The Oaks of High Summer
and talking to trees
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Summer has well and truly arrived, with temperatures today (St. John’s Day, as I am writing this, soaring over 100 degrees). We find ourselves immersed in the energy of the summer solstice, the pinnacle of solar energy and the moment when the earth’s cycle shifts from growing light to growing darkness. But for now, the light continues to dominate with long days, short nights, and hot temperatures. The effects of the sun on the planet and us are evident.
The summer solstice, around which the Midsummer festival was celebrated (the evening-night of June 23 and the day of the 24th), is the flip side of the winter solstice and Christmas. The sun was at its height, the day was at its longest, the season was warm, and vegetation was full and still green. The season seemed magical. But this time also marked the beginning of the slow and inevitable weakening of the sun over the next half year.
According to James Frazer and Robert Graves, in the mythology of ancient Britain the Oak King ruled when the sun was waxing, while the Holly King who ruled over the waning sun began his rule on the summer solstice, the Oak King withdrawing to the circumpolar stars, which never disappear below the horizon even in winter.
On the winter solstice, people celebrated the beginning of the return of the sun. Logically, we might expect one or the other of these times to be viewed negatively, but we always make our holidays into something positive. A happy thought.
~ Arthur George, Mythology Matters
Summer is the time to commune with and learn from the trees. Oak trees are significant. They are a keystone species. As noted on Nativeplants.com, Douglas Tallamy, in his book Bringing Nature Home, emphasizes that oak trees (Quercus) support more biodiversity than any other native tree in North America, providing food for up to 557 species of Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies). That‘s important because caterpillars are the primary food source used by birds to feed their young. A pair of chickadees must collect an astounding 6,000 to 9,000 caterpillars to raise a single brood of chicks. This information stunned me when I first encountered it. Chickadees can raise more than one brood a season, and they are tiny birds, so imagine how many caterpillars are needed to provide for all the young birds of various sizes in your neighborhood while also allowing some to survive to become the next generation of moths and caterpillars to keep the cycle going.
We have quite a few oak trees on our property. Many seedlings sprout from fallen acorns in places I would rather they not be. This is the crux of both communication and the lessons I am learning in my role as land tender. I have to make difficult decisions when the stakes are high. One thread of this complex situation is that the power company last year cut down a great many trees, including oaks, along the powerline trail, not only next to our property but also for miles and miles east and west of our property. This action was taken instead of the usual pruning, which occurs every third year or so. The thought process was that if they widened the access trail and cut everything back to the ground, they wouldn't have to prune again for twenty years. This isn’t without merit as a strategy, but in the short term it eliminated massive food sources for caterpillars and thus birds. Another complexity is that I am dedicated to creating meadow areas on my property because they are critical habitats that have been largely eliminated in most areas of my region. Meadow restoration, even on a small suburban scale, is critically important. While I realize that I’m not solving this problem on a statewide level, I have contributed to the wildlife in my immediate area, as evidenced by the return of the American Woodcock, wild turkeys, grouse, and other species that require a meadow on my property. It also means that removing new trees is a big decision with lasting consequences.
To have a meadow means you have to keep out the hardwood trees. That means removing oak seedlings and saplings, which I find to be a challenging task, not physically but emotionally and spiritually. Having the power and the means to destroy something as noble as a tree seems an almost god like power, and I know that’s too much power to wield wisely or at all. Then I remember that there’s a tiny nematode, a worm, that’s decimating all our beech trees, and an insect, the emerald ash borer, that's destroying our ash trees. I realize that within nature, growth and decay, life and death work together seamlessly to create a system that is completely connected, beautiful, and beneficial in all its states and stages. I can act as an agent in that system with integrity if I act wisely.
