Clara and the Sacred Magic of Trees

 

Once upon a time in a land not so far away, lived a young girl called Clara. Clara was very caring and sweet and was well loved by her classmates. But there was one troublesome thing in Clara's life, when she was born something was wrong with her spine so that her back was bent over. Because of this Clara was unable to walk straight and tall like all the other girls and boys.

One day in school the teacher asked the class to discuss their family trees.

"My family tree is the Birch" said Alba excitedly, "it's the one on the western path out of town."

"And mine is the Oak tree in our farmyard" piped up another little boy called Grun.

"I have two" said a third girl, Tiara, “the Fig from my mothers line, and the Quandong from my fathers. They grow side by side in the forest near our home.”

“Mine is the big tall Grevillea tree” piped in Candela, “Mama says that it connects to all the other Grevillea trees on earth making a web of connection across the land and strengthening each and every Grevillea tree.”

“That's right Candela, each species does the same thing, strengthening its own kind by staying connected” nodded the teacher.

When it came around to Clara, she was puzzled. She knew her family tree was the Pine tree, but where was it? She didn't know.

"But why don’t you know where it is?" said Grun, “how do you heal when you are sick?”

Clara looked even more confused. The teacher started to explain.

"Trees store our DNA. Each tree contains many, many peoples DNA woven together into stories and destinies that intertwine like a tapestry. Different tree species hold the destinies and DNA of different family lines – like yours, Alba, is the Birch tree.

If you could see inside the trunk into the magical part of the tree, you would see what looks like a spiraling web, a little like the double helix of DNA but with many more strands. These are all the interwoven strands of you and your ancestors, all those in your ancestral tree.

If you think of an Oak tree, this ancestral spiral weaves up through the trunk and births lots of little acorns that have a short life and then drop to the ground and die or are eaten up by animals. People are like acorns. We are born and we die, but the ancestral line lives on, just like the tree keeps living when the acorns fall off.

And just like Candela said, each tree species (like the Grevillea or the Quandong) connects with every other tree in the same species creating a big invisible web across the country. Just like you are connected to each person in your family even when they are far away.

Being close to your tree puts you back in alignment with your original blueprint, your original DNA. So if you are sick it is a great place to go to remember who you started out to be, to remember your whole self again. Just sitting next to the tree is enough as you start to resonate with your blueprint again.”

Clara went home that night to ask her parents about her ancestral tree. Her mother smiled, sat Clara on her lap and started to tell her the story.

“Our family tree is the Pine tree. The Pine is a magical tree. It’s inner spiral system looks like a galaxy of stars. In the dark moon of the winter solstice, when we are in the darkest and most inward time of the year, you can sometimes see the starry lights shining out of it if you are very quiet and still. This is why at Yule time, in the deep, dark of winter, people decorate the pine tree with sparkly lights as a reminder of the starry galaxy within.”

“But Mama, where is our tree? I want to visit it so I can fix my back and stand straight again.”

Her mama’s face clouded over and she looked sad.

“Clara” she said, “maybe it is time to tell you. Just before you were born, while you were still just a bump in my belly, something terrible happened. Some woodchoppers came to the pine forest where our tree was and cut it down with all the others. All that was left was the stump.”

“But, Mama, will I never heal then?”

“Clara, love, there is only one other way and that is to visit the World Tree. The World Tree holds all of the destinies of all the family lines. Where the Pine tree holds our ancestral line, and the Birch tree holds your friend Alba’s, the World Tree holds them all. It is said that a trip to the World Tree may be the only chance at healing if you have lost contact with your own ancestral family tree. But no one knows exactly where it is.”

Clara went to sleep that night wishing she could visit the World Tree.

She wished and prayed with all her heart. And her wish was so strong and so pure, that in her dreams she did travel to the World Tree, riding on a white horse.

After a long, long journey through woods and through valleys, Clara finally arrived at the World Tree. She slid off her horse and crawled along the ground in awe and respect for this amazing tree. It was absolutely enormous and teeming with life. Flocks of birds flew in and out of it and she could see movement among the branches and the occasional eye peering out before ducking within again. And the top! The top of the tree was so high it could not be seen.

As she got close to the tree, a long haired woman in lilac beckoned her to her feet. She flicked water over Clara to cleanse her and Clara knew at once that she must complete a sacred walk around the tree.

She started to walk clockwise around the tree.  Heading towards the left side and, finding a small stream of water she decided to follow it. As she walked, some women came from around the other side. They were wearing hooded blue cloaks and suddenly, so was Clara. She had become one of them. They started to sing and the singing weaved them in and out of each other, winding like a snake around the waterway. 

