Even when I was a child, I adored naked trees; I preferred to draw my trees bare, with limbs and branches running all wiggly in their multiple paths from one to another, rather than the full foliage of the ‘cloud’ trees or the pines with their Christmas tree outlines. I wanted to see what was hidden, what was within and behind the coverings of leaves. I still do. I think that’s why I love leaving dead trees standing, to see them even among all the verdant explosion of leaves or needles around them. Not only do they provide a haven for the microscopic worlds but birds are always hopping around on them seeking nourishment out of the decay.
My favorite painting of my mom’s (to the left) is the one with the dead tree in the foreground, still standing, deciding for itself when it will be time to fall.
During the past few weeks (April 2024), I’ve been arguing with the majority of homeowners in our tiny little community who have voted to hire a tree company to come through and cut down quite a lot of the dead, dying, or what they call ‘problematic’ trees along our private road. The only thing I was left with was forbidding the cutting any of the trees on our property that lined the road. However, across from our front porch, on the other side of the road (in the slim tree line buffer between the road and a hay field) stands this large old tree, long dead, but absolutely gorgeous — who is regularly perched upon by the vultures perusing the field. The others are obsessed with fear that it might fall and, oh my, cause problems in the future (now, we’ve been here nine years and it’s still not leaning that direction — and it was dead long before we moved in).
So, I’ve continued to state my case, to be an advocate for allowing this grand old tree to choose its own time to drop limbs or fall to the ground — and we will deal with that if/when it happens. The crew has begun their work this past week and only time will tell if I can prevail upon our neighbors to just let this tree be, to let nature go at her own pace.
Meanwhile, I asked for some messages (Tree Whispers Oracle deck) from the tree.
The older I get, and the more I experience fully the passage of time that is the natural process of living and dying, the more I ally myself with the old trees, the wise ones.
Across the way is our Matriarch Tree, an old dying Black Walnut …
She’s gradually losing her crooked, gnarled limbs, and leans more downhill on the rocky slope each year …
Nevertheless, each spring, as now, we see emerge from her knothole several baby squirrels that learn to scamper across her wrinkles and creases and bumps …
If you look closely (near top of the image), maybe you’ll catch a glimpse of a little gray squirrel exploring the giant world!
I was blessed with a lovely experience of the Solar Eclipse yesterday. I made a special day of it, honoring the moment-in-motion, asking for guidance, co-creating a couple of essences from the powerful energies coming through. During the four-minute totality, I sat outside with my three cats and together we enjoyed the sudden drop in temperature easily felt via the cooler breeze, listened to the birds get a bit quieter. As the sun emerged again, the crescents danced upon the stone steps. Magical!
When I asked for a message (personal, so I don’t share the positional meanings here), the Devas came through for me clearly and inspirationally. (Shown above, the Shimmering Veil Tarot and Devas of Creation oracle by the phenomenal Cilla Conway.)
I’m grateful that I spent more than a decade between what I call religious intention. During those years, I was wandering upon a Nature path in all kinds of ways so that when I eventually was introduced to earth-based Goddess and women’s spirituality along with Wicca, I was already firmly seated in my own unlabeled spiritual center that smoothly integrated those new-to-me practices and awareness. I’m grateful I didn’t turn to a different practice out of teenage or YA rebellion, a behavior that sometimes results in confusion, either then or later. I appreciate my own slow, gradual pace of seeking and learning.
I’m grateful that when I consciously turned to learning about natural healing remedies, I sought and received training in an established system; I’ve found it easier and more effective to build upon a good foundational system — for me that was Homeopathy (embedded in the ancient framework of Hippocrates around the elements and humours). This system, as with most ancient ones, is rooted in the sacredness of nature and coming to it that way really spoke to me. It allowed me entry into other healing modalities, energetic as well as material, through a spiritual resonance, whether that was Flower Essences or Reiki or Ayurveda. For me, it called to mind “As Above, So Below.”
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, and I’m grateful to be aware that how and when something has been written and uncovered is rarely the entire story. By its very nature, occult practices were often hidden, and anything considered dangerous (or just contrary to the prevailing authorities) also flew under the radar. I tend to apply this theory to most of my explorations — including the murky origins and applications of Tarot — and it allows me to remain open to possibilities.
My journey to the Unseen has been curious as I reflect upon the process of unfolding I experienced.
