Sulum Factum Magus

One approach to working with magick is to always consider the energy of whatever it is that you are doing. For instance if one desires to work with one’s dreams, building awareness of dreaming, and the development of choice in one’s dreams, then the first thing to do is work out what energy would be helpful to you in achieving this goal. The way I go about it is as follows. First of all, I work out the elemental energy required. That’s easy. Water is associated with all things of the psyche and the unconscious including dreaming. If my intention is to bring about self awareness within the dreaming state, then I would further differentiate to Air of Water, air of course, being associated with the mental realm. Having identified the energy required, I would then seek natural objects which embody this energy. My speciality is Australian trees, so I would select a tree which has an Air of Water quality – in my experience one of the smooth barked Grey Gums would suit, or a Casuarina or Kurrajong. Having selected a tree, I would then work a piece of the wood into a convenient size and shape that I can wear around my neck, under my cloths. It doesn’t have to be very big, but must be made in the full awareness of the energy connection required, with the intention to seek the assistance of the spirit of the tree. It must be made in a state of connection, as best as you are able to do. Since I prefer to sand wood through a series of grades to a high polish, to bring out the natural beauty, this may take some time. However, this time is time when you are doing the real work of building, strengthening and consolidating the energetic connection between yourself and the tree spirit, via the object you are working on.

I like to cut across a small branch, if available, to give a circular disk, and polish starting with 80 grade garnet paper, then 120, 180, 240, 400, 800, and 1200. Such a disk, once polished up, and finished with some natural cold pressed oil, such as linseed oil 2:1 with pure tea tree oil, feels beautiful against the skin, as well as beautiful against the eye. A hole can be drilled through for a leather thong, or if you prefer, the wooden disk can be mounted by binding a soft leather thong around the perimeter.

The object can be used as is, after being blessed and consecrated and charged with its magical purpose. However I find it useful to add additional energetic correspondences to fine tune the energy, in the way of engravings and markings. For example, a rune, or combination of runes can be selected, and engraved or burnt into the piece. In order to activate the dreaming state, for example, the rune Laguz refers to dreams, fantasies, mysteries, the unknown, the hidden, the deep, and the underworld, along with water and the sea, fertility and renewal. However it may also stir up any fears, obsessions or un-dealt with psychological issues that are currently lying dormant, so of course caution is required. Are you really in a healthy and positive space where you can safely and constructively deal with what may emerge from the deeps? Perhaps it is worthwhile stating this intention in your consecration!

Planetary energies may also be helpful. The moon is the obvious ruler of the realm of dreams, and so the astrological moon symbol may be engraved or burnt into the object to provide assistance in the endeavour. In addition, one may care to select a zodiacal sign to further focus the intent of the talisman. For example, the sign of Gemini (An Air sign) may be helpful in opening up communication between the conscious and unconscious selves, and bringing alertness and clarity to the mind.

Further energetic signatures are possible, using for example Ogham script, Hebrew letters, or numbers, however if you aren’t practiced in each system, there is a danger of confusing and muting the energy, rather than honing it to a strong and clear intention. My advice is to select from those symbol systems with which you are comfortable, or if you are exploring a new system, have at most one new symbolic character at a time. If you are of a particularly investigative bent, you can start off with no symbols, and work with your object as is for a week or two, then add a symbol at a time, and re-consecrate, then in the following days observing how the energy has developed.

Wear the object around your neck, against your skin at all times during the day. When you go to bed, have the object under your pillow. Notice the difference in energy in your dreams, and make notes in your journal each morning on waking.

The same principle can be applied to herbs, to make sachets, with appropriate symbols embroidered, sewn, or otherwise marked onto them. In all cases, the work of making the piece is not only in the physical construction, but in the holding of the intent and the energetic connection whilst in the making. 

