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Like everything else in life, the spiritual path has a trick to it that they never tell you about. They tell you how you should think and feel: “Accept all things evenly, as coming from God”; “Desire nothing, cling to nothing”; “Let the world be as ashes in your mouth.” 

What they don’t tell you is that this state is impossible to achieve in a real, meaningful way by one’s self. 

We need a guru or an embodied spiritual agent acting upon us to truly transform ourselves. Not even Jesus or Gautama Buddha did it by themselves: they were receiving lots of guidance and support from the spirit side; the Buddha even used a tree spirit to get enlightened, the technique that will be described presently. 

The reason for this is that we, by ourselves, can banish thought forms, but we can’t keep them from returning unless we have considerable will 
power to begin with. Since most of us are pretty flabby, we need to borrow strength to be able to control our impulses. It takes self-confidence to have self-confidence; it takes discipline to have discipline; it takes faith to have faith, and hope to have hope. 

If we’re starting out from zero, as most of us are, especially once we’ve removed the thought forms which offered us protection in the form of phony self-confidence, phony discipline, phony faith, and phony hope, then we have to have someone or something giving us energy to prop up the confidence, discipline, faith, and hope which we lack. 

If we have a human guru, then this is his or her main function as far as we are concerned. A guru doesn’t really teach us anything so much as point a direction, and then support us like a crutch until we are able to walk in that direction by ourselves. 

This is done through a “bending” of light fibers: the guru’s light fibers 
act directly upon the disciple’s fibers and bend them in the same direction as the guru’s fibers. They force the disciple’s fibers to conform to, or match, the guru’s fibers. There’s nothing out of the ordinary in this – this is precisely how parents bend their children’s fibers as well. It’s a magical process, which can’t be described in words, although it can be seen. 

The overt process connected to it – the parent fastening his or her own thought form to the child’s light fiber (better said: the parent teaching the child a thought form congruent to the parent’s to attach to the newly bent light fiber) – is what we call learning by imitation. But this is just the mind level of what’s happening: the most superficial manifestation of a very complex process, much of it taking place when both parties are asleep. 

For those of us who don’t have gurus, it is necessary to go to nature spirits to borrow the energy we 
need to keep ourselves straight. The light fibers of nature spirits gently engage our own, and by their brilliance they dissolve the importance coverings left by banished thought forms. They align our fibers with theirs, and shake off the extraneous casings that imprison our fibers. The only difference between a human guru and a nature spirit is that the latter operates much more slowly and gently than the former; it can take months or years of going to the same nature spirit daily to obtain the same effect that a human guru can give with one swift blow. 

In particular, the earth is a highly salubrious spirit, with great power not only to heal but also to absorb and dissipate negative energy and every sort of spiritual and emotional heaviness, as well as chronic illness. The usual procedure is to dig a trench perhaps two feet deep and somewhat longer than your body. Line the trench with sawdust or leaves so you will have a soft bed and pillow to 
lie on. Disrobe and wrap yourself in a sheet with only your face exposed. The sheet serves as a protection against e.g. ants. You can do without the sheet if you’re the intrepid type. Then lie down in the trench and have someone cover you with a layer of earth up to your neck, with your head sticking out. Insect repellant can be used to keep bugs away. 

If you are very sick or are in desperate need of lightening up, you should remain buried for 12 hours (dawn to dusk) the first time you bury yourself, and for at least 6 – 8 hours on subsequent burials. Average people need only a 4-hour burial to tune themselves (there’s not much point in doing it for less than 4 hours at a stretch). 

Although this may strike you as an odd thing to do, you might just find that being buried is one of the most enjoyable experiences you’ve ever had. The earth herself is your hostess, and she will do her best to comfort, nourish, and entertain 
you. 

The sun is also a powerful spirit who can help you open your heart. Stand facing him (early morning is best) with your chest bare and your palms open to the sunlight. Feel his rays on your left breast warming up your heart. You should do this exercise for a few minutes every day. Semi-cloudy conditions also permit doing the exercise so long as there is some shadow. 

Other useful nature spirits include water and rock spirits, which can cleanse and solidify us, respectively; and anyone who is only mildly psychic can find such spirits easily enough. They are often found in public parks, since these spirits often direct humans – who may quite unaware of what’s going on at a conscious level – to create parks around them. But since tree spirits are readily available to almost everyone, we’ll limit our further discussion to them. 