First was childhood innocence, one many of us have known, where the Unseen simply ‘were’ and we didn’t really think about it, did we? Later, in my twenties and early thirties, Nature — Blessed Gaia — was my guide and solace; I hiked and wandered along wilderness trails feeling the Unseen as Presences, but more on a subconscious level as I reveled in the beauty and healing. Eventually, conscious connection and receptivity began in my early thirties when I found Goddess and Wicca, a spectacular gift that came into my life at the perfect moment (as most are in hindsight); with this introduction, I began dipping my toes into a greater ocean than I’d even imagined. For the next couple decades, I moved deeper into the flow of the Unseen, slowly and consciously opening to relationship with the Divine, with the Unseen, diving into caves of unknowing to discover treasures beyond measure, often in tandem with the vibrational healing arts I studied and offered to others as well as to myself — for nothing is really separate, is it? Now, in my sixties, having been with many dying beings as they transitioned, having learned so much that I realize I know almost nothing, I have been for several years moving into a more vibrant relationship with the Unseen on the astral byways.
Many people (mostly writers) and traditions are expressing a variety of paths to choose from on this latest intersection at the crossroads of life. No doubt, my own trail will be laden with alchemical flowering, an experience unique to me, as it is for each of us even amidst the similarities, when we adventure beyond the veil into relationship with the Unseen.
Who are the Unseen? So many possibilities, expressions, and manifestations! Most people get stuck on calling all of them the Fae, but those (for me) are only one realm, maybe more, but I don’t want to lump everything together under the Fae. Consider also: lights, apparitions, angels, ancestors, spirit guides (animal, plant, mineral, and more), tulpas, cryptids and other beings from parallel universes, magical beasts, so-called ‘monsters’ (which can itself include things like religious demons or magical ‘parasites,’ etc.), dimensional and/or alternate reality spirits, elementals, and the infinite variety of daimons (a daimon is not the same as a demon). Where do they come from? A vibrational world that is right next to us, a parallel universe, the Otherworld, the Dream World, and we could go on and on. Our material world is only one of many that exudes and emits life, and what we often call monsters are simply beings so inexplicable and dissimilar to ourselves that we fear them. Although I refer to them all as the Unseen, as Greer puts it, “the problem is that people see them.” Right? Otherwise, ancient and/or indigenous stories wouldn’t exist.
“The word ‘monster’ comes from the Latin monstrum, ‘that which is shown forth or revealed.’ … and to the Ancient Greeks and Romans, for example, the appearance of any strange being was a message from the hidden realms of existence.” ~ John Michael Greer, “Monsters: An Investigator’s Guide to Magical Beings”
I highly recommend Greer’s book (quoted from above), but even more, I agree with Greer’s assessment of Patrick Harpur’s modern-classic “Daimonic Reality: A Field Guide to the Otherworld” (that I read a couple years ago and need to re-read because I’ve come further now in my own adventures) as an extraordinary must-read for anyone interested in the Unseen (that, as it happens, many many people DO see!). And if you intend to delve further into contacting the Unseen, Josephine McCarthy’s “The Magical Knowledge Trilogy” is excellent. Magical work for me is often related to listening to and learning from the Unseen.
“Central to magic in all its forms is the idea that besides the aspect of the world we perceive with our ordinary senses, there are other aspects, subtler and stranger, which interpenetrate our ordinary world at every point and shape it by means of hidden connections. Magical theory speaks of various realms or levels of being, all of them interconnected, all present at every moment and in every phenomenon. … They are other aspects of the world we inhabit.” ~ John Michael Greer, “Monsters: An Investigator’s Guide to Magical Beings”
Some skeptics may refer to everything above as pure imagination (or delusion) but what is imagination? No one knows! It may be an Otherworld or it could be the Akashic Records from which ideas or information or stories are being sent (or, alternatively, we consciously access) or something else we’ve yet to uncover or describe. For me, the spiritual journey is vast and I value all of it, from one life to the next.
And, finally, wise words from Murry Hope (an occultist, magician, and metaphysician) in her “Practical Techniques of Psychic Self-Defense”:
“Is everyone suited to pursue the path of occultism, psychism or mysticism? To be absolutely honest the answer must be NO. … The would-be psychic should first of all do some soul-searching and ask himself whether he is temperamentally suited to embark upon the exploration of his own inner consciousness and the greater universal unconscious. … It takes a strong and very stable personality to cope efficiently when exposed to conditions outside the programmed ‘norm.”
The above is particularly resonant for me because it has taken me so many years to feel completely at ease and strong and stable to make these journeys.
