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Walnut energy is cool, a friendly energy, sees the good in all, helps the underdog. Native Americans used walnut wood for carrying people and frames for teepees and lodges. Elemental spirits love to find holes in this wood to create homes or safe places. Black Walnut gives us humour and laughter. Connected to the throat chakra, it helps with expansion of energy and encouraging the ability to laugh. It asks us to find humour in situations which might otherwise cause your demise. Laugh often, and fully.
Here are the meanings of Black Walnut from ten sources:
1. Friendly, positive, helps underdog.
2. Strength, haven for nature spirits.
3. Helps us to lighten up and find humour.
4. Linked with love and romance and divination for love and romance. Wards off lightning.
5. Opens us to new perspectives, knowledge of the mysteries of death and rebirth, doorway into the faerie realm that can initate change. Attracts and houses faeries.
6. Protection against sickness or pregnancy – contains protective power to harm if necessary.
7. Good for weather magick, attuned to crown chakra – ability to open to the fullest dimension of being, good for spells of teleportation, astral travel, and inspiration
8. Change, link breaker, transitions in life (menopause, puberty, moving, changing jobs), let go of the past. Protection from outside influences and energies, helps you to adjust to major changes.
9. Thoughtful and serious wood, geared towards introspection and helps with inner clarity.
10. Combines reason and intuition to induce spiritual growth and healing from within. Helps get us in touch with ourselves and the earth.
From: “Tree Spirits and Wood Wisdom” by Thomas Freese
Bees
Two excellent histories of the lore of bees:
Andrew Gough – The Bee Part 1 – Beedazzled
Temple of Theola – Bee GoddessThe bee has been revered for as long as humans have had an understanding of how vital it is to our food supply. Without the bees, trees and plants would never bear fruit. There are other pollinators, but the bees are central to this task.
Humans have entwined religion and spirituality with bees, as evidenced in the two articles above.
According to Colette Baron-Reid, in her Spirit Animal Oracle, the Bee Spirit’s message is that “sweet rewards are on their way if you are willing to get your ego out of the way and immerse yourself in the connected energy of all things.” There is honey, magick, and miracles – if you can step aside, and allow them to happen. Gratitude is key, when you are thankful for the honey, the bee is willing to provide. The Bee spirit is about immersing in community, moving from individuality and separation, into connection and communion. When you are serving others, it doesn’t feel like work.
Ann Williams-Fitzgerald and Karen Osborn express in Wisdom of the Australian Animals that bee is a builder, a worker, and that bee is about service to the community. Known for his attention to detail, drive to work and build new areas in life, and selfless service to all. “If Bee has buzzed past you today, busily on his way, Spirit is asking you to be of service to those around you…go help a friend.”
Scott Alexander King writes in Animal Dreaming that the bee is about potential. They have specialisation of tasks, each performing their duty to build the cells that make up their hive, collect the honey, and feed the queen. Tombs were designed like beehives, and decorated with images of bees. Aphrodite’s priestesses were served with melissae, which means bees, while Artemis was accompanied by essenes, literally translating to “drones.” Demeter was known as the “pure mother bee.”
“Bee promotes the celebration of life, the realisation of potential and the ability to make good from every opportunity…Bee literally affords the Midas Touch to those who see the value in organised community, dedicated team work, and group vision. Bee can be invoked to aid fertility” for a new seed to take root. This success also applies to the unconditional love of friends and family, which is the wealth of community.
“Honeycomb is an ancient symbol of the Universal Tapestry. Like a perfectly formed jigsaw puzzle, it demonstrated quite literally how one thing supports the next, with each person, creature, and thing, ‘slotting in’ in complete harmony with each other.
In Animal Totems: The Power and Prophecy of Your Animal Guides, Trish MacGregor and Millie Gemondo share that bee brings a message about sincere, hard work, and team effort. Bee represents a mutual endeavour in which all parties must serve one another if everyone is to prosper. They tell a story about the folklore, in which “a beekeeper or person who tended the bees passed away, it was important to ‘tell the bees.’” Communicate clearly and concisely.
