...lets talk about Trees please?

Trees have been the subject latley in my own home, and in my own studies. I see others chit chatting and even doing lessons n such... so my question is- whats the deal with trees and Modern day Jedi?

As I said, here lately, trees have been the subject of things spiritual.
I love Trees. Its a very BIG part of my Modern day Jedi ism u could say. I plant trees all the time evry chance i get i even have many in pots and parts of the yard.
i actually meditate with them.
I actually sit near under and around them intentionally.

I am very much a GREEN JEDI of sort to the point i grow things for food and for lesson and spirituality. I'm not a alchemist but I do have a section of things that heal and help the modern human any day. I even have certain plants to meditate and dwell with as well.
sunflowers for example are a basic in my world as well as cedar and purslane.
Ill sway with the trees or just stop and relax when they sway no matter where I'm at.

Persoanlly
I have a very real practice with trees and the meaning of what they are - where they are from- wood properties, protection and peace and such. Its not the only "green practice" I have now but i have been noticing alot of things about trees latley...

care to share?

Do YOU as Modern day Jedi have ANY connections to the Force thrugh trees or around them? know any stories or myths of them?

share dont link
post dont copy
if you like...

Whats up with the Jedi and trees?

As someone who has spent 5 years studying trees in college and 3 years working with them professionally, I've been waiting for someone to bring this up for a long time :laugh:

Where to begin? My relationship with trees as evolved with my age and education. When I was a child, trees seemed like wild and untamed creatures who had stories to tell if only I could understand their language. When I entered grade school, trees were challenges to climb and overcome. Through highschool and early college we learn to see trees as benevolent martyrs, freely giving oxygen, timber, fruit, and paper if they are probably managed.

Are trees an important part of my life as a Jedi? Yes, they are integral. Trees provide resources to their community in both life and death. They are symbols of benevolence in the free giving of air and food, but they also compete harshly for sunlight and canopy dominance. Accepting both the "light" and "dark" side of the tree's nature is the quickest way for me to see the force as it is: a beautiful but amoral process of life and death, giving and taking, fighting and sharing. There is no good or evil other than the fact that, after all is said and done and the tree returns to organic matter in the soil, it gave far more than it took. If you want a scientific (scientific with a grain of salt) read on how trees might resemble the force, I HIGHLY recommend "The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben. It's so good I would almost recommend it as standard curriculum here.

Know any myths about trees? I probably know as much as you do. There is the tree of temptation, which many Christians are familiar with. Fewer Christians are aware of Irminsul, an enormous tree worshiped by the pagans of north central Europe in the first millennium AD - it was later burns by Charlemagne. There is Yggdrasil, the center of worlds in the Nordic religion, supposedly an ash tree. And what was once common, but is now sadly rare and mythological is the American Chestnut. It once dominated the east coast, providing food to Native Americans and making forests look like temples. Now there are hardly more than a handful left. We could also talk forest god that Gilgamesh killed during his quest for immortality, or the Cedars of Lebanon.

But if you strip away all the magic and mumbo jumbo - trees are individuals belonging to the community of earth - just like us. Our relationship with plants is extensive - we have domesticated, manipulated, and modified thousands of plant species over thousands of years. But our relationship with trees has only scratched the surface. Though we industrially grow pines, walnuts, and apples, these species are relatively wild and untamed compared to their non-perennial cousins. Some communities - like Spanish ranchers grazing hogs in oak savannas for centuries, or French chestnut farmers living in the same orchards for centuries - have deeply complex and resilient relationships with trees that did not transition to the modern world. That's why I'm professionally interested in agroforestry. I want to bring those systems back to modern life. I want to see fruit trees back in our backyards, and nut trees bordering farms. I want to help plant willow and elderberry along streams and help ranchers find trees that can benefit their livestock by providing them shade and fodder. So if you want tree advice, or just want to share your own tree-planting projects, I'm all ears. And I like the term Green Jedi. Maybe I could put it on a business card one day...

So... favorite species? I've always had a thing for scraggy junipers and cedars growing on rocky cliffs. The American Chestnut might be my favorite, but I've never seen a mature one in person, and doubt I ever will. Honey locusts have so much character, and I revere the old world oaks, beeches, hickories, and yews.

