The secret lives of trees

Grass yards

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Weeds?

J of Ames Iowa wants to know:

Q. What urban practices (for example, having grass yards) would you like to see stopped?

Betty’s note: GCW has provided two answers to this question. The second answer will appear in the next post.

A. Having a simple plot of grass harms no-one. It is harmful to the web when only grass, only a particular look, feel and texture (a fictional carpet of green) is valued above all else – when all out chemical warfare is waged on all that is not-grass. This achieves a look and texture that has nothing to do with nature’s intention.

To achieve what some think of as perfection, foreign substances are introduced that poison the water and harm the life of the soil. Must humans wage constant war? If not with other humans, then with growing things; if not with growing things, then with drugs; if not with drugs, then with ideas you don’t like…or the weather… Are you not exhausted from this constant fighting and pushing against what is?

Nature is a balanced web of diverse life-forms thriving together. Those who want the “look” might as well throw a synthetic carpet of green over the soil as some have done! Do not try this at home! This practice cheapens the miraculous process of life – deeply complex and beautiful and joyous, into nothing but surface appearance. I am here to tell you to look and feel beneath the surface of things. Slow down and feel with your hearts, listen with your entire being to the miracle of life on this magnificent planet! Learn to work in harmony with the web in which all things are one, for you too are a integral part of this glorious universe!

Tree swings and tree houses

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Tree swing

Backyard tree swing

S of Nevada, Iowa wants to know:

Q. What advice do you have for us humans? Do you mind if people hang a swing on you? What about “tree houses”?

A. My dear S, the earth and all it inhabitants rejoice with the child swinging in the shade of a loving tree. We feel the joy, the wave-like rhythm of life, the peace and contentment that sings in the child’s energy! The world needs more tree swings!

Are you not tempted to reclaim the easy freedom, the pure bliss of living in the eternal oneness of the moment as you did when you were small? Start swinging! Trees far and wide welcome all beings who come with respect and wish to bathe for a time in our energy, to climb, swing, share a hug, lean in, and even to build a house that is in harmony with our structure and exist in the ever present now that is life itself.

We wish for you to know the love that we have for you, for you to know us as friends, allies, guardians. To know the rootedness and heavenly reach, the patience, the contentment we can teach if you will open your hearts to it. Come and be with us, whole-heartedly, and we will return the favor.

Grandmother Cottonwood’s prescription for pure joy: Install a tree swing. Invite a child. Take your turn as well.

Tree communication

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Sunlit sycamore framed by Grandmother Cottonwood

Sunlit sycamore framed by Grandmother Cottonwood

D of Ames Iowa wants to know:

Q. How can someone open up to communicate with your fellow trees?

A. Choose a tree that you feel drawn to. Allow your heart’s energy to expand as you ask to communicate with it. You do not need to be near the tree. Your heart’s energy and your intention to communicate tap into the energy of the tree, no matter where it is.

Allow yourself to be filled with the images, words, feelings, emotions, or sounds that emerge. Simply be open and be aware. Listen to the whisperings and offerings of the tree with your entire being. Receive all that is given with your full awareness. You may simply receive a feeling, without words or “content”. Pay attention!

Trees wish to communicate and be known. We wish to have our reality and our needs expressed and described, for you would be amazed at the secret lives we live that you and your motorcycle roaring, cell phone talking, truck driving, mall shopping, TV watching humans have no idea exists. Awareness of our reality will expand yours and make the world a friendlier place for all!

Expand your hearts and minds. Tune into our wavelength and become aware of the wonder, the intricate balance, the world beyond your senses and imagination that we inhabit! RIGHT UNDER YOUR NOSES! We are honored by your request and will fulfill it for you. We wish to have all humans know the magnificence of this earth and all creatures who form the great community of life forms that is this loving planet earth.

Emerald Ash Borer

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Ash tree bark

Ash tree bark

J of Ames, Iowa asks:

Q. Emerald Ash borer: How would trees help and/or cure their fellow trees? What are humans doing wrong concerning this disease? Can we heal these trees with our healing energy thoughts?

A. As trees, we see these voracious insects as a reflection of an imbalance. The web in which all things are one reflects a predatory energy that acknowledges no reality beyond itself, that has no respect for balance, no feeling of belonging to a larger community of life forms. All creatures must consume to live, but within the boundaries of balance and regeneration of all living things.

