Tree Magic

By Don McLeod

The Curative Properties of Trees
Taking a walk through nature is not only refreshing and energising, it can also be a healing experience thanks to the energy of trees. In the early years of mankind, trees were regarded as special beings, no doubt because of their size and majesty. Apart from being the home of animals and birds, trees were also thought to embody a spirit, and people would leave offerings to the spiritual presence that resided in the tree. In India, most local shrines are constructed under trees. Shamans of Native American and Europe believed that trees also possess curative powers. Different trees are said to have particular medicinal properties. The following is a brief list of trees and the healing qualities they are said to contain...

Ash: Brings peace of mind. Warts rubbed on the bark will be absorbed into the tree.
Beech: Reduces swellings and skin inflammations. Helps to balance mental health.
Birch: The bark helps to heal wounds and burns.
Cedar: Cleanses negative atmospheres.
Oak: Brings vitality and long life.
Sassafras: Eases problems with the digestive system. Burying money near the roots of a Sassafras tree brings prosperity.
Pine: A renewal of energy can be obtained by sitting under a pine.
Willow: Adds vital energy to the elderly and the sick. Smoke created from burning the wood of a willow tree can soothe and guide the souls of the dead.

How to Find Your Own Healing Tree
Here is a small ritual for finding your own personal healing tree. Enter a quiet park or forest that has a variety of trees. Stand quietly amongst the trees and close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths and release all thoughts from your mind. Then allow your consciousness to drop through your body, and to settle within your heart chakra. Now, with your eyes open, but unfocused, start walking through the trees. You should be able to feel the energy of each tree as you enter its aura. When you find an energy that feels right for you, mentally ask the tree for permission to physically make contact. If you then feel that it is all right to do so, approach the tree and place your back against it. Feel the energy of the tree resonating within you. Which one of your chakras does this tree seem to affect the most?

How to See a Tree's View of the World
You can also enhance your psychic perceptions of the world around you, by merging your consciousness with that of your healing tree. Allow your aura to merge with the tree's energy field, and with your eyes open, see the surroundings as if through the consciousness of the tree. A silvery glow will surround the area, and you will see the auras of other trees and plants. When you have finished this experiment, thank the tree for its participation, and move away from its energy field. Bring your consciousness up through your body and into your head, then take a few more deep breaths. Stamp your feet on the ground to bring yourself back to full conscious awareness.

Clearing Negativity with Trees
It is said that trees can also absorb negative energy from our bodies, without it doing the tree any harm. To clear yourself of negativity, find another tree that you are intuitively drawn to, and ask permission to give it the negative energy that you have unwittingly stored in your body. Trees can transform and use this energy for their own enhancement. To gather and release negativity from your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual self, run the palm of your left hand from the top of your head, and down the right side of your body, visualising the collection of negativity into your hands. Do the same with your right hand on the left side of your body. Then rub your hands on the trunk of the tree, thereby releasing all the toxins that you have gathered. Also run your hands down the front and back of your body and pass this onto the tree as well. Do this three times, and when you are finished, thank the tree for taking the negative energy from you.

Trees are more than lumps of wood with leaves attached. Make the effort to walk through a national park or forest soon, and take visual notes of the variety that exists even within the same species of tree. By making the conscious effort to look closely at a tree trunk, you will be surprised at the myriad of patterns and colours that normally go unnoticed. Each tree has its own characteristics and personality. And by taking the time to attune to a few trees, you will be amazed at the different styles of energy that emanate from them. For your health's sake, hug a tree today!

We Are All One

Two Wolves

A Grandfather from the Cherokee Nation was talking with his grandson.

"A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves."

"One wolf is evil and ugly: He is anger, envy, war, greed, self-pity, sorrow, regret, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, selfishness and arrogance."

"The other wolf is beautiful and good: He is friendly, joyful, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, justice, fairness, empathy, generosity, true, compassion, gratitude, and deep VISION."

"This same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other human as well."

The grandson paused in deep reflection because of what his grandfather had just said. Then he finally cried out; "Oyee! Grandfather, which wolf will win?"

