Fully Rooted and Reaching for the Stars

A few months ago, I was curious as to why my spirit guide Holly had been pointing me in the direction of trees. As is often the case in our relationship, Holly will bring my attention to an idea or learning, and when it is a really important concept, she will become insistent with claircognizance and synchronicities. (Here are previous posts about synchronicities: Synchronicities I: Soulful Love Does Not Die, Synchronicities II: What’s in a Name?, Synchronicities III: Invitations for Soul Family Reunions)

Holly: It will be good for you to take the time to focus on the metaphor of the trees. You have been surrounded by them, drawn to them, grown and nurtured them, yet, you have failed to see the metaphor for your own existence.

I looked around our apartment and was surprised by all the ways I have surrounded myself with tree images. But what was Holly trying to tell me?

Holly led me to the book, Metaphors in Mind: Transformation Through Symbolic Modelling by James Lawley and Penny Tompkins. I downloaded a few sample chapters, and there, in the foreword by David Grove (notice the reference to trees even in the man’s last name – spirit guides can be very clever), was a reference to the tree metaphor. Grove says, “During the light of day a tree absorbs carbon dioxide through its leaves. Then at night, during the dark phase of photosynthesis, the carbon dioxide molecule is separated into one carbon atom and two oxygen atoms. The tree releases the oxygen atoms back into the air and forms the carbon atoms into a six carbon simple sugar ring which is a building block for cellulose. The hidden beauty in this system is the deconstruction, release and recombination of basic elements from one structure to another. The mass and structure of the tree is the result of this mysterious process.”

As I thought about why I had been led to that book, to that introduction, I realized that Holly was trying to tell me, once again, about self-care and self-nourishment. Although trees are doing us a great service by giving off oxygen, that oxygen is a by-product of what the tree considers to be its waste. We are the recipients of a great gift because the tree knows how to take care of itself. It keeps the resources it needs, and discards the rest. Now came the tricky part. How would I live out the metaphor of the tree in a way that served me first and also nourished others?

Holly: You are beginning to realize one of the most important metaphors of your life! The title of this post, Fully Rooted and Reaching for the Stars, refers to the two aspects of yourself, fully human and fully divine, the topic of a previous post. By taking care of the human aspect of yourself, by rooting deeply into this human body, there is a greater chance of you reaching the potential, the true essence, of why you have embodied yet again. When you are doing your morning qigong practice, Lee Holden invites you into the Embracing the Tree pose. He suggests you breathe through every cell of your body just as a tree breathes through each of its leaves. We will invite you to express gratitude for your body, for the tree you are inhabiting. It is through this precious body that you are learning life’s greatest lessons.

And as synchronicity would have it, after finishing this post, I began reading Wendy De Rosa’s book, Becoming an Empowered Empath: How to Clear Energy, Set Boundaries & Embody Your Intuition. There, in chapter five, Grounding Your Energetic Anatomy, is a drawing of a person meditating with a tree trunk and roots coming out of the “root chakra.” De Rosa suggests that this “grounding cord is a channel of energy that connects your body to the center of the earth.” It is this grounding that results in “an incredible sense of calm and clarity.” Once again, Holly is leading me toward a path of greater self-understanding and well-being, and I will take this journey.

Like a tree, be rooted deeply enough so you are not easily blown off course, and flexible enough so you do not break from the winds of change. Nourish yourself so you are able to branch out and reach for the stars. Soul Bridge Coaching and Holly, September 21, 2021