The large bumble bee that was seen on the Wisteria speaks of service, communication, and healing. When communication is clear, you can be of service, and when you are of service, the healing can begin.
Steven Farmer writes about the Wolf as the Guardian – She purifies the herd, taking the weak, so that the herd can be strong. She looks after her family and tribe, and teaches the young how to be skillful in the world. She lives in balance with her actions and teachings, and acts from the heart.
Alexis Cartwright speaks of Owls’s acute awareness of everything around at all times – excellent vision, can see at night, acute hearing, and can swivel its head 270 degrees to perceive in every direction. Owl speaks of clairvoyance, or unseen truths.
Owl is often a symbol of wisdom because it can see what others cannot. In the Tribes, this power is often feared, as secrets are hard to keep around an Owl.
Owl indicates that you may be being confronted with the unknown, the dark, the unseen. You have the Medicine to perceive what you need to know – there may be deceptions or betrayal, or undisclosed suffering. You may be able to perceive the motives behind other people’s choices and words – Owl’s wisdom is to observe silently, and allow your intuition to choose the right course of action without revealing anyone’s secrets.
Owl also gives you the opportunity to self-examine, and clear your own self-deception. Owl encourages to you to study, examine – silently (his wings are completely silent) – and learn from your observations.
Mist can be tender, gentle emotions.
The spray of moisture on your face, a more subtle flow of the water energy.
Mountain is often where pilgrimages go. The Vision Quest is often held on a mountain-top, while the village below prays in support of the Seeker. Moses went to the Mountain for his vision, and received his Holy Laws there.
Isaiah 40:29-31 (New International):
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.From Laura Bowen’s “Dreamtime Reading Cards”
Eagle encourages you to look at situations from a higher perspective. It is hard to see all sides of a situation when you are in the middle of it…it is helpful to stand back and view the situation from a different perspective – looking at where you have come from and where you are headed, rather than just looking at what is happening in the present moment…
…The eagle’s strength and ability to focus in on things allows it to take charge of situations and soar above those who try to inhabit or control it. This is a time when you need to rise above the situation you find yourself in, look to the past and to the future you wish to create – and just really observe what is happening around you for awhile.
You may gain a new perspective with your Eagle-eye view. Seeing the whole forest instead of the tree or obstacle in front of you makes it easier to plan your choices in the future – and it also helps you to realise that the problem in front of you is small compared to the entire view of things.
When you are flying high in the air, your house, your problems, your life diminish into the distance as you see – other houses, and realise that others are enmeshed in their problems and their lives much as you are.
Letting Eagle lift you up to a place of clarity is a great gift.
An older article from the NYTimes:
https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/health/28brody.html
A Downside to Tai Chi? None That I See
By JANE E. BRODY
SEPT. 27, 2010The graceful, dancelike progression of meditative poses called tai chi originated in ancient China as a martial art, but the exercise is best known in modern times as a route to reduced stress and enhanced health. After reviewing existing scientific evidence for its potential health benefits, I’ve concluded that the proper question to ask yourself may not be why you should practice tai chi, but why not.
It is a low-impact activity suitable for people of all ages and most states of health, even those who “hate” exercise or have long been sedentary. It is a gentle, calming exercise — some call it meditation in motion — that involves deep breathing but no sweat or breathlessness.
It places minimal stress on joints and muscles and thus is far less likely than other forms of exercise to cause muscle soreness or injury. It requires no special equipment or clothing and can be practiced almost anywhere at any time, alone or with others.
Once the proper technique is learned from a qualified instructor, continuing to practice it need not cost another cent.
The many small studies of tai chi have found health benefits ranging from better balance and prevention of falls to reduced blood pressure, relief of pain and improved immunity.
