energy healing

Do you feel trapped?

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Amazing roots

Amazing roots

K of Omaha, NE wonders

Q. Do you ever feel like you’re trapped because you are rooted to the ground?

A. I have chosen this life as a tree. Being rooted, sending my roots effortlessly toward the center of our magnificent mother, the earth, is simply who I am. I would not trade my rootedness, my anchor, my stability, my station in this life for anything.

This particular place where I am rooted is my home and will be throughout this lifetime. Here in this place all I need is freely given to me. The radiant life-giving sunlight from dawn to dusk each day – always the soft air, each day with a new quality, sometime mist and cloud, sometimes full on bright powerful heated light; the pink sunsets, purple and gold.; the colors of light that bathe me in their life giving energies and feed the countless leaves on my crown, sending the stuff of life coursing throughout my entire structure. Some days, the shimmering rains come, the lightning and thunder, followed by birdsong. These fragrant rains that soak my roots and feed every cell of my being are freely given. To receive these gifts is simply to be alive.

Perhaps your two legged self cannot imagine the exhilaration, the delight of my life, the expansion, the satisfaction, the joy, the awareness of all that is, the tuning in to the subtle energies of life beyond what humans can sense because my life experience is so different than yours.

You were created to move freely, to journey, to seek your daily bread in various ways. Many of you are restless in your movements and unsettled. Your lives are more complicated, take more maintenance than the life of a tree.

When your lives overwhelm you, take a breath and imagine yourself as a tree. Send your roots down to the core of the earth. Breathe life giving earth energies in to your center and allow your awareness to expand upward, riding a shaft of sunlight, or the trunk of a tree, opening into full expansion and delight at your crown.

Whatever life path you choose with your ease of movement, remember to stay rooted in your true purpose here on this sweet green earth that needs you and your gifts. Then you can expand with confidence and ease into you true nature. Be proudly who and what you were born to be. Take delight in the life your have created for yourself within the limits of your physical self.

Supporting a teenager

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June grasses

June grasses

C of central Iowa asks:

Q. What is the best way to continue to be a supportive person in a teenager’s life? How can I bring encouragement to my niece who is facing a possible chronic disease?

A. When you are apart from your niece and feeling good in yourself, simply hold her in the light of your heart. No words, no outward actions are necessary. See her at her shining best. See her in perfect health. See her glowing with happiness. See her higher self.

When you are with her in person, simply be with her with no expectations, only acceptance without fear, judgment or worry. Know her to be the shining radiance that is at the center of her being. See the best in her and of her. Do not say “Poor you.” Set the tone for the energy you want between you. In this way you will give her an idea of what is possible for her. In this way, my dear, you reweave the web of all that is – beginning in your heart.

Remember, your energy affects those around you. There is no faking it with energy. Your niece will read your energy like a book, so do this when you feel good and the good feelings will grow.

Emotions

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Flowing stream

Flowing stream

E of central Iowa asks:

Q. How do you interpret human emotions from your tree’s perspective?

A. I see colors and light around people. Some are bright, some flowing and sparkling, some are dull and gray, some seem stuck and stagnant. It can appear like a rainbow or dark clouds enveloping the body.

What you call emotions is a flow, an energy that is meant to move and constantly changes and refreshes like a swiftly moving stream. If the stream slows and stops flowing in places, the water becomes unhealthy, smelly, ugly. It is just so with the energies of emotion that move through you.

If you stop the flow of your emotions by swallowing, ignoring, stuffing, denying, hiding, or lying about them, they will eventually cause unease within you and perhaps a stagnation of the body. They are energy and can’t be destroyed. They will not go away even if you don’t like them and don’t want them. Those you hide from yourself will eat you alive unless you learn to accept them all and thereby accept and love yourself – the entire spectrum of who you are from the intense red of anger to the sparkling violet of pure love and joy.

Know and love yourself, for you and all your energies are beloved.

Prayer of gratitude

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Light and dark

Light and dark

S of Ames, Iowa has asked GCW to create a prayer for gratitude and healing for the earth.

A. My dear S, thank you for your thoughtful request.

Prayer:

I open my heart to the fullness, the vastness of all that is, knowing I am an integral part of the whole; knowing that every thought I think, every feeling, every action I take affects the web of all that is and creates the world I see before me.

I know that healing the earth begins with healing myself from the inside out! Therefore, I tune myself to the joy, the beauty, the love that is at the center of my being. I feel it and let it flow through me and outward into all that is. This sacred energy that originates within me flows outward to create new patterns in the web of life, reweaving and refreshing all that once seemed broken.

