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Trees

In the 60's my husband and I lived in a cabin among some wonderful redwood trees. Some friends were visiting and one of them had brought along some LSD. Gil told me later that while on LSD the friends had both turned into tree elves.

So...... the mini poll question is:

Have you ever had a "mystical" tree experience? And, of course, what was it like? :)).

Thirteen people from three different lists have related their tree stories. I find it fascinating that while 9 of these stories come from two Kundalini lists with a combined membership of over 700 people, four of these stories come from a list, that is not specifically K related, of only 33 members. Now if this was a Poll on Snake stories, I wonder what the result would be!....LOL!

Here are excerpts from the stories. Sorry about the length of this, but they make a wonderful group, I think!

Thanks everyone!


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...all my experiences began with a tree when I was twenty four--near on forty years ago. It is a long story and there is no way I can go into it all here.
But I felt the need to take a day off work and just go sit over the moors alone. My attention was caught by the ugliest thing in creation-- a bent twisted pathetic runt of a moorland Rowan tree.

I could not stop looking at is pathetic form and uselessness; it served no function in existence and it was ugly beyond words. I could not walk away from this damned stupid useless tree. I was stuck there for about five or six hours until sundown --talking to this tree --in my head obviously. I would argue my point, and then somehow, in my head, the tree was arguing its point and criticising me --weird stuff eh. But where were the words and concepts coming from that landed in my head?

When this "conversation". Was over I wept with joy, for that tree made me see things and understanding things that a boy had never comprehended. That night whilst sitting listening to music I was transported to another reality for three hours --the paradise of the transcendent realm, the beginning and the end of Being, and which all the genuine mystics have spoke of throughout time. But that was only the start mate.

Dick Richardson: rwr-at-eggconnect.net (rwr)

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I was running through the hills of Manoa Valley, outside Honolulu, around midnight. I love running at night, the air cool and misted, the valley quiet and respectful......

When the Chinese came to Oahu, in the middle 1800's I think, they immediately laid out a glorious final resting place for their ancestors-to-be. They picked the most beautiful land on the island, and feng-shuied it to perfection. Nestled back at the end of the valley, where the mountain crests meet, they planted a Banyan tree, smack in the middle. By the time I arrived on my fateful night, the tree was over 100 years old, huge, magnificent, awe-inspiring.

One unusual characteristic of the tree is the fact that it is hollow in the middle. You can stand with both feet flat on the ground in the center of this enormous being and look straight up through its universe of branches. The innermost elements of the tree are blackened, as if lightening had struck it, I thought. ...

It had become my habit to run to this tree, stand within it, say a prayer of appreciation, and then emerge and look out over Honolulu down below me. Well, on this particular night, I had run pretty hard and was very sweaty and breathing harder than usual. As soon as I got inside the tree, I stretched up, arching my back, and rested both of my palms on the stub of a branch that had been amputated some time in the distant past.

As I'm trying to regain my breath, I suddenly realize I'm being kind of rude. I've run right into the middle of this amazing being and hung my sweaty hands on the center of its amputated limb. So without thinking about anything, I start to say in my mind, "Hello." Before I can get to the second syllable of that word, I am interrupted by a big, loud, enthusiastic, and very friendly voice from within my head who almost yells, "HI!"

I'm stunned. Because of my experience with the other voice, I am not paralyzed with amazement, but I do notice that the tree- voice sounds as if it were coming from inside my head, not outside as before. Nonetheless, it sounds nothing at all like self talk, or imagination, or anything initiating from me.

Panting, still stretching on the tree, I think, Did I just hear that? Did I just hallucinate that? Was that the - and before I can think the word "tree", a loud, "YES!" interrupts my thoughts.

Okay, okay, I'm talking to a tree. Stranger things have happened. To me. Gather yourself girl, take advantage of this opportunity. Be respectful. Quick! What is tree etiquette?

So mentally clearing my throat, still conscious of my hands on the limb stub and a part of me wondering if that's our connection, I start again. I start to project another mental greeting, "Hel-" gets out and again the tree interrupts me with another big, back slapping "HI!"

Now I'm convinced I'm talking to a tree, a very enthusiastic tree, an interrupting tree, and I cannot think of another thing to say. Saying hello again sounds completely asinine, but I simply cannot think of anything appropriate. Finally, grasping at straws, feeling self conscious and so new age I can't believe this is the best I can come up with, I mentally say, "Is there something you would like to tell me?"