The elder Cherokee replied, "The wolf that you feed."

Speech by Chief Seattle of the Dwamish Tribe in 1854

A Speech by Chief Seattle of the Dwamish Tribe in 1854

The Great Chief in Washington sends word that he wishes to buy our land. The Great Chief also sends us words of friendship and good will. This is kind of him, since we know he has little need of our friendship in return. But we will consider your offer, for we know if we do not so the white man may come with guns and take our land. What Chief Seattle says you can count on as truly as our white brothers can count on the return of the seasons. My words are like the stars - they do not set.

How can you buy or sell the sky - the warmth of the land? The idea is strange to us. Yet we do not own the freshness of the air or the sparkle of the water. How can you buy them from us? We will decide in our time. Every part of this earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark woods, every clearing, and every humming insect is holy in the memory and experience of my people.

We know that the white man does not understand our ways. One portion of land is the same to him as the next, for he is a stranger who comes in the night and takes from the land whatever he needs. The earth is not his brother, but his enemy, and when he has conquered it, he moves on. He leaves his father's graves and his children's birthright is forgotten. The sight of your cities pains the eyes of the redman. But perhaps it is because the redman is a savage and does not understand.

There is no quiet place in the white man's cities. No place to listen to the leaves of spring or the rustle of insect wings. But perhaps because I am a savage and do not understand - the clatter only seems to insult the ears. And what is there to life if a man cannot hear the lovely cry of the whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around a pond at night? The Indian prefers the soft sound of the wind itself cleansed by a mid-day rain, or scented by a pinõn pine: The air is precious to the redman. For all things share the same breath - the beasts, the trees, and the man. The white man does not seem to notice the air he breathes. Like a man dying for many days, he is numb to the stench.

If I decide to accept, I will make one condition. The white man must treat the beasts of this land as his brothers. I am a savage and I do not understand any other way. I have seen thousands of rotting buffaloes on the prairie left by the white man who shot them from a passing train. I am a savage and do not understand how the smoking iron horse can be more important than the buffalo that we kill only to stay alive. What is man without the beasts? If all the beasts were gone, men would die from great loneliness of spirit, for whatever happens to the beast also happens to the man.

All things are connected. Whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons of the earth.

Our children have seen their fathers humbled in defeat. Our warriors have felt shame. And after defeat they turn their days in idleness and contaminate their bodies with sweet food and strong drink. It matters little where we pass the rest of our days - they are not many. A few more hours, a few more winters, and none of the children of the great tribes that once lived on this earth, or that roamed in small bands in the woods will remain to mourn the graves of the people once as powerful and hopeful as yours.

One thing we know that the white man may one day discover. Our God is the same God. You may think that you own him as you wish to own our land, but you cannot. He is the Body of man, and his compassion is equal for the redman and the white. This earth is precious to him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. The whites, too, shall pass - perhaps sooner than other tribes. Continue to contaminate your bed, and you will one night suffocate in your own waste. When the buffalo are all slaughtered, the wild horses all tamed, the secret corners of the forest heavy with the scent of many men, and the view of the ripe hills blotted by the talking wires, where is the thicket? Gone. Where is the eagle? Gone. And what is it to say goodbye to the swift and the hunt? The end of living and the beginning of survival.

We might understand if we knew what it was the white man dreams, what hopes he describes to his children on long winter nights, what visions he burns into their minds, so they will wish for tomorrow. But we are savages. The white man's dreams are hidden from us. And because they are hidden, we will go our own way. If we agree, it will be to secure your reservation you have promised.

There perhaps we may live out our brief days as we wish. When the last redman has vanished from the earth, and the memory is only the shadow of a cloud passing over the prairie, these shores and forests will still hold the spirits of my people, for they love this earth as the newborn loves its mother's heartbeat. If we sell you our land, love it as we have loved it. Care for it as we have cared for it. Hold in your memory the way the land is as you take it. And with all your strength, with all your might, and with all your heart - preserve it for your children, and love it as God loves us all. One thing we know - our God is the same. This earth is precious to him. Even the white man cannot escape the common destiny.