Sovereign Earth 8 – Trees.
Druid = Duir – the old Celtic language word for Oak.
& Wid – The Sanskrit word for Wisdom.
Oak Wisdom
Oak Tree we honour your beauty
Oak Tree we honour your strength
Oak tree we honour your wisdom
Oak tree we sing for your health
A chant which I often sing at ceremonies celebrating the Summer Solstice, when the oak is at its highest and in its prime.
Druids closely associate with and are allied with trees.
There is a multitude of wisdom to be found in trees. They hold the key to so many aspects of life and provide an excellent model and guide on how to live a life.
For instance, the Oak tree exhibits what might be termed ‘selfless love’ through sharing its bounteous blessings with all around.
The Oak hosts several hundred species in its benevolent eco system, sharing and co-existing with a multitude of other beings upon its trunk and branches. By way of comparison, a conifer hosts just over a dozen species.
Here is one of my favourite quotes – one which I would like to have read out at my own parting ceremony.
“I would like to believe that when I die
I will have given myself away
Like a tree that sows seed every Spring
And never counts the loss
Because it is not a loss
It is adding to future life
It is the trees way of being
Strongly rooted
And spilling out its treasures on the wind”.
(May Sarton)
Chant:
“Standing like tree with my roots deep down
My branches wide and open
Come down the rain
Come down the Sun
Come down the fruits
To this heart which is open
‘Cos I’m standing like a tree
Standing like tree
Standing like a tree, with my roots deep down ….”
Tree Meditation ……….
Poem:
Celebrate Tree – Celebrity
I Bow before your Boughs , Oh Mighty Tree
I open my Heart to your Heartwood
I rejoice in the Soil of your Soul
In the Soul of your Soil.
Each of your leaf veins mirroring and matching
The veins in my leaf hand
For I am a Yewman beings well as a Human being
And the Oak is an A OK tree
I take my leave of you
As leaves take their leave of you
Gracefully, gently, peacefully.
Thus taking a leaf out of your own book.
So; I choose to bark up the wrong tree
Rather than no tree at all.
And if your bark is worse than your bite,
Then clothe me in your bark
And bite me deep in the heartwood
Of my own longing for you
Oh Sacred Tree.
Celebrate Tree – Celebrity
Chant:
“Tall trees, warm fire
Strong winds, Deep water
I feel it in my body and I
Feed it to the source.”
