In 1997 the theme the angels inspired me to share in promoting BE AN ANGEL DAY (August 22nd) was “Have a Tree-mendous Be An Angel Day.”
In my talks about the annual angel day celebration I was encouraging audiences – whether I was on the radio, or appearing at lectures - to consider the words of an English proverb:
“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.”
Zoroaster, a Middle Eastern philosopher and religious reformer who lived in the sixth century B.C., taught his students the following law: if you have one child you must plant one tree a month; if you have two children you must plant two trees a month; and if you have ten children you must plant ten trees a month. As soon as the children are grown, it becomes their responsibility to make certain that the multiplying of trees continue so that when these trees grow old, new ones replace them. Zoroaster recognized forests as the greatest natural treasure we have.
The trees are the lungs of the earth. The trees do not exist because of us. We exist because God gave us trees.
Marco Polo shared the story that in traveling through Siberia he met a local tribe that believed the king of their tribe was not of human birth but rather was born from the trees.
In the Druid culture, highly illumined philosophers and priests were referred to as tree men or trees. Legend has it that Alexander the Great spoke to talking trees. Buddha received his illumination while under the bodhi tree near Madras, in India. Trees are mentioned throughout the Old and New Testament.
In my travels I have seen numerous times the Jesse Tree depicted in religious art and illuminated manuscripts. This symbol is derived from the 11th chapter of Isaiah. In this chapter Jesse is shown resting on the ground. From his loins a great tree rises above him. In artistic depictions of the Jesse Tree numerous figures of his descendants are pictured above the tree.
According to St. Matthew this tree was a prophecy of Jesus Christ’s genealogy. At the top of the tree is Mary holding the Christ child. Seven doves surround Christ, representing the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit.
When I was in Chartres I traveled to the celebrated Jesse Tree Window. Its dates back to 1145 A.D.
Additionally, in the Bible we learn God created two trees in Paradise: the tree of knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. Adam and Eve disobeyed God, ate of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and were cast out of the Garden of Eden, thus prevented from ever eating from the tree of life. Christians believe that Christ’s cross became the tree of life and in the early church a tree was often used to symbolize Christ.
Jung researched the symbolism of a tree as an archetypal symbol of a human’s spiritual growth. Jacob Bohme was an earlier messenger of this concept in his book Law’s Figures.
He described a divine tree in man. “A tree with its roots in the heart rises from the Mirror of the Deity through the Sphere of Understanding to branch forth in the Sphere of the Senses. The roots and trunk of this tree represent the divine nature of man and may be called his spirituality: the branches of the tree are the separate parts of the divine constitution and may be likened to the individuality; and the leaves – because of their ephemeral nature – correspond to the personality, which partakes of none of the permanence of its divine source.”
Religious temples were often built in the center of sacred groves because trees were believed to possess divine intelligence and power.
During the Tree-mendous” theme year I offered the suggestion of planting trees wherever there are children, as a symbolic gesture of supporting the future generations of the earth and our desire to leave the earth in better condition than we found it.
Additionally, I encouraged the public to plant a tree in memory of a loved one in heaven. Life is eternal! As trees are planted for the children of the earth and the memory of children in heaven, we are accepting that the circle of life is never broken.
Many people arrange for a tree to be planted in the Holy Land through the organization Trees for the Holy Land, whose motto is “Give trees…Give Life.” Israel is the spiritual and religious homeland for three of the world’ s major religions. The land of Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad. Trees are planted in the Holy Land of Israel in memoriam, in celebration, for churches and groups, for children.
When I was weaving a Star of David grid energy across the United States, an angelic assignment which I explain in detail in Driving Under the Influence of Angels, I fulfilled the service with the help of archangels, angels, saints, and the kingdom of nature.
During the anchoring of the fifth point of the grid in the Northeast United States, I served with the trees of the earth. The trees are the ancient ones on our planet. Trees inspire us to be connected to both heaven and earth for they themselves exist in two worlds. With their trunks rooted solidly to the ground they teach us the importance of similarly having roots that will support us, i.e. the rooted foundation of our beliefs, ideals, and values.
Additionally their branches reach upward towards heaven inspiring us to reach upwards to God, to reach high with our visions and our dreams.
Rabindranath Tagore in Fireflies wrote, “Trees are the earth’s endless effort to speak to the listening heaven.” Have you ever listened to the wind moving through the trees and heard a sound coming forth from the rustling of the leaves? To me it is the “music of the spheres” and I believe the trees are joining in the music-making by accompanying the wind to honor God.
There are Middle Eastern traditions where people practice “Phyllomancy.” This is the art of hearing God speak through the rustling of the leaves of the trees. In the Bible in Judges 4:5 we learn of Deborah, a ruler of Israel, who lived under a tree that bore her name.
