Wild raspberries of the palisades

Sit Spots

Finding a sit spot is a beautiful thing.  This is the spot where my unique energy vibes with the Earth's in a warm and nurturing way.

Path to sit spot in Inwood.

This is an amazing plant called Indian Pipe (http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/oct2002.html).  Its story tells of the deep interrelationship of the plant kingdom in the forest.

Indian Pipe!

Holly

Journey with Holly.

You are in a Holly grove.  The air is cool from the generous shade here.  The wind blows and the leaves sing as the air moves through them.  The ground is black and brown.  Old leaves are brown but still fully formed because they endure.  The earth is black beneath.  This is a rich place.  There is a small stump where one of the trunks has been cut of a multi-trunked tree.  Its still alive as it has branchlings sprouting from it.  Lay your back against the fully living trunks.  Meld your consciousness with the tree's.  Travel deep down into its roots.  Feel the root system that connects this grove of trees as hollies more largely into nature.  Now travels up through the root system through the trunk and then up into the branches and the leaves.  Feel this connection of deep roots in the earth, through the trees vessels then into the exalted leaves as the greet the sunlight and reach high and gratefully towards the sky.  Now see a wreath of woven holly.  It is a crown, a halo, place it upon your head.   Place your barefeet on the earth beneath you.  Feel the spirit of holly entering through your feet.  Ask it to tell you its story.  What does it have to share?  Why is it here?  

Ancient. Celtic.  White man.  Spiritual.  Ceremony.  Protection.  The water of spirit.  The flow of spiritual communication.  The gateway to the otherworlds/dimensions.  This is a psychic/spiritual traveller's tree/ward.  This tree is spirualizing and protecting the land upon which it grows.  i can ground high spiritual light and be protected.

English Holly Ilex aquifolum

This tree is a broadleaf evergreen found primarily in Europe. Common throughout Britain, western and southern Europe and western Asia. It can grow as a shrub or a tree with a typical height range of 10 to 40 feet. The foliage is dense, with dark-green leaves that are smooth and glossy, but possess a number of spines around the edges as well as the smooth leaf varieties. Trees can have both types of leaves.  The berries are also produced on all female Holly trees and come in a range of colors including red, orange, yellow, white and even black, with red being the most common. The bark is smooth and is often ash-colored or black. Clusters of fragrant, white flowers appear from May to June and attract a number of bee species to assist in pollination. Holly is often found in Beech and Oak woodlands, but can also, although rarely, form pure holly forests. This rarity is unique to Britain. Although English Holly is native to Europe it has been cultivated worldwide and can be found today in forests, parks, gardens and plains around the globe.

According to Christian legend the pointed leaves represent the crown of thorns on the crucified Jesus and the deep green represent eternal life while the red berries are the blood of Christ.  The Druids believed that the vibrant leaves stayed green to keep the Earth beautiful when the sacred oak lost its leaves.  They wore holly in their hair when the priests harvested mistletoe in the forests.

Holly is sacred to Saturn and used by the Romans during their Saturnalia festival.  They would give each other wreaths and decorate with them.  As Pagan worship waned in the Christian age the holly lingered and became a symbol of Christmas.

Holly is also associated with good fortune and was planted around homes to protect from thunder and lightning.  The leaves and berries were used to ward off the evil eye (more effective for men than women).  Holly is the symbol of man.  

Several species are used to make caffeine rich teas.  e.g. yerba mate, guayusa used in some ayahuasca mixtures and contains the highest levels of caffeine of any plant. 

The flower essence works with the quality of feeling and extending love to others, universal compassion and keeping an open heart.  Those for whom holly would work well may feel cut off from love, may feel jealousy, envy, isolation, suspicion and anger.  Holly flower essence restores the souls ability to feel unity and wholeness.  Holly reestablishes the understanding and connection to the infinite flow of love in the universe.  Holly nourishes the heart and imprints it with the state of sacred unity, wholeness, and divine love.

Notes:

I entered the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens with an open mind and heart.  My one intention was to meet an ally with whom I could engage and build a relationship.  I felt the most magnetic and powerful pull from the holly.  They definitely screamed the loudest for my attention and I merged my consciousness with different varieties some manicured and sculpted, others free to grow to their whim.  

I was pulled off of the path and into the wooded area where I was led to a tree which was a West English Holly.  It had four trunks, which to me appeared as a back or a cradle for a back, so that is where I put my back.  I got comfortable and melded my consciousness with the tree.  I travelled deep into the Earth via its roots  and up into the sky through its leaves.  This variety of holly has smooth leaves, which I found interesting to note.  The perceptions, feelings, and impressions began to flow.  I could feel it in my teeth, my ventral curve, chest expanding, fuller breathing, passages opening, calming, left side feeling full.  Feelings ran down my throat, stomach, pubic area, the muscles of my abdomen.  Impressions were of health, acceptance, forgiveness, and renewal... of eyes that have seen so much... bladder, prostate, anus, testicles... my hearbeat... blood flow to my neck.. grounded clarity, lymph glands, right neck, right side.. below rib cage, by liver, beneath my right armpit.. tree helping me ground, helping me root, root chakra.  Experience and forgiveness, the totality of it all.

I took some pictures of the tree.  The eyes of the tree.  

Through Holly's Eyes

Holly's Spindles in the Sky

Back Cradling Holly

Holly links:
http://www.flowersociety.org/Holly_plant_study.htm
http://www.flowersociety.org/heart_healer.htm