To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day (21 page)

tic ornaments! You will be making your own ornaments,

and these will not only be natural, they are your offerings to

the wudu-elfen or the dryads, or to Silvanus or the Leshy, or

whatever gods or entities your spiritual path associates with

the woodlands.

Small children will require supervision with knives and

scissors, but otherwise let your imagination run free! Each

ornament should be made with the intention of supporting

and sustaining the wild neighbors—the birds and mammals

and butterflies—that live around us. (Some municipalities

discourage leaving food out for wildlife, due to a concern

about rats and other vermin. Be sure that you are not break-

ing any local ordinances.)

Cut an apple, orange or other fruit into wedges and run a

string through each wedge to hang it from a tree branch. You

have your first ornaments!

Using the flat side of a knife, press peanut butter into the

gaps in a pine cone. Then roll the pine cone in millet (or bird f 152 2

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seed), pressing it down so that the seeds adhere to the peanut

butter. Put a string through this and you have a completely

different ornament.

If you do not have any pine cones, cut an apple, pear or

similar solid fruit into wedges. “Paint” one side of a wedge

with peanut butter, then press this into a bowl of millet. Add

the string and you have yet another ornament.

Use your imagination. You may decide to pop some corn

and string it in garlands, or to string grapes or ripened ber-

ries. Part of the fun of the Midsummer Tree is coming up

with new and creative offerings to hang from the tree.

After you have a good assortment of natural ornaments,

process outside to your chosen tree. At this point how you

honor the tree with your ornaments should reflect your own

spiritual path, and can be as simple or as elaborate as you

like. After hanging the fruits and cones from the tree limbs,

you might conclude with a short prayer. Your prayer could

be something like:

Good neighbors—you spirits of the land and air

and water—accept these gifts, and may we ever

meet and live together in peace.

There may be a much longer prayer that you find more

appropriate. Or maybe you would rather have a more cele-

bratory tradition, singing as you hang the offerings from the

tree. On the other hand, if you live within earshot of your

neighbors they might think you are a bit odd when they hear

you singing to the maple tree in your backyard.

On the other hand, maybe you do not care.

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The Midsummer Tree can evolve into a beautiful tra-

dition for you and your family if you do this every year. I

remember returning to a hickory tree on the day after the

summer solstice, when we had earlier decorated it with natu-

ral ornaments. A finch flew away, startled by my arrival, and

butterflies hovered over the orange and red fruits that hung

from the branches. The tree looked beautiful, and it seemed

to me that the wood elves were quite happy with our gifts.

After (or before) your coven or kindred decorates the

Midsummer Tree you can extend the celebration by identi-

fying the different trees growing around your neighborhood.

Many people today cannot distinguish between a hickory and

an ash, but this is primarily because they have never both-

ered to really look at the botanical beings that live around

us. Obtain a tree identification guide from your bookstore

or library, and get everyone involved! If there are children in your tribe, let them gather leaves and paste them into scrap-books along with the name of the tree that each leaf came

from.

THE URBAN ORCHARD

If you have your own land, your tree veneration can include

some arboriculture that will complement your garden. You

can plant a few “decorative” trees around the outside of your

home, but keep in mind that
all
trees are decorative! Why not plant trees that will increase your participation in the natural cycle by producing delicious fruits or nuts? Few trees are more beautiful than a pear when it blossoms in early spring.

An orchard is any area of land devoted to the cultivation

of trees that bear edible fruits or nuts. It does not need to

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have the regimented look of a rural fruit orchard, nor does it

need to feature only one kind of tree. In fact your neighbors

are unlikely to notice an orchard at all when they see your

plum tree growing at the corner of your house, the pear tree

in the backyard and the Chinese chestnut on the north side

of your garage.

The disadvantage of growing your own fruit and nut

trees is that it will take at least a couple of years before you will see any produce, and usually longer. The advantage is

that once they start producing, they keep producing! As you

watch your fruit trees drop their leaves in the autumn, bear

tiny new leaves in the spring, followed by beautiful blossoms

and then heavy, ripe fruit, you will come to a deeper inner

appreciation of the eternal cycle of life. Then, as with the

vegetables you grow, you will take that fruit into your own

body and literally become one with the land around you.

Many fruit trees are now sold in standard, dwarf and even

miniature versions. For the urban orchard, dwarf trees are

often the best choice. You will be able to reach more of the

fruit since the tree will not grow as tall, and it will not take up as much space on your property. If you have an especially

small lot, consider a miniature fruit tree.

Since both fruit trees and nut trees produce their boun-

ty above ground you will want to plant new trees when the

moon is waxing; that is, when it is growing from new to full.

If you are planting by the astrological moon sign, these trees

should be planted when the moon is in the sign of Taurus

(Riotte, page 130). Young trees purchased from a local nurs-

ery will be leafed, but trees ordered through the mail or par-

cel service may look like little more than sticks when they

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arrive. Do not be discouraged by the appearance of these

“sticks”, and certainly do not assume that your newly deliv-

ered trees are dead. The most important part of the tree—

what you might think of as its heart and soul—is its roots.