The latest and perhaps best designed study was conducted among patients with debilitating fibromyalgia, a complex and poorly understood pain syndrome.
Dr. Chenchen Wang and colleagues at Tufts Medical Center in Boston reported in August in The New England Journal of Medicine that tai chi reduced pain and fatigue and improved the patients’ ability to move, function physically and sleep. The benefits persisted long after the 12 weeks of tai chi sessions ended.The study was financed primarily by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health. To be sure, documenting tai chi’s purported health benefits is a challenge. As an editorial in the journal noted, it is virtually impossible to design an ideal study of tai chi.
There is no “fake” version that could serve as a proper control to be tested against the real thing. Thus, researchers have to rely on less-than-perfect comparison groups. In the fibromyalgia study, for example, the control group was given stretching exercises and wellness education.
And unlike evaluations of drugs, tai chi studies cannot be double-blinded such that neither patients nor researchers know which group is receiving which treatment. Those guided by a tai chi master would undoubtedly know who they are and could be influenced by the teacher’s enthusiasm for the practice.
Still, scientists have come to better understand and appreciate the mind-body connection, which for too long was dismissed as nothing more than a placebo effect, and most doctors are now more willing to accept the possibility that stress-reducing activities can have a profound effect on health.A Stress Reducer
There is no question that tai chi can reduce stress. As the study authors described it, tai chi “combines meditation with slow, gentle, graceful movements, as well as deep breathing and relaxation to move vital energy (called qi by the Chinese) throughout the body.”If nothing else, this kind of relaxing activity can lower blood pressure and heart rate, improve cardiovascular fitness and enhance mood. For example, a review in 2008 found that tai chi lowered blood pressure in 22 of 26 published studies.
Thus, it can be a useful aid in treating heart disease, high blood pressure and depression, conditions common among older people who may be unable to benefit from more physically demanding exercise.
Regular practitioners of tai chi report that they sleep better, feel healthier and experience less pain and stiffness, though it cannot be said for certain that tai chi alone is responsible for such benefits.
Yet as Dr. Wang and co-authors noted in an earlier report that analyzed the literature on tai chi and health, a majority of studies have been small and poorly controlled, if they were controlled at all. Therefore, the tai chi practitioners could have been healthier to begin with or could have practiced other health-enhancing habits.
Perhaps the best-documented benefit of tai chi, and one that is easiest to appreciate, is its ability to improve balance and reduce the risk of falls, even in people in their 80s and 90s. The moves are done in a smooth, continuous fashion, as weight is shifted from one leg to the other and arms are moved rhythmically. This can improve muscle strength and flexibility, and enable the muscles in the legs and hips to function in a more coordinated and balanced manner. Thus, practitioners become more stable and sure-footed.
Another benefit, again especially important to older adults, is the apparent ability of tai chi to improve immune function. In a 2007 study also financed by the Complementary and Alternative Medicine center, those who practiced tai chi had a better response to the varicella zoster vaccine that can help prevent shingles.
Tai chi is not a substitute for professional medical care, but rather an adjunct to such care and a way to keep debility at bay. As with other forms of alternative medicine, it is best to consult your physician before signing up for instruction.This is especially important if you are a pregnant woman or have serious physical limitations, joint problems, back pain or advanced osteoporosis. While such conditions do not preclude practicing tai chi, you may have to modify or avoid certain positions.
Although tai chi is a gentle exercise, one can get carried away. Overdoing any activity, including tai chi, can result in sore or sprained muscles. On its Web site, the Complementary and Alternative Medicine center notes that “tai chi instructors often recommend that you do not practice tai chi right after a meal, or when you are very tired, or if you have an active infection.”
Also important is assurance that your instructor is well qualified. Instructors do not have to be licensed, and the practice is not regulated by any governmental authority. There are many styles of tai chi — the yang style is most commonly practiced in Western countries — and there are no established training standards.
Traditionally, would-be instructors learn from a master teacher. Before choosing an instructor, you’d be wise to inquire about the person’s training and experience.
