The Wonder and Magic of Trees

Welcome to December's Festival of the Trees, where we will be exploring, or wondering about, the magic and mystery of trees.

As the morning mist rises, a lone tree emerges out of the fog. Might this be a faerie tree?
In Ireland, legend surrounds a lone oak, ash or hawthorn... it might be a gateway to the faerie realm. One must be careful not to linger too long under such a faerie tree, or be transported into the land of fae for a few moments. On coming back to the land of mortals, time will have passed for several years.

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Salix says "I know the sprite who lives in that tree. He tells me farmer O'Cairagain won't cut it down.. farmer O'Cairagain wants no bad luck coming his way!"
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Rebecca of "A Year With Trees" describes an eeriness she feels near this tall oak

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"She feels the energy of the oak dryad, whose strong presence brings us a sense of release, showing that every problem can be solved if we take nourishment from the earth."
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This giant tree stands as a guardian to a protected forest, as related by Dorothee of "Virtual Notes"
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Becky of "Rainy Day Wanderer" has a red oak in her own garden, an oak who catches rainbows!

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" she's very lucky to have such a wonderful rainbow-catching tree"
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Dave of "Via Negativa" has written a beautiful piece about the mystique of distances as he hikes atop a far away mountain.
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Steve at "Blue Jay Barrens" wonders at the mystery of leaning trees
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"Oh, that was done by my friends ..*giggle*.. they were feeling quite naughty that day, traipsing through these woods and shoving over the trees!"
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JSK of "Anybody Seen My Focus?" is puzzled at oozing sap at the base of an oak, and its visiting insects.
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Rebecca in the Woods wrote a poem about cypress knees, how they resemble trolls or elvish cities.


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" I think they are spirits or dryads, surrounding and protecting their tree."
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Walking through a tropical garden, Arati of "Trees, Plants and more" came upon a group of Gymnosperms that seem right out of a magic book
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Elizabeth of "Yips and Howls" takes a walk on a wet foggy day in an enchanting mossy forest
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Stella takes a walk in the entrancing Finsbury Park
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Charlene at "Blissful Solitary Wanderings" delights at the musical greetings of aspen trees.

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"Aspens have a protective nature. The rustling, whispering sound of the leaves is the voice of its spirit, to inspire those who hear it with patience and sensitivity"
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Linda of "The Task at Hand" speaks of life and falling leaves of the golden grove, a beautiful piece of prose that touched my soul!


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"If I had to wear glasses, they would be leaf-shaped!"
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Steve of "Firefly Domains" has brilliant photos of maple leaves.
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Roberta of "Growing with Science" explains the mystery of fig pollination, by a tiniest wasp
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Stella praises the versatile lemon tree, with its endless uses
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DNLee of "Urban Science Adventures" muses about a rare and special chinese chestnut she encountered unexpectedly.
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Georgia of "Local Ecologist" dreams of having chestnut soup

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"mmmm... a favorite dish of dryads!"

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Fallen Timbers has a sycamore snag on his land, which is home to owls
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song of the Tawhairauriki
Robb of "Musings from Aotearoa" visits the magical and spiritual maunga tipua
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PrairieWalker of "Illinois Nature Walk at Ballard Nature Center and Beyond" remembers an old cottonwood and its inhabitants.
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Beth of "Finding Ground" wonders how she would look as a petrified pine
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Ash at "Treeblog" talks about the first snow of winter, and watches a magical sunset behind his favorite oak


Living trees, sculpted into whimsical dancing people or beautiful chairs can be found at Pooktre

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"Sometimes at night, the spirits of the trees come out and dance in the mist"

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There is a carved tree in Fitzroy Gardens, Australia. It's called Ola Cohn's Fairies Tree, and has delightful carvings of faeries, gnomes and various animals.
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Root Drinker
Mark of "Glebe Homie" emailed this to me, and said it has a Land-Before-Time quality to it, reminded him of Littlefoot.

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A strange co-incidence for me, as I worked as an animator on that Bluth film, and I recognised the little long-neck in his photo before I had even looked at his note. I smiled as I discovered he had seen Littlefoot too.
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Emma Burghardt animated a beautiful film called "The Trees, They Were Once Good Men"
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My hawthorn wish faerie cross-stitch.
I tell the story of my own hawthorn tree, and its magic.


And so we end this post with the lone faerie tree greeting the winter solstice sunrise, the shortest day of the year. A day where the gateway to the faerie world is very thin. Was that a pixie sprite you saw out of the corner of your eye?
Season's greetings to all you tree lovers, and may the lengthening days promise magic and wonder in the coming year!

A big thanks to Dave for indulging me this month, in letting my theme be about magic, mystery and faeries! And thanks to all the contributors, who posted these enchanting images and prose.

Please visit Festival of the Trees for info and links to past tree festivals. January's Festival will be held at Natures Whispers. She is thinking about asking people to share new years resolutions with respect to 2011's International Year of Forests.

The woods are full of faeries!

The trees wave in the wind, sunlight streams down in rainbow hues, the morning dew glittering like tiny gems. I can almost see a faerie couple dancing the tango amongst its leaves.

"The woods are full of faeries! The trees are all alive!
The river overflows with them, See how they dip and dive!
What funny little fellows! What dainty little dears!
They dance and leap, and prance and peep, and utter faerie cheers!"
- Anonymous

My hawthorn wish faerie

Do you believe in faeries?

Growing in my Windywillow garden, is a rescued hawthorn tree, which I replanted here 6 years ago. I knew that hawthorns had resident wish-faeries, so one day last year, I went out and tied a green ribbon onto hawthorn's branch, and wished for a better financial situation.

Soon after, I thought it would be fun to make a cross-stitch of my hawthorn tree and his wish-faerie, Elfleda. But on the stitching, I tied a yellow ribbon, symbolising friendship and happiness. I called the stitching "Hawthorn Wish-Fae" and hung it on my wall.

I then became involved in a little Facebook game called Fairyland, where it's easy to chat and become friends with other lovers of faeries. I named my garden "Embroidery", inspired by my stitchings, and my faerie was called Elfleda.
My friends and I made up stories and involved each other in make-believe parties and adventures.
Seemed that my little hawthorn faerie was coming to life.

A little while later, I decided to write and illustrate our story starring Elfleda and my friends' faeries. It's a long ongoing project, which I hope to finish soon.
Here's the first page, finished. And a later page, still in progress, celebrating the winter festival season:

And thus, my wish.. remember my wish of a better financial situation?.. might just become true one day, if I succeed in publishing this book.

Is there truly a wish-tree faerie quietly urging me on? Or is it all a big coincidence? I like to think there are magical powers of nature at work in our world.

Elfleda smiles at me from the highest branches of her hawthorn.
I smile back :)