Welcome To Issue #3! Journey to the Trees In these pages we explore the magical and ritual uses of the trees, bushes, shrubs, and herbs growing wild or naturalized to our area, which is central West Virginia, in the heart of the great Appalachian Forest. This week, we describe how we Journey to the Trees. A Plant Trance Many plants from England and Europe have magical properties well established. In order to learn the attributes and uses for sacred plants here in North America, we do a trance journey, or unguided meditation. Many people do this work to find out their power animal, or spirit guides, and so it is also useful to trance to plants for information, healing and advice. Most trees are ancient wise beings, and all plants have their spirit essence that we can learn from. For this type of vision quest we find a comfortable place to sit or lie (turn off the phone and any other distractions). We state our intention, which in this case, is to journey to a plant for information. We do a group trance on one specific plant and compare notes, but in my first group trance of this type, everyone picked their own special plant to talk to. For our "trance team" of five, I like to set the scene with a wand made of the plant we will be visiting, plus other items, such as petals, leaves, fruits, wood, or tea. With the wand I cast a circle, creating a sacred space: a spherical container for the magic of the trance. I point the wand to the North and say: "By the Earth which is her body, and by the grove which is his home." I then swing my wand around to the East and say: "By the air of her sweet breath, and by the music of his song." I continue to the South and say: "By the fire of her bright spirit, and by the music of his song." To the West I say: "By the waters of her living womb, and by the dew that is his tears." I finish the circle by going back around to the North again, and then swing up over my head, and say: "By all that is above." Point to the ground and say: "And by all that is below. The circle is cast, we are between the worlds, neither here nor there, now nor then. what happens between the worlds, affects all the worlds. Blessed be." Next Red Leaf leads a grounding exercise, to open a channel of energy with the Earth, for our use during the trance. Click here for an example of his grounding procedure. Then we put on a trance drumming CD, or one of us volunteers to be the trance drummer, usually Sandwalker. The object of the drumming is not to be rhythmic background music, but to be an irritation, a white noise to block out other room noises, and keep us in our heads where the action is. The beat is fast--Sandwalker likes to use a frame drum with a soft leather beater, plus she holds a rattle for a fuller noise. The drumming lasts about 1/2 hour or so. She varies the intensity of the beat near the end, so the trancers will know when it's time to come back. As the drumming commences, we close our eyes and begin our journey to the trees. Everyone has a different method of wandering out of the mundane world. In my mind's eye, I walk out the door and am standing in a meadow of wild flowers. As I walk up the hill, I imagine all the flower smells, bird sounds and even the feel of the breeze on my cheek. I notice an inviting set of rustic steps leading up into a forest of trees. I go up the steps and find myself in a bright forest with lots of trees and plants. I wander around until I meet my plant, or sit on a stump and wait for my plant to come before me. Sometimes if going outside does not work for me, I try a Narnia-style wardrobe closet, where I go in and exit from the back into a meadow or forest. Sandwalker uses the shamanic tunnel down into the Earth. Once we find our plant or it finds us, we begin by respectfully greeting it and asking permission to speak. Then we ask our questions, such as ritual uses, runes or symbols, advice, or other knowledge we wish to know. Other questions and answers come up in the conversation as well. I have a blank piece of paper in front of me, so I can jot down notes as I go along. With experience, we can move in and out of the mundane world and the trance state to do this. Others make their notes when they awaken. When we hear the drumming change beat, it is time to say goodbye. If I have not already done so, I thank the plant and then journey back to my chair. Open my eyes, and pat myself, to help me wake up. We make sure everyone is back, jot some more things down and then we compare notes with each other. This can be very interesting, especially when two or more people journey to the same plant. While we share our stories, we eat a snack to "earth the energy," bringing us back fully into our bodies. The last thing we do is open the circle, dissolving the sacred space we created in the beginning. I start by pointing the wand at the ground, then up, then the north, west, south, east and back to the north again, retracing backwards the movements I used to create it. Then we say, "The circle is open but unbroken. May the peace of the Goddess and God go in our hearts. Merry meet and merry part and merry meet again." I usually write up my vision quest as a journal entry. Trance journeys are like dreams or daydreams, I write them up as soon as I can after they are finished, or I might forget some of my experiences.
References: Shamanic Journeying by Sandra Ingerman
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Blessed Be, Lynn
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