The tree would have been considered an oracle tree, i.e. a tree that had a voice. The tree would share wisdom with those who communed with the tree by living beside the tree. It is a powerful message that those who live their lives where there is wisdom, will hear it.
I love the trees and part of my life’s service is in support of the trees here on earth as is it the service of many of the members of the Ha Ha group. All of the angel tours have taken us to the woods and forests where Mother Earth has asked us to bring healing. We traveled to the woodlands of Bosnia, Ireland, Scotland, Turkey, France and Germany to be of healing service to God.
We as humans have oftentimes forgotten that we share the earth with all the kingdoms. We sometimes think only of ourselves and this kind of thinking can create an imbalance in nature. Additionally, we sometimes do things that result in toxins going into the ground, to be shared by the roots of the trees.
I have had a couple of experiences where I developed unexplainable body rashes. I, in fact, broke out in a rash that formed a tree on the trunk of my body. After visiting the doctor and being told I just needed to wait it out, and that he didn’t have a clue how long that would be.
I asked the angels what the heck was going on. I was told simply: transmutation on behalf of the trees.
The transmutation healing consists of taking the toxins into our bodies, and allowing the healing to occur within us, because we humans are the ones who put the toxins in the earth in the first place.
I later shared the rash story with my angelic girlfriends, and was amazed at the number of them who were experiencing similar bizarre rashes. All of our rashes eventually went away. Sometimes we say in prayer to God: Lord, I am ready, here I am, use me. God replies, “Ok, let’s clean up the earth. And YOU get to be the filtration system.”
Trees are incredible blessings from God. In many cultures such as the Celtic, woods and forests were revered as sacred because of the many blessings they provided. The woodlands provided nuts from the trees; game lived in the forest; wood could be used for kindling and the building of homes that provided shelter.
Wise ones of ancient times recognized that trees were sacred and before a tree was cut down a ritual was performed to ask forgiveness from the tree.
An old Scottish poem gives the recipe for the nine sacred woods that are to be used for kindling for the ritual of the Beltaine fire, a fire that is burned on the even of May 1st. On Beltaine Eve druids would position themselves on hills and view the rising sun. It was their belief that the burning fires would draw the sun’s power to them and would bless their community. The poem goes as follows:
Choose the willow of the streams,
Choose the hazel of the rocks,
Choose the alder of the marshes,
Choose the birch of the waterfalls,
Choose the ash of the shade,
Choose the yew of resilience,
Choose the elm of the brae,
Choose the oak of the sun.
If you are counting the trees listed, you will note there are only eight given in the poem. The ninth was only known if you could talk to the trees and were deemed worthy enough to be told.
A forest is a place of many divine gifts waiting to be shared. Fiona MacLeod, a Celtic visionary of the late 19th century whose identity was later revealed to be William Sharp, a man who wanted to express his feminine side, once said, “Where the forest murmurs there is music: ancient, everlasting.”
There is a divine order to life that the trees mirror to us through the cycles at work. The wind in the fall drops the autumn leaves to the ground. The leaves resting on the ground soon decay and give nourishment to the roots of the tree that support the new growth of the tree in springtime.
Trees teach us that there is a season for everything and to be comfortable with the cycles of our life.
I have seen the angels of nature who are guardians to the trees. They are often taller than the trees that they watch over. I have seen them float from tree to tree in a forest merging with the energies of the tree. They shapeshift themselves into light beings that radiate a rich hunter green ray of light. Once they merge with the tree, and infuse the tree with God’s changing energies, the angels’radiating light morphs from the hunter green to become a pure white. I had the sensing that an energy transfusion was taking place.
Have you ever walked through a woods and thought for certain you saw a humanlike face or form in a tree?
If you would like to see beautiful illustrations of “Lords of the Trees” find a copy of Geoffrey Hodson’s The Kingdom of the Gods. Geoffrey had similar experiences to mine in seeing spirits of trees and described them as follows: “nearly all well-grown trees have attached to them…an advanced nature spirit…the presence of such being through the constant play of its thoughts and auric energies, greatly quickens the evolution of tree life and consciousness.”
If there are woods near your home or on your property, learn which tree is the King Tree Devas. Simply ask the angels of nature to guide you to the King Tree Deva or the Father of the Forest. The tree that is the oldest tree in the community or grove of trees. Just as is true with kings of the human kingdom, he projects a regal quality and functions as an “elder statesman” watching over the community.
His energies are a stimulating force of God in the woods community and can be translated as a message to the younger trees to “Grow tall! Grow up!” What a wonderful message for human parents to give to their little seedlings: “Grow tall.”
