Dreaming of Trees

A couple of mornings ago I awoke from a dead heavy sleep.  The kind that makes you feel like you haven't slept at all except, of course, you have.  I knew I had dreamt a couple of dreams that seemed already like a distant memory; but I also had the nagging feeling in my gut that I needed to pull them from my subconscious to decipher their meanings.  I went downstairs to make some coffee and looked out the window.  There was a tree reaching her branches into my view; there was a tree in my dream.

I tried not to pull to hard at the memory lest it disappear before my eyes and it began to return to me on its own.  There was a house or building- not important.  I just remember feeling the solid structure of it energetically versus openness.  In front of it was a small area of grass, maybe15' x20'.  It ran up against another solid, a sidewalk or road, perhaps, but also insignificant.  In the top left corner of the grassy area, closest to the building's entrance, was a huge tree.  Huge. Two of me would not be able to wrap our arms around its trunk.  It's span of branches and leaves was nothing short of awesome and I felt an attachment to this particular tree that I cannot explain.

Try to visualize this patch of grass and the tree as a starting point. In your mind, draw a circle from the tree, all around the perimeter and then back to the tree.  It is an imaginary circle that will help me explain the following to you.  In my dream, I felt I telepathically asked the tree to move.  I did not see the tree uproot and relocate.  It was just suddenly in a new spot approximately 3 feet down from where it was along that circle you envisioned.  It felt like this was a normal thing for a tree to be able to do.  I again reached out, energy to energy, to have the tree move and it did.  It was suddenly at another point on the circle.  It never jumped across th circle; it always moved along the imaginary line until, finally, it ended up at the point in which it began.  I remember thinking, does anyone else notice this tree has moved, that this tree is different? That it has somehow energetically changed besides it physical location change?

When the tree made it back to the original spot, I remember the ground was cold and frozen.  There was frost in place of grass and I looked up at the tree. Although it still had its expansive branches and leaves, I remember thinking that the tree filled the space differently now.

This dream, in my interpretation, is symbolic of how we grow and change and move through our lives.  The grass changing to frost was too obvious of youth to aging that I felt this was not really part of the message. It was the way it struck me that the tree filled its space differently.  Isn't that true of all of us?  Doesn't your current you fill your energetic space differently than the 5 year old you, than the 16 year old you, than the 30 year old you?  And don't we sometimes feel there is a lot of changing going on inside of us and how come no one else seems to notice?  They don't notice because they are thinking the same thing.

I love the concept of our space.  Oprah once said to be responsible for the energy you bring into your space because it effects everyone around you.

It is possible, though I saw myself in the dream with the tree, that the tree was also a representation of me.   That would explain the tree moving without me physically seeing it move. I change and evolve on my circular path that leads me back to where I started but the changes I go through are sometimes unrecognizable as changes until they are complete.  Right? Sometimes you do not see you are involved in learning and changing until the change becomes obviously apparent; like a tree moving its location. But what I love about the huge tree is that it also symbolizes to me a huge root system that is grounded, despite moving.  This tree is so grounded it can move.  It can change. It can adapt.  We are that tree in our hearts.  My interpretation of the tree starting out at the top of the circle as already very large and old is the representation of already having been here many lives before.  Trees are an accumulation of wisdom and knowledge .  We are the accumulation of wisdom and knowledge from all our past lives.

I read on numerous dream interpretation sites that dreaming of a tree is your subconscious trying to get you a message. This made sense to me since I had felt so compelled to remember my dream.

"Who dreams of a tree, can hope for knowledge and insights which will help you in the real life." (dreamomania.com)

But I think we can all dig deep for these subconscious messages by simply sitting under a tree and letting go or gazing out the window at a tree and deciphering the dance of its leaves or even through visualization.

The following is from another dream interpretation site.  Visualize a tree in your mind's eye and look, listen, feel or sense our message.

"The tree depicts the living structure of yourself... It is what has grown from the past into the present.. The roots depict your connection with the earth through food, air and water, as well as your psychological roots in family and culture. The trunk shows your body and what you have developed in your life, the main thrust of your expression. The branches are the different avenues you have explored and developed, your children, your relationships and ideas. The seeds or flowers are your own fruition, the expression of what is deeply your own unique self manifesting creatively. They are also your reproduction as a parent with children or ideas in the lives of others. Dead wood represent parts of you that no longer carry life and energy, perhaps ideas or opinions that you no longer hold...

"The tree is our whole life, the urge which pushes us into being and growth. It depicts the force or process which is behind all other life forms – but seen as it expresses in our personal existence.

"The phrase ‘family tree’ describes a way the unconscious uses the image of a tree to represent something that is an internal reality. Within the unconscious there is an awareness that our present personality is built upon the lives and character of our forebears. So our face may be presented on the top or surface of the tree, but behind our face, or on lower branches, or in the trunk, lie the lives of our ancestors stretching back throughout the ages. "(dreamhawk.com)

Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful. Everything is simply happy. Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance. Look at the flowers - for no reason. It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.- Osho

Let the trees be consulted before you take any action
every time you breathe in thank a tree
let tree roots crack parking lots at the world bank headquarters
let loggers be druids specially trained and rewarded
to sacrifice trees at auspicious times
let carpenters be master artisans
let lumber be treasured like gold
let chain saws be played like saxophones
let soldiers on maneuvers plant trees give police and criminals a shovel
and a thousand seedlings
let businessmen carry pocketfuls of acorns
let newlyweds honeymoon in the woods
walk don't drive
stop reading newspapers
stop writing poetry
squat under a tree and tell stories.
- John Wright

---