People are using tree spirits all the time. Any time you have sat under a tree to read, or write, 
or relax, you have followed your true feelings to find a proper tree spirit, and then you’ve plugged your feelings into it. Your mind, your concepts, may be saying, “Oh, how lovely! Pretty day, blue sky – let’s go sit under a tree.” And you just sit there and don’t know what is happening; but your body knows it. Your body goes there because it needs it; and it knows exactly where to go, what to do there, and when to leave. 

Tree spirits are noble and generous beings, with a particular affinity for humans, which is all the more remarkable considering the wholesale genocide we have practiced on them. It’s not that trees mind being taken for wood; they understand the necessities of humans. 

But logging could be done with a trifle more respect for the lives being taken than is now being done. We should be respectful to our trees; and if we have to cut one down, we should tell it we’re sorry and explain why we have to do it. This 
is what the Mayan Indians of Guatemala have always done (but they have recently abandoned this practice under the influence of Christianity) 

. 

Society has trained us to feel that we must make other people accept our feelings and point of view in order for them to be valid. And this leads to difficulties, since we can’t get validation from another person until we feel valid within ourselves; and we can’t do that until we feel worthy of love; and we can’t do that until we can validate and love others. 

This is why trees are so important in the practice. The light fibers of trees spread out and envelope us without any thought form rationality of “I’m valid”, “You’re valid”, etc. The tree just embraces us lovingly, with no judgments, and that makes our own fibers shine. It makes us know and believe in our true feelings from a light fiber (rather than a mind) point of view; little-by-little it puts us in a proper mood – 
makes us feel light and strong. 

Trees strengthen our essential being so we know what our desires are; not the desires of our parents, teachers, or society, but our own true desires, our intent, the reason we were born. Only trees can truly validate us because they don’t deal on a mental level. Trees help to anchor us in our own true feelings – they give us steadiness and sobriety, so we are not so easily swayed by banished thought forms trying to reassert themselves. 

In actual practice, it is most effective to resort to the same tree spirit or spirits every day – or better yet, every night, after you’ve already had a few hours sleep – for weeks or months at a time, rather than to go to different trees all the time (unless you have some specific need, such as a healing). This is because the effect of a tree spirit is incremental, and almost imperceptible at first. 

Only after you’ve resorted to the same tree daily for a 
long time will you begin to consciously feel what that tree is doing to you; although here and there you run into a tree who really socks it to you. 

However, you can talk to a tree at any time, from your first visit, if you like; though there are trees that don’t have much to say, and which frankly eschew small talk. However, no tree prefers this form of communication, and no tree will talk to you if you’re acting stupidly. 

You “talk” with trees in your mind, like a two-way conversation going on in your thoughts. Perhaps the easiest way to begin a dialogue with a tree spirit is via automatic writing, the same way you communicate with your thought forms and spirit guides. But after a little practice it’s easy enough to dispense with the necessity of writing. 

When you first go to a tree that you’ve never met before, touch it very lightly. Say hello, introduce yourself, stroke the tree, and show it respect and affection. 
Ask what it can teach you or do for you, because every tree has its own special knowledge to share. Then thank the tree, kiss it goodbye, and leave. Stay at a tree until you feel it’s time to go. Your first visits to a tree will probably be longer than subsequent visits, since once the tree knows you it doesn’t take it long to tune your fibers. 

It’s best to sleep at a tree; next best is to doze, or just turn off your mind and listen to sounds, or meditate. But even sitting there thinking or reading has its beneficial effect; it’s just that the tree can perform its work more easily if you have your mind turned off. You can bring a groundcloth, pillow, mosquito net, or whatever else you may need to make yourself comfortable. The tree is not going to be impressed that you are sitting in e.g. a lotus position, if that is not truly a comfortable position for you. The important thing is to just relax. 

Observe that you must not kill bugs, 
because trees regard that as a violation of their hospitality – one of their guests killing another – so if bugs bother you, shoo them away gently, or use insect repellant or netting. 

You have to touch trees very lightly, in all senses. You have to be respectful. If the tree directs you to climb it, you do so agilely and nimbly, not heavily and clumsily. You don’t blather and wipe your self-importance over trees like you do with the people you meet; you keep your thought forms (excuses, doubts, etc.) to yourself, because trees don’t relate to them. 

It’s a good idea to bring tree spirits little gifts now and then, such as flowers, pretty stones, or special foods you have prepared lovingly yourself (a token portion will suffice). You don’t have to do this every time you visit a tree – you’re not trying to bribe it, but just give it a little joyous gift now and then as you would to a dear friend. 

