Tags
So…I’ve been doing a fair amount of internet browsy-browsy out of sheer laziness on my part. Part of it is because I’m still recovering a bit from the ick, but mostly its because the weather has also been a bit ick…and I find the combination of the two to be a bit draining. The Hubby sometimes makes the joke that I’m solar-powered–I have to have sunlight just to function. I don’t fully wake up til the sun streams in the window and I need the shades open and fake lights off to really do justice to the day. Working nights when I wa in the military was difficult, mainly because it was so darn hard for me to sleep in the day.
But my solar powered-ness isn’t really the point of this so much as some of my browsy-browsy ponderings, and what they suggest for our family for the new year. I have a couple I’ll probably be turning into posts, but right now, this is the one I’ve been thinking upon for most of the day:
If Druids indeed live all over the planet then we need to know the magical trees and their lives and uses more than we need to know the trees of Britain I would think. Indeed I think it’s kind of lazy not to know what is around you and waiting for your attention. So who is outside your window waiting for you to notice?
Holly-effing-loo-lah!
Seriously, I’ve been wondering this forever. Its not just Druidry and trees–thumb through just about any herbal correspondence. Same thing there too.

Southern Live Oak (Quercus virginiana) & photo for Day 2 of the First 31 Photo Challenge, taken on my cell phone since my real camera is in the car, which is at work with The Hubby!
I’ve said it enough times that I think I’m a broken record on the subject, but part of being a witch is being part of one’s environment. That means knowing my local plants and animals, knowing where my water comes from, what my geography means for my weather patterns, what the natural AND human history of my land base is, and where my soil comes from. That means darn well knowing what my local trees are!
We have birch, and willow and ash too…but there ain’t no bald cypress in England (or, for that matter, any outside of a fairly narrow range in the southeastern US). And any witch worth her salt within spittin’ distance of a bald cypress should be able to tell you that its one of the most woo woo plants out there. Not to mention sassafras, the paw paw, live oak…
Every one of us lives in a unique ecosystem with a unique history. Our ecosystem can strengthen us, can teach us, can shape us…if we let it. If we know how to talk to it–and more importantly, if we know how to listen to it.
Which brings me to this year’s bloggy goal (I prefer goals over resolutions): Be more bioregional in purpose and practice.
And that gets us back to trees…
Which tree species are in your yard? On your block? In your neighborhood? In your bioregion? How many of them are native vs. naturalized? Are any of them invasive? What animals make their homes in them? What do they provide to the ecosystem? What do they look like in the different seasons of the year? How do they disperse their seeds?
What do they say to you when you sit under one of them or climb into its branches?
Get to Know Your Tree Resources:
Leafsnap, an Ipad app (as I twiddle my thumbs waiting for the android version…)
The Arbor Day Foundation (has tons of stuff, from an online tree guide to growing info)
Making an herbarium
Our family’s Year of a Leaf Meditation
A Must Read Book
Amen!
Hey –
So while you’re browsing check out the books of Diana Beresford-Kroeger, amongst them “Arboretum America: A Philosophy of the Forest”. She’s a scientist, writer and tree lover who happens to also be a friend of mine, living about 15 minutes down the road….. Enjoy!
Oh, cool! Thanks for the recommendation…
Maybe a bit off track but I was watching a doco on the sinking of the Mary Celeste and they were indentifying the bones – and the way they knew what part of England and Europe they came from was their teeth….they could tell from the enamel exactly what area they grew up in – because in the days before chlorinated/chemi-cleaned water each area’s terroir created a unique mineral footprint in the drinking water that then was absorbed into the tooth enamel. How amazing that our home environment imprints within us!
I do love trees. I am still trying to track down what type I saw this pack week in LA. It had huge spikes on it. In our yard we have a pineapple guava that is just magical. on a different note I nominated you for an award because I always enjoy what you have to share. http://bookofshadowsandblessings.wordpress.com/2013/01/02/liebster-award/
oooh! thanks!
…now I know what my blog project for the weekend is, lol!
clearly I was typing while not paying attention. pack is supposed to be past. gesh! and I do love your blog so I am happy to give you a weekend project 🙂
Ha! I do that all the time…especially those typos that spell check doesn’t count? Yeah…that’s me.
The best explanation I’ve gotten yet is that there are invisible little fairies that live in the keyboards of computers and typing is an aphrodisiac for them–the more you use your keyboard, the more excited you get, and the less precise they are at transmitting your key selection to the computer.
..lol
LOL! oh that is fantastic. I am so stealing that!
Great picture! And I LOVE that you not only take a picture for the challenge but you reflect and write an entire post. What inspiration!
I think your husband is on to something with the solar-poweredness. I can relate!
lol, thanks! I think the biggest challenge for me will probably be remembering to take my camera out of the car…I moved it there so that I wouldn’t leave it at home, and somehow that didn’t work out so well!!
Pingback: Pagan Blog Project: Loving Where You Live « musings of a kitchen witch
Pingback: Pagan Blog Project: EverythingEnsouled « musings of a kitchen witch
Pingback: Pagan Blog Project: Know your Flora and Fauna | musings of a kitchen witch
Pingback: PBP: Bioregional Witchery | musings of a kitchen witch