Which is the most powerful tree you've encountered?

[Vapour Trail]

I was reading a response to a previous topic I'd posted about where people felt most at home and someone mentioned encountering a particularly grumpy Holly tree. That set me reminiscing about some of the wondrous encounters I had had at the Nine Ladies stone circle where I had communed with an Oak tree that was connected to the stones. It gave me a riddle to ponder - "The Sun is the Key. the Moon is the Door."

I have been pondering this ever since, and now I think I have a breakthrough, So, I was wondering, how have the trees guided you on your journey, and which are the most powerful trees you've encountered? What did they teach you?

My Sun/Moon riddle was only solved recently when I watched a lecture by Dr Yang Jwing-Ming in which he described a method of unifying the active Male/Yang upper dan-tian reservoir of ch'i energy with the passive lower dan-tian that stores ch'i too. When the two have a free flow of energy then the third-eye can supposedly be opened. Thus moving the Sun energy to open the door to the Moon energy within is the next step on my journey, I feel.

A quite stunning riddle that works on so many levels that I feel I have only grazed the surface, yet it spurs me on to greater connectivity with Nature.

Which powerful tree has taught you a lesson in how you should progress?

[Dryadia2]

For me:

Pine is peaceful and always uplifting and calming, my favorite tree to hug, and meditate with.

Oak represents strength, and I often 'lean' or sit with my back against it, asking for strength if I am weak, ill, confused, or need guidance.

I had 4 pecan trees where I used to live in Texas, and 2 of them were more than happy to 'converse' with me; one downright refused to speak to me, the other was more concerned with my 'posture' and kept telling me to 'stand up straight'...kinda like a nagging Mom.

There are 2 holly trees in the yard where I live now...so you've got my curiosity going now, Vapour Trail! I'll have to go have a talk with them.

Peace and Blessings,
/|\

[Donata]

That's easy! it was an impatient somewhat grumpy wise old Grandfather tree on the Seneca reservation in WNY. I was there in mid 80s for my initiation into Twylah Nitchs' Seneca Wolf Clan Teaching Lodge.

Twylah gave each of us our name. Some were given lovely names like Corn Maiden, Moon Veil, etc., while mine, Onogosda, meant "Wing Tip!"

The next morning, in very grumpy mood, I want outside and sat under the great tree that Twylah's grandmother had planted years before - it's now a very ancient tall tree. The tree spoke to me and explained my name - first time a tree ever spoke to me! So when it was done I asked, thinking it really a formality, if I could take a small branch as a wand.

"Absolutely not!"

I heard. And,

"Look down!".

I looked down, and at my feet was a perfect length of branch!

BB
Donata

[illion]

Pines and spruces are my trees.

A huge pine tree actually led me to druidry. On one of my forest walks some years ago, I suddenly got aware of something that wanted my attention. I was told to "look over here" and when I did I saw a huge, beautiful pine. She said: "Trees have soul". It was so strong, and I never forgot the place or the tree or the message. It made me realize the reason why I always felt safe in the woods, why I always ran to the woods to get healed throughout my whole childhood. I googled "tree spirit" or somehing like that (I don't quite remember) and found OBOD.

Later the pine has told me that she heals and protects. The spruce protects even more, so he says, and I find him a little darker. The birch is helping me out with enthusiasm for new projects.

Illion

[luisa]

Hi Vapour Trail

As a child I used to talk to pine trees and they answered me back . They made me feel happy and protected and loved. I used listen to their stories and tell them about my life, it was great.

I lost the skill to understand trees and talk to them when I grew up and became aware of being a catholic . But now I am back and hopefully I will understand their messages again.

My experience with a Yew Tree

While on holiday about a year to two years ago I hugged this tall beautiful tree and I felt so much happiness, mixed with a touch of sadness too; I felt a very strong bond between us and I cried; it was an overwhelming feeling. I could have stayed with this amazing being for a long time.

Later a friend that is an expert in trees saw the photo of us, this beautiful tree and me and he told me that I had been hugging a yew tree.

So, yes the yew tree is now a very special tree for me and I guess, I am re-gaining my skill to talk to trees.

Pine trees are very special for me as they were the very first trees I talked with. Our conversations stayed in my memory and I guess it helped me return to a path were I feel happy and at home.
Yew trees are a reminder that I have not lost that capacity and that I am slowly getting it back; may be it was just that particularly yew tree. Who knows…getting very enthusiastic about all it all now…

Love
Luisa

[Ainevar]

Pine is my friend i guess. I also am partial to Maple. Then Oak and Birch. The best tree ever is Pear. Food, shade and a good place to sit is on there branches.

[sarah]

Birch is for me, but then the area I used to live in had alot of birch tree's and not many of any others in the woods, When I was younger I used to go in the woods when i was upset and sit next to a tree or a hill and just felt comforted and at peace .. I also like pine trees and oak.