Blessings to you on your own journey, however, you choose to travel!
I’ve mentioned in past writing, for example in my post on “Falling into Fascination“, that I “fall in love” with people whose books, thoughts, and ideas, touch me on a deep and profoundly moving level. One of the most recent examples of this (I could name many more!) is my on-going ‘love affair’ with the remarkable Iain McGilchrist, who is definitely not a ‘materialist’ but rather a ‘panentheist’ who views consciousness as beyond matter yet infuses matter, so to speak.
Please read the above quote again and really let ‘second only to our capacity to transcend it, in order to see the whole’ sink into your entire being.
I’ve watched many interview videos with this man — one that is particularly well-done is “Dividing the Brain and Perceiving the Sacred” but he’s brilliant in all of them I’ve come across — and his very expression of person is so engaging and appealing; he has a calm, gentle, centeredness when in discussion (that reminds me a bit of Rupert Sheldrake’s nature, and the video conversation between them is an absolute delight). Maybe this shouldn’t be a surprise to me as he considered studying theology and attending seminary prior to deciding to focus on literature and philosophy only to then expand into becoming a doctor in neuropsychology — all of which are subjects I’ve self-studied (well, not the ‘doctor’ bit, of course, rather my passion for health and healing) for decades.
The thing is, his books may be daunting to many people; The Master and His Emissary is a sort of 500-page primer to his latest work which is the two-volume The Matter With Things. And I’ll be honest, at this point, I’m only a hundred pages into the amazing, incredible first book (watching videos of Iain talking with others helped provide an excellent overview of the topic that has made reading the book that much easier), but I’m taking my time and integrating the material with all the other subjects I’m interested in from the paranormal to consciousness, from nature to magic — although if one truly embraces a holistic relationship with living, of course they are connected. At the core of my concerns with where our Western culture is right now, is an apparent lack of respect for nuance, nature, and Source. I don’t want to make this post a long one so I will simply encourage exploration of Iain McGilchrist’s work and give him the final words (from The Master and His Emissary):
“In such a society as ours, any apparent inconsistency is treated as a sign of error or intellectual muddle. Ambiguity is no longer a strength, given that truth is known to be complicated and many-layered; it is a weakness, since truth is thought of as single and straightforward. It is therefore easier to accept the left hemisphere’s point of view, which is easily articulated and unambiguous and simply stands in contradiction to the right hemisphere’s view, than to accept that of the right hemisphere, which is more multifaceted and harder to articulate, and is already inclusive of the apparently incompatible left hemisphere’s point of view. This virtue makes it immediately vulnerable to the charge of inconsistency, and it is therefore dismissed.”
“I believe that reductionism has become a disease, a viewpoint lacking both intellectual sophistication and emotional depth, which is blighting our ability to understand what is happening and what we need to do about it. My current thoughts are directed towards illuminating what I see as a truer picture, a more helpful and, I believe, a more hopeful way of seeing our situation here on this planet, while we still have time.”
Exploring what is happening within me spiritually (often revealing what is hidden) as well as what is going on in the land around me (listening to what the land spirits, elementals, or other beings of The Unseen might want to share) is continual process of joy and insight and gratitude.
“May All Beings Be Happy. May All Beings Be Free From Suffering. May We All Live in Peace Together.”
As I venture consciously along my spiritual journey, I’ve been confronted repeatedly with the spectrum of healing and dying. Indeed, each leads to the other, does it not? And death can itself present a form of healing, both for the one who dies and the one who remains. Entering my thirties, I began to work more closely with rescue animals, often adopting those cats who were more frail and in greater need of extra TLC. My canine pack was usually a robust group because we went a lot of places (hiking, training, shows, etc.) but since my feline clowder (or clodder in 18th C English) remained snug in our home, I was often drawn to help those who were challenged in some way. From snot-nosed cats who struggled with lifelong upper respiratory infections to kittens who barely lived into adulthood, I felt called to help these gorgeous, incredible beings — at any given point, I would be caring for six to a dozen cats along with my pack of three to six dogs. We lived a full, furry life together. However, that necessarily meant that for about two decades, I was faced with death on an almost yearly basis. Now that I’ve fewer animal companions — currently three dogs and three cats — death comes less often as well but still feels like a shock when it does.
