WHAT THE TREES TOLD ME: PART TWO

Middle World journeys are common and often unbidden. Daydreams and peak experiences can have a journeying element. They can be surprising, and even a risky because the spirits we meet in the Middle World don't know us and aren't necessarily our friends. And why should they be? We often aren't all that friendly and respectful to them. We often don't give back. 

A very simple method of Speaking to the spirits of nature is to walk in nature, come across a being like a tree or rock and ask respectfully for a message. Then open yourself up, and wait. 

You can also enter a Shamanic state of consciousness by rattling or drumming or whatever it is you use, and then walk out and come across a being and Speak with them. 

Here is a poem I wrote directly after doing this. It is a slight attempt at older poetic forms, where in this case the last sound of the first line rhymes with the first line of the second. Old Norse poetry is remarkable like this; they do a lot with a few words. English is a huge language and has a lot of words. This is because it is the confluence of many languages. When we write creatively we have many words to choose from. We can say field, meadow, pasture for example. In most other languages, the vocabulary is smaller and they do more with the words they have. Norse poetry uses many different alliterations and rhymes and stresses on words to express and change meaning. It also uses kennings, which are shorthand poetic descriptions. For example, the sea might be the whales' road. If you want to write real Norse poetry here is a good place to start:

http://viking.archeurope.info/index.php?page=old-norse-poetic-metre

Here is the poem, and as I said it is a direct insight, from the trees themselves. It is good to write directly after an experience. We are explorers after all, and explorers take good notes. 

 Five trees grow from one who died
Abide in loving unity
Family dig deep
Sleep not for knowledge gained
Pain for love of Yggdrasil

Yggdrasil is the Axis Mundi or World Tree in the Norse spiritual view. Nine worlds come off it, and beings abound in it. There is a squirrel called Ratatoskr who runs up and down it, carrying trash talk between the eagle at the top and the dragon at the bottom, as well as general gossip. I think I am like Ratatoskr as I move up and down my own Axis Mundi.