[Leaflady]

Two trees in particular. One is a special oak tree who always makes me feel safe and as if I'm in "the right place". She is the kind of being that, when you are with her, that is always the right place to be.

Like Luisa I used to talk to trees a lot when I was small... then later a different world view took over. I got involved in Christianity, first as a Catholic and then as an Orthodox Christian. A very "fundamentalist" branch of it... only someone who has been in it will really understand this! - although there are plenty of other spiritual ways with the same 'flavour'.

The thing is, I really believed that the world is "fallen"... it was not a very cheerful view. But it was dogmatically correct .
We were supposed to be focussed on saving our souls and on the next life.

So... every Saturday night and every Sunday morning, I would go off on the long, long walk (2 miles) to church... where I would stand through the long, long services (like, 4-5 hours) and then walk home.

For some reason I started to get depressed after a few years. I mean, very despondent. I thought it was a temptation and it would go away if I tried harder.

In a little park beside the road on which I walked to go to church, and to take my kids to school and do the shopping, there is a small tree - an ornamental plum tree of an Asian variety. She is between two small apple trees, but she is the most beautiful. I was drawn to her beauty and would often look at her. Then I got the feeling that she was watching me. Her watching became more and more insistent. I felt she wanted to communicate. Some days it was so strong that I would stand for several minutes and be late for wherever I was going. One day I said to her, "You know, if you keep this up, I'm going to have to quit going to church. People don't talk to trees there." It wasn't long after that that I crossed the road and asked her, "All right, what is it that you want to tell me?"

She said: Life is here. It's not in heaven. It's here. You are missing it!

I believed her. And now I'm here.

Vapour Trail - that is amazing that a tree gave you a riddle.

[shirley mclaren]

I have been fortunate to converse with oaks and yew so far. The first oak was absolutely fizzing with rage as a hot dog van had set up by the side of it. Conversely, another oak tree I encountered in a layby off a main road, was directly above a permanent hot dog stand. It was covered in soot, and I felt so sorry for it, I asked it how did it feel about this intrusion. To my surprise, it was quite happy and loved seeing the many people who visited the hot dog stand! Recently I had the priviledge to stand inside an ancient oak's hollow trunk and it felt so safe and secure. However, my most serious encounter so far is with an ancient yew at Kingley Vale. This tree and I formed such a bond, it took me way back in time and I was really upset to leave it. I was almost in tears. However, I got a clear "go away" from a local yew recently. Trees can be so blunt at times!

BB

Shirley

[ennys]

Pines are my trees And I love gorse and broom as well (especially at the moment after I've just met the gorse again), but those are no 'trees', are they?
I still like them a lot, gorse smells like coconut and its colour is so happy and friendly...about pine I have already written a lot.
Once I tried to hug a gorse, thinking it was broom...Not a funny experience :P

What is spruce?

[Hennie]

Whitebeam and almost any tree from the Rowan family. They have intrigued me since childhood, feeding their berries, caught in "fat-balls", to the birds in the garden of my parents.

[Dryadia2]

...What is spruce?

Spruce are evergreen trees related to pines, firs, etc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce
http://www.naturehills.com/catalog/tree ... trees.aspx
http://www.trees-online.co.uk/0-0-c-310_140.html

Here are a couple of pics I took of a Red Spruce (Picea rubens) in the Smoky Mts. of Tennessee, USA





/|\

[Aengus]

For me it is the coastal redwoods along the California coast (Sequoia Sempervirens). This kinship started during my first camping trip as a child. My parents and I went to Big Basin Redwoods State Park http://www.bigbasin.org/ located in the Santa Cruz mountains just outside of Santa Cruz California. These ancient gods spoke to me the moment I first laid my eyes upon them. This was the time I started down my pagan journey, even though I didn't know it at the time. I knew that there was something special about these massive ancients. Ever since then my relationship with them has grown and to this day when I go to visit them they welcome me home. I don't really know how to discribe it, they're just magical. If any of you have the chance I strongly recomend visiting these beauties. Maybe you too will find a kinship among the ancients.

Adam /|\

[oakelf66]

For me the most powerful tree is ''my old oaktree''. I visit her as much as I can. But I live in the western part of my country and she's in the north. When I go there, I sit down by her and tell her what's on my mind and ask for help when I need it. She speaks to me. Always very honest. We know eachother for 9 years now. Last year, I was in the north but I did not visit her, just drove by and thought ''I visit her another time..later..tomorrow...busy, busy" for weeks....Till the last night of my holiday, I went for a walk in the full moonlight with my husband and at last visited the old oaktree. I think she was a bit grumpy about me not visiting her more while I was in the neighbourhood because an oak branch on the ground went between my feet and smacked me down to the earth under the oak. There I was, face down to the earth in the full moonlight. But I immediately understood the meaning of it! As if the tree said: a little more respect next time! And she was very, very right about that! Can't wait to see her in April....We are still good friends!

