I LOVE this!!!! Heart-warming and lovely lovely, just perfect for my morning.
I envy you so, being able to live in the woods, I want that SO MUCH, too.
And all the things you discuss in this post, well, I believe in them, too. And how THRILLING... I got some actual tingles in my body, reading about how it was to touch the Womb Tree...
Thanks for sharing, you are so generous with your thoughts and feelings, and I so appreciate that.
xo xo
By the way, I've returned, for now, to stay with the Lovely Peeps I stayed with before Christmas. Heavenly to be back in their warmth and kindness... And the VIEW!! If I can't live in the woods, then high up above an Inlet on Puget Sound, with the Cascade mountains behind it... WOW. One of these days I'll figure out how to use my cell phone to email photos... I have a CAMERA I like, but the tech is low right now... ^_^ HUGS!
That sounds lovely, Jaan! There is something so incredibly grounding and nourishing to see mountains. I didn't grow up around them, yet they became part of my moving mantra for some reason. And here I am, cradled in them. So happy you see them, too.
I'm glad my words bring you some Joy. :) I have a feeling the next few years will bring you something special. You certainly deserve it and all of your hardships will just be memories XO B
There's so much in this beautiful piece that calls to me, Barbara. Being married to a hypnotist that does past life regression, I can relate to your experience, and to the need to keep it close, AND I'm super-curious about journeying to the Lower (or Upper) World. What does that mean for you, if you're willing to share?
Thank you for the magical mystery tour of your new friend. xox
This is the first book I ever read on shamanism after a stroke of luck introduced me to Hank Wesselman while at the Omega Institute in Upstate NY years ago. Hank is no longer alive (in this reality, at least!) but Sandra Ingerman is an excellent shamanic teacher.
So interesting. I'm familiar with shamanic work, but hadn't heard a description of the Lower, Mid, and Upper Worlds. Those fit with the Peruvian Chakana that I wear, that symbolizes the heavens, the earth, and the underworld.
Barbara, I'm totally overwhelmed by what a wealth of knowledge and experience you possess about the natural world. Reading this piece and the one about Magic, have been very inspiring for me. I'm embarrassed to admit that I know zero, zip, nada about all this. I would hardly know where to begin, but I think following one or two of the links that you shared would be a place to start. Thanks so much. P.S. Needless to say, I didn't see one face in that Womb Tree., inside or outside of it. I may be a lost cause.
You are NOT a lost cause, Ronnie! Lots of people don't see faces in trees but you just have to get quiet and stay observant. Do you remember the apple-throwing tree in the Wizard of Oz? I sometimes think of that tree when I see a face, but mostly they are benevolent. :)
I spend a lot of time in the woods and think that once the trees get to know you they reveal themselves. More time spent in Nature = more connection.
Have you seen the TV show "Merlin?" It's SO good and nothing you'll need the remote to fast forward through. Check it out and maybe it will spark the Magic in you! XOXO
I'm spending time irl with Mary McLaughlin now and feel you're here with us, Barbara. I had already been thinking of a woody path to take before the rains start.
So many resonances! One, love your woo-woo. Embracing it now.
Two, I used to take photos of bark when I had a little faux-finishing business. I wanted to capture that peeling eucalyptus, or the rough layers of all hues of brown (how can one word contain it?) in paint. I need to revisit that dream.
Three, faces. I have a cork floor in the bathroom with a little fox that greets me when I pee ;-)
Four, forest oil! My youngest daughter lives for that scent. Gotta get me some!
I love this so much, but what I love most is how true to you this post is! This is your essence and connection to Mother Earth distilled to words. I feel like the womb tree and her exquisite beauty and magic just unlocked a new level of your magic and I’m so glad you shared it here! Thank you for being a rememberer, waking up the deep knowing and magic in your friends. And, for being so in love with the world around you. You are such a gift to this world!
I love all the faces and love that a “dead” tree is in many ways so much more alive than a “healthy” tree. I think of all the bugs and birds and fungus that have been so nourished by her life and decay. Decay is such a fertile thing we’ve been taught to fear.
Doesn’t Druid mean “knower of the oak tree”?💫🧚🏻♂️
Thank you, dear Amanda, for knowing me so well. You are such a gift in my life—a true Anam Cara. Fellow lover of Fairies and Dragons and Trees and BIRDS!. Of course you see all the faces. As I took the photos I thought, "Oh, Amanda will see them." :)
I've heard so many definitions for "Druid," and I love that one! I wish I could remember where I read or heard that the word "God" means "the sound of the wind in the (Oak) trees, " from the Druids. I gasped when PictureThis told me The Womb Tree is an Oak.