Blessed Be,

Robyn

As I have mentioned many times before, I’m sure, it is very healing and re-newing to spend some time in nature. Today I went for a long walk in the forest. At the start of the walk, I was feeling quite down in the dumps – with all the stresses of the modern world weighing heavily upon me. Bills piling up, work stresses, feelings of disconnection and isolation, and worst of all, feeling a long way away from my true nature. Usually I can spring myself into a more positive frame of mind, but today I just wasn’t in the mood for any inner work. It seemed like such a chore! So after a few yoga stretches, and a spot of breakfast, and toying with some meditative exercises, I decided to go for a walk in the forest.

As soon as I got amongst the trees, I started to feel better. At the beginning of the track was a lovely grove of Sydney Blue Gums, with their cool slate grey trunks marked by wavy darker insect lines. I felt their calmness and un-ruffled presence begin to wash over me, and my poise and equilibrium began to return. As the forestry track wound down the hillside, the Sydney Blue Gums gave way to a mix of Tallow-woods, Grey Gums and Ironbarks, and the feeling of the forest became less lofty or dreamy, to my perceptions, anyway.

As I continued to walk, my worries and cares literally drained away from me, and I became calm, and for the first time in several days, it seemed like I had some space around me, in which I could connect with myself again. It was a lovely autumn day – sunshine in a cloudless sky, just cool enough for comfortable walking, and the sun low enough in the sky to give plenty of shade from the trees on the side of the track.

As the elevation got lower, and the soil became rockier and lighter in colour, the Spotted Gums came into preponderance, with the odd White Mahogany scattered around. Ironbarks of course, still in evidence. I always like to be in the company of Spotted Gums, with their many different hues from blue to reds and orange, and their dimples which remind me of boiling water swirling around, then snap frozen. Further down the slope, I came to an area of stunted Queensland Blue Gums, getting ready to flower and in amongst them, I was delighted to come upon three Kurrajongs growing in a clump. I am particularly fond of Kurrajongs, which in my system of magic, assist with the telling of stories which touch and/or express the emotional depths. In my experience, I have usually come across Kurrajongs as single isolated trees, so it was very unusual to see the three of them there. Perhaps under the ground, there was only the one trunk. In any case, I christened them the three sisters, and spent quite some time in their gentle embrace. As I said, I feel an affinity with the Kurrajong, perhaps because I have always felt a bit different from the people around me, like the Kurrajong, the only one of my kind, surrounded by other species of people: you know the types – those who are interested in corporate ladder climbing, the latest fashions, making large amounts of money, with little sense of the spiritual, or the artistic, and whose sensitivities have been dulled by food, drink, and immersion in a heavy materiality. Not that I am opposed to a nice meal or a glass of wine on occasion, or earning a living by honest means, mind you. Just that, like the Kurrajong, I have always felt I was the only one, surrounded by other types of people who didn’t appreciate or understand me. Or perhaps more simply, surrounded by people who didn’t resonate with me.

So it was nice to spend time with the three sisters, and draw on their strength and ability to calmly and self-assuredly be themselves, even though surrounded by other types of tree. And as I write now it comes to me that indeed the Kurrajong fulfills an esoteric purpose in its aloneness, within the widespread range in which it is found. For it is like the leaven that makes the bread rise. A small amount goes a long way. I heard a fellow taking about the orders of Hermetic magic this way once – that they were like the leaven that helped the dough to rise – the dough being western society. I think the same is true for all people who serve the Ancient Ones – in whatever way, whether Hermetic, Pagan, Wiccan or any path with heart. There are precious few of us, and sometimes it seems that we are working in isolation. However, together, we help to make the dough of life rise into a shapely loaf – whether through channeling energy, or helping others to recover their true nature, healing or magical works, or perhaps most importantly, having the courage and knowledge to be one’s true self. Most of the people out there don’t appreciate it, or even recognise it. And that is the way it should be!

