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moonvoiceWorking with Plant Spirits - Casuarina or sheoak
I first established a connection to the Casuarina family, or the sheoak, many years ago now. Before then, I had never really noticed them because Eucalyptus and Banksia tend to predominate the lands around here.
The first time I noticed them, I was walking through Koondoola during a hot day, and desired shade. I passed through two groves of trees, not feeling right, before I felt this 'come here, we can shelter you, but you cannot stay' feeling. I ended up in a grove of tall, ancient sheoaks. Their long, needle leaves whispered stories, and their allelopathic natures meant that I could stand close to them without disturbing an understory. I stood and listened, and my mind became clear and calm. I hadn't done much plant-spirit work at this point, but I felt a connection, not unlike the connection I feel to the Karri.
I went on my way. Next time I felt pulled back. I stood there and listened to the wind ruffle through the needle leaves and thought of the ocean. And the sheoak spirits there calmly told me that their leaves are like the feathers of the emu, because the emu royalty and emu warriors come to rest at sheoak groves, and are born again as stately sheoaks. That, if you listened closely enough, you could hear the lives of many emus, and emu-warriors in the whispering, as well as the ocean. After some time, I was gently pushed on my way again, 'nothing can stay here,' they said. I went on my way.
Three months later, I learnt a strange story. That if you were to conceive in a grove a sheoaks, you would give birth to a great warrior. Who would have the fleet speed of the emu, and the stately strength of the sheoak.
About six months later, intermittently using this grove for shelter and peace, I had a dream. And in the dream a Casuarina spirit came. S/he was like an emu, but not. I cannot describe a proper form, since as with many spirits, nothing 'fixed' appeared to me. I can tell you I felt an impression of male AND female (which makes sense, considering how that specific species of Casuarina reproduces), an impression of emu and not emu, an impression of height. S/he wore orange moths in their hair, which I later found to be the swift/ghost moths that feed upon the Casuarina.
In the dream, I heard many things. Many stories. I did not remember them all. But I remember the amused, gentle, almost empty expression as I was told that no animal or plant (except for the mistletoe) is meant to permanently use the shelter of a grove of sheoaks; but a grove of sheoaks is designed to shelter all things. It is one of the few true 'time outs' in the bushland and forests of Australia. It is one of the few places where you could hide from everyday fears and darker, more malignant fears. But no one is meant to hide from these things forever, therefore no plants grow beneath the sheoak tree, and no animals are meant to stay under its shade.
It is very auspicious to live near stands of sheoaks however, and I don't believe it is coincidental that sheoaks are one of the most popular kerbside / roadside / park trees to be planted again once land has been cleared.
In the end, I came to know these stately sheoaks as the Emu Trees. It's what I still call them today. Standing beneath them, one will often - if open - find a clarity and peace that can't be found elsewhere. But it never lasts. Eventually the nudge to move on gets stronger and stronger, an 'I know you want to stay, but you have to go away now. Other animals cannot come and shelter here if you are here.'
Emu tree spirits are hard to piss off, they are very strong; and resist being bossed around or bargained with. They have their laws/lore, and they stick to them, and have ways of enforcing that others stick to them as well. Whether male or female, they stick to the same patterns, though female sheoaks let people stay for longer. Male sheoaks do not.
Note: The connection of the Casuarina to emu spirits I could never verify in my research into Indigenous culture. But I later found out that other Oceania cultures with sheoaks believed them to be the spirits of great warriors; and that some Indigenous people believe this to be true as well.
I first established a connection to the Casuarina family, or the sheoak, many years ago now. Before then, I had never really noticed them because Eucalyptus and Banksia tend to predominate the lands around here.
The first time I noticed them, I was walking through Koondoola during a hot day, and desired shade. I passed through two groves of trees, not feeling right, before I felt this 'come here, we can shelter you, but you cannot stay' feeling. I ended up in a grove of tall, ancient sheoaks. Their long, needle leaves whispered stories, and their allelopathic natures meant that I could stand close to them without disturbing an understory. I stood and listened, and my mind became clear and calm. I hadn't done much plant-spirit work at this point, but I felt a connection, not unlike the connection I feel to the Karri.
I went on my way. Next time I felt pulled back. I stood there and listened to the wind ruffle through the needle leaves and thought of the ocean. And the sheoak spirits there calmly told me that their leaves are like the feathers of the emu, because the emu royalty and emu warriors come to rest at sheoak groves, and are born again as stately sheoaks. That, if you listened closely enough, you could hear the lives of many emus, and emu-warriors in the whispering, as well as the ocean. After some time, I was gently pushed on my way again, 'nothing can stay here,' they said. I went on my way.
Three months later, I learnt a strange story. That if you were to conceive in a grove a sheoaks, you would give birth to a great warrior. Who would have the fleet speed of the emu, and the stately strength of the sheoak.
About six months later, intermittently using this grove for shelter and peace, I had a dream. And in the dream a Casuarina spirit came. S/he was like an emu, but not. I cannot describe a proper form, since as with many spirits, nothing 'fixed' appeared to me. I can tell you I felt an impression of male AND female (which makes sense, considering how that specific species of Casuarina reproduces), an impression of emu and not emu, an impression of height. S/he wore orange moths in their hair, which I later found to be the swift/ghost moths that feed upon the Casuarina.
In the dream, I heard many things. Many stories. I did not remember them all. But I remember the amused, gentle, almost empty expression as I was told that no animal or plant (except for the mistletoe) is meant to permanently use the shelter of a grove of sheoaks; but a grove of sheoaks is designed to shelter all things. It is one of the few true 'time outs' in the bushland and forests of Australia. It is one of the few places where you could hide from everyday fears and darker, more malignant fears. But no one is meant to hide from these things forever, therefore no plants grow beneath the sheoak tree, and no animals are meant to stay under its shade.
It is very auspicious to live near stands of sheoaks however, and I don't believe it is coincidental that sheoaks are one of the most popular kerbside / roadside / park trees to be planted again once land has been cleared.
In the end, I came to know these stately sheoaks as the Emu Trees. It's what I still call them today. Standing beneath them, one will often - if open - find a clarity and peace that can't be found elsewhere. But it never lasts. Eventually the nudge to move on gets stronger and stronger, an 'I know you want to stay, but you have to go away now. Other animals cannot come and shelter here if you are here.'
Emu tree spirits are hard to piss off, they are very strong; and resist being bossed around or bargained with. They have their laws/lore, and they stick to them, and have ways of enforcing that others stick to them as well. Whether male or female, they stick to the same patterns, though female sheoaks let people stay for longer. Male sheoaks do not.
Note: The connection of the Casuarina to emu spirits I could never verify in my research into Indigenous culture. But I later found out that other Oceania cultures with sheoaks believed them to be the spirits of great warriors; and that some Indigenous people believe this to be true as well.
