Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. For today’s post, I have decided to focus on communing with the Woodland and her special energies! Now this is very much a topic that is rooted in my personal spiritual practices. I have always been very drawn to the Woodlands in general, and I adore spending time in the Forest soaking in the energy of the trees, plants, animals, Fae, and waters.
The Woodland is a place not only in line with the Earth element but also deeply in line with the Water element, given the fact that bodies of Water are commonly found within the Forests just as trees and plants are! That makes the Woodland the ideal spiritual place for those seeking to deepen a connection to both Earth and Water to spend time in.
The question may be how do you work with and honor the Forest? I think that communion with the plant spirit allies, tree spirits, well spirits, river spirits, stream spirits, rock spirits, woodland guardians, and animals is at the core of Woodland communion and Woodland spiritual work! Anyone who desires to walk a Nature-based Spiritual Path of any sort would do well to embrace the beauty and bounty of the Woodland.
Now the next question may be how do you actually go about communing with these Woodland spirits? I think that the process of communing with any spiritual entity to be a very profound and is best approached in a way that feels natural to the spiritual seeker. So, in that way, Woodland communion is a very personal experience that is going to look slightly different depending on what your own spiritual path is. However, I can give some tips and tricks to help you pursue Woodland communion in your spiritual journey.
The first tip I have is to take some totally silent time in the Woodland when you first enter the Forest. While I am a very loquacious and chatty person by nature, I always take time in silence at the very beginning of my spiritual communion in the Forest, as this allows me to truly feel the energies and entities all around me in the Woodland. The second tip I have is to go up to trees that are calling out to you and physically touch and hug them (yes literally be a tree hugger), as this will allow you to reach out to hear any messages these lovely spirits may have to tell you. The third tip I have is to be free with your emotions, dance, and sing as you commune with plant spirits. You can even offer your dance and song to the plant spirits if you are foraging, as this is a good way to thank the plant for giving you material for medicine, but you should always remember to ask the spirit for permission before taking any foraged material. The fourth tip I have is to appreciate the appearance of any animals that you can see in the Forest because they can have messages for you. For instance, of late, I have mostly seen frogs during my time in the Woodland, which tells me they are the animals seeking communion with me! Finally, the fifth tip I have is to seek out any Waterways, or even puddles of water you find during your treks in the Woodland. As someone who has an equally deep connection to both Earth and Water elements, I find it very powerful to commune with any watery energy I find in the Woodland, as I have noted it is the ideal place to combine both of these powerful elemental energies!
At the end of the day, my Water element energy and associations have always been more easily found in the Forest than on the beach, as I live in a landlocked area and the Mermaid energy which connects to the Well Maiden (like Melusine) is very in line with my personal practice. To clarify, yes, Mermaid energy is not just found on the beach or in the ocean, as in the Melusine legend she was a Water Faery Maiden tending a Sacred Well, but she had to spend Saturdays in a bath because she was a shapeshifter who turned into a Mermaid on Saturdays! As a side note, while I do love the beach, I am better off communing with beachy energy at nighttime, given my very fair and sensitive skin, which burns so easily. That could very well be a physical sign of the Woodland Water Faery energy drawing me in, as the canopy of trees helps provide shade to fair skin!
I hope you have enjoyed reading some of my tips on working with the energies of the Woodland. Is Woodland communion part of your spiritual practice? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a gorgeous stream in an Irish Woodland. I found the image on https://panoramicireland.com/blog-ireland-guide/woodland-stream-green-autumn-river-woodland-stream-scenic-drive.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- The Fairy Bible by Teresa Moorey
- The Book of Faery Magic by Lucy Cavendish & Serene Conneeley
- The Druidry Handbook by John Michael Greer