The feeling I had developed for the trees was beyond words. I had the certainty that I was able to absorb their moods, know their age, their insights and what they sensed. I could communicate with a tree directly through a sensation that came out from the inside of my body. And I also knew that once communication is engaged, tree pour themselves out in affection. ~ Taisha Abelar, The Sorcerers’ Crossing

I’m a tree hugger. I don’t live in California and I don’t wear Birkenstocks with socks but I love a good tree hug. They have so much to tell us if we pay attention and align with their energy, their intent. Last Sunday I was hiking through an old growth forest in Northern Arizona and when approaching a gigantic old ponderosa pine I just had to embrace it.

I couldn’t wrap my arms around even half of her, she was so big. I pressed my ear against her rugged bark and listened. And then she spoke. She told me that we have to become “conduits” like them so we can bridge the energy of the earth as it moves up through our bodies and into the warmth and light of the sun. This allows us to merge with the abysmal void of infinity. Emptiness is form, form is emptiness.

I thanked her and found a beautiful clearing in which to sit and ponder her message. It was a place off the path I was following that I felt being pulled towards. Once I sat down I looked in the direction from which I had come and saw that the trees on either side of the trail I blazed were leaning towards the center creating an immense and beautiful arch. Looking out even further I realized that the clearing I sat in was a complete circle surround by trees all arching inward over me. And looking out beyond the circle I was awestruck to find that my circle was surrounded by a circle of monumental rock in colors of red, orange and golden.

I willed myself to align with the intent of the earth and opened my root chakra to connect with the pulse of the earth. I felt the energy of the earth moving up through me, a cleansing so it seemed of all my chakras and an emptying of everything. I felt the warmth of the sun coming down through the barren branches and willed myself to align more deeply with the message I received from the tree, to become a conduit like the tree through which the energy of the earth could move and reach for the sun.

As I lie down on my back looking upwards I began to notice many fine gossamer threads above and all around me. As I entered into a state of heightened awareness I saw how some of these luminous fibers were connected from tree to tree and how some were free floating in the subtle breeze, unanchored the way the bigger, thicker luminous fibers are. I knew that the ones that were free floating were new lines of awareness and that I could grab onto and dance along whichever one I chose.

I chose one of the free floating gossamer threads and took hold of it with trust and surrender. I wasn’t intending to “go” anywhere, I was curious to see where it took me and slowly and innocently danced lightly upon it, careful not to impose my will. It carried me to see all the possibilities that exist within creating a new dream, a new band of awareness that resides beyond this tonal reality. “It’s just a jump to the left…”

And then I was surrounded by affection, a deep, penetrating affection that I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt was coming from all of the trees that were surrounding me, they were watching me, and they were feeling my energetic frequency, my connection to them, to the earth, the sun, the cosmos. A bridge was created and the new band of awareness is beginning to assemble.

On the cosmic scale, the strength of a being is not measured by its physical capability, but by its capacity to manipulate awareness. It follows that if we are to take the next evolutionary step, it must be done by means of discipline, determination, and strategy. Those are our weapons. ~ Carlos Castaneda, Encounters with the Nagual