Surrounding myself with trees allows me to feel better despite the emotional variations in a day, they evoke my peace. It is a reunion with myself instead of dispersing on multiple topics. Paradoxically, I expand by looking at the flight of the birds and the vertical aspect of the trees gives me stability, a feeling that has surely given me some intuition that my problems will diminish and that my joy can flow more easily.

It's a return to my breathing where my internal dialogue can wander or I can choose several minutes of mental silence, because stopping thinking is healthy for me too. The implicit aspects are a parallel gain: doing exercising, happy children, dogs playing and running freely ...

The aroma is also important to amplify my serenity, it can be a powerful anchor; humidity, green leaves and natural aspects that invite me to have clarity. They can be minutes or a couple of hours of reading, but they represent quality time for my soul and my lungs ...

Today I was in a different park because I went to look for a job and I found a perfect place, little sun not so cold. Some workers must be repairing the fountain because it was drained, the dry floor barely have puddles, but an opportunity for a woman and her dog to play inside it, now that I reflect it, I did not take photos or video, proof that I was present and flowing in that environment.

May the Beauty of Nature be with us

One of my earliest spiritual experiences was hiking under the sequoias. They're just so enormous and so ancient... We went during a season when there weren't crowds, so it felt immensely peaceful and quiet. When we went home to the desert, I tried to feel the same thing with the little mulberries that grew in Grandma's yard. It wasn't the same, but I was determined. lol I ended up becoming an avid tree climber, and sitting in the top of the tree was one of my favorite spots. Fast forward to adulthood, and I'm the type of person that can't deal with indoors jobs for too long. Contact with trees is an important part of my mental health, I discovered. My happiest times at my place of work were in the locations with the most trees, and the ability to listen to the birds and feel the breeze. Busy or quiet, I've never had the same inner peace or felt as energetic when I'm indoors for hours on end. Even in quarantine, I am glad to have trees right near me and I often touch the bark to help ground myself. Before everything closed, I was actually considering an apprenticeship in horticulture to become an arborist, but was weighing it against working with horses or continuing to work with the public, and now all three are on hold.

Personally, I just always assumed it was because I'm attracted to other life forms in general. That seems to be the common trend in all my occupations and all my hobbies. Machines, instruments, and writings are mostly just requirements to interact in some circumstances for me, but the important factors are the life forms I come into contact with. I do enjoy how different trees have different effects on the feel of the landscape in an emotional sense, but also appreciate that they should be kept to appropriate environments. I've tried reading about the Celtic takes on different trees and their properties, but those trees are not exactly best suited for SoCal and our mediterranean climate and wildlife. So it was a nice springboard, but I'm mostly just beginning to learn about the ones in my city and the surrounding natural world through whatever local means present themselves.

Living where I do, I notice I have a connection to two species that are frequently overlooked and under-represented. Mesquite and manzanita. Mesquite was once common in my area of desert, and has little seed-pods that make excellent rattles, in an area with rattlesnakes. The closest thing I can think of in public consciousness is cedar, because it just comes to mind instantly as a tree that drives off negativity, and is dead useful for nearly everything. I have many rattles I collected from a healthy mesquite tree near me. (They all dropped off naturally, and were not in a natural environment.) Manzanita is a gorgeous twisted thing with incredibly hard wood, and a brilliant red bark. It tends to have a lively feel, full of hummingbirds and bees. Looking at it feels like a reminder of summer, even in the cold. It's also hardy and fire-resistant, which feels like a lesson in resilience and beauty, especially with the most recent fire and the prevalence of manzanita in that area.

Skryym wrote: As someone who has spent 5 years studying trees in college and 3 years working with them professionally, I've been waiting for someone to bring this up for a long time :laugh:

Where to begin? My relationship with trees as evolved with my age and education. When I was a child, trees seemed like wild and untamed creatures who had stories to tell if only I could understand their language. When I entered grade school, trees were challenges to climb and overcome. Through highschool and early college we learn to see trees as benevolent martyrs, freely giving oxygen, timber, fruit, and paper if they are probably managed.