Clara looked down at her new cloak and realised that someone was unraveling it from the hem upwards. The more their pathway weaved them along following the motion of the song, the more her cloak unraveled. And the more her cloak unraveled, the more Clara's body became pure white light, glowing brightly, until eventually she was like the moon reflected in the black pool that they had arrived at. She gazed into the pool and then even the white light that she had become seemed to melt into the pool until all that was left was a reflection.

"This is the well of wisdom that lies at the bottom of the World Tree" the women whispered to her, and then they were gone.

Clara felt compelled to jump into the pond. The water was fresh and delicious and below the surface it was amazingly beautiful. When she pulled herself out again all her senses were heightened and she gazed in amazement at the colour and light in the world. Standing by the edge of the pool, someone gently guided her back in. This time, she dived deep, deep down, so deep that she could see the roots of the World Tree. Then she went even deeper until the light that was shining through the surface could no longer be seen. She was surrounded in deep blue and darkness. Clara felt the deep space and silence.  She knew she was held and safe.

"It's just like the starry sky" she murmured to herself. And suddenly she knew very clearly that the depths of the ocean and the starry skies were reflections of each other. After a while of floating in this magical silence, she rose back up to the surface and lay on a stone bench beside the pool to rest. A silent voice spoke within her head:

"You have travelled deeply my child. You have been given a drop of the wisdom of the well. Use it well. 
As it is above, so it is below."

Clara continued her journey around the World Tree, now filled with a richness of vision she had never experienced before. 

When she reached the right side of the tree, she was once again joined by some beautiful, ethereal women, filled with light. 

They led her to the Pool of Fate.

"Look inside Clara. Look into the Pool of Fate."

When she looked down into the pool she saw a green pine tree, tall and strong gently waving in the breeze. Before she could question them, one of the women took her hand and guided her to pick up a large bowl with a long handle. She beckoned her to fill it with water from the pool and pour it onto the roots of the World Tree.

Clara watched with amazement as the water travelled down into the roots of the World Tree and then up through the trunk of the tree as light. 

The woman whispered in her ear:

"The pool of fate contains the water that lights up and powers the destiny of the world. That blue light you can see circulating and rising up the trunk has immense power. While your Pine tree holds the destiny of you and your ancestors, the World Tree contains the destiny of the whole world. Continue now, the dreaming chair awaits."

She pointed Clara towards the tree. The woman in lilac was waiting.

“You must wash again before entering the tree. We must cleanse you well.”

Clara was washed and then with a big “wooooosh” she was sent up, up, up through the tree until she came to an abrupt halt at an open section about one third of the way up.

“That must be the dreaming chair” Clara thought to herself. She lay on it and immediately fell into a deep sleep.

When she woke, Clara was back in her bed and the sunlight was shining through the window. She jumped up excited.

“Mama, mama, we have to go to the Pine tree. We have to go there today!”

Clara's mother saw the light in her eyes and decided to take her. 

They journeyed through meadows..... 

...and young pine forest, up the mountain to the ancient pine forest that was now a pile of stumps. 

Her mama led her to one enormous old stump and motioned towards it, filled with grief herself she could not bring herself to join Clara.

Clara sat on the stump and cried. She cried and cried and her tears watered the roots of the tree, and then something magical began to happen. A spiral from deep below the earth began to move and rumble its way to the surface and up through the tree stump and even through Clara herself. It was as if she was completing the long broken circuit. A spiralling galaxy of stars made its way out and up through her and back to the heavens, and just as she had learned the lesson of as above, so below, the same thing was happening in Clara's trunk (or should we say sPine). Thousands and thousands of blocked light beings that had been caught in her spine since before birth began to spiral out of her and Clara found herself standing tall and straight, supple and strong. 

She stretched her arms up into the sky basking in this newfound ability, and as she brought them down again, something caught her eye. With delight, she realised there was a baby pine tree growing out of the stump!

She bent down to touch it, and she heard the voices of the ancient ones speaking to her:

"The Pine tree is evergreen and eternal. Surrender and sacrifice are its fate. With every sacrifice, with each death, there is a birth, a renewal. And with each act of surrender, insight is gained. Your journey for healing and renewal would not have been travelled without a great sacrifice, you have journeyed with this bent back just as the Pine's spine was sacrificed for its wood, and with this path you have gained great wisdom. Insight and wisdom are yours Clara. You and the destiny of the Pine tree are one and the same. The starry sky is within you and without."

                           Story & Photography © Heidi Wedd, 2016

                                           'Tales From a New Earth'

Printed version now available at http://au.blurb.com/b/7418497-clara-and-the-sacred-magic-of-trees 

                              or email: wildflowerangel@gmail.com

                             https://wildflowerwalker.wordpress.com/

                    Many thanks to Kim Leyland, my tree journey guide.