Learning tai chi from a qualified instructor is critical. The Complementary and Alternative Medicine center cautions that trying to learn it from a book or video is no guarantee that you will be able to perform the moves safely and correctly. Reliable sources of instructors include Y.M.C.A.’s and Y.W.C.A.’s, and well-run commercial gyms.
Finally, attending a few sessions or even a 12-week course is not enough to guarantee lasting health benefits. As with any other form of exercise, tai chi must be practiced regularly and indefinitely to maintain its value.
A different viewpoint is presented by Alexis Cartwright in “Transference Healing Animal Magic.”
Cartwright talks about the majesty, agility, and magnificence of Tiger, and her Power is Righteousness.
In Asia, Tiger is associated with the power, might and fearlessness of kings, and also destruction, violence, ruthlessness, judgement and punishment…The Koreans call Tiger the “King of the Animals”; the Chinese call it “Lord of the Land Animals.Asian Tiger is identified with the ambivalent but masterful spirits of shamanism…associated with power, ferocity, passion and sensuality. ..In Chinese legend, Tiger also represents the constellation of Orion…and Tiger attacks are thought to be punishment by a supreme being.
Tiger helps replenish your energy to deal with the issues in front of you. Embrace your power, without fear, and use it to your benefit, and the benefit of others. Tiger can also awaken new feelings of devotion, commitment and passion, including love and relationships – or your personal or professional life.
Tiger teaches you to be true to your heart. It enhances the intensity of your feelings so you can become more passionate in your life, relationships and causes close to your heart. Tiger gives you the courage to follow your passion and utilise it to make more positive changes within yourself and reality. Tiger people are leaders or activists for the greater good of all.
The light and dark of his coat suggest the balance of Yin/Yang, dark/light, sun/moon, male/female aspects of duality. Both are present, and balanced energetically.
Ann Williams Fitzgerald and Karen Osborn write about Kookaburra in “Wisdom of the Australian Animals,”
Kookaburra is associated with Sagittarius and Topaz. The wisdom of Kookaburra is Laughter and Joy, his laughing call stirs the joy deep within your being. Remember to allow yourself to laughAre you taking yourself too seriously? Kookaburra says, “Why so serious?”
Scott Alexander King, in “Animal Dreaming” speaks of Kookaburra’s healing power. Kookaburra reminds us to take responsibility for our own healing, even though it is challenging and confronting. Releasing pent-up pain, confusion and resentment is the means that Kookaburra works. Most of our suffering is self inflicted, and we deny and ignore the sources of our suffering – often driving the causes deep until they are difficult to detect.
The laughter that Kookaburra encourages is not superficial laughter – but the deep laughter that heals the body and soul. Kookaburra hunts Snakes (the symbol of Aesculapius, the Healer, and his Caduceus), which gives him direct connection to healing energy.
Use this laughter to release your own blocks and frustrations, and take responsibility for your healing.
Kookaburra awakens us to our inner truth, and thus, the dawning of a new day. So remember that to witness a silent Kookaburra is Spirit’s way of restoring faith in our quest for personal healing.An excellent description of the anatomy of Tai Chi:
(this guy is selling his program – but the graphics of how the systems are affected by Tai Chi exercise – is superb).
Next up, is another Qi Gung exercise (that is incorporated into most Tai Chi forms) called “Gathering Chi.” This 1 minute exercise includes “Opening” as well.
This is the best single series of exercises for awakening Qi. The Taoist Master, Mantak Chia has been a revered name since the 1980’s, and he’s still teaching! And he’s on YouTube! Things that used to be esoteric and unavailable except through specialist bookstores – are now publicly dispersed on YouTube!
Please – consider doing this, especially if you are fatigued. You can start simple, with only 9 repetitions of each exercise, or focus on one exercise, and gradually build up to the 36 (4 sets of 9) repetitions he speaks of.