So much Magic in our lives. Grateful that you are a believer, too. 🧚🧚XOXO
Oh I love that “the sound of the wind in the trees”…how lucky are we to live in a world where the wind rustles leaves, faces show up on trees, and we can capture these moments and share them with friends. Love you!
Never! I so appreciate your comments, Kathleen and I know that I have a Magic-loving, Nature-loving, soul sister in you. Merlin is just THE BEST! I do hate what happens to Morgana though. 😢 Thx for reading!
What a beautiful morning read. I’m looking for positive, personal and spiritually relevant stories that are meaningful instead of the irrelevant and drama filled snippets that are everywhere and this filled the bill. Your description of Magic redefined the word for me and I see it as a future name for a future pet. Your Forest Oil sounds heavenly and I will be back to purchase when I have a little extra splurge money. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this beautiful comment, L.L. You made my day. Truly. I miss the old Substack before Notes. It's like a feeding frenzy of the snippets you mention.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. 💚
Oh, this is just TOO good 💕💕💕💕💕 !!!!! Yes, I see all the faces 🥰 How MAGICAL!!!!!!! Xoxo!! UGH!!! Fantastic post!!! Thank you so much for sharing!! Oh... and ... the elderberry syrup is Sooooooo delicious! The tastiest potion!!!! 🥰🤗
Thank you, Jamie, for reading and brightening my day with your sweetness! Of course, you see all the faces! And I'm so glad you like the potion! XOXOXOXO
I live in a magical place called Glastonbury in the UK. There are two very old, oak trees here, one named Gog and the other Magog. Sadly, Gog has died but his remains can be seen. Magog is near the end of her life. They are said to mark the entrance to the Isle of Avalon.
The town is the spiritual home of King Arthur, and the area is known as the isle of Avalon. There is magic here, a vibrational energy. It's palpable.
Oh, Jules…I have goosebumps just reading your comment! Yes, I know all about your magical place. What a gift to live there! I have never been to that part of the UK- only to Scotland and Ireland. Tell Merlin I said hello! 🧙 🧚🌲🌲🥰
Hello, Barbara! Thank you for this message! We are definitely fellow travelers and believers in “Magic.”
I have just returned from a walk along the beach (I’m a Midwesterner by birth-what I call “my dirt.” The ocean waves were especially high this late afternoon. Lots of energy!
My daughter wooed me here to escape the bitter cold of Minnesota for a while which I’m grateful for.
Usually I am a “tree girl.” A mountain and high desert girl. I’m laughing to myself—just maybe I connect with what I’m surrounded by in the natural world in the moment. 🌎
I had been troubled by the tumult of what’s going on in the U.S. How can I continue to balance my own life without getting sucked into this darkness?
As is often the case, the Wisdom of the water, the trees, the plants, the birds and animals can be guides for us. The creativity of this world is astounding!
What an instructive walk you had! The bur oak is beautiful and certainly far from dead. It seems that you have been offered another portal for your journeying from the Womb Tree!
It seems to me as an elder, too, that there are purposes we can embrace which can be of help to our neighborhoods of the world.
Susan, thank you for reading and for your wonderful comment! I was born and raised in the Midwest, too (Michigan), and I used to love a nice warm getaway about this time. Now, I savor the cold, snowy winters more and more. But you are right...wherever we are, we can find solace, strength, and Magic in the Nature that surrounds us. I had to do that in the big bad city for years. I always knew the trees in my neighborhood. :)
Enjoy the crashing waves and grounding on the sandy beach! XO
I LOVE this!!!! Heart-warming and lovely lovely, just perfect for my morning.
I envy you so, being able to live in the woods, I want that SO MUCH, too.
And all the things you discuss in this post, well, I believe in them, too. And how THRILLING... I got some actual tingles in my body, reading about how it was to touch the Womb Tree...
Thanks for sharing, you are so generous with your thoughts and feelings, and I so appreciate that.
xo xo
By the way, I've returned, for now, to stay with the Lovely Peeps I stayed with before Christmas. Heavenly to be back in their warmth and kindness... And the VIEW!! If I can't live in the woods, then high up above an Inlet on Puget Sound, with the Cascade mountains behind it... WOW. One of these days I'll figure out how to use my cell phone to email photos... I have a CAMERA I like, but the tech is low right now... ^_^ HUGS!