However it sometimes takes its toll when one marches to a different drum beat to that of one’s colleagues and peers. People’s suspicions and ill feeling are easily stirred by someone they sense as being vaguely different, or motivated by unfathomables. In the old days, it was the teaching amongst the wise that those who followed the path should make every effort to appear no different to a typical person. Their dress should be unexceptional, and as befits their trade. Their demeanour should be temperate, and their behaviour moderate. They should engage in the customs of their village, town or country as befits any respectable person. They should have friendly relations with all, and if such were not possible with a particular person, such a person should be avoided. If one was brought into conflict, in spite of one’s efforts to avoid it, one should give every opportunity to have the conflict resolved fairly. If this proved impossible, due to a person’s ill will, then the conflict should be engaged impeccably if it was possible to win. If, however, one’s opponent was so superior in resources or social position as to make victory impossible, then this should be recognised, and one should allow them the victory, and move on. As tempting as it may seem, one’s esoteric knowledge should not be used in order to revenge oneself on such people. Typically, they lack the knowledge and skills to defend themselves, and the grief or harm that you may cause will undoubtedly spill over to effect others who are harmless and undeserving of ill. Thus the wise teach of old that the power is not to be used in this way, except that those who continually do serious harm, and where efforts by ordinary means to address the situation have failed, then a binding may be conducted to prevent further harm. The web of life will reverberate with their actions, and in time they will reap the rewards due to them, good or ill, as will we all. This guidance is no less true today as it was in days gone by.

The chance to connect with and work with spiritual brothers and sisters is a treasure without price. In those times when one’s brothers and sisters are far away, or yet to be discovered, one may draw strength from the Kurrajong, who is used to being different, and knows the way of it.

As I walked back up the hill, feeling refreshed and re-newed, I noticed many birds, which had seemed absent on the way down. At one point, two pretty little finches came and sat on a tree branch only a few feet from me, and enjoyed my company as I stood watching them for several minutes. I fancy that they could sense the clear and open energy that I carried, as I walked back, a far cry from the dense and unhappy energy as I started my walk.

So get out into the forest, and amongst the trees! You will feel better – I’m sure of it!

As regular readers will know, one of my enthusiasms is working magically with Australian trees. I believe that our native trees are every bit as magical as the revered trees of the old countries – and even more so for those of us who actually live and breathe in Australia. My philosophy is to work with nature as she expresses herself in the place in which I am. There is a great body of esoteric lore associated with the trees of the old countries – a body of lore rightly respected and studied by pagans of this new country. However when these studies lead antipodean pagans to want to plant circles of sacred norhern hemisphere trees in sensitive Australian bushland, then I believe the balance has been lost somewhere.  Especially as the sacred trees of the northern hemisphere can be terrible pests and serious environmental weeds in Australia. So here is my advice – when in the northern hemisphere, reach out to the sacred trees of your ancestors, experience their magic and age old connection with the pagan way. When in Australia, or any where else, for that matter, reach out to the trees that naturally grow in that location, and experience the magic of place through them, as they will be naturally melded into that energetic tapestry.

The difficulty, however, is in knowing the lore of our antipodean trees. In order to help, I have penned the following verses, which is my attempt to sum up the essence of  each tree that I have worked with. I commend these verses to all Australian pagans interested in the lore of our native trees. I hope that they inspire you to do your own psychical researched in the Australian bush! 

You might like to look at my Brisbane tree pages as well, if you are interested in this topic!

Blessed Be,

Rob

Verses for Australian Trees 

By Ironbark endure dark night

By Brushbox transform ill to right

By Melaleuca, true the dream

By Bunya, true self’s pride receive

And ever know thee tree of light

And ever grow thee tree of light

Bright within the womb of night.

By Wattle Black, thy plans be sure

By Banksia, now dance with Joy

By Kurrajong, give stories heart

By River Red Gum, tread thy path

And ever know thee tree of light

And ever grow thee tree of light

Bright within the womb of night.

By Wattle Green may’st hunt and trap

With Turpentine, the dragon damp

By Sydney Blue gum, hold the mist

Red Cedar, time’s decay resist

And ever know thee tree of light

And ever grow thee tree of light

Bright within the womb of night.

Let Hoop Pine’s presence rule the stage

Silky Oak thy quest’s true page

By Casuarina sing the sea

With Bloodwood’s warm embrace of thee

And ever know thee tree of light

And ever grow thee tree of light

Bright within the womb of night.