From the end of last year through to January, I assisted my mom through her rapid dying process (an extremely aggressive, untreatable cancer). I lived with her during her final five weeks at her home (and she died within six days — after I transferred her to a care home when she became unable to walk — where she quickly transitioned into coma for her last four days). She was under Hospice care — a phenomenal group of nurses who helped us keep her comfortably at home for as long as possible. I was already familiar with the Hospice system, having trained as a Hospice volunteer thirteen years earlier. However, every life and death is unique — as I’d discovered with the companion animals in my care (and those of clients who I’d assisted) — and Mom’s dying was fraught with unexpected difficulties.
A recent video by Whispers From Beyond focused on Tarot and/or oracle decks that we use as tools on our healing journeys. She mentioned some decks I was familiar with and had used in the past but two that I used while staying with my mom were not mentioned. Since they were of tremendous support to me, I wanted to share them here: Tarot of Light and Earth Alchemy Oracle.
I actually ordered those decks and they were delivered directly to Mom’s house as I hadn’t brought any decks with me when I originally drove up to see her — due to unforeseen circumstances, I hadn’t expected to stay for longer than a few days during that trip. They were selected for their peaceful imagery and also in deference to Mom’s religious beliefs as I didn’t want anything about them to upset her Christian faith during this profoundly challenging time of her final life experience. I rarely use Tarot of Light here at my own home, other decks feeling more healing for me personally, but the Earth Alchemy oracle is still a staple.
Each of us will find our own tools to support us on the healing path (whether our own or in assisting others), and in addition to reading cards, I continue to receive succor through journaling/writing, devotional practices, and from Gaia, nature in all its diverse beauty and wonder, whether wild or domestic or everything in between. May you be blessed and know healing on your own path.
Along with everything else I’m researching, studying, learning, exploring, and just plain having fun with for the past several years, I’m now taking a course in Galactic Astrology (see GalacticAstrology.com) and thoroughly enjoying all the new insights! I’ve wanted to study Astrology for many years but kept setting it aside as the timing didn’t feel quite right but as soon as I found Galactic Astrology, I was hooked and tapped into the resonance immediately. And this will also provide an entry point for me into the connections between Tarot and Astrology. Never too old to learn new things!
As Julia Balaz, founder of Galactic Astrology says in the 101 course:
the energy of the natural phenomena present at our birth is related to the energy of our soul. It appears that we can only be born during precise astrological circumstances that strongly resemble our soul energy signature and our soul’s connection to stars.
I am particularly intrigued by how the visions of Saint Hildegard of Bingen, in the 12th Century, seemed to embed the symbolism and perceptions of Christianity into aspects of what I understand to be the universal and cosmological vibrational intelligent energy that is the Infinite, the Hidden Divine that we as humans are incapable of comprehending.
In her book Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine, Barbara Newman refers to one of Saint Hildegard’s visions and says that,
“With this memorable image, the seer reinterpreted the primitive notion of a hieros gamos, or marriage of the gods, to proclaim the oneness of the hidden God with his self-revelation–or, alternatively, one might say that this religious insight is ‘demythologized’ back into its primordial form.”
Reading on, my interpretation is that we are missing the truth of the Great Mystery when we focus only upon the inequality of gender assignments in religions. The “play” or “dance” between God and Goddess (Saint Hildegard refers to her by various names including Sapientia (Wisdom) and Caritas (Love), as well as Mary and Ecclesia) that we perceive are our projections of manifestation for That Which We Cannot Conceive. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with how our many religions express “the hidden” Divine, the Great Mystery or Infinite Spirit.
Saint Hildegard juxtaposes Creator and Creatrix, depending upon what her visions are revealing to her. That said, it’s good to recall that Hildegard is always seeing through the lens of Medieval times and Catholic constructs, when she falls back on the patriarchal authoritarian model (i.e., males in charge); she can’t not do this, even though many of her visions seem to point her away from it … just as none of us can take our own selves out of the temporal framework in which we live. Newman says that,
“It is surely no accident that, while masculine imagery of the Creator tends to stress God’s transcendence, feminine metaphors place the accent on immanence. As [Creatrix], Hildegard’s Sapientia is no unmoved mover, ordering the universe from on high or even–like the Creator in contemporary paintings–molding the nascent world in almighty hands. On the contrary, she creates the cosmos by existing within it, her ubiquity expressed through the image of ceaseless or circular motion.”
What I appreciate about the above perspective is that both transcendence and immanence are valued; in a wholesome, holistic cosmological spirituality, we don’t have one without the other, but they are partners in the dance of life.
Barefoot On The Gaia Path 