Are trees an important part of my life as a Jedi? Yes, they are integral. Trees provide resources to their community in both life and death. They are symbols of benevolence in the free giving of air and food, but they also compete harshly for sunlight and canopy dominance. Accepting both the "light" and "dark" side of the tree's nature is the quickest way for me to see the force as it is: a beautiful but amoral process of life and death, giving and taking, fighting and sharing. There is no good or evil other than the fact that, after all is said and done and the tree returns to organic matter in the soil, it gave far more than it took. If you want a scientific (scientific with a grain of salt) read on how trees might resemble the force, I HIGHLY recommend "The Hidden Life of Trees" by Peter Wohlleben. It's so good I would almost recommend it as standard curriculum here.

Know any myths about trees? I probably know as much as you do. There is the tree of temptation, which many Christians are familiar with. Fewer Christians are aware of Irminsul, an enormous tree worshiped by the pagans of north central Europe in the first millennium AD - it was later burns by Charlemagne. There is Yggdrasil, the center of worlds in the Nordic religion, supposedly an ash tree. And what was once common, but is now sadly rare and mythological is the American Chestnut. It once dominated the east coast, providing food to Native Americans and making forests look like temples. Now there are hardly more than a handful left. We could also talk forest god that Gilgamesh killed during his quest for immortality, or the Cedars of Lebanon.

But if you strip away all the magic and mumbo jumbo - trees are individuals belonging to the community of earth - just like us. Our relationship with plants is extensive - we have domesticated, manipulated, and modified thousands of plant species over thousands of years. But our relationship with trees has only scratched the surface. Though we industrially grow pines, walnuts, and apples, these species are relatively wild and untamed compared to their non-perennial cousins. Some communities - like Spanish ranchers grazing hogs in oak savannas for centuries, or French chestnut farmers living in the same orchards for centuries - have deeply complex and resilient relationships with trees that did not transition to the modern world. That's why I'm professionally interested in agroforestry. I want to bring those systems back to modern life. I want to see fruit trees back in our backyards, and nut trees bordering farms. I want to help plant willow and elderberry along streams and help ranchers find trees that can benefit their livestock by providing them shade and fodder. So if you want tree advice, or just want to share your own tree-planting projects, I'm all ears. And I like the term Green Jedi. Maybe I could put it on a business card one day...

So... favorite species? I've always had a thing for scraggy junipers and cedars growing on rocky cliffs. The American Chestnut might be my favorite, but I've never seen a mature one in person, and doubt I ever will. Honey locusts have so much character, and I revere the old world oaks, beeches, hickories, and yews.

So, it seems like some people and paths cross at given moments. Thats just me. My wife's a wanna be witch in a sense that we have a very heavy "nature like faith." You will find me often in the rain and in the weather. If you EVER wanted to find me in the Force and during Meditations of different types- remember the tree, i may be there!smiley face. Some of my practices involve trees. Truly. Im no tree hugger, but theres something to hugging a tree.Call it magic, magick, nature, earth, mother earth... there are many ways to express the same idea. Now , understand,I was brought up in a VERY Toxic environment growing up so its hard for me to express how "odd" it still feels to me to find a a faithfulness in a tree... see my point? My brain sometimes says" this aint cool man..." but what is present always finds something there, near a tree. There is SOMTHING there. Every person ive talked to that has had a tree to climb in their past has found some relief- safety- or peace from it. Most time, when THAT connection is made, theres no religion near... think about that for a second. Just a observation.
Real talk, growing up it blew my mind when my Sunday school teacher told me Jesus would chill under trees all the time.
Even further was when i found he wasnt the only one.
I found people Meditated under trees, some dont eat for days...
I found people respecting and revering the character and what the memory of each tree brings.
I am learning the names of trees.
Im learning that any tree here on earth now- will never reach what once was, we cut a lot of trees out.i plant trees. I recommend any Modern day Jedi to try it. plant a tree in a pot in your house. See if there is not a difference almost instantly.

