Tree Hugging
 
Where The World Meets™
 
by Jenny Smedley
LONG AGO, PEOPLE BELIEVED IN ANIMISM, WHEREBY EVERYTHING HAS A SOUL, EVEN IF IT WAS NOT ANIMATED; EVERY ROCK, EVERY WATER DROPLET, EVERY PLANT, ANIMAL AND PERSON, SHARED ONE THING: ‘THE POSSESSION OF A SOUL’. the communal soul
The answer lies in trees. Trees have always been seen as a conduit between creatures on the ground and that which lies ‘out there’. Tree hugging has been looked upon variously ‘with faith and with ridicule’. But you can carry out your own test. Go to a wood and select an area where there are several healthy and several dead trees. Get a friend to blindfold you, and then lead you randomly to the trees. Following the procedure below, you will soon discover that so long as you remain open, you can tell the difference between ‘live’ and ‘dead’ trees quite easily.
 
Once you have selected your tree, whether by birth date or just by being aesthetically pleased by its appearance, stand right up to it and put your arms around it as far as you can. At first, all you will be aware of is the rough bark under your fingers, and beneath your cheek where you rest your face against it. Your sense of smell will gradually be heightened, and the tree’s ‘golden’ slightly tarry scent will go right to your brain. Slowly, you will start to feel a beat, a ‘throbbing’ deep within the tree as its sap rises up into the leaves. If the tree is a healthy one, this beat will be very strong, especially in the spring and early summer. There is another energy peak when the fruit is being produced. In the winter, even a strong tree will be more quiescent. In a weak tree, at any time it will be fainter. And of course, a dead tree will have nothing at all. If you maintain your close contact and continue to concentrate, you will gradually feel your own energy melding with that of the tree, drawing you in, allowing your energies to become one.
 
Gradually, you will start to feel your senses change and heighten as you become aware of a white light with your inner eye coming from the other trees around the one that you are hugging. You will sense the grass at your feet growing. After even longer, your senses will stretch out like fingertips and start to go deeper into the Earth. You will feel the roots of the tree burrow downwards, seeking water. Your senses will start to spread and encompass more and more around you; trees, plants and sometimes even animals. You may even connect with a bird or a squirrel that is above you in the tree, sharing its fears, its hunger or thirst.
 
Once you achieve a really deep level, your spirit will soar up into the sky, passing through the clouds and the blue, through the atmospheric barrier and into the black of space. You will feel your soul whirl among the stars there, seeking its own roots and beginnings. We are all made of ‘star stuff’ and you will feel your heart swell with joy as you understand the magnitude of your being. Your spirit will grow and stretch up towards the sun, and you will feel its heat in your soul. You will spread sideways, reaching to far off galaxies, like a behemoth in an ocean of light.
 
Sometimes, it will be difficult to come back and break the connection. The hugging will always leave you emotionally spent, and yet refreshed at the same time. You will feel privileged to have been allowed to share another being’s energy, and to be carried by it to other realms.
HOLLY: July 8 – August 4 HAZEL: August 5 – September 1 VINE: September 2 – September 29 IVY: September 30 – October 27 REED: October 26 – November 24 ELDER: November 25 – December 22 NAMELESS DAY: December 23 BIRCH: December 24 – January 20 ROWAN: January 21 – February 17 ASH: February 18 – March 17 ALDER: March 18 – April 14 WILLOW: April 15 – May 12 HAWTHORN: May 13 – June 9 OAK: June 10 – July 7 ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND ‘THAT BY COMMUNING WITH A TREE, YOU CAN COMMUNE WITH THE WHOLE UNIVERSE’.
It isn’t essential, but can help to choose a tree that corresponds with your birth date.
 
SO, HOW DOES ONE TAP INTO THE UNIVERSAL CONSCIOUSNESS IN THIS MODERN ERA WHERE OUR FOCUS IS ALMOST ALWAYS ON THE MATERIAL, RATHER THAN THE ESOTERIC? EVOLUTION IS NO ACCIDENT. IT IS ORCHESTRATED.
 
SUBSCRIBE Where The World Meets™
Jenny Smedley is the Author of “The Tree That Talked”, a  thought provoking and uplifting book. Visit  www.jennysmedley.com
“TREE FACE” Photo Image. Location: Wanniassa Hills, Australian Capital Territory, Australia.
 
Available from O Books
www.o-books.com
This connection with the planet will make you understand your own part in the Universe, and you will never feel alone or abandoned so long as you have access to a tree’s spirit.
Trees are very complex entities, and much more like animals than you might think. Their intelligence, while different to man’s ‘being hormone and chemically based’ is nevertheless quite capable of analysing problems and finding solutions. For instance, trees that exist in windswept positions will grow stronger and develop a wider base than trees in calm areas.
 
If a tree is overcome by an invasion of insects, it will react by making smaller and less attractive leaves, so that the caterpillars or bugs go seeking better feasts elsewhere.
 
The changing seasons present no mysteries for these arboreal beings, because they know that reduced daylight hours mean that autumn and then winter are coming, causing them to instigate leaf fall.
 
Trees evolve very quickly to adapt to situations, such as producing aerial roots that can process salt water, and creating barrel sized rain reservoirs in their trunks to store rainwater in mainly dry areas. They also quickly form symbiotic relationships with other life forms, such as fungi to help them survive even on virtually bare rocks.
 
ADVERTS MASTHEAD ARCHIVES CONTACT HOME COVER LIM VIDEOS TERMS
Copyright © 2005-2008 LALLOUZ INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission  is prohibited. I Terms and Conditions