Friday, May 23, 2008

Every Tree is the World Tree


I have always loved trees (perhaps an extension of my mother apparently walking through the woods when she was pregnant with me). They fill me with a great sense of mystery, peace, and power, and growing up in New England, I was surrounded by maple, spruce, and pine.

Since working with the Fae, my understanding of tree magick has deepened considerably. It's my understanding that every tree is the world tree - they are all connected. We can travel to other worlds using any tree we see - ones in our yards, on a city block, in the woods, or standing next to a lone house on the prarie.


When spending time yesterday morning with the Fae, I was reminded that we can speak spells into the trees, and they will immediately carry that magick to every tree all over the world. The power of that spell is then radiated out into the air through leaves and sunk deep into the earth through roots.

Quite literally, put your lips next to the bark, intentionally speak your spells of love, peace, beauty, whatever, and send it throughout the planet.

Speaking isn't the only way to achieve this. Send healing energy into a tree, spiraling out that power from your heart chakra. Sing a song into a tree. Touch a tree with intention, and all that will eventually make its way into the air we breathe and the ground we stand on. (One great way to do this for city dwellers is to brush them with your fingertips as you walk by; I do this all the time and find it not only works spells throughout the world, but connects me more deeply to the trees on my walking route.)

Blessed be the trees.

Some of my favorites are pictured throughout this post. The maples remind me of my New England home. The Joshua Trees are so magical and were one of my Grandmother Francis' favorites (they can be found in Arizona, and there's actually a national park dedicated to these beauties). Finally, the Ponderosa Pine is a stunning tree, and one of the world's largest stands of them is in Northern Arizona, along the Mogollan rim, a favorite haunt of mine when I lived in the Southwest.

(Most photo credits were hard to come by: The Ponderosa Pine image was taken by Buddy Mays.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

ohhhh The Grandfathers and Grandmothers are simply gorgeous!

I spent alot of time in Joshua Tree National Forest here in California, while growing up. They are absolutely amazing!

I love trees as well....in fact, I jokingly call my home The Tree House (you may have read that on my blog) because it takes up the entire second story of the building, and all the big windows look out through the branches of big trees!!

Did you try some of the spells, then? I haven't done that, but I have done some grounding and 'cleansing' work with trees. They are powerful healers...that's for sure.

Greg Fletcher-Marzullo said...

There are a couple of Holly trees and a Sycamore at the base of the steps to my apartment that I say "hello" to and/or hug on a regular basis - they're just lovely.

Tonight, I took my tammorra (a special kind of Southern Italian drum) to a forest and played for a long time, hanging out in particular with one gorgeous, large Sycamore, who took the energy in and then spread it around. It was most wonderful. Other trees were requesting certain rhythms - it was kind of like a Mystery radio hour.

Anonymous said...

Greg, thank you so much for this blog.

I have been in love with the green bloods sense I was a child. I used to have daily conversations with a mulberry tree when I was in kindergarden. I have always had a special place in my heart for fruit trees. The burr oak has been a dear fere of mine sense I first actively embraced queer spirit work. Burr Oak (the Mysterious One, not the tree) is one of great powers of queer survival, teaching us to survive the raging fires while still daring to thrive openly in the in the rich soils of Midgard.

I have also noticed the way trees share information with each other. Years ago in horticulture school, my professors taught us about how certain trees communicate with each other through chemical signals. Is it any surprise that trees communicate with each other in other ways? Many of people of spirit recognize the tree peoples as sacred. Many of us have heard the trees singing in chorus with the winds. Many of us have felt their healing touch when our hearts have been nothing but shreds.

I have found that some trees delight in helping to spread, share, set, propagate spells and prayers which nourish the emerging Cultures of Beauty, Balance and Delight. I have noticed that rivers and streams do the same thing, as do the winds and the soils themselves.

Another of the green blood you may want to work with in this way is the grass peoples. Others are the dandelion people and the yarrow people. In fact I have found all of the wild weeds to be quite willing to hold spells which feed the magics of knowing the balance of the wild and domestic. Many of the green bloods that I have worked with are willing and more than able to work the spells which awaken the human peoples into remembering the sacred mystery of knowing when enough is enough.

By the way, the green bloods' dear cousins, the fungi, are also very talented in transferring information throughout the multiverse. Those I have worked with are more than willing to help work spells of transformation and change. They have a power of their own which sends can send information through their mycelium easily into ever realm and reality. When you next run across a fairy ring take the opportunity to check in with these folks and their magics.

And remember, the bees take much of the green bloods’ blessings into the human realms.

Bless the Bees!

Lauren Raine said...

Thanks for your entry on my blog....which led me to this blog! I opened the page and immediately thought of a line from a Robin Williamson poem - "the tree of leaf and flame". What you say is so true about Axis Mundi, the world tree - so true and so significant for all of us. We're all like a forest, roots twined and interconnected through the roots..........thankyou!

The workshop in Kripalu I actually taught (this was my second year).

I've never actually thought of linking to another blog, but I guess that shows how much I don't know about blog etiquitte, but yours is well worth letting others know about.

Lauren Raine