One wouldn’t suppose 
that spirits would care about such things, but in fact they are delighted with little presents and the thoughtfulness behind them. They themselves will sometimes ask you to bring them a little something on your next visit. 

Occasionally a tree spirit will give you a little gift in return: a piece of bark that breaks off in your hand by itself, or leaves or needles that fall on you as you sit or lie under the tree, or which stick to your clothes when you get up. 

Ask the tree, “Is this a little gift for me?” and if the tree answers in the affirmative, thank it and regard its present as a true gift of power. 

Such power gifts should be placed in a small cloth bag and worn around the neck, or placed under your pillow at night, to keep the power of the tree spirit with you even when you are not physically with it. Whatever you do, don’t break off a piece of bark on your own account: trees don’t care for crassitude. 

One 
thing you should ask the tree spirit is what its specialty is, since all tree spirits have particular virtues. There are tree spirits who grant wishes, make you loving, and build your self-confidence. There are trees who can help you lighten your spirit, and others who can put you in touch with repressed grief. There are trees who facilitate gazing, lucid dreaming, and seeing the future. There are trees who can help you put your life into perspective, inspire you artistically, and heal your body and spirit. 

You might ask what would happen if you go to the wrong tree. The answer is that this can never happen; there is no wrong tree, and whatever tree you find yourself at is the right tree, no matter how you got there. Ideas like right / wrong – “Am I doing this right?” – such ideas only apply to the world of concepts. In the world of feelings, there is no right or wrong, only here and now. 

How do you feel? No one can answer that 
question but you, so take responsibility for what you’re doing. The only way to learn how to trust your feelings is by trusting them. 

Although trees don’t operate on a concept level, they are capable of talking to you. But this is not the main way they communicate, and to turn your time with them into a dialogue would be to tangle yourself up in concepts again, and take time away from their true healing function. So once you’ve learned to talk to them, best let them initiate any conversations, unless you have some pressing question to ask. 

Somewhere in your vicinity, in a nearby park or woods perhaps, there is one particular tree, which is your own special tree, no matter who you are, or whatever virtues are proper to that particular tree. There has to be such a tree near you, because you couldn’t live in an area that was too far from a special tree of your own without soon going crazy. 

It’s worthwhile to search around a 
bit to locate your own special tree – and if you go looking for it, I guarantee you will find it, whether you can talk with trees or not. In all likelihood you know it already. Your special tree can tune all your fibers at once. 

Sleeping, dozing, or just sitting under your special tree relaxes you completely, removes all your cares, and soothes your inmost soul. You feel that you are at home, exactly where you belong. The warmth, joy, and complete acceptance that you feel at your special tree are enough to recharge your batteries for days.Like us, trees have their own individual qualities which set them apart from each other. Inevitably, we are not ‘in touch’ with this concept as our ancestors were, and for thousands of years they would have depended for their survival on an intimate knowledge of the different trees, which furnished them with food, medicine, fuel, building materials etc. 
In the British Isles, this knowledge evolved into a particular form, the Celtic Ogham system. This was first recorded in medieval manuscripts such as the Book of Ballymote (1391). Here we find that each character in the Ogham Alphabet is related to a particular tree, and its associated power and energy. Ogham is in fact a means of communicating via encoded symbolism and poetic metaphor, its complexity mirroring the diversity of the forest that formed the constant backdrop to life in early Britain and Ireland. 

Turning to more recent times, during the 1920’s and 30’s Dr Edward Bach was discovering and developing his system of healing using Flower Remedies. Many of these use trees: oaks, chestnut, aspen, willow etc. and are all powerful yet gentle psychic healers. 
More modern writers are now covering the subject from different angles, and personally I have found ‘Tree Wisdom’ by Jacqueline M. Paterson (Thorsons Publishers) very interesting. 

What follows is my own attempt at synthesising the information from these sources, and I sincerely hope you will find it useful. 

EARTH (Prosperity and success) 

Yew: Able to live for thousands of years, the yew spirit is a witness to the passage of our immortal souls through many lifetimes. It offers a glimpse of eternity, a reminder of our direct contact with past, present and future. 

Elder: A tree of regeneration and rebirth, sacred to the Earth Mother, with every part of the tree blessed with healing powers. If we respect its powerful, primeval presence, the elder spirit will honour us with protection, healing and guidance. 

Oak: Strength, endurance, courage, inner nourishment. A doorway to other dimensions, to higher realms of truth, to the wisdom of elemental power. The oak is high king, guardian of the fertility of the land and its people. 