[Nicholaas]

A particular Maple tree in the yard of my childhood home. It has stood untouched, growing, for years. My mother still lives in the house, and I visit her few times a week at least. During the summer and fall, I often find myself in the yard under this tree. I look eye-to-bark with branches that, years ago, I had to get running starts just to be able to touch. I remember what path I took to climb it, what branches cradled me perfectly and comfortably. I have watched the leaves turn and fall Autumn after Autumn, the bare branches bend slightly under the weight of Winters in Maine. And come Spring, I always look to this tree first for sign of budding leaves. This tree, and all the others enclosing the yard, represent home to me. If I feel the urge to sit beneath a tree, this is the one I end up under. I've never had trees "speak" to me, but I always leave walk out from under it's canopy with a feeling of peace and calm. And I can't wait to see its leaves grown and green this Spring.

[Vapour Trail]

Well, you turn your back for five minutes and people come along and write the most incredible things!

LeafLady - I was really taken by your story about the 'pull' of trees. I have felt this too, and it was so sweet that you were so lovingly re-directed along a more fruitful path. I bet you feel now like that was the most right thing you've ever done?

I noticed with interest that the plum tree was between two apple trees. I have an apple tree in my back garden that has two young plum trees near to it, and a small pear tree. Together they link energies (they can be dowsed) and I rest my staff in the boughs of this apple tree, as it has a very nurturing quality, and I trust it will look after it.

The riddle that the old oak gave me was what drew me into druidry completely. I thought at the time, "If this is the kind of fun you can have, solving riddles and talking to trees, then count me in!" I've not looked back since.My life has simply become more fulfilling and more rewarding than I could sensibly expect. I'll always thank the trees for that.

Shirley - it made me laugh when you said "trees can be so blunt sometimes". My friend Kal has a somewhat...boisterous ego, shall we say? He tried to talk to an old oak once and it quite categorically refused to speak! The vibes that were created! Well, he was as popular as a stripper at a vicar's tea party I couldn't stop laughing.

OakElf - your picture is stunning. You've really captured its majesty. I can't wait for Spring to get into full flow now.

Thank you all for adding your personal stories and knowledge. Recently I feel that trees have so much to offer us that I'm embarrassed at how little time I spend with them.
The trees must be here to save the planet - converting us all to druidry!!!

[Griffin]

I think one of the most amazing encounters I've ever had with a tree was also one of the most dramatic.

I was riding a scrambler motorbike along a trail at the top of the mountain behind my house when we both managed a slow motion slip and met the ground in painful fashion. I thought at first my right shoulder had been damaged 'cos it hurt (somewhat). Eventually I wiggled it around a bit and, finding nothing grated, told myself sternly to pull my right leg out from under the bike. On doing so I found it bent spectacularly in all the wrong places, even with bike boots on .......

And suddenly I decided I didn't like the energy around where I had fallen one little bit ....

But there was a magnificent beech tree standing a few hundred yards away with the most amazing auric halo of gold reaching out towards me. It was so warm and welcoming I actually managed to crawl (awkwardly and slowly) all the way into the comfort and protection of it. I just sat there and waited for rescue, pondering the flood of endorphins and bizarre lack of pain and simultaneously loving the tree.

Tree and I still have a good relationship ... but it took a while before I could visit it again as it's three miles up a steep and rocky mountainside away from my house. These days I walk, having reached the (inevitable) conclusion that some people have no talent for motorbikes and that I resided firmly within their number.

[Maurista]

I've communed with trees my whole life. I've had several that I've been close to. I loved this huge blue spruce we had when I was growing up that was a haven for all the wild life around. Also a maple that I tended from a seed. I grew up in Pennsylvania. Now I live in California, and the trees are different. The first tree out here to speak to me, and frankly it's no contest for me when it comes to communing with trees, is the Redwood. At Muir Woods, about an hour from where I live, I hike through and talk to the 900+ year old trees. Enormous, majestic, straight and noble. There's a redwood grove about a 10 minute drive from my house. These are 2nd growth trees as the old growth ones were logged about 150 years ago, but the forest speaks to me. It's quickly become one of my most favorite places in the world.

[shirley mclaren]

Mine is the Yew. A couple of years ago I visited Kingley Vale which is full of ancient yews to perform the Autumn Equinox ceremony (solo). I had the greatest, but terrifying connection with a massive ancient yew, and I will forever hold the greatest respect for them. Their great power is amazing.

BB

Shirley

[Badger Bob]

For me it is hawthorn, I have spent many a happy afternoon splashing and pleatching a row of hawthorns into a good hedge. When you really get to know them they stop digging their thorns into you and become pliable and friendly, a really good hedger doesn't need to use gloves (I do but I'm a bit of a wimp). For me Hawthorn is a really good mood-lifter, I feel happier when I am around it and it makes me feel at home. Lovely stuff...