I WILL FIND THAT READ thank you friend!
I will post a Pick of a American Chestnut once its in my hands I give my word!
Challenge accepted

The Cedars of Lebanon.

I grew up in a Non denominational church, i know its a denomination lol so we did bible stories n such about such a place. Ive seen em. Theres a smell that lives there I cant forget. There are trees there that have made such an impression, nothing looks like a Cedar without the thought of those trees , and thats was just on paths...
Thank you for sharing and for making "that" connection with me, sounds like we could fill a back pack and take a walk together. Thank you for continuing to be in my path Skryym. My hope is we can continue and keep growing here together. May the Force we share continue to be with you... EVERY where you look for it and maybe some paces ya dont!

I am glad we are all here. I will gladly answer each response. I love this place.


Any one actually carry Tree seeds in their pockets purse or sac??
Which and why?

I do have a Lunaria pod seed in my wallet intentionally.

Much more to come...

I almost always have an acorn or two in my jacket pockets. I collect them from White oaks and Bur oaks in the hopes of germinating them someday but I don't always get around to it.

Jokingly

Heres a pick of a wooden one, now ya got it!

Jhannuzs Ian wrote: Surrounding myself with trees allows me to feel better despite the emotional variations in a day, they evoke my peace. It is a reunion with myself instead of dispersing on multiple topics. Paradoxically, I expand by looking at the flight of the birds and the vertical aspect of the trees gives me stability, a feeling that has surely given me some intuition that my problems will diminish and that my joy can flow more easily.

It's a return to my breathing where my internal dialogue can wander or I can choose several minutes of mental silence, because stopping thinking is healthy for me too. The implicit aspects are a parallel gain: doing exercising, happy children, dogs playing and running freely ...

The aroma is also important to amplify my serenity, it can be a powerful anchor; humidity, green leaves and natural aspects that invite me to have clarity. They can be minutes or a couple of hours of reading, but they represent quality time for my soul and my lungs ...

Today I was in a different park because I went to look for a job and I found a perfect place, little sun not so cold. Some workers must be repairing the fountain because it was drained, the dry floor barely have puddles, but an opportunity for a woman and her dog to play inside it, now that I reflect it, I did not take photos or video, proof that I was present and flowing in that environment.

May the Beauty of Nature be with us

* * *

Thank you for sharing Ian.

I have noticed in my own practices a "peace" that does come from having some trees present. I do get giddy when I see wild willows, Ill ALWAYS cut a crown for me and the family, ALWAYS.
I have a few Elder trees in pots by the back porch. I have a few Cedars as well. As I said before- the smell of some trees jog memories of trees from the past. Even burning certain wood takes me often to places. As I has lost my own Pastor from child hood over the weekend, it was a small pyre of cedar that filled the air with song and drink and dance. I don't burn Cedar often intentionally. There was a time in my life I was a "Texas logger." It was cedar for fence posts and things of that nature, sold to the private or public. Cutting down Cedar like that, spending so much time with it for days... HAD a connection for me spiritually. Still does.Thanks again for sharing!

I'm a small tree maker. I'm a intentional dwarf-er. Its a practice I will have my whole life and hope to pass some where to any one any day. I'm always finding trees in my yard worth potting.not every one... Its the joy of some for me some days to see the death and the life a new, what better visual continuation of the Force I don't have any control over... than one of these..

Eqin Ilis wrote: One of my earliest spiritual experiences was hiking under the sequoias. They're just so enormous and so ancient... We went during a season when there weren't crowds, so it felt immensely peaceful and quiet. When we went home to the desert, I tried to feel the same thing with the little mulberries that grew in Grandma's yard. It wasn't the same, but I was determined. lol I ended up becoming an avid tree climber, and sitting in the top of the tree was one of my favorite spots. Fast forward to adulthood, and I'm the type of person that can't deal with indoors jobs for too long. Contact with trees is an important part of my mental health, I discovered. My happiest times at my place of work were in the locations with the most trees, and the ability to listen to the birds and feel the breeze. Busy or quiet, I've never had the same inner peace or felt as energetic when I'm indoors for hours on end. Even in quarantine, I am glad to have trees right near me and I often touch the bark to help ground myself. Before everything closed, I was actually considering an apprenticeship in horticulture to become an arborist, but was weighing it against working with horses or continuing to work with the public, and now all three are on hold.

