S. Theresa Dietz - The Complete Language of Trees: A Definitive and Illustrated History (Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia)

A Definitive and Illustrated History

S. Theresa Dietz

I n gathering the information for this book, it came to be that I needed to make a decision about what to include. According to common opinion, a tree isnt a tree until it reaches 20 feet (6 m) tall. The project became too enticing a study to not include that which I found fascinating. So, I included trees much shorter than that. I found myself including an increasingly wider variety of trees with the only criteria being that their maximum potential height is well over my own head. As I am just a smidgen over 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, there was a lot of room overhead for me to look up and consider what I see to be a tree.

There are so many trees that piqued my interest. I found a great deal that I did not know about before I started. My endeavor to find out what I could about the majestic sources of Earths oxygen has been fruitful for me. I learned so much about some trees that are several hundreds of years old, and a few that have been growing for a thousand years or much, much longer. Their persistent existence in this ever-changing world, for as long as they have been growing within it, is magical and continually energizing.

Most of the magical trees on Earth today are living trees. To simply write that some of them are a thousand years old or much, much older, seems too casual of a statement to make. It seems nearly incomprehensible to me, to imagine back so far. When the seed of the highly precious oldest tree in the world germinated it was sometime back between 3051 and 2833 BCE. What do we know of any parts of our world that far back in time? Not very much. That is how ancient that tree is. There are others.

It is a genuinely awesome consideration to think of time in such a tangible, yet nearly unimaginable way. Trees have not only been on, but have actually been anchored into our planet, creating oxygen and positive energy, for millions of years. They also cleanse our air by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide into their wood. Some trees have the capacity to clean the soil of heavy metals. Trees are tightly integrated into the persistent rhythm of life on Earth. Without trees we will not have sufficient oxygen to sustain life on this planet. Trees provide our next breaths of air.

I have spent a great deal of my life simply paying attention to the trees that I encounter on my way as I pass by them. Seeing what grows in the hedgerows or in the front gardens of homes. Looking off towards the distant horizons, hills, and mountainsides to appreciate the blending of greens. There are a lot of trees to be seen during our lifetime.

Some of the trees nearest to us have been here as saplings that we ourselves planted in our own garden to commemorate a memorable event in our lives, such as a birth or a new home. Many trees have been growing nearby our homes long before we ever showed up. Certain trees that I would find myself near for long periods of time seem to have been the most engaging. Learning about the meanings of trees and the energies they exude, being what they are, growing where they are, has been pleasantly enlightening.

Throughout the course of our lives, many trees in our view are still often thought of as our special trees. We look out a window or walk outside a door, and there they are. Until, suddenly, due to circumstances beyond our control, they have fallen. Be it from wind or a felling that exceeded our own ability to fend off, the tree is no longer upright and its life is over. In some places, such as upon finding a fallen tree in a forest, the fallen tree might be given a new, highly magical purpose. There is a special category of trees that were alive once-upon-a-time, but are no longer. The trees are most usually naturally fallen Ash, Oak, or Sycamore trees that are found in or near a forest. The common connection between them is that most of these very special fallen trees are found in Scotland or England. It is there that it seems that for hundreds of years, wishing coins have been pushed and pounded down into the bark of the fallen trees and their associated stumps. The expectation is that the coin needs to be pushed in past the bark, where the one wishing would gain good fortune and be granted the fulfillment of a wish. Around the beginning of the eighteenth century, there was the additional belief that if someone ill were to push a coin into the Wishing Tree they would be healed. Wishing Trees have been collecting wishing coins and granting wishes long enough for the tree trunks to become encrusted with coins. Fanciful and ominous legends have arisen around these mystical Wishing Trees. The most common is a warning that one should not dare to test: should someone ever remove a wishing coin, illness or some other dire calamity will sweep over the thief.

Regardless of a trees contribution to the magical invisible world, whether its a trees culinary gifts that grace our tables at mealtime, its medicinal benefits that alleviate pain and suffering, its overall usefulness, or if its something just seriously gorgeous to look at, climb all over, or hang on a branch upside down just for the fun of it in the days when we can, virtually all of our precious trees directly connect all the people and the air-breathing creatures of this world to what we all need to survive: oxygen. The trees absolutely are a vital force of positive energy, providing a life force which is without question, the primary source of our continued existence on planet Earth. Let us never forget that.

I f you do not know the scientific name of a tree, but you do know one of its common names, you can find that name in the Tree Names Index. There you will find the corresponding number, which you can then refer to in the body of the book. You can also locate the number of a specific tree (or several different trees) by determining which Meaning you are researching.

There may be no specific indication as to what part or parts of the tree are toxic, when they are toxic, if their toxicity is eliminated with ripening, and other such matters. Please be acutely aware that some trees are so extremely poisonous that simply touching them or breathing in smoke where they may be burning can be fatal. In no way whatsoever is there a recommendation anywhere in this book that any part of a tree represented should be ingested, inhaled, or put directly on the skin. Please take the time to do further research of your own with regard to what you are going to touch before you dare to touch it. The internet is a wonderful source for that kind of scientific information.