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    Groves of trees

    Hello all, I have a question. I wondered of you could explain to me the spiritual meaning of grooves of trees? What I have read states that- areas of the natural world were held to be sacred, namely grooves of trees. Can you tell me what the trees represent? They are spirits, correct? But spirits of a different level, or ? Am I correct in looking at it as the more inert an object is, the 'lower' its spirit? Such as an animal is 'more aware' of itself than a germ or plant is?
    If this is the case, other questions- is each type of tree a certain type of spirit? So that they are groups of spirits? Like groups of nations, all individuals but of a similiar type? Next one, if this is the case, are these spirits that were once 'higher' or at a higher state than they are now, and they 'fell' in some way or were 'cast down'? Or is this incorrect and everything is always generally 'moving up'? (in a spiral)

    #2
    Re: Groves of trees

    Where did you read this? I can't really input much but I would like to read the source! ^^, and while I'm posting I may as well say something useful so (bump) and my thoughts are that; trees are older than us and they pump out a lot of Oxygen, which we kinda need so they deserve some respect, and their spirit isn't really limited, for me it's more like the senses of the physical tree limit it's ability to sense this world, I don't really view any spirit as 'higher or lower', but I'm not Celtic so I'm not sure how accurate this answer is in what you're looking for (if I answered it at all)
    Work hard Play hard.
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      #3
      Re: Groves of trees

      Curious but have you ever been in a grove? I'm not talking about a group of tree's that make up a forest but an actual grove. A place where you suddenly find a ring of Oaks, Aspens, Hawthornes, Hemlocks, etc surrounded by other trees. A lot of times it seems you have a guardian ring of trees and an elder tree that is in the center of them in the places where I've found sudden groves like that. Many times it seems they are found in dells in the forest, up in side ravines and somewhat hidden or even at major junctures of rivers or such. Then if the tree is sacred in your spiritual world then it makes it that much more special.

      The strongest grove I ever found was made up of Hemlocks and on a raised platform of land. A stream circled the raised platform and you felt it before you got to it. The air was different, the smell was different and the very way the animals acted there was different. There was a spring that flowed out of a rock face that bordered the grove and it set in a protected juncture where the mountains rose up behind it and partway on either side of it. The creek separated it from the rest of the forest and the platform it sat on raised it up about 3 - 5 feet above the rest of the area.

      It was located in the national forest and a good hour's hike into the woods to get to it but there were no trails going to it. Even the animals seemed to go around it. as you could see the game trails going just south of it and up the mountain or west of it and across from the creek.

      When you research ancient sacred groves in Hellenic literature they seem to be very similar and had enclosures built up around them or close to them. Not to be confused with sacred woods though as those were different.
      I'm Only Responsible For What I Say Not For What Or How You Understand!

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        #4
        Re: Groves of trees

        Originally posted by shebani View Post
        Hello all, I have a question. I wondered of you could explain to me the spiritual meaning of grooves of trees?
        There is no singular "objective spiritual meaning" to a grove of trees. The innate sacredness or meaning will depend upon which spiritual tradition your perspective is aligned with.

        Originally posted by shebani View Post
        What I have read states that- areas of the natural world were held to be sacred, namely grooves of trees. Can you tell me what the trees represent?
        Again, what trees "represent" is dependent upon the context of which religious/spiritual tradition you are speaking from. In other words, what a particular kind of tree "represents" to me may wildly vary from what it means to a Druidic practitioner. There are many thoughts regarding the general energetic properties of various species of trees and plants. You can find all manner of descriptions online:

        Tree Symbolism and Meanings with photos of the trees, symbols and symbolic interpretations of trees - discover the ancient mystical and magical meaning of trees from all over the world


        Originally posted by shebani View Post
        They are spirits, correct?
        Well most Neo-Pagans consider trees to have spirits just as any other object in the natural world has. Many animists consider objects not commonly regarded as having spirits as being sentient in some form or another such as stones or sand.

        Originally posted by shebani View Post
        But spirits of a different level, or ? Am I correct in looking at it as the more inert an object is, the 'lower' its spirit? Such as an animal is 'more aware' of itself than a germ or plant is?
        I don't believe that the spirit of an inert object is any "less" than the spirit of something such as a deer. I think what you are speaking of here is the level of sentience of a thing - that has nothing to do with its spirit, IMHO. Certainly, different spirits may have different energetic qualities and vibrations, but that doesn't make them "lesser" or "greater" than one another.

        Originally posted by shebani View Post
        If this is the case, other questions- is each type of tree a certain type of spirit? So that they are groups of spirits? Like groups of nations, all individuals but of a similiar type?
        Well, certainly if (for example) a beech tree is of one manner of spirit, then a grove of beech trees may be seen as a "tribe" or similar grouping of entities.