Where in your human made world is there an energy like this? Where do you see this within yourself, within your community? Have you not seen the earth movers and the bulldozers destroy an entire meadow and wooded valley to buildings can spring up almost overnight, concrete paved over, smothering the living soil so those humans who set this into motion may enrich themselves in monetary worth? Perhaps you can think of other examples of this energy that knows only itself, that knows no empathy or compassion. These actions indicate a poverty of spirit, a misunderstanding of the web of life in which all things are one.

Enriching only oneself while destroying life – that is what the ash borer reflects to you. So many of you look on with horror as millions of trees are killed and abandoned while the next meal is sought.

Horror, sorrow, sadness, hurt and anger are reflected back to you as are love, kindness and compassion, so choose what you transmit. This is your earth. Our earth. You, each and every one of you are an integral power source in the magnificent web of creation.

You can fill the web with powerful feeling of love for all of life. Focus on life-giving emotions and joy for the magnificence of what we do have. That will be reflected back to you ten-fold.

Has GCW lost her marbles?

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S, last seen living in Iowa asks:

Q. What is it like to get old and have lost your marbles?

A. By marbles do you mean little hardened blobs of accumulated knowledge all packaged in assorted colors; smarts you can take out, roll around and impress your friends with their color and shininess; or glassy balls of fossilized knowledge fit for a museum exhibit? Just wondering…

I’m proud to say I’ve never owned a marble and I don’t wish to start collecting shiny objects now! That is a hobby for crows… Besides, how can I lose something I’ve never had? The two-legged one tells me that marbles are shiny, pretty, colorful, long lasting ball shaped objects that make lovely clicking noises as they come together in a bag or bowl.

I feel for you if you have lost your shine, what you consider your prettiness, your fun, your bright bold colors and think that is what happens as you get older! Even if you define yourself by the lack or sufficiency of marbles in your life, you can go out and buy more, can you not? Or find those you think you’ve lost. Sweep under the piano, the bed. They’ll roll out to greet you again. Nothing is ever lost!

Dearest S, I believe you think getting “old” is a problem. Think of all that you’ve gained a a result of your age! You are magnificent in your wisdom and power, your passion for living just as I am! Yes, I have dropped some branches that were once a vital part of me, I’ve been damaged by high winds, an asphalt path has been paved over some of my roots, I’ve observed insects dining on my leaves, seen many companions send down their first roots, then by and by grow old, decline, and die. But I would not trade this temporary life in tree form for any shiny object that would promise eternal youth. Look in the mirror and love who you are! Love the feelings that course through your veins for this is your essence. Feel the joy! Without your marbles my dear, you are so much more fun and light-hearted!

What happens to tree spirits?

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M of Central Iowa asks:

Q. What happens to the tree spirit when the tree gets hit by lightning or breaks because of ice?

A. When a tree dies by lighting, ice damage, a smothering vine, is uprooted by a flooded stream, or cut at the base by humans, or any other of the myriad forms of physical death, the spirit does not die.

No spirit can ever die. Spirit = pure energy… remember your high school science lessons? Energy cannot be destroyed! Tree spirits are freed after the death of their physical aspect to enjoy the buoyancy and freedom the pure bliss of existence without a material presence, beyond the reach of the seasons, of day and night, of freeze and thaw, of woodworm, of leaf rollers, bark borers, herbicides, fires, flood, and bulldozers. All manner of physical ills are no longer of any consequence and are left behind as easily as a cottonwood seed is carried on a spring breeze.

By and by a tree spirit or a group of spirits may once again recreate the ancient cycle of life on this magnificent planet and envelop a seed or a raft of seeds and choose the beauty, the brilliant unfolding, and yes, the uncertainty of physical existence. To live in this way and feel the expansion of life through our cells, the pull of the sun and the earth is glorious!

Tree spirits and all spirits are an integral part of the web of all existence. They are to be consulted as you consider the world in which you have your being and make your choices. Each spirit is imprinted with the pattern, the wisdom and knowledge of who were created to be before time began.

Cottonwoods and lightning

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Q. C of Clive, Iowa writes: Tell us about the relationship between cottonwoods and lightning.  2013-01-01 00.00.00-571

A. I come from a long line of magnificent giants. Tall, and stately, we cottonwoods reach to the heavens with joy- a joy and pleasure in the unfolding of our seed’s promise, of becoming what we were created to be. To expand is to be alive! Yet, to be alive is to live with the certainty of death at some unknowable time.