If a sapling is shipped with leaves, those leaves are just more mass that the root system needs to support during the journey. After you have planted your little tree (which should be

done as soon as possible after it arrives) the roots will begin to gather in nourishment and water from the soil, and leaves

should soon emerge.

When you plant your tree, be sure to welcome its

wood-spirit to your land. Offer it water. You can do this by

simply pouring water around the newly planted tree, but

since you and the tree will presumably be neighbors for a

fairly long time you might want to put more intention into

the act. Fill a clean and attractive pitcher or urn with water

and take it out to the tree. First take a sip of the water yourself, saying:

Water is Life.

Blood of Mother Earth, flowing through Her arteries

—rivers and streams—

on a journey to the ocean where all Life began.

Now slowly, gently pour the remaining water around the

base of the newly planted tree as you say:

I give you this blessing of Life.

As the Life flows through me,

may Life flow through you.

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Finish with your expression of affirmation, as described

in the previous chapter. If it feels more appropriate and nat-

ural to you, substitute the actual name of the Earth Mother

as you know her: Gaia for Hellenic Pagans, Herthe for Saxon

Pagans, and so on. As I emphasize throughout this book,

your personal rites should be relevant to you and true to the

path you follow.

Some of the fruit and nut trees that grow well through-

out much of North America include:

• Apples

• Cherries (you will probably need at least two trees of

different varieties to produce fruit; I have been told that

self-pollinating varieties of cherry have been developed,

but I have no personal experience with these)

• Pears

• Plums (you will need two varieties of these also)

• Chinese chestnuts

• Hazelnuts

• Carpathian walnuts

Before ordering trees or purchasing them from a local

nursery, find out what fruits and nuts grow well in your

region. Any given type of fruit tree may thrive in one area

and struggle in another. This does not mean you cannot try

a tree that is not known for producing well in your region,

but you should be aware of this in advance. As a rule, you

will derive more satisfaction from fruit or nut trees that grow well in your area.

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A TREE FOR YOUR ALTAR

Many Pagans today like to keep symbols representing a tree

on their altars. This is especially true for some druids, and for Pagans following a Saxon or Norse path for whom the symbol represents the World Tree. The symbol can be almost

anything: a painting, perhaps an iron or an aluminum sculp-

ture. But what could you place on your altar that better rep-

resents a tree than…a tree?

When I was a young boy, my grandfather introduced me

to the Earth Mother and her wonders. Papa was a Christian,

but he had a profound appreciation for the natural world. He

and I would spend hours fishing on an ox-bow lake in cen-

tral Arkansas, where he would tell me about “Mother Earth”

as he pointed out the habits of turtles and woodpeckers and

gar. Later, when we returned to his home, he would let me

help him in his back garden, and there I would have more les-

sons about the Earth Mother and her ways.

Papa always had an assortment of garden catalogs, and

I would peruse these indoors while avoiding the heat of the

Arkansas summer afternoons. One thing I often saw in the

catalogs that would capture my imagination were the bonsai

trees marketed (then) as “Ming trees”. These were the same

miniature trees that are sold in garden centers today; small

junipers, with their branches pruned and shaped in graceful

curves and their roots confined to a shallow pot. The idea of

a tiny tree fascinated me, and that fascination did not dimin-

ish appreciably over time.

Many years later, as an adult, I eventually fed my fascina-

tion and purchased an evergreen bonsai. I would like to say

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that my bonsai and I lived happily ever after, but that is not

what happened.

The bonsai died.

So I went out and bought a second bonsai. And it died

almost as quickly as the first one. Determined, I bought a

third. It died. I began to notice a pattern.

After this experience, I gave up trying to keep a minia-

ture tree for years. Obviously, I thought, there must be some-

thing fundamentally wrong with me, since I had killed one

poor little tree after another. Distancing myself from the idea of having a “Ming tree” gave me some perspective. I realized

that I did not really care about bonsai as an art form; I just

liked the idea of a tiny tree that I could keep in a pot. As a Pagan, I especially liked the idea of a tree that I could have on my altar.

Eventually I did some more research and found out that

there was nothing really wrong with me at all. The problem

had been with the tiny trees. Junipers are not indoor plants.

I am sure there are some people who have had small potted

junipers thriving in their living rooms for decades, but for

most of us a juniper cannot be kept indoors, alive, for very

long. The juniper bonsai kept by a true bonsai enthusiast is

usually kept outside, and requires some skill to maintain.

I found some books about indoor bonsai and tried some

of the suggested species. Alas, my efforts again resulted in

some accidental arboricides. Surely there was some tree that

could easily be kept indoors in a pot! (I can be very stubborn

at times.) I was looking for a tree—a plant—that could be

kept in the house throughout the year.

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A tree—a plant—that could be kept in the house. A plant

inside the house. Of course! I was looking for a
house plant
!

Once I realized what I was looking for, I was able to nar-

row my search down to two species, both of them tropical

trees that fare well inside the house: the Ficus (
Ficus benjami-na
) and the Schefflera or “Umbrella Tree” (
Schefflera arborico-la
). Either species adapts well as a small, indoor tree suitable for representing the World Tree on your altar or in any sunny

location in your home. These tiny trees also make interesting

and unusual gifts for your Pagan friends!

To create a tiny representation of the World Tree you will