I now feel in my core a gratitude for our magnificent earth, and every particle that exists in the universe including myself, my thoughts, feelings, my physical manifestation. All of me! I allow this gratitude to grow and increase, and fill me with sacred light until it can no longer be contained within me and it spills outward to fill the vastness of all that is, to the far reaches of the universe, and comes back to me again in the great circle of love that is the foundation of our being.

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.

What is the greatest gift for our children?

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Girl and her fairy house

A girl and her fairy house

L of Ames Iowa asks:

Q. What is the greatest need of our children? What is the greatest gift we can provide our children?

A. My dear L, every child ever born needs the loving energy , the all encompassing energy of abiding love from parents, caregivers, and those who spend time in their presence. For this is life-giving energy as rain and sunshine are to a flower. It is the mirror of their wholeness. It is the blueprint for their growth as human beings.

If you take care of a child whose parents can’t provide these things, your full presence as a mirror of their inner light is what is most needed. Be the light with them. They will know it and feel it.

Have you not seen a child shy away from a person who has closed their heart? The child can feel and knows that this lack of flowing energy, this void, is hurtful to them, and they are right to turn away.

Along with the life-giving energy of great love, children need a connection- a palpable daily connection with the mother of all creatures, all life forms, our beautiful planet earth. Every child must know the earth which sustains all living things. GCW sees and feels many children in homes of synthetic materials, staring into the blue light of a moving screen, interacting with colorful “educational toys” separated from the flow, the throb and pulse of life on their home planet. They will feel like strangers here until they connect with the earth and its creatures.

GCW also sees much fear of the earth’s cycles and nature. Many of you fear the heat of summer, the cold of winter, driving snow, stormy winds. I see others who fear or dislike insects, dirt, and what you call weeds. Fear only begets more fear and becomes magnified in the minds of those who learn by example. They feel such sorrow and grief at the great separation from their home, the earth.

The gifts of love and time to connect with the earth are not expensive and they bless the giver as well as the receiver. Blessings flow to the web of all creation with joyful expansion. Bless you for your caring work!

Expanding consciousness

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K of Ames, Iowa wants to know:

Q. How can we humans expand our consciousness?

A. Simple. Stop doing those things that limit you and hold you back! You are created to expand beyond what you can imagine… That is your natural state of being, your birthright. As soon as you let go of the rope, the hot-air balloon will soar! You are primed for flight. Humans so easily tie themselves up with unhappy thoughts, false beliefs, unexpressed emotions, unexamined fears… All these are like boulders weighing you down. They keep you from the ultimate exhilaration of free and powerful expansion.

The belief that holds you back more than any other is the belief that you can’t change your beliefs!

Think of yourself as the leading edge of a wave breaking gently on the wet sand. Can you allow yourself this much freedom? Can you dive in with a joyful heart and let the power of the wave carry you forward?

Ask for what your heart desires. Let go of what’s holding you back. Ride the wave. Repeat! Trust in the power that unfolds within you, the same power at the heart of every seed, every egg, every pulse of earth’s energy. You have at your core the imprint of expansion. This is your driving purpose! Each to his or her own heart’s center of gravity. Hold yourself back, and you wither and die.

There is no end to the expansion of all that is. And you my dear, are an integral part of the whole. You are wanted, needed, desired. You belong here in this time and place. Now you must let go of the shore and fly! No arguments.

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!

How can I help the environment?

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Q. D of Des Moines, Iowa would like suggestions on how to focus her energy for the benefit of the environment.

A. Do what is needed for your own inner healing and your own deep benefit and the ripples you create will move outward to heal the environment and your world. Give yourself all that you need – care, nurturing, love, rest, play, admiration, appreciation, good food and water. Surround yourself with loving family and friends. Know that you are inseparable from your surroundings. Your feelings and, emotions are mirrored in your world.

Where are you stuck? Where and how do you allow toxic thoughts and substances to enter your experience? Witness with compassion and see how your inner personal experience is mirrored in your outer world. Clean up that which you have control over – your thoughts and reactions. Forgive those who don’t deserve it, so you can be clear and at peace.

Let go of old resentments and free yourself to take flight with a lightness and clarity you have long desired. Remember always to look within for the healing you seek in others and in your environment. Every thought, every action, every blink of your eyes, every emotion, is reflected in the web of creation in which all things are one.

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.