Additionally the names of the trees were used in the formation of the ogham alphabet. Each letter was named for a tree, and messages were shared by designating leaves for each of the alphabet letters and placing the leaves on a word. Leaves from trees that were not included in the alphabet were considered “space” letters or “blank” leaves to divide words from one another.
Here’s the alphabet used by the Druids. The letter of the alphabet is shown first, with the name of the tree that represented the letter in the alphabet, and the Druid name for the tree as it was spelled in the Druid alphabet.
The Consonants
B Birch (Beth)
L Rowan (Luis)
N Ash (Nion)
F Alder (Fearn)
S Willow (Saille)
H Hawthorne (Uath)
D Oak (Duir)
T Holly (Tinne)
C Hazel (Coll)
M Vine (Muin)
G Ivy (Fort)
P Dwarf Elder (Pethboc)
R Elder (Ruis)
The Vowels
A Silver Fir (Ailm)
O Furze (Onn)
U Heather (Ur)
E White Poplar (Eadha)
I Yew (Idho)
I encourage you to think about trees you have loved in your life. Perhaps there was a special tree in your family’s backyard when you were growing up. Perhaps there is a beloved tree in your own backyard.
Make time to be with the trees of the earth. Talk to the trees and then listen. Ask the trees what it is like to be a tree.
One of my all-time favorite books is Jeffrey Goelitz’s Secrets from the Lives of Trees. Jeffrey shares a conversation with a backyard poplar during which the tree talks about the wind coming.
“When the wind comes, I dance. Dancing in the wind is a very alive experience, especially when the sun is out. When I dance and my branches sway and my leaves shake, the fairies dance right alongside in joy. They are delightful to have around. I’m built to move. My delicate structure allows me to be flexible. It is partly out of who I am and partly out of survival. I can’t help it. Isn’t it wonderful that dancing in the wind helps me survive?”
Recently when I re-read Jeffrey’s book again, I thought of a popular song, “I Hope You’ll Dance.” The song conveys the message of the songwriter that if you have the chance, it is hoped that you will take the opportunity to dance. After reading the tree’s words: “When the wind comes, I dance,” I carefully considered these incredible words of wisdom. When the winds of change blow into our lives, let’s remember to DANCE! Let’s cha-cha right through the challenges; let’s tango through entanglements.
It’s hard to say that there’s a best part of Jeffrey’s book, because every page is a treasure; however, my favorite part is in Chapter Eight where there are Modern Contributions from people who have loved and communicated with trees. I have shared the following with many audiences because it is truly a blessing.
The excerpt came from an interview Jeffrey gave with Marcel Vogel. Jeffrey led into the except with an explanation of who Marcel Vogel is, which included this first sentence: “Marcel Vogel was a Senior Scientist with IBM for 27 years until his retirement in 1984, when he formed his own laboratory, Psychic Research, Inc.”
Vogel shared this thought in the interview. “The oldest living form on this planet is the Sequoia gigantean. If you approach it with your hands open, you will feel the entire history of this earth plane contained in the tree. It’s a record keeper; the patterns of life are stored in a tree.
If you draw in your breath, open the thymus and the solar plexus and then embrace a tree, release your breath into the tree and then breathe again, suddenly you and the tree become one. You will feel your body oscillate to the rhythm of the tree and you will go deeper and deeper, you are drawn into the tree. You and the tree become one. As you do this you realize a oneness with all life. That to me is very beautiful.”
When I first read that statement, I put down the book and thought to myself, “You, Marcel Vogel, are very beautiful!” Since then I have been introduced to amazing crystals that were developed by Vogel in his laboratory.
In growing up on my parents’ farm, I would love to walk across the pastures and cross over Byerly Road to the property that was part of the farm across the street. I would march up the hill to the top and sit beside the huge tulip poplar tree.
I would nestle myself into the groove that the roots created next to the tree and spend hours with my friend, whom I secretly called “Old Pop” because it was a very old poplar. I spent many wonderful childhood hours leaning up against Old Pop. Tulip polar trees have a flower that looks just like a tulip. The flowers are pale green petals flecked with orange. The tree can grow to heights of 170 feet. Old Pop is 90 feet tall.
My dad obviously observed the love that existed between the tree and me because after I married for the first time, he took me out to lunch one day and said, “How would you like to buy the land at the top of the hill with the tulip poplar tree?” I remember sitting there across from Dad and experiencing a feeling that something too wonderful was happening to me. Something so wonderful I had never even dared to believe it possible for myself.
I am one of six children, and so the property could not be just gifted to me in fairness to my siblings. A fair market price was determined and the transfer of title was made.
