If one thing has been sacred to our species since time immemorial, it is our trees.

Dwelling between the realms of earth and sky, we humans are beings of both worlds, and our very life is a balance and synthesis of form and spirit, below and above. What more appropriate symbol for this could there be than a tree, rooted in the earth, and stretching his branches and leaves upward into the light?

This tree oracle draws upon the wisdom of these ancient magical beings.

To use it, simply choose the image to which you are most drawn at this moment in time. Then read the corresponding guidance (gathered and adapted from The Magic of Trees: A Guide to Their Sacred Wisdom and Metaphysical Properties) below.

1. Aspen
The aspen—unlike other trees—reproduces by cloning himself at the level of his root system. This means that every tree in an aspen grove is not only genetically identical, but is also linked to every other tree in the grove via the roots. So while seemingly individual trees live for approximately 40-150 years, the entire living entity that is the grove can live tens of thousands of years. (In fact, the Pando grove in Utah is believed to have lived for somewhere in the vicinity of 80,000 years!)

Magically, this makes the aspen a wonderful teacher when it comes to feeling connected to our ancestry and heritage in a way that nourishes us and gives us a sense of expansive continuity. It appears that you are currently being called to research and/or reconnect with your ancestors and the traditions, beliefs, and customs that make up your heritage.

You can do this in many ways, including:

• Creating an ancestor altar
• Connecting with deceased loved ones through meditation and visualization
• Recognizing your role as a healer in an ancient lineage
• Researching your genealogy and heritage
• Studying a cosmology or belief system held by your ancestors

Notice if any of these call out to you, or simply follow your intuition and guidance about connecting to your ancestry and heritage.

2. Lemon
The presence of a lemon tree in a landscape confers a sense of bliss, and quiet contemplation with one can tune you into the heavenly realm. Encountering a lemon tree in bloom is an especially auspicious occurrence, and inhaling the scent of the flowers is a surefire method of coming into a pleasant alignment with the senses and uplifting the mood to its highest possible degree.

Your selection of the lemon indicates that the time is right for cleansing and vitalizing your body, mind, and spirit.

Lemons can help with this in so many ways. For example, you might:

• Add lemon juice to water and drink as a simple detoxifying potion
• Add lemon slices to bathwater to cleanse and activate the physical and energetic bodies
• Clean house with water into which you've added lemon juice, or add lemon essential oil to your cleaners
• Add a few drops of lemon essential oil to spring water and mist the space as a clearing and vitalizing mist potion
• Diffuse lemon essential oil to energetically detoxify and energize the space
  
  
  

3. Catalpa
Aha! You chose catalpa. This indicates that you are being called to step into your singular variety of personal power, discover and/or celebrate your peculiarities, and fully embrace yourself in all your unique glory.
The catalpa's ability to help us express creativity is threefold. By tapping us into our uniqueness, dunking us into the realm of mystery and enchantment, and aligning us with spirit and the spirit realm, he places us precisely where we need to be to express our creativity in the most fluent and satisfying of ways. This energetic creativity assistance is mirrored in the physical realm: catalpa wood is used in instrument making because of its resonance and tone.

Because the catalpa is aligned with the realm of spirit, the tree also helps us connect with unseen allies of all varieties, including angels, fairies, deities, and ancestors.

To summarize, the messages the catalpa has for you are (A) be yourself, (B) express yourself creatively, and (C) connect with the spirit world.

Also, be aware that these three messages are linked. Each supports the other two.

4. Pink Silk Tree
It appears that your sensitivity is of the essence now: honor it as a sign of your considerable empathic and intuitive abilities.

The pink silk tree's ornate little bi-pinnate leaves and soft, brush-like blooms are potent visual and tactile symbols of sensitivity. Additionally, the leaves fold closed at night and when it rains, again conferring the distinct sense that the tree is exquisitely sensitive to every nuance in the world around her.

Stress-relief and mood boosting also appear to be important for you now. In Traditional Chinese medicine, the pink silk tree (Albizia julibrissin) is employed for just these purposes. In fact, simply gazing at a pink silk tree in sunlight—or even just visualizing one—infuses the spirit with a distinctive brightness and calm.

So heed the pink silk tree's message: guard your personal energy by envisioning bright pink light around yourself in a bubble. Also engage in healing, relaxing activities such as yoga, sea salt baths, listening to uplifting music, and getting plenty of rest.