Elm: A tree of mystery, home to the elven folk. Restores our life force by cleansing any feelings which inhibit its flow – i.e. despair, despondency, self-doubt, unworthiness. It encourages renewed faith in the value of our life’s work. 

AIR (Knowledge and inspiration) 
Beech: "There is nothing new under the sun – only truth and beauty" – so counsels the beech. Her gentle magic can inspire us to let go of old patterns and fixed attitudes, and to see more of the good that is in the world. 

Aspen: Shields us from fear and anxiety, and helps us to feel more trustful of the unknown, unseen and unfamiliar. Aspen helps us to connect with and manifest the source of our inner strength. 

Pine: Purifies, cleanses, transforms our negative moods and self-judgement. Pine heightens our awareness and our perspective, revealing new insights and refreshing our spirit. 

Birch: New beginnings, birth, inception. The vital force, powerful in its shining innocence, symbolising the positive aspects of the process of constant change, driving out old, stale energy to make way for a fresh start. 

Hazel: Knowledge , wisdom, intuition, creative leaps beyond the bounds of normal perception. Connection with the wellsprings of consciousness, fostering communication, self-discovery and creativity 

Gorse: A hardy tenacious shrub, gorse has an aura of contentment, fulfilment, optimism. Even in winter its flowers glow with the sunshine of renewed hope and inner strength 
. 
FIRE (Energy and change) 
Holly: Balance, centredness, integrity. Holly shows its vivid, shining presence even in the depths of winter. Helps us to avoid fiery over-reactions towards others, arising from our oversensitivity and impatience. 

Rowan: Its scarlet berries have the brilliance of a beacon on a mountain top. Used in divination, healing, and whenever protection is needed against unwelcome spirits and unwanted influences. 

Heather: A tonic for a jaded spirit, reviving and soothing. It also restores our trust in the perfection of the universe, and the unfolding of our life process within it. 

Hawthorn: A healer of the heart, a tree of joyous festivities, the marriage of love and life in action – perhaps after a period of inaction, restraint, self-denial, reflection. Guardian of sacred springs and wells. 

Blackthorn: A guide through the darkness, back to the light. Helps us face our deepest fears and buried emotions, our dark side. This is a process of cleansing and renewal, leading to a sudden, spontaneous flowing of the spirit. 

WATER (Healing and Love) 
Alder: Alder finds its strength in water, but it also has fiery qualities. If we are feeling emotionally drained or diverted , it can help us find the determination to stay true to our purposes when circumstances threaten to overwhelm us. It is also an oracle of vision and foresight, helping us to prepare wisely for the future. 

Willow: Its miraculous fertile life force helps us to be more sensitive to the ebb and flow of our deepest feelings, dreams, visions, intuitions. It teaches us how the growth of understanding is rooted in total acceptance of our life situation, as it is, now. 

Ash: The world tree of the ancients, spanning the universe, connecting everything. It links the inner and outer worlds, helping us to assimilate knowledge gained on a psychic level, and to manifest it in practical ways. It also strengthens our will-power and resolve. 

Apple: A symbol of beauty, love, inner and outer harmony. It symbolises living life to the full, focusing mind and heart together positively. Whilst life’s fruitfulness is there to be enjoyed, we must also make choices and learn not to dissipate our energy in the pursuit of too many goals. 

Ivy: A tenacious climber, ivy represents the inner search for the higher self, the spiral dance through the maze of life’s challenges. In this process of self-transformation, originality and uniqueness are the keys to unlock habitual patterns of behaviour. 

Spend time with trees and you begin to tune into their individual growth patterns, the particular way each tree expresses its life force. Be patient, trust the evidence of your senses, be open to whatever you are feeling. Your very openness is also your gift to the tree, the gift of your own true nature. In return, your senses will be heightened as you experience some aspect of the energy emanating from the tree, even if it is only the timeless peace within its shade, or the way its branches dance to the song of the wind…….. 
There are many ways to bring tree spirits into your life. Select a small twig or leaf to carry as a token; cut a wand, rod or staff to actively focus on particular energies; burn the bark or sawdust as an incense; weave garlands and decorations; carve a simple charm or amulet; include a seed or leaf in a medicine pouch; and so on. In my work I use wood from all these trees to carve attractive pendants, brooches, bracelets, necklaces and other items. 


Blessings 
Valerie 

http://www.spiritoftheforest.co.uk/spirit.htm 
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=gtxx&c=ear...