That sounds lovely, Jaan! There is something so incredibly grounding and nourishing to see mountains. I didn't grow up around them, yet they became part of my moving mantra for some reason. And here I am, cradled in them. So happy you see them, too.
I'm glad my words bring you some Joy. :) I have a feeling the next few years will bring you something special. You certainly deserve it and all of your hardships will just be memories XO B
Aw, thank you, sweet gal. xo xo I wish you the same. ^_^
There's so much in this beautiful piece that calls to me, Barbara. Being married to a hypnotist that does past life regression, I can relate to your experience, and to the need to keep it close, AND I'm super-curious about journeying to the Lower (or Upper) World. What does that mean for you, if you're willing to share?
Thank you for the magical mystery tour of your new friend. xox
Thanks for reading, Mary! Wow, being married to someone who facilitates past life regressions must be interesting!
This is a good (old) video to get an idea of what shamanic journeying is all about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR8xndQmEzQ&t=3s
And here's one where Martin drums for you... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFRDhgVs-1Q&t=634s
This is the first book I ever read on shamanism after a stroke of luck introduced me to Hank Wesselman while at the Omega Institute in Upstate NY years ago. Hank is no longer alive (in this reality, at least!) but Sandra Ingerman is an excellent shamanic teacher.
https://www.soundstrue.com/products/awakening-to-the-spirit-world
Hope that helps! It's an amazing practice. Happy to chat about it anytime! XO
So interesting. I'm familiar with shamanic work, but hadn't heard a description of the Lower, Mid, and Upper Worlds. Those fit with the Peruvian Chakana that I wear, that symbolizes the heavens, the earth, and the underworld.
Thank you for these resources!
Barbara, I'm totally overwhelmed by what a wealth of knowledge and experience you possess about the natural world. Reading this piece and the one about Magic, have been very inspiring for me. I'm embarrassed to admit that I know zero, zip, nada about all this. I would hardly know where to begin, but I think following one or two of the links that you shared would be a place to start. Thanks so much. P.S. Needless to say, I didn't see one face in that Womb Tree., inside or outside of it. I may be a lost cause.
Just had to add this... You DID know where to begin. ^_^ xo
Thanks, Word Herder, for the encouragement.
You are NOT a lost cause, Ronnie! Lots of people don't see faces in trees but you just have to get quiet and stay observant. Do you remember the apple-throwing tree in the Wizard of Oz? I sometimes think of that tree when I see a face, but mostly they are benevolent. :)
I spend a lot of time in the woods and think that once the trees get to know you they reveal themselves. More time spent in Nature = more connection.
Have you seen the TV show "Merlin?" It's SO good and nothing you'll need the remote to fast forward through. Check it out and maybe it will spark the Magic in you! XOXO
Will do, Barbara, Thanks.
I'm spending time irl with Mary McLaughlin now and feel you're here with us, Barbara. I had already been thinking of a woody path to take before the rains start.
So many resonances! One, love your woo-woo. Embracing it now.
Two, I used to take photos of bark when I had a little faux-finishing business. I wanted to capture that peeling eucalyptus, or the rough layers of all hues of brown (how can one word contain it?) in paint. I need to revisit that dream.
Three, faces. I have a cork floor in the bathroom with a little fox that greets me when I pee ;-)
Four, forest oil! My youngest daughter lives for that scent. Gotta get me some!
Thank you for all this.
With Mary in real time (I had to figure out what IRT meant) sounds amazing!
I could stare at tree bark all day and sounds like you could too.
Here’s to Magic lives, Tereza. Thx for reading! 🧚💕
I love this so much, but what I love most is how true to you this post is! This is your essence and connection to Mother Earth distilled to words. I feel like the womb tree and her exquisite beauty and magic just unlocked a new level of your magic and I’m so glad you shared it here! Thank you for being a rememberer, waking up the deep knowing and magic in your friends. And, for being so in love with the world around you. You are such a gift to this world!
I love all the faces and love that a “dead” tree is in many ways so much more alive than a “healthy” tree. I think of all the bugs and birds and fungus that have been so nourished by her life and decay. Decay is such a fertile thing we’ve been taught to fear.
Doesn’t Druid mean “knower of the oak tree”?💫🧚🏻♂️
Thank you, dear Amanda, for knowing me so well. You are such a gift in my life—a true Anam Cara. Fellow lover of Fairies and Dragons and Trees and BIRDS!. Of course you see all the faces. As I took the photos I thought, "Oh, Amanda will see them." :)
I've heard so many definitions for "Druid," and I love that one! I wish I could remember where I read or heard that the word "God" means "the sound of the wind in the (Oak) trees, " from the Druids. I gasped when PictureThis told me The Womb Tree is an Oak.