By White Cedar sense refine

With Broadleaf apple Her design

By Spotted Gum thy depths up-well

To Lady Fig, thy grief may’st tell,

And ever know thee tree of light

And ever grow thee tree of light

Bright within the womb of night.

To some people, a wand is a magical accessory that looks impressive on an alter, or when waved about in the air. However, there is much more to a wand than this. It is a magical tool, for use in channeling and directing magical energy. Everything about a wand, in my opinion, should be calculated to improve or enhance its ability to perform its magical function. It may be fine to decorate your wand with various crystals, gemstones, sigils, markings and what not, but each should be chosen and crafted with a view to enhancing the way the wand can be used to fulfill its primary function of focusing the transmission of magical energy. For example, in my experience, energy tends to flow outward from the trunk of a tree towards the leaf ends of branches. This direction is the natural way that energy will like to flow in the finished wand. Crystals tend to also have a particular direction of energy flow, in most cases towards the pointy end. If adding a crystal to your wand, these directions of energy flow must be aligned.

The choice of adhesive is also important, as some adhesives, particularly synthetic adhesives, can interfere with the free flow of energy. Araldite is a popular choice for magical tools, but in my experience it does nothing to enhance the flow of energy. It does not completely block the flow of energy, and will result in a serviceable tool, however using a different adhesive can make a very noticeable improvement in the flow of energy. The adhesive that I have found that enhances the flow of energy most is natural tree resins. They can be mixed with alcohol, or methylated spirit to make a varnish type of adhesive, or powdered and heated in place to fuse and gel together. However, these can be difficult to work with, and a lot of trial and error is required to get it right. One doesn’t need one’s athame blade flying out, or crystal catapaulting off the end of one’s wand at a particularly artistic flourish of a tool!

I believe that hide glue should also provide a very good bond for such things as crystals and athame blades, and being derived from purely natural and living sources should enhance the flow of magical energy. However, being derived from animal sources, those with vegan leanings will want to avoid it. I will keep you posted on this front! I myself prefer the minimalist wand, without any attachment of crystals, or elaborate decorations and markings, because I like the purity of also working directly with the donor tree consciousness – which I believe is best enhanced with an un-adorned wand. However this is no more than a personal preference. Each person’s wand should be an expression of their own magical identity, and embody the significant energies with which they themselves like to work. Each adornment, of course, carries it’s own energetic connection, and its own frequency of consciousness energy.

Now there are many dimensions to the concept of channelling and directing magical energy. As with much of my magical work, I work with the energies of Earth, and Sun, and their sacred union. This is the basic exercise that I do for practicing channeling with my wand. First of all, it is necessary to hold the wand in a way that facilitates the transmission of magical energy from yourself to the wand. The grip I use is to have the base of the wand butted against the centre of my palm, with the fingers and thumb then used to grip the shaft, and hold it to the palm. To get this grip correctly, hold your right hand out, palm up. Holding the wand in your left hand, place it standing in your right palm, so that the natural direction of energy movement is upward. The base of the wand should then be in contact with the energy centre in the centre of the right palm. Continuing to hold the right palm level, left up the thumb and fingers to grasp the wand. This is the grip that I use, with the wand now forming an natural energetic extension of my body.

To practice with the wand, do the following exercise. Sit cross legged in front of your alter, or on a chair so that your feet are flat on the floor. Hold the wand as described above in your right hand, so that the natural direction of energy movement is away from you. Hold the tip of the wand in your left hand, using the same grip as the right hand. Breathe slowly and deeply. Begin with your attention on your throat energy centre. As you breathe out, move your attention to your right shoulder, down the centre of your right upper arm, through your elbow, down the centre of your forearm, through your wrist, to the centre of your palm, and then continue to move it through the wand, and out the tip to the palm of your left hand. Synchronize this movement so that as you are ready to breathe in again, your attention reaches the palm of your left hand. Then as you breathe in, move your attention from your left palm to your left wrist, up through your left forearm, to your left elbow, then through your left upper arm, to your left shoulder, and then rest your attention on your throat centre, just behind the Adam’s Apple, while you complete your breath in. Then repeat the whole process, circulating your attention through right arm, wand, and left arm as you breathe out and then in again. Repeat for at least ten minutes daily for three weeks, and you will be well on the way to using your wand as an effective magical tool.