This time silence. No interruption, no answer at all.

Scrambling for a genuine communication, still feeling like a bumbling alien in the land of grace, knowing this experience is precious and I could be blowing it by being so clueless, well aware of the time passing and fearing a loss of connection, I finally blurt out, "Is there something you would like to tell all people?"

Again, the tree interrupts me before I can get to the ". . . all people." But I know it knows the end of the sentence, it's just not wasting our time.

"Teach them to love death," the tree says.

Anne: ajakahn-at-citlink.net (aja kahn)

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This was in 1955. I was living in Las Vegas, Nevada. Memorial Day weekend was coming up and it seemed like a good time for a friend of mine and I to get out of town and do something different. We were both working at the Nevada Test Site and with Operation Teapot just concluded (14 above-ground shots) we felt like unwinding.

... After a while we took off for King's Canyon National Park. We got there sometime in the afternoon....

All this time since we left the car I hadn't seen any people. For a while I just wandered around all by myself. Eventually got to feeling lazy, found a place under a big sequoia that looked comfortable. So I lay down and sort of let loose, and listened, and looked at the tree over me, and up at the sky, and the clouds, and smelled all the new smells, just generally getting to know the place.

At some point I noticed there were thoughts in my head that I wasn't thinking. What caught my attention was that the thoughts were not like my thoughts. I don't mean in content, I mean the way they felt. Alien, but not scary at all. Just really different. Not slow, really, but very steady, very much not-mixed-up. And I guess I had relaxed enough not to shut it out.

After a bit I began to recognize what these "thoughts" were. I was lying underneath this huge sequoia tree, and what I was (somehow) picking up on the tree working out some changes in its seeds to make them germinate easier, or better, or something. Not thinking about it, then doing something, like we might do. The "thought" and the "act" were all one piece. This was long-term work, but time didn't seem to be important. Maybe that was part of the difference I felt.

These "thoughts" weren't in words, but I have to tell it in words. And it wasn't thinking at me at all, or even about me. I was there, and in the right frame of mind or something, and just tuned in somehow. Well, that's what happened that afternoon.

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I too have had a profound experience with a tree. It happened in 1984, whilst I was undergoing a series of intense experiences. Instead of speaking to a tree, I actually so identified with one that it was as if I had become it. I experienced myself and ...my partner, as two ancient oak trees. I was rooted to the spot (pun intended) for about a day whilst I really experienced the essence of what it was to be that tree. My roots going so deeply into the earth; my branches reaching high to the heavens and also stretching way, way back in time, incredibly ancient, incredibly powerful. It was as if I was spreading out a protective covering of branches and leaves across the whole of history. What wisdom there was in just being that tree, feeling the strength of it, the compassion of it as it sheltered so many beneath its great form. To know that tree was to know "God".

And when years later I had the experience of seeing myself coming down to earth from a place that seemed to be my home, I saw that tree again, that mighty form looking down on me with such compassion. I put my arms around it and it poured into me such love and strength, that just the very recalling of it makes me weep. How I love that tree.

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In my spine I would feel the presence of a formidable tree, a trunk with my roots deeply into the earth as well surrounding and holding the earth, my branches would lift themselves upwards as though inviting the heavens to be embraced by me. A great cosmic intercourse. And (again strangely) the words "Tree of Jesse" wouldresound, the vibrations as though joining earth and universe in a lovingembrace....

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I was thinking of an inner tree just today.....

The tree is constant, growing from somewhere in the lower body (the root chakra ?) up through the middle of the body (the trunk) to the base of the skull, where the trunk first widens into a crown. The tree crown includes the head.

I take this to be the sight (inner sight, the tree shining golden colored) and presence of nerves and fascicles in the spine, going up to the base of the brain and nerves and energy in the brain itself.

Not very exciting and mystical or ? :)
The tree is simply just there. But of course its presence feels very good.
:)

In the beginning, the top of the tree, the crown, looked and felt like a broad wedge of light driven down between the brain hemispheres to split the skull (?). The sight of this wedge made me a little bit nervous, so I must say I like the image of a golden tree with a wide crown better. :)

Right before writing this, I watched a travel program on tv about England and the Glastonbury Tor in South England. The Glastonbury Tor is a site which King Arthur is said to have visited during his search for the Holy Grail.

