Linden is always a joy to find anywhere you go. A tree with a gentle spirit and incredibly useful offerings, the Linden is there for you. I remember meeting Linden for the first time when I was young with my …
tree magic
Druid Tree Workings: An Initiation from the Trees
In the western esoteric traditions, and traditions tied to them, like druidry, initiation is a powerful method of transformation and energetic work. While features of initiation and their overall goals vary widely by tradition, many initiations do follow some basic …
Druid Tree Workings: Witnessing the Death of an Old Tree
Many of us on the path of nature spirituality grow close to trees–so very close. What happens when a tree that you love dearly, who is a good friend and mentor–tells you that it is time to go? In this …
Druid Tree Workings: Intuitive Tree Sigils and Tree Sigil Magic
Nature provides incredible opportunities for us to work with her magic, through symbolism, sacred geometry, and meditation. Today, I wanted to share a technique I’ve been developing for land healing purposes–tree sigil work. Sigils have many different purposes. In classic …
Druid Tree Workings: Exercises for Deepening Tree Relationships
Trees are wonderful and amazing beings, true teachers, friends, and wonderful introductory guides to nature’s mysteries. Sometimes though, we don’t realize what a powerful impact different trees have had on our lives. As one step towards cultivating a deep relationship …
Sacred Trees in the Americas – Spruce (Picea glauca, Picea pungens, Picea spp.)
When I lived in a walkable small town, what drew me every day was a line of beautiful blue spruce trees. Right around the corner from my house, they were on my daily walking commute to work. We used to …
Sacred Trees in the Americas: Spicebush (Lindera Benzoin) Magic, Ecology, and Sacred Uses
As I continue to explore some of the most important understory trees in the US East Coast and Midwest region, we turn our attention today to the amazing Spicebush (Lindera Benzoin). Historically, Spicebush was an incredibly important plant, medicine, and …
Sacred Tree Profile: The Medicine, Magic, and Uses of Staghorn Sumac (Rhus Typhina)
As we begin the march from summer into fall, the Staghorn Sumac are now in bloom. With their flaming flower heads reaching into the sky, the Staghorn sumac are striking upon our landscape. As fall comes, the Staghorn Sumac leaves …
A Tree for Year Challenge
One of the most common questions that people ask when they start down a druid or other nature-based spiritual path is: how do I connect deeply with nature? Connecting to nature can happen in a wide variety of ways. It …
Druid Tree Workings: Nywfre, Telluric Energy, and Sap Flows
Last week, I wrote about the many flows of the month of February: the flowing of the springs from the hillside, the flowing of the river, the flowing of deep emotions, and the flowing of the sap from the trees. …
Sacred Tree Profile: Sassafras’ Medicine, Magic, Mythology and Meaning
The fall months are coming and the leaves here are just beginning to turn. Apples are starting to ripen, nuts are starting to fall. And with a quiet walk through the fall woods, you might be lucky enough to see …
Druid Tree Workings: Working with Trees in Urban Settings
I walk down the sidewalk of a street in the small town that I call home. As I journey, I see a crabapple friend with ripening fruit, her leaves rustling in the gentle breeze. I reach out to her and …
Druid Tree Workings: Establishing Deep Connections with Trees
Imagine walking into a forest where you are greeted by many old tree friends, each members of different families that form a community. You know their common names, their less common names, and the secret names that have taught you. …
Sacred Tree Profile: Magic, Medicine, Folklore and Ecology of Ash (Fraxinus Americana)
I remember the first time I met an Ash tree suffering from the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) in South East Michigan. She was a young ash, about 20 years old, about 4” thick at her widest point typical age, and …
A Celtic Galdr Ritual for Land Healing
The following is a land healing ritual that we did at the OBOD’s Mid-Atlantic (MAGUS) gathering last weekend (May 2017). (For a wonderful review of this gathering, please see Dean Easton’s A Druid’s Way Blog!) This ritual was done by …
Druid Tree Workings: A Seasonal Approach and the Breath of the Earth
During a recent big snowstorm, I took an amazing ritual walk through the town where I live. We were getting our first substantial snow of the year, and it was a full moon to boot. And so, I spent a …
Sacred Tree Profile: American Beech (Fagus Grandiflora) – Magic, Medicine, and Qualities
When I was a child, my grandfather would often take me and my cousins into the woods to learn about plants, animals, and trees. He had a place he would take us on the edge of an old field and …
Druid Tree Workings: Communicating and Connecting with Trees on the Inner Planes
This post is the third of a series of posts on Druid Tree Workings–ways of connecting, communicating, and working with trees. In my first post on the series, I described finding the face of the tree. In the second post, …
Druid Tree Workings: Connecting with the Tree on the Outer Planes
The trees themselves present much in the way of mystery teachings. This second post in my “Druid Tree Workings” series explores various methods for listening to the voices of the trees and developing methods of communication, like finding the face …
Druid Tree Workings: Finding the Face of the Tree
Sometimes the trees themselves share lessons with us about how to work with them, talk with them, and heal with them. These are often presented to me as mystery teachings from the trees themselves–and I’ll be sharing some of these …
Samhuinn Magical Crafting – Making a Magical Herbal Hawthorn Tincture
Samhuinn is the final holiday that is connected to harvests in the Druidic Wheel of the Year, and this is a time of apples, pumpkins, hawthorn berries (haws), nannyberries, rose hips, and rowan berries. I always like to do some …