Hints from Hera – Be a Tree, Parts 1 and 2

Some of my recent posts have been a bit heavy, so I thought I would try some lighter ones for awhile.  One series I would like to try is “Hints from Hera” (you know, like “Hints from Heloise,” except from one of the traditional goddesses of the hearth) – not of the “baking soda as cleaning product” variety, but of the “bringing the sacred into everyday life” type.

Here’s the first one.  Many of you probably know this one or something similar, but it is spiritual and energetic “first aid” of the finest kind.  I learned it in a women’s circle, but if anyone knows who first envisioned it, please let me know.  It is great for when you are feeling overtired, overstressed or anxious.

Stand up straight, with your arms pointed towards the ground at a 45-degree angle.  Visualize that you are a tree. You feet are the roots,  your body is the trunk and your arms are the branches.  Visualize that you are connected to the deepest level of the earth.  The fiery earth’s core is sending energy up through your roots/feet, up your spine/trunk and throughout your whole body, then back down again through your hands/branches into the earth.  Visualize that this creates a circle of energy moving from the earth to you and then back to the earth.  When the energy moves through you, it perfectly balances you so that you have neither too much nor too little energy.  If you are experiencing anxiety, visualize that moving into the earth to be purified along with the other energy.  Allow yourself to enjoy this visualization for as long as you like.

Here’s the second one.  Visit an arboretum or forest or even just take a long walk in your neighborhood. Try to find a place that has as many types of trees as possible.  Really look at each type of tree.  Notice the many shapes, colors, and designs of leaves.  Look at how different the bark is on each tree.  Follow the tree up from trunk to branches with your eyes and notice how each tree is unique in how it grows.  I recently did this while helping my son with a school project.  Even though I have loved trees all my life, I was amazed at how little I really looked at the trees around me and how abundantly Goddess has created the trees that I see everyday, but never really noticed.  It was one of those moments when you realize how deeply infused with beauty our world is and how uplifting feeling gratitude about that can be.