        Originally posted by shebani View Post
        Next one, if this is the case, are these spirits that were once 'higher' or at a higher state than they are now, and they 'fell' in some way or were 'cast down'? Or is this incorrect and everything is always generally 'moving up'? (in a spiral)
        That trees or inanimate objects were formerly "on high" and have "fallen" is not a hypothesis that I agree with at all.

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          #5
          Re: Groves of trees

          Thank you all for your replies. Sure Amadi, your response definitely is helpful. I think about all these odd things quite a bit, I have thought so much about this subject and there is so much that could be talked about. One reason is the motif of the vine on the tree, the emblem of the caduceus. We see this so much in all types of sacred literature. I have read things talking about trees being androgynous, for the most part self reproducing, they contained all that was needed to reproduce in kind, without need for an external mate. They are legions of spirits, that are producing replicas of their exact selves? Whereas each of us can produce only half of a human and require an external mate. This produce in kind, although we think it is a whole being, can also only produce a half. So does this actually mean that we are in reality, halves? Why we sometimes call our spouses, our better half? We subconsciously realize that we are truly only a half of a being and feel completed when we find a complimentary other half that fits together with us and makes us a whole being?
          But trees are beyond this, and so I wonder if this is why we have so many religious texts telling us that humans were made from trees. I was looking at this recently because I was reading about the Celtic tree calendar and how some texts have humans being created from I believe ash and oak? Doesn't this seem such an odd thing to read, if we do not think about it? Humans made from trees? Humans sacrificed on trees (oldest African lore has also the 'savior' being tied to a tree and 'lightening' bolted through his/her head and his/her blood running down the tree and being caught in a container, then this savior being reborn or 'regurgitated' to be the start of mankind as we know it, in the Christian gospels, the cross is still called a tree in two of those, so the cross is symbolic of a tree, and so on).

          We have a lot of wild grapevine in our forest, and one day I noticed one that imitated the very look of the caduceus, it was looped out right and left on each side of the tree, looked exactly like the symbol, the vine entwining the tree. So if we have the divine being, such as Odin or Jesus or Inanna, ect, that is fastened to the tree and their blood runs down the tree? and so become part of the tree, what is the meaning of this? That the vine is representing them, and what we originally were is represented by the tree? earth? What was originally on earth was changed by being combined with the divine, the gods?
          I am just trying to wade through everything I have ever been told or taught or read to try and discern what is truth and reality in all this. To me, current modern religions have lost and no longer remember the real meaning to these symbols, and it seems to me that the old ways still maybe remember what they are, and mean.

          To reply to Leedra, I do live in a forest but I cannot say that I have ever been in a true grove. There is a park near here that has a great magnetic pull on me, it is a small city park but it is ringed by these massive ancient oak trees, there is this incredible something when you go in there. I feel like they are giants protecting me, like there is some type of pull there. I don't know if it has this type of effect on other people, I see them just watching their kids play in the park and taking no notice of them, where as when I go there I am immediately in awe of them and stay feeling that way the entire time I am there. There is something totally different about that park to me, I know it is the trees. I will take a picture of the next time I go there and post it here.

          Thank you Torey that is very helpful, the ideas of 'men' as trees that have been 'cast down in to the pit' is a motif I have learned from all my years now of Abrahamic study and I am trying to find my way through all of this, as to what is truth and what is reality. It is great to have you guys to bounce these thoughts off of and consider.

          - - - Updated - - -

          I wanted to add that the savior on the tree is usually made to resemble a vine, I am sure most already know this, but thought I would add it for general discussion. And also that most often, the savior is fastened with something constituted of iron, in the African tale it is metal banding, Jesus, nails, Inanna hung on a peg (I assume to be metal).
          What I found about iron is that our blood is iron based, and some marine creatures have copper based blood? (Adam is called 'the red man' for his red blood or made of 'red clay'). So iron ? is what fastens the divine to the 'tree', earth?



          arrowshooting.jpg
          There is a tradition, though not to be found in the Hindoo scriptures, that Krishna, like Christ, was crucified.


          The Vishnu Purana speaks of Crishna being shot in the foot with an arrow, and states that this was the cause of his death. Other accounts, however, state that he was suspended on a tree, or in other words, crucified.
          Doane then cites M. Guigniaut's , which states:
          The death of Crishna is very differently related. One remarkable and convincing tradition makes him perish on a tree, to which he was nailed by the stroke of an arrow.



          Odin

          the_sacrifice_of_odin_by_frc3b8lich.jpg



          “Lo! Streaming from the fatal tree
          His all atoning blood,Is this the Infinite? –
          Yes, “tis he,
          Prometheus, and a God!
          Well might the sun in darkness hide,
          And veil his glories in,
          When God, the great Prometheus, died
          For man the creature’s sin





          Last edited by shebani; 06 Jun 2014, 11:17.

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