Personally, I just always assumed it was because I'm attracted to other life forms in general. That seems to be the common trend in all my occupations and all my hobbies. Machines, instruments, and writings are mostly just requirements to interact in some circumstances for me, but the important factors are the life forms I come into contact with. I do enjoy how different trees have different effects on the feel of the landscape in an emotional sense, but also appreciate that they should be kept to appropriate environments. I've tried reading about the Celtic takes on different trees and their properties, but those trees are not exactly best suited for SoCal and our mediterranean climate and wildlife. So it was a nice springboard, but I'm mostly just beginning to learn about the ones in my city and the surrounding natural world through whatever local means present themselves.

Living where I do, I notice I have a connection to two species that are frequently overlooked and under-represented. Mesquite and manzanita. Mesquite was once common in my area of desert, and has little seed-pods that make excellent rattles, in an area with rattlesnakes. The closest thing I can think of in public consciousness is cedar, because it just comes to mind instantly as a tree that drives off negativity, and is dead useful for nearly everything. I have many rattles I collected from a healthy mesquite tree near me. (They all dropped off naturally, and were not in a natural environment.) Manzanita is a gorgeous twisted thing with incredibly hard wood, and a brilliant red bark. It tends to have a lively feel, full of hummingbirds and bees. Looking at it feels like a reminder of summer, even in the cold. It's also hardy and fire-resistant, which feels like a lesson in resilience and beauty, especially with the most recent fire and the prevalence of manzanita in that area.

Thank you for sharing with me and others here. Im from Texas and I cant tell you how "hommie" the mesquite tree is for me. (That means two things) I had many britches lost to fights with these ancient old wires out of the ground. Im referring to mesquite trees. Those trees hurt me bad. Granted it was me, all me, ya dont play or swing or even hide in a mesquite tree... I know why. I think i even got sick once or twice with a bad fever from one bad scratch. Same time, I've seen that branch used to rid people of diarrhea or to "put back what was taken.." as my great great grandmother said. I cant lie- I will burn mesquite all day and I have. I was blessed to be raised on land full of it so tending land meant tending to the trees that could actually harm cows, nothing worse than an infected wound on a cow from a tree. We had mounds of wood and thankfully there always was a Mesquite section. I cook and have cooked with it. I can even say as far as Mesquite goes, I've bought cords and cords of it and I may continue to do so until I cook no more. Thats why its so " home-like" or as the kids say in Texas "hommie" like. It holds well indoors and almost always give a deep smell even when trying to get saw dust from the tree away.. it will smell till you get rid of it. At least for me it did. I may be biased.

I found a deck and a book on trees when I began my study. Tree Magick by Gillian Kemp. It aint every ones thing but in it I found some good starting points to venture into searching for meanings and what trees CAN mean to some. I have used the deck myself for a few years but that's a different story for a different day. What you do with that info is up to you.
Its funny you should mention locations the way you did, according to work environments n such. There was a old farmer that would tell me " whats around ya is often whats in ya... and my favorite " We often smell like what we've been in." A very old timer also said if ya work some where, always find a place to rest near a tree, you'll be thank full ya did. I've always been thankful. Ive never -stank like a tree, its never been a bad smell, EVEN Cedar tar that come from fresh cut log.. still smells so sweet depending on type of Cedar and how it grew.

I find that same peace... often and sometimes, unexpectedly from a tree. Some say peace is a lie, to them i say- go climb a tree!

Grounding

In my house we use this word in combating things. It gives us all a way to find a way to return to where we need to be or calm down or remember the task at hand. Every day stuff. Here's a bit of a pun for ya but I feel ya on the bark. Ill meet ya there any day my friend. Some times for me, it does me good to know some things arnt quirks but actual practices OTHERS do too. Who knows, we may just be the few who actually see parallels in things and in practices and in faith and in ... life, real life. We cant be the only ones , can we? smiley face! Thank you Eqin