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Tree Ceremonies and Guided Meditations for Working with the Summer Season, by Sharlyn Hidalgo

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

As an introduction to my new book, Celtic Tree Rituals: Ceremonies for the Thirteen Moon Months and a Day, I invite you to think about why we do ceremonies.

Why ceremonies? They embrace our true nature and delight our imagination. They cross over the boundaries into the magical. They bring healing in unexpected ways. In my experience, ceremonies create sacred space for magic to happen. Stuff happens. Healing occurs. Connections are made with the ancestors, loved ones that have passed over, pets, deities, totems, guides, and helpers. And within the Celtic tradition, access to this healing is our birthright, and I have witnessed this over and over in my practice.

Just the other day after reading through the guided meditation for Holly in Celtic Tree Rituals, one of my participants was able to meet with her grief over a past situation with an abusive partner. Tears. Expression. And relief, as it isn't something she talks about often. This was totally unexpected. Like I said, stuff happens…

This is the reason I created a ceremony for each of the 15 trees of the Celtic Ogham as well as the high holidays that mark the turning of the Wheel. These ritual journeys takes us through the thirteen tree months and a day, which make up a year of life. I also have included stories with each tree. The reason? I wanted to share my true-life experience with the healing powers of these trees, their helpers and guides, and the reality of working with the unseen realm and what it offers. I want to encourage you to do your own ceremonies and create your own experiences with Source and spirit.

Let's focus on the Coll Hazel and the Quert Apple trees as they share this month of June: June 13 through July 10 and the ninth lunation of the calendar.

What we focus on is Summer. Bounty. Abundance. Appreciation and thanksgiving. Family. Gratitude. You may want to try my Coll Hazel ceremony, the Quert Apple ceremony, or the Summer Solstice ceremony from Celtic Tree Rituals. You can work with a group or alone.

Other ideas for joining in with the spirit of the summer:

• Leave a bit of your garden free and wild and begin to cultivate a relationship with the devas and elementals there. This is a place to give your gratitude for the fairies. Offer them a plate of food and drink. Buy some flowers especially for the bees.
• Gather some hazelnuts in a bowl. These hold wisdom and a higher perspective. Choose one and ask a question. Then, slowly chew and swallow as you say these words: "I am wise and loving. All I need to know is alive within my heart." Wait patiently for the answer.
• Hold a family gathering and have a circle in which each member holds a talking stick and offers what they are grateful for about their family. Gather pictures of family members that have passed on and make an altar. Share stories about these loved ones. Or, hold a circle that honors your friends of like minds.
• Honor the bounty. Have a potluck and have each participant give gratitude for what they bring to share before you eat. Really honor the food sources that are being presented and give gratitude for all those involved in getting that source to your table. Create a prayer of thanksgiving together. Celebrate the sun with toasts of gratitude.
• If you require inspiration for a creative endeavor, find and sit with a Hazel tree. She also strengthens your intuition and helps you to create poems, writing, stories, songs, dances, and artwork. Create something just for the pure joy of it!
• Create your own Crane Bag in the Celtic tradition. Create a little bag for your personal medicine. It can contain bits and pieces of rocks, shells, feathers, and other valuable talismans. It is symbolic of you own power. And, it can contain stories, poems, songs, dances, art, rituals, incantations, blessings, divinations, symbols, history, and anything else of significance.
• Make some time to go into nature. Sit by a river of a body of water and listen to its sound. Notice the life that the forest supports. Or go to a park and sit with a tree. Feel the total balance here.

Always in my ceremonies I include guided imagery, what is called journeying. Why? It is the fastest way to connect with the unconscious, the doorway into the magic, the heart door to the mysteries. It isn't complicated or hard to do. Try this journey from the apple ceremony. The purpose is to connect with your own bounty. What is it that you most desire? What do you want to create?

Apple Ceremony Journey
Imagine yourself on a summer day in a grove of Apple trees. The sun is bright and the sky is blue. There is a gentle breeze and you can smell the blossoms of the trees and hear the buzzing bees as they gather nectar the birds are chirping above, greeting you as you walk through the grove.

From the edge of the grove emerges the Priestess of Apples. As she walks toward you, you see that she is dressed in a golden gown and she wears a crown of fresh apple blossoms upon her head. She is full of abundance, and has rosy cheeks, lovely red lips, and flowing hair. She walks up to you and greets you with incredible warmth and affection. She holds the most beautiful apple in her hand.

Still smiling, she reaches down and withdraws a magical amethyst knife from the sash at her waist. She deftly cuts the apple in half and then places the knife back into her sash. She holds both halves in from of you and suggests the you pick a seed. She explains to you that this seed represents a choice. This choice represents your greatest dreams and desires. Without thinking too much, you simply choose a seed.

She smiles, very pleased with your choice. She also acknowledges that any choice is a good one. She asks you to dig a little hole and plant your seed into this magical ground. After you have done so, she hands you a little jug of water and suggests that you water your tree.

At the moment, your tree begins to burst through the earth and grow. You take a step back to give your tree the room it needs to grow. Right before your very eyes, your tree begins to grow until it is fully grown.

Take a moment to see your fully-grown tree. As you consider this magical apple tree, you see and understand your heart's desire. You may see this as words, or images, or visions. Or you may have a strong sense of knowing about what this tree represents for you. Based upon your choice, your magical apple tree is the symbol for your own longing. Take a moment to really take in the message of your tree.

It is time to return. Give your gratitude to your tree and to the beautiful Priestess of Apples, to her magic, and the Apple grove. Return to this room and this place and take a moment to fully ground before you open your eyes.