“Old Pop” and I are still together. In fact, as I am writing this blog I can look out the window to my left and see Old Pop standing tall – over 90 feet tall. Old Pop is registered as one of the great trees of Maryland.
In 1976 I hoped that Old Pop would be recognized as a bi-centennial tree, and it was at that time I learned that Old Pop was planted a few years after 1776. I think somehow that makes Old Pop the un-official Mayor of Upperco. I love when people stand under the tree and say, “If only this tree could talk!” I smile inside and think, “He does!”
One way to support the healing of the earth is to send love and appreciation to all the trees. Greet the trees on your way to work each day. Notice the trees that share your environment. Every tree has its own special energy. Make time to place yourself near trees and experience their different life forces. Talk to trees. Let the answers and messages the trees give to you float into your mind.
Someone who has found a way to honor America’s historic trees is Alabaman Stephen Malkoff. In his words: “Trees have been silent witnesses to our nation’s history,” and Stephen has captured the beauty of America’s exceptional trees through his pencil portraits.
Malkoff’s vision is to create a portrait of an historic tree in each state and the District of Columbia. Upon completion of this, he hopes to hang them in a venue like the National Botanical Garden. Along the way of fulfilling this vision, Malkoff has been recognized by American Forests, who selected him to be the artist for the National Register of Historic Trees.
In an interview for Country Living magazine, March 2003, Malkoff shared that his favorite subjects include, “Arlington National Cemetery’s John F. Kennedy Post Oak; General Sherman, a 2,400-year-old sequoia in Central California; and a tulip poplar that George Washington planed at Mount Vernon at the dawn of our nation.”
Think about the trees you have met during your travels down life’s road. As I contemplate the amazing trees I have met in my travels, the banyan tree at Thomas Edison’s summer home in Fort Myers, Florida comes immediately to mind. It is the largest Banyan tree in the United States. Thomas Edison planted it as a seedling, which was a gift from Harvey Firestone. Many of us became acquainted with the following poem during our school years. I think it is a perfect way to honor the trees. Take this book out with you when you visit with your friends the trees and read the poem to them:
TREES
(For Mrs. Henry Mill Alden)
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
--Alfred Joyce Kilmer
As Hal Lindsey, columnist for the WorldNet Daily expressed in one of his columns,“Among the losses to society as a consequence of the carnage of the Great War (World War I) was a young poet named Joyce Kilmer. A daring and courageous soldier of the famous“Fighting 69th,” Sgt. Alfred Joyce Kilmer was killed in action near the French town of Seringes on July 30, 1918. Kilmer was best known for his poem “Trees.” Kilmer penned his famous poem on February 2, 1913.”
In addition to loving art, I also love great architecture. One of the best examples of an architect honoring the environment in which he is building a home is Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. Wright once said, “Nothing is more difficult to achieve than the integral simplicity of organic nature, amid the tangled confusions of the innumerable relics of form that encumber life for us. To achieve it in any degree means serious devotion to the ‘underneath’ in an attempt to grasp the nature of building a beautiful building beautifully, as organically true in itself, to itself and to its purpose, as any tree or flower.”
When you tour Fallingwater. you will find a home that appears to have been placed over the waterfalls and amongst the trees. Nothing of nature appears to have been disturbed. You will see that the home was built around the trees. Wright wanted the trees to freely rise through the house in witness to the union of home and woods. Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., whose father hired Frank Lloyd Wright to build a weekend home for his family, wrote in his introduction of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater:
“When Wright came to the site he appreciated the powerful sound of the falls, the vitality of the young forest, the dramatic rock ledges and boulders…But Wright’s insight penetrated more deeply. He understood that people were creatures of nature, hence an architecture which conformed to nature would conform to what was basic in people…It (Fallingwater) indicates a world in which the works of mankind and the processes of nature harmonize productively.”
In honor of the trees of the earth – the ancient record keepers – be guided by the tree angels to explore trees as symbolic messengers of God’s wisdom. Our ancestors recognized trees as elders and “wise ones.” Throughout Northern Europe and the Middle East there are
trees that are called “wish trees,” or “prayer trees” because
trees that are called “wish trees,” or “prayer trees” because
people make requests to God by attaching their written requests
to the branches of the trees.
Trees teach us to ground ourselves and the importance
of being rooted with the Mother Earth. They mirror to us
a skyward stretch toward heaven and inspire us
to reach for the stars.
In short, trees are special and are wonderful friends.
Make time for them in your life.
Celebrate trees.
of being rooted with the Mother Earth. They mirror to us
a skyward stretch toward heaven and inspire us
to reach for the stars.
In short, trees are special and are wonderful friends.
Make time for them in your life.
Celebrate trees.