We trees have all lived and died a thousand or more times since the beginning of what you call time. Always accepting the great adventure of life’s invitation and expansion with a YES! Saying yes to life is also saying yes to the risk of a lightning strike and a sudden shocking destruction. We would not limit our reach or height for fear of the white blast of death from the sky. For that would stunt and bastardize our true nature; that would be a betrayal of life itself, of our purpose and potential.

We grow, reaching into the heavens knowing that lightning may strike, yet we endure and continue. If lightning comes, and it does to many, we will exit this lifetime in a blaze of fireworks! We become a fiery bridge of powerful life-giving energy from heaven to earth as the final act of this lifetime.

Why are you speaking?

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A of Des Moines, Iowa asks:

2013-01-01 00.00.00-547Q. Why are you speaking? Do you think, do you feel? Where is this coming from? Trees can’t think & speak…!

A.  My dear A, this is why I need a human helper – to be my voice! I plucked her from the crowd. For one thing, she wasn’t wearing those ear buds or talking into a shiny blinking object. She was tuned into my frequency. She stops to say hello on her walks. She can feel my energy. She is paying attention. I plucked your translator from the crowd of walkers, joggers, cell phone talkers, day dreamers, worriers with furrowed brows, and people who seem contained within their own cranium.  The only difference between her and all the others is she’s paying attention!

My energy frequency contains the information she translates into your words. I trust her to “hear me” and make my transmissions intelligible to you.

I am doing this inter-species communication to express to all who listen the deep abiding joy of life in this exact moment in this exact place! I see that so many of your kind have forgotten the oneness, the joy, the flow that is at the heart of life. You must know how miraculous you are, how all that is longs for you and desires you, how blessed you are to be a part of the sweet unfolding of life.

There is a great upwelling of what you call joy in me, and in all living things. This is our birthright for the privilege of living on planet earth, this magnificent community of life forms. I must – my mission is to communicate this to you and those who will hear. This is why I speak through the 2 legged one; for you and our shared planet, for remembrance of oneness and that all beings may know their wholeness once again.

Become a tree whisperer

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H of central Texas wants to know…

Q. Will the roots of the burr oak I planted last year ever become entangled with our house?2013-01-01 00.00.00-80

A. The tree you have so lovingly planted and cared for, tended and nurtured is meant to grow, both up toward the sun and downward into the richness of the soil, pulled by the gravity of earth’s sacred center.

You worry about the house foundation being broken apart at some time by the reaching and expansion of the roots. The tree is settling in, the new roots feeling their way this spring. This growth cannot be dictated, controlled, or stopped unless by death or other drastic means. However, you can communicate with the tree by your actions and thoughts. Ask it to send its roots where you want them to be, show it by your food, water, what you would wish it to become and where you would wish the roots to grow. Your thoughts have power. Make friends with the tree, learn its language. Become a tree whisperer! Find out what it needs and wants.

The great unfolding of life once begun cannot be pulled back, but you may be able to affect the outcome by your gentle persuasion. Remember to ask for what you do want, not what you don’t want. The tree will read your thoughts and actions. It may comply with your wishes, or it may not! Send love to the tree. It will thrive!

Do trees feel emotion?

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A of central Iowa wonders

Q.  Do you experience emotion?

A.  I experience a moment to moment adjustment and adaptation to the filament-fine nuances of all t2013-01-01 00.00.00-498hat is. The web of existence in which all living things, all humans, all spirits, all planets, stars and galaxies, all particles of soil, all rocks, have a part. Every decaying pine needle on the forest floor, every hair that has fallen from your head, every particle of dust all have their place in this web. All is accounted for.

Emotion for humans is a moving energy that constantly shifts and changes based on your thoughts, that is meant to flow, to teach, to enlighten, to show you what matters to you. If you pay attention you can feel these emotions in your body. They are inseparable from who you are.

I too experience moving energy, but of a different sort. Energy is transported from my roots deep in the earth with the to the topmost leaves of my crown. Then the energy of the sun flows from my leaves down through my branches and trunk to the earth. I am a column, a channel of 2 way moving energy; a pathway between heaven and earth. I experience a state of acute awareness to the web of all that is through this moving energy. It feels expansive and alive and good and you might define this as love.

In the eternal present, I simply am.