When you are finished, write in your journal. What was the seed that you chose? What did your fully-grown tree represent? What was its message to you? Are you willing to take this journey seriously and take steps towards manifesting your own longing? The dryad of the apple supports you! You are the fulfillment of your own ancestor's dreams. Are you willing?

The ceremonies, guided meditations, and tree teachings within Celtic Tree Rituals offer you many tree doorways into your own heart. I offer these as a prayer towards holding the earth sacred and honoring all life. Working with the trees will change you. I bid you a bountiful summer and send you the message that you are a bright blessing here in the world with your own specific energy and blueprint of purpose. And so, it is!

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2019. All rights reserved.

I'm in a relationship that I used to be excited about, but now I find myself no longer interested. My boyfriend has many wonderful qualities, but he is often very negative. I'm also just not sexually attracted to him anymore. However, I am grateful, because without him, I wouldn't be able to have my current lifestyle. He works very hard while I pursue my acting career. In fact, he pays for everything. I should note that I recently left a good job to move a very long distance so we could be together. I know that a loving "soul mate" relationship must be created, and that it takes work for both parties. For quite a while I was really trying to be romantic, to communicate, to restore the romance. I do love him, but I'm afraid I'm just no longer "in love" with him, and worst of all, I don't really want to be anymore. I imagine us parting somewhere down the road, and I'm okay with that! I know with this attitude our relationship definitely isn't going to work, and I do want to have a successful relationship at last. Can I find a way to make myself want this nice guy? I really believe we make our own happiness or unhappiness, and I take full responsibility for my life. On the other hand, maybe he's just not the "right one" for me? Thank you!

--L

Dreamchaser:

I think you have "reality-itis." This relationship was fabulous when you were long-distance, but now that you have quit your job and moved, you are dealing with the full reality.

This happens so often with long-distance relationships. We meet someone and talk on the phone or on the internet. We are open and honest and speak freely. We meet for short periods of time to eat, drink and be merry. Long distance relationships are full of loving moments, after which we go back to our respective homes with a "love hangover." We think that this relationship is everything we could ever want, so we do all we can to move closer to each other.

This is when the bumps and flaws become apparent. Everyone's real personalities come out. Reality has finally set in.

If you are not physically or sexually interested in a man anymore, it is going to be next to impossible to make this into what you say you want. Your gut instincts are telling you the truth. You are not in love, and you probably never were - you just really wanted to be. You now know that you are not going to be together for the long haul.

"It" is either there, or "it" is not. We can't force ourselves to like or love someone. You don't want to talk to him half the time, and you definitely don't want to be intimate with him. What kind of relationship can you expect to build when you feel this way deep down in your core?

I'm sure the fact that he is paying for your lifestyle is making you hesitant to leave him. It's natural for you to really like the fact that you can do whatever you want while someone else picks up the tab. I'm sorry to tell you that the free ride is now over, my friend: it's time to get back to work.

Do yourself a favor and start to figure out where you want to go from here. You were not happy in your old life, so you do not want to go backwards. If you want to stay where you are now and pursue your acting career, that's fine. However, you need to either find your own job and move into your own place, or ask him about just being "roommates" for a while.

You can't continue to allow him to pay all the expenses for both of you given how you feel about him. That's just wrong; it will create bad karma for you, and you know it. He is just as dejected as you are about the way things are. You are not THAT good of an actress - he knows things are not great beneath the surface, but he has no idea what to do about it. Thus you both just continue on like things are fabulous when they absolutely are not.

You are constantly reinventing yourself, and it is time to do it again. At least you're now in the area of the world you really wanted and needed to be in. That is one blessing to come out of this whole relationship experience.

I wish you happy new horizons.

*****

Astrea:

As long as you're only thinking about yourself and your own needs, you can't make yourself love your boyfriend again. It certainly seems the loving relationship you once had is over. Both of you are just going through the motions now. He lets things go on and on because he still feels he is in love with you. You let things go on and on because you don't want to give up your acting dreams and support yourself. Perhaps that's enough to keep you together a while longer - stranger things have certainly happened with couples.

It's interesting that both of you were born so close to the cusp of your signs. While you're a Cancer, you have a LOT of Leo influence in your chart. This Leo is the part of you that wants to break and run and find someone new and exciting, while the Cancer part wants to hold on to the security you've found. He's a stable, caring Virgo, but the Libra in his chart makes him voice his negative feelings like resentment now and then. His free Libra spirit hates being used.

He can feel that you're no longer in love with him and that you don't feel you will always be together. He knows he's being used, and while he's no longer in love with you the way he once was, it's natural for him to ignore or deny that to himself. When he is negative, that repressed awareness is coming up. Usually Virgos can hide their feelings from others, but since he is about at his limit in this situation, it sneaks out now and then.

You say that you did all you could to be romantic, caring and considerate, and I believe you! It's sad, but the two of you have just grown apart. If you can live this way, that's fine, but it's not what EITHER of you truly wants.

You are no longer in love with your "very negative" boyfriend who creates the "lifestyle" you want to enjoy while you "don't work and pursue your acting career." I know that you know that you sound awfully shallow, like an ungrateful sponge who is just using him to get what you want in life at his expense. As long as you are using another person and not giving anything back but resentment, the Universe won't reward your efforts.

If you want to stay with him and rekindle your love, the two of you should IMMEDIATELY get into some kind of couples counseling. There isn't any excuse in the whole world for not doing that. The success of this counseling will depend on how receptive the two of you are to change.

You can indeed choose to love anyone you want to love, but once you've decided the love is gone, it's very difficult to get it back again. Often, however, love dies simply because we allow resentment to build over time. Unless the people involved in the relationship can learn to GIVE to each other the way they did in the beginning again, it's silly to try to stay together.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.