Trees represent growth, spiritual and physical nourishment, gentle transformation, and fertility. It’s no wonder that the magic of trees was revered by such a wide variety of cultures just standing below a giant tree and considering the hundreds of rings that surround its girth inspires images of the swirling, changing landscape its long lifespan allowed it to observe. Trees were sometimes even treated as sacred beings themselves, with offerings made to them in the form of ale, bread, or other riches.
Examples of sacred uses of trees go on and on, in practically every culture around the world… as do stories of magical spirits that inhabit trees: there’s the Yakshis of India, the Dryads of Greece, the Kodama of Japan, the Lauma of the Baltic regions, the Pi-Fang of China, and so on. Native North Americans revered cottonwood as a connection to the afterlife, using its scented boughs in funerary rites. The tree was seen as incredibly powerful and the success of the royalty inaugurated under it rested on its wisdom and health. In ancient Ireland, each clan had their own sacred tree where important ceremonies were conducted. Every year on the winter solstice, a group of shamans and elders would take a spiritual journey to the top (aided by psychedelic amanita mushrooms) to gain wisdom that would help their people in the coming year. In Siberia, nomadic shepherds believed they existed on the trunk of a giant sacred tree, whose uppermost branch touched the North Star. With roots that dig back into the depths of time and the Otherworld and branches that stretch upwards towards what is yet to come, trees were often metaphors or models for the universe itself. The tree is a universal and archetypal symbol that can be found in spiritual practices and traditions all over the world. She speaks to the trees and listens to their wisdom as she makes her rounds. In this intertwining world there is no set hierarchy rather, the Queen’s job is to be an ambassador of her magical land rather than a ruler. A single small acorn waits with an air of excitement, for it holds all of the genetic information to grow into a towering oak tree in such fertile conditions.
Fallen logs break down into soft soil to nourish new generations of life. Canopies over head shield tender undergrowth and mark out their territories in precise lines and edges. Roots speak to each other over miles through a network of fungal mycelium. She must not govern or instruct for trees cannot be controlled instead, she must listen, collaborate, and love. You see, forests are filled with trees, which hold such ancient magic it takes someone with a deep understanding of their ways to consult with them. It’s no easy feat to be the Elfin Queen of the Forest.
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