So much Magic in our lives. Grateful that you are a believer, too. 🧚🧚XOXO
Oh I love that “the sound of the wind in the trees”…how lucky are we to live in a world where the wind rustles leaves, faces show up on trees, and we can capture these moments and share them with friends. Love you!
Thank you for sharing! 🧚🌲🥰
At the risk of sounding monotonous in my praise, Barbara, I LOVE this.
Such a delight. And I know about those 'dead' trees that aren't dead at all.
Magic all around, I'm so gratified reading your immersion in it! Just beautiful.
And I totally get in on 'Merlin' I don't admit to how many times I've watched it!
Thank you for extending the magic with your readers.🪄💖
xox
Never! I so appreciate your comments, Kathleen and I know that I have a Magic-loving, Nature-loving, soul sister in you. Merlin is just THE BEST! I do hate what happens to Morgana though. 😢 Thx for reading!
🧚🌲🌲💚
What a beautiful morning read. I’m looking for positive, personal and spiritually relevant stories that are meaningful instead of the irrelevant and drama filled snippets that are everywhere and this filled the bill. Your description of Magic redefined the word for me and I see it as a future name for a future pet. Your Forest Oil sounds heavenly and I will be back to purchase when I have a little extra splurge money. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this beautiful comment, L.L. You made my day. Truly. I miss the old Substack before Notes. It's like a feeding frenzy of the snippets you mention.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to comment. 💚
Oh, this is just TOO good 💕💕💕💕💕 !!!!! Yes, I see all the faces 🥰 How MAGICAL!!!!!!! Xoxo!! UGH!!! Fantastic post!!! Thank you so much for sharing!! Oh... and ... the elderberry syrup is Sooooooo delicious! The tastiest potion!!!! 🥰🤗
Thank you, Jamie, for reading and brightening my day with your sweetness! Of course, you see all the faces! And I'm so glad you like the potion! XOXOXOXO
I love this, Barbara, thankyou.
I live in a magical place called Glastonbury in the UK. There are two very old, oak trees here, one named Gog and the other Magog. Sadly, Gog has died but his remains can be seen. Magog is near the end of her life. They are said to mark the entrance to the Isle of Avalon.
The town is the spiritual home of King Arthur, and the area is known as the isle of Avalon. There is magic here, a vibrational energy. It's palpable.
Oh, Jules…I have goosebumps just reading your comment! Yes, I know all about your magical place. What a gift to live there! I have never been to that part of the UK- only to Scotland and Ireland. Tell Merlin I said hello! 🧙 🧚🌲🌲🥰
yes yes yes and thank you barbara for the introduction to the womb tree , many blessings
Thank you for reading, Sandra! And for taking the time to leave a comment. 🧚🥰
Hello, Barbara! Thank you for this message! We are definitely fellow travelers and believers in “Magic.”
I have just returned from a walk along the beach (I’m a Midwesterner by birth-what I call “my dirt.” The ocean waves were especially high this late afternoon. Lots of energy!
My daughter wooed me here to escape the bitter cold of Minnesota for a while which I’m grateful for.
Usually I am a “tree girl.” A mountain and high desert girl. I’m laughing to myself—just maybe I connect with what I’m surrounded by in the natural world in the moment. 🌎
I had been troubled by the tumult of what’s going on in the U.S. How can I continue to balance my own life without getting sucked into this darkness?
As is often the case, the Wisdom of the water, the trees, the plants, the birds and animals can be guides for us. The creativity of this world is astounding!
What an instructive walk you had! The bur oak is beautiful and certainly far from dead. It seems that you have been offered another portal for your journeying from the Womb Tree!
It seems to me as an elder, too, that there are purposes we can embrace which can be of help to our neighborhoods of the world.
Thank you, Barbara, for this story today!
Susan, thank you for reading and for your wonderful comment! I was born and raised in the Midwest, too (Michigan), and I used to love a nice warm getaway about this time. Now, I savor the cold, snowy winters more and more. But you are right...wherever we are, we can find solace, strength, and Magic in the Nature that surrounds us. I had to do that in the big bad city for years. I always knew the trees in my neighborhood. :)
Enjoy the crashing waves and grounding on the sandy beach! XO
You outdid yourself with this one. Loved every word. Thank you for sprinkling some magic out to the rest of us.
Thank you, Mary! 🧚🧚🧚 XO