Tree spirits, Zoophytes, and Worst Ghosts
Tree spirits, Zoophytes, and Worst Ghosts
A body full of Egypt and you're still lonely?
GUIDE POSTS AS GOD POSTS
Confession: I have been carrying the belief that one day I would get to the peak of the mountain I’ve been climbing and awarded with all the answers to the unknown. I had an existential realization yesterday that there is no mountain peak with answers, only guide posts along this never-ending path. So, I speech-to-texted myself this epiphany and it auto-corrected “guide posts” to “God posts.” Maybe that is one answer.
TREE SPIRITS
A collection of tree spirit visuals.
“I thought all the trees were whispering to each other, passing news and plots along in an unintelligible language; and the branches swayed and groped without any wind. They do say the trees do actually move, and can surround strangers and hem them.” ― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
I often dream of trees. They haunt the streets. On Halloween night you have to hide after midnight, because the tree ghosts are set free and they will sweep you up into their realm.
In another dream last month, I washed ashore on a beach and there stood Banyan Trees as guardians. They started singing and dancing and I wished I could celebrate as well as they can celebrate. Celebration is an art.
And of course, I already shared with you that I’m very fond of my Mandrake Men dancing for me in the hypnagogic state.
All of this to say that I have been hungering to learn the language of trees. Desire and openness creates synchronicity and in my mindless internet wanderings, I came across this old book illustration called Oak Addresses Spirits:
A figure wearing a cloak and a long white beard has a child at his side and talks to a group of supernatural, half tree, half human creatures standing on the other side of a path in a forest of tall trees.
I’m pretty sure I found my clan.
LOVELY ANIMAL-PLANTS
Speaking of plant-creature hybrids, this week I learned and fell in love with the word Zoophyte, and now I want one.
From Wikipedia:
A zoophyte (animal-plant) is an organism thought to be intermediate between animals and plants, or an animal with plant-like attributes or appearance. In the 19th century they were reclassified as Radiata which included various taxa, a term superseded by Coelenterata referring more narrowly to the animal phyla Cnidaria (coral animals, true jellies, sea anemones, sea pens, and their allies) and Ctenophora (comb jellies).
A group of strange creatures that exist somewhere on, or between, the boundaries of plants and animals kingdoms were the subject of considerable debate in the eighteenth century. Some naturalist believed that they were a blend of plant and animal; others naturalist considered entirely either plant or animal. An example is a sea anemone. The name is obsolete in modern science.[1]
WORST GHOSTS OF 2021
My favorite paranormal investigator Haley Stevens shared her annual list of worst ghosts of the year. Not because they are the scariest or evil, but because in her words, they’re just ridiculous and just very rubbish all around. Here is one from her her list:
#4 MAN WEARS CHINOS
Headline: ‘Dad-of-four’s ‘spooky feeling’ after man appears in his photos of cathedral’’ Source: Liverpool Echo, July 2021 (original | archived)
Fun fact: When I was in my twenties I auditioned for Ghost Hunters Academy and was interviewed by one of the producers, but didn’t make the cut. That’s ok, I probably would have taken it too seriously. I have done my fair share of ghost hunting though, and after a real scary haunting in Ione, California where I was waterboarded by the ghost that haunts room 13, I have since retired playing with the paranormal.
Here is the feature story about the haunting I wrote for the Amador County newspaper in 2012. Read at your own risk — not because it’s scary, but because it’s very poorly written.
IT TURNS OUT I AM A TENT
I get to know my self through the subliminal images that pass through me. This was one of them.
The psychic language of images is intimate. There is no universal visual dictionary to help you decipher your visions or dreams. Why would you want one anyway?
You are a Psyche Archeologist and this is a solo expedition. Your mission is to discover new aspects of your self, interpret your personal images, and then merge this new meaning into your soul. This is a long journey we are on.
I saw myself as a tent and a specific traumatic event as a grounding stake. The wind blew past, and I thought I would blow away, but I didn’t. I was grateful for my trauma stake — devoid of any story or emotion — it held me down and gave me the gift of feeling like I am flying without leaving the ground.
You can read or listen to the full post here: https://claudiadawson.blog/posts/the-grounding-stakes-or-a-resolution-for-trauma