5. Maple
The maple asks you: what would life be without play?

Playing reduces stress, builds social relationships, and activates joy. And many of the games we play rely on maple wood: this munificent tree lends her wood to pool cues, bowling pins, baseball bats, basketball courts, and archery bows. As for people who prefer to play with musical instruments, she generously provides for those too.

If you could use a little more fun in your life (and your selection indicates that you could), consider performing the following breakfast ritual: employing the maple tree in the form of her famous syrup.

Maple Breakfast Ritual to Activate Fun
To magically increase the fun quotient in your life (and perhaps that of your partner and/or household), or to kick the day off with an extra helping of fun, whip up some pancakes. Say a quick blessing over the (100% pure and organic) maple syrup, such as:

Fun is magic and magic is sweet,
I'm (we're) feeling playful from our head to our feet.

Put on some silly or joyful music, and eat. Be sure to encourage at least a drop or two of syrup for everyone. (Alternate ideas: For non-breakfast eaters, perhaps put a bit in your coffee or tea. For extra spontaneity, make pancakes for dinner instead of breakfast.)

6. Jabuticaba
Have you ever seen fruit growing along a trunk, in addition to branches, so that the entire tree looks, incredibly, like it's dripping with giant black pearls? If so, you've probably been to Brazil, and seen a jabuticaba tree (Plinia cauliflora, also known as a Brazilian grape tree)! Before the sweet, grape-like fruits appear, white flowers line the trunk like snowy, chrysanthemum-like sea creatures.

And these truly unique tropical beauties can go through near constant blooming and fruit cycles, providing delicious, sweet fruit year round.

Speaking of her near constant, uncommonly abundant supply of delicious fruit, jabuticaba is truly a representative of the divine earth mother, offering us sweet nourishment and hydration directly from her very body. Spending time with a jabuticaba, or meditating on her image, one can see quite clearly that Mother Earth indeed wants to provide an abundance of sustenance and sweetness for her beloved children.
And this is the message the jabuticaba has for you now: you are perfectly provided for, dear one. Relax, breathe, release worry and fear, and allow the sweetness and nourishment that is your birthright to flow to you now.

7. Olive
The olive tree says: you are beautiful!

Indeed, olive trees drip with the energy of pure beauty, and gazing at one can transport one to the realm of aesthetic bliss. Simply envisioning or gazing at an image of an olive tree can assist you in aligning with the frequency of beauty and embodying and emanating beauty as a matter of course.

The olive tree also says: luxury is your birthright!

For most, eating olives or olive oil is a sumptuous, luxurious, and nourishing experience, and noticeably aligns us with the energy of wealth. The olive may have gained further association with wealth by serving as one of the primary commodities of ancient Athens.

Additionally, olives have been magically aligned with fertility and luck, both of which correspond directly with the olive's ability to bestow wealth.

To quickly tune your frequency to the energy of lavish wealth and abundance, try this quick and potent wealth blessing: Mindfully eat eight olives on a Thursday while the moon is waxing. All the while, be sure to feel luxurious and even decadent.

8. Oak
Is there an arboreal superstar of the western world? As a matter of fact, yes, and it's the oak (Quercus). All but synonymous with the Druids, the tree is sacred to such heavy mythological hitters as the well-known thunder gods Thor and Zeus, as well as—notably—the Celtic thunder god Taranus, the Slavic thunder god Perun, and the Baltic thunder god Perkunas. Literally worshipped by many ancient people, in modern times the oak has been chosen as a national tree by a vast number of countries including England, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Wales, and (as of 2004) the United States.

The oak reminds you to really believe in and embody your magical power and manifestation abilities. What is it you truly desire? It's high time to get very clear on your intentions. And then to manifest them!

We are all familiar with the perennial symbol of manifestation: the tiny acorn becoming a vast oak tree. It's also been noted that the oak is hit by lightning frequently, which has been attributed to its deep taproot and proclivity for growing near underground water sources. This is reminiscent of the Magician in the tarot, who points one finger up to heaven to receive divine energy, and one finger down to earth, to project that energy toward affecting change in the physical world according to his will.

Be a magician now, and craft your life conditions according to your fierce will and unbending intent.