Something that has made the task easier and brought me greater clarity around this issue of removing young oaks is working with the Oak in a metaphysical way. I admit that I have a somewhat fluid conception of how the spiritual worlds are organized, but my spiritual sense indicates that there is an archetypal Oak, an Oak essence —a divinely created pattern that is Oak in the first degree. I also suspect there might be an Oak Angel, that is to say, a spiritual being that oversees the well-being of all oaks everywhere,( I liken this to an Ent and think that Tolkein was really on to something here) and possibly an individual oak spirit/aliveness/consciousness in each oak tree, which we may call a dryad. I have many ideas, and some are probably incorrect or at least expressed inaccurately, but these are the things I sense when it comes to trees. Given all this, I talk to the oaks. I consult with them when deciding which saplings can remain and which must be cut down. I explain my concerns, my intentions, and my plans for creating meadows. I ask for their input and their help. I also ask the Angel of the Oaks to guide me in my decision-making and my tending of the oaks on my land. At the very least, this means I am going about my work of cultivation and removal thoughtfully, and at best, I’m being guided by higher beings whose job it is to protect and manage the oaks in particular and the land more generally.
Talking to oaks, trees in general, plants, stones and other assorted natural elements may seem crazy, silly, ridiculous, or any other label you’d like to use but I think it is the quickest way to regain a sense of place, and an understanding of the world as alive and inhabited by more than human beings. If you genuinely want to connect with nature, with the earth, and with reality as it actually is, not just as the limited and controlled slice that the materialism of the modern world allows, start talking to trees.
In 2021, I ran a course called Forest Sage Training, develop your intuition using tree wisdom. I’m reproducing here a few snippets from that training.
In Greek, drys means "oak", and thus a dryad is the tree nymph of the oak, or more generally, the spirit within a tree.
Dryads are normally considered to be very shy creatures except around the goddess Artemis, who was known to be a friend to most nymphs.
Tree spirits are not only a part of Greek mythology; they have counterparts in many other cultures, including the Roman Querquetulanae virae, the feminine spirits that presided over the oak grove as it began to produce green growth, and the Lares Querquetulani, the tutelary or guardian spirits of the oak grove. In Celtic lore, each oak tree is a veritable metropolis of fairies, and each acorn has its own sprite. However, the oak spirit is distinct from fairies and may become very angry if trees are felled or wildlife harmed.
The Oak is a beloved tree and has many symbolic meanings particularly strength and knowledge.
Oak is also known as the Druid's Tree, Brigid's Tree and also for the qualities of wisdom, longevity, nobility, loyalty, protection and healing.
The oak is anthropogenic, because it is at the root of many creation stories from ancient traditions.
The Oak is also often seen as the “tree of life” and is closely related to the image of the tree as a regenerating element.
The acorns of the oak tree have inspired many wisdom teachings and even psychology. James Hillman, who founded the archetypal psychology movement of the 1970's put forth The Acorn Theory, as part of what he saw as the Soul's Code. He believed that every person contained within them the potential to become a unique, fully evolved human being, just as an acorn has within itself the potential to become a mighty oak tree.
Knowing about oaks and applying their symbolic meaning of strength and knowledge to your inner growth and development is wonderful, enriching work.
However, experiential work with oaks out in the landscape is an entirely different kind of encounter.
During these long hot days of summer, I encourage you to find an oak and converse with it. If you don’t know what to say, offer a greeting. Give it your presence, your attention, and your noticing. Share its space, breathe the air it pumps out, feel its shade, marvel at its height and strength. Express gratitude to the Creator for this marvellous being called The Oak. You’re not likely to come away from that experience knowing the secrets of the universe or the meaning of life, but you will have done a sacred, humble, and magical thing, and that is a perfect start.
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The Summer Solstice season is an excellent time for a Tarot reading. The abundance of sunlight and spiritual light at this time of year brings precision and clarity to divinatory work. If you have questions or concerns, are puzzled by life events, need direction, or would like to find meaning through engaging with the potent symbolic content of Tarot, this is the perfect time to book a Tarot reading with me.
My approach to Tarot is both psychological (I have extensive training in Jungian principles applied to Tarot reading, including certification from The Jung Platform), as well as spiritual insights that arise from the very roots of Tarot as a product of the Christian Hermetic tradition.
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Lean into the summer season with gusto and grace, allowing every good and perfect gift to lead you further along your soul’s path.
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I'm so excited to here that someone else talks to trees like this. When I'm around the oaks, especially the ancient oaks I feel at easy with all I do. Thank you for sharing this with the world
Your entire post really resonates with me!