Someone asked me the other day about Silky Oaks, and then for the next few days I was noticing Silky Oaks every where! These are pretty common in Brisbane and the surrounding regions, with people often planting them in gardens and parks. They have a magnificent display of yellow-orange flowers in Spring. This year they are coming in to flower as I write, at the end of September. Around Brisbane they seem to prefer scrubby areas along creeks. If one ventures out west a little way, in the Laidley and Gatton areas, for example, I have seen them as one of the dominant species along creeks. The road from Gatton via Ma Ma Creek and Hirstglen to the New England Highway near Allora, winds along the Ma Ma Creek Valley and you’ll spot many magnificent specimens.

Last weekend, I was up in Toowoomba for the Festival of Flowers, and noticed many magnificent Silky Oaks growing in Queens Park. So I thought I would take a few pictures, so that if you don’t already know the Silky Oak, you can learn to spot them. It is a very distinctive tree, and really can’t be mistaken!

So take a look at my Silky Oak page, and happy tree spotting!

Blessed Be,

Rob

Having just got back from a weekend camping at Goomburra,  just over Cunningham’s Gap from Brisbane, I have been struck with the beauty and quiet presence of the beautiful Sydney Blue Gums. This is a tree I am very fond of which also grows in the Brisbane area in the wet rainforests and rainforest margins of the surrounding ranges. I love its smooth bark, which seems so calming and reassuring to me. I always feel refreshed and cleansed after a walk amongst the Sydney Blue Gums.  So if you would also like to take a walk amongst the Blue Gums, take a look at my Sydney Blue Gum page.

Blessed Be

Robyn Wood

Something I believe quite passionately is that pagans in Australia would be well served to explore the awesomely beautiful and powerful native trees of this unique continent. Our trees are every bit as magical and energetically significant as the usual list of sacred trees from the northern hemisphere. Not that I have anything against the beautiful and magnificent Oaks, Ashes, Birches and so on – I love them too, and have spent many a happy hour beneath their boughs on some visits to the northern hemisphere. However here in Australia, I work with our own native trees. They are plugged into the collective energy of place that exists here, in a way that transplanted northern hemisphere trees, in general, are not. 

So to help you get started with your love affair with Australian Trees, I have put together this virtual tree-walk. It is particularly meant for people in Brisbane. Trees in Australia vary from region to region, so chances are you won’t find all of these exact trees in your locality  is outside the Greater Brisbane area, though you might find some of them, and you may find very similar trees, but which may well be a different species.

Ironbark Gully is a picnic area in Brisbane Forest Park. Take the Samford Road from Ferny Grove station, pass Camp Mountain turn off on the right. Pass the Lomandra picnic area on left, and Ironbark Gully is about another half a Km on the left. There is a large grassy picnic area to the north of the first car park, which is closest to Ferny Grove. If you park in the main car park, the Crebra circuit walk starts at the ned furthest from the road, and there is a set of stairs down to the grassy picnic area. The trees shown here are all (except for Spotted Gum and Ironbark) growing in the grassy picnic area, so ideal for visiting and doing some tree work. To see the Spotted Gums and Ironbarks, do the Crebra circuit walk. All these trees are very common in the Greater Brisbane Area, and once you are familiar with them, you should be able to spot them at other places as well. Of course there are many other trees as well – but this selection should give you a good start on working with Australian Trees. In the following paragraphs, I have given my assessment of the elemental energetic quality of each tree, with my feeling about its gender, (M) for Male and (F) for female afterwards. The primary elemental quality is the second element, with the refinement given first. For example, Fire of Earth indicates primarily an Earthy quality, but a (relatively) active and passionate manifestation of the primary quality. The photographs for these pages were taken at Ironbark Gully, in Brisbane Forest Park, on September 8^th, 2007.