It hit me that the nerve tree with an added base as broad as the tree crown, that of the root chakra and the nerves of the upper legs, create the shape of a medieval goblet seen in profile... May this be the Holy Grail ? :)

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It must be that "Tree's" plays a major role in the human psyche and hasbecome of somewhat of an archetypal phenomena. The works of Robert Graves -The White Goddess - and the tree alphabet and much more... that is writtenin these pages... most will not be known except to only to the mystic atheart.

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Perhaps not in the same vein as these other experiences, but often timesafter quite a good meditation I will be full of energy and often decided towalk it off. I often feel extremely drawn to trees, and will stand againstthe trunk. The feelings elicited are quite spectacular, calmness stillness,I can feel the individual branches moving as if they were arms of my ownbody. The tree can feel different ways, often times I have held a tree andfelt pain and then to find a recently chopped limb(?). Well I don'tconsidered myself a tree hugging hippy (non-derogatory), but this issometimes that I find drawn to do.

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Had an experience with the late Terrence McKennah where he not only told uswe would meet the tree elves but described them in great and accurate detailbefore the experience. The drug was an Ayayasca [sp?] brew. Yes, it was ashared "hallucination".

Coming out of a bad period 13 years ago a white oak adopted me. My currentmain tree is a black hickory. I meditate with it by leaning against itstrunk as a run my Chakras. Powerful energies flow as I pull up through themuldahara and send love back through it.

Trees communicate with other trees of the same and different species throughchemical signals in their root systems. I think we can tap [whoops!] intothis on a nonverbal level.

Saving trees is a metaphysical mandate as well as an ecological one.

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I was at a grounding dance class & I met Mother Earth. Yes She is my Mother too. I never felt more alive nor cherished & loved. I felt akin to wood nymphs. It was glorious. I never felt I fit my mother & grandmother human family. They felt alien to me. When I met Mother it fit. I now know I am an earthling.

Now this helps me understand the ways of the Aborigines more. This is good because 5 generations back there was a full blooded Aboriginal ancestor in my family apparently. I would like to read more from anyone who has met & written about Mother :-) I used to just think of earth as an object beneath my feet. ...The message I seemed to get was that when the wood nymphs dance they create the trees.

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My k process appeared to be accelerated by having spent 5 blissful days in the zen gardens of Kyoto in August of 1992. Only 2 weeks after returning home my k awakened: a sensation of energy spiraling out of my brow chakra. ln the months that followed l found that whenever l focused on a tree for even a couple seconds or more, the energy would become much more active and my head chakras would really buzz.
As l've also related, my Kyoto experience combined with my k journey to lead me to create an elaborate zen garden out of my property. l have a vital relationship with both the trees and large rocks that has nourished my health and soul over the past 6 years. Every tree and rock has a distinct personality and is a deeply felt presence in my life, altho l know l'm not always conscious of it.

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- last night, walking in a park by the moon & there were many tall trees. My friend who is Indian informed me that in India they are taught in school that all trees are Saints. He spoke about them with great reverence.

I was thinking he must mean because they have persoanlity & spirit natures. No, my friend explained that it is said that they stand tall like Saints with the sun glaring on their backs, yet they protect us by softening the intensity by providing protective coolness form teh heat & shade in the umbrella of their embracive arms. (These particular trees are tall with long arms sweeping down low to embrace those down on earth).

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A few years ago, about two years after the beginning of my kundalini experience, I went to Krakow in Poland to visit someone for Christmas. At that time I had been practicing something I called "getting tree prana" (I learned the exercise from a book or workshop by Master Choa Kok Sui), which is a simple ritual of: 1) asking a healthy tree for some of her prana 2)massaging the center-palm chakras a bit to activate them 3) holding the hands about six or eight inches from the tree trunk while 4) ten times, taking a deep breath, with the tongue raised to touch the palate, holding the breath to a count of ten, releasing it, and 5) thanking the tree.
One night I went for a walk with my friends along the Vistula, the river that runs beside Krakow. It was a very cold, icy, and beautifulnight. I stopped beside a big tree and did my prana ritual.
I had a fairly bad cold or flu or something. That night, while I was asleep, I was aware of entities I knew to be Polish tree elves scampering around in my body, giggling--they were totally mirthful and very busy. I felt them in the places in my throat where glands were swollen. They chattered in their own language.
When I woke up, my symptoms were gone.
So--I am very interested in your inquiry about tree experiences, and had not thought until now that they might be common to the kundalini-awakened.

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END

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