all been removed from the ground and I had run out of raw materials, so I looked for an alternative and found that very close there was a protected centenary Ginkgo tree. This Ginkgo was in the Fuente del Berro Park .
When I went to collect leaves to make the earrings, I met a Reiki master who was making requests to the tree. It was he who told me the story of the wishing tree and while he was telling it, I observed that from time to time other people approached who seemed to be conversing with the tree. Since then he made Ginkgo earrings with leaves of this very special specimen, we like to believe that it can help fulfill the dreams and hopes of those who wear them.
Legend of the wishing tree
Many years ago the Fuente del Berro Park belonged to a Marquis who owned many assets and belongings. However, the only thing that mattered to him was being able to cure his wife who was suffering from a serious illness. Despite treatments and visits from doctors, she did not improve. The Marquis languished in despair when he heard about a species of tree that was considered a living fossil, the Ginkgo Biloba, a very special tree, the only survivor of its species and which dated back 275 million years. . Its leaves and seeds were used in traditional Chinese medicine to heal different conditions and it was a sacred tree for the Buddhist tradition.
He planted the tree in the park and begged it to cure his wife. Shortly after, miraculously she began to improve and recovered completely. Since then this Ginkgo has been known as the wishing tree and the popular belief is that whatever is asked for, in one way or another, will be granted.
This specimen continues today in the Fuente del Berro Park and is probably the most spectacular tree in the area. It has a cordoned off space around it and when autumn comes and its leaves fall, they are not collected, like the rest of the trees in the park, they remain at the foot of the tree leaving a hypnotic yellow blanket.