• Bloodwood
• Brushbox
• Grey Gum
• Tallowwood
• Ironbark
• Spotted Gum 

Blessed Be

Rob

As some of you may know, and others of you may have guessed, I work very closely with trees. In fact I love trees, I love getting to know what they are, I love finding out all about them, I love getting a bit of wood from them and working it into an object of beauty and power, I love sitting under them, I love meditating under them and with them. I believe that trees have so much to teach us about how to live at peace with ourselves and in harmony with Mother Nature. Of course I believe that trees are sentient beings capable of communication with us, which puts me in a minority, I dare say.

However my druidic ancestors believed, by all accounts, the same things, and so do many traditional indigenous people around the world, so I believe I am in very good company.

Some of my friends think I am a bit daft, because I won’t cut down large trees near my house, which they think could blow down in a storm. However, the way I see it, why should I cut down my friends? I really hope they don’t blow down. We had a big storm here few years back, and a couple of trees did come down. But they managed to fall around the house, and not on it. Some might call it luck. I call it the consideration of good friends.

Once one begins to form a magical relationship with trees, one very naturally begins to see them in a different way. No longer as useful objects to be placed at the disposal of industrious homo sapiens, but as equals, denizens of this planet, generous souls who provide us with fruit, wood, and oxygen to breathe. One may also become distressed at the way trees are treated by our modern industrialized society – as soulless objects which may be torn up and discarded to make way for housing estates, farms, roads, factories and so on.

It makes me angry sometimes to see the way we treat trees. Ecologically speaking, perhaps this is changing a bit, as people begin to develop environmental awareness, and appreciate the necessity of preserving forest habitats for the greater good of all life. However, clearing of forests continues around the world at an accelerating pace. And ecological awareness usually falls short of awareness of trees as sentient creatures, who have a right to continued existence, who feel pain and shock when cut down, and suffer the pangs and griefs of death just as we do.

The magical work of the trees is very powerful. They are very good at participating in collectivities of consciousness, knowingly and with full awareness, and channelling the intelligence and awareness of that collectivity, without conflicting with their own individuality. This is a skill that most people in modern society have lost, and which is largely relegated to the domain of the lunatic. And of course it is dangerous to drink of that collectivity of consciousness, and allow it to take form and expression in one’s life, when the skills and safeguards for doing so are largely unknown and unappreciated, and when most others around one regard this as eccentricity or madness.

That’s why it is important to have a support network of magical friends and associates who accept and understand such phenomenon, and have experience in working with such energies. Many people who know these things to be true feel isolated and alone, and unable to talk to even close friends for fear of being taken as balmy. But rest assured, your brothers and sisters are out there, and when the time is right, you will recognize them, or they will recognize you.

There is much that is destructive about the world that humans have created for themselves, and for everything else on the planet. Yet there is also much that is beautiful, and through it all, She is waking and experiencing herself, in shadow and light, in pain and joy.

Last night I dreamt of tree spirits, which is why this subject is particularly on my mind today. In my dream they are a green colour, but a soft green, with a hint of blue or grey. They look just like people, but everything about them is green, including their skin and hair. They float in the air, and have a soft and gentle energy. They are cool to the touch, like the bark of a smooth skinned tree. The ones I met liked orange juice. They invited me to join them in a large tree, but for some reason I was wary of going into their domain, lest I should never return. These fears are unfounded, and are a result of social conditioning, and I regret not accepting their invitation. I remember looking up into the tree, and seeing half a dozen beautiful tree spirits reclining on various branches.

Tree spirits, apparently, do not have a sexuality which is as clearly defined as that of humans. In my dream, one of the tree spirits, a young man it seemed to me, was going to have a baby. I promised to help. The tree spirits could make themselves appear as human, and enter into the human world, but would not eat anything. They would only drink orange juice.

Well there you are…I have either convinced you that I am completely balmy, or given you hope that there is someone else out there who sees what most people apparently do not.

You will find in these pages, as time goes by, some more stories of how I work with trees. I hope you feel inspired to do your own magical work with our tree brothers and sisters. It is a wonderful and rewarding undertaking. But be warned, you will be forever changed.