The
Sacred Yew
originally written on 14th November, 2017 as part of my Herbcraft course homework
Inspired
by the Yew as a symbol of rebirth, after a Yew Ogham stick fell out
of the bag on me, I decided to find an Ancient Yew to meditate with
on this waning Moon, as part of my homework to find four trees to meditate with, which also happened to be the three year
anniversary of leaving a toxic relationship.
The
Yew is also associated with the Healer, and I was fortunate enough to
find an ancient Yew just over an hour away, so I came to Saint
Peter's Church Yard, Benington with the intention of rebirthing
myself as a healer, and letting the pain of the past die
There
were interesting synchronicities on the way, I passed a pub called
the Yew tree and I downloaded audio of a YouTube talk by MichaelDunning to listen to, which ended up being about his experiences of
healing under an incredibly old Yew tree in East Lothian,
Scotland,after being close to death. Michael believes this tree could
be over 12,000 years old, through his direct experiences with the
tree telling him about events she was present for, even having
survived a twin comet strike, which may be depicted in the Elgin
Stone, and the Golspie Stone in Scotland, with a “Bird Shaman”
possibly depicted foreseeing, or trying to prevent the catastrophe in
the Golspie stone, and people and animals fleeing, in the Elgin
stone.
The
Benington Yew is classified as Ancient on www.ancient-yew.org
(list of notable to ancient yews in Europe) which means it is
believed to be atleast 800 years old. But really due to the unique
way in which yews grow, it is actually impossible to date a Yew. The
Yew has fallen over at some point in its life, reportedly around 100
years ago. It has just continued to grow, with the base of its main
trunk hollowed out, the rest of it continues sideways, with three
large branches growing upwards, having really become new trunks in
themselves.
I
have no idea how old this tree really is, the Yew grows new branches
down into the ground and makes “clones” of itself, so technically
they can be immortal. It is certainly very old, and I wonder if the
two seemingly separate Yews, close by are actually part of the main
tree as well. Unfortunately lots of large branches have been cut of
the tree, which would have grown down into the ground and allowed the
tree to support itself naturally, instead it has had to be propped up
in several places! Had this not happened, had the tree been allowed
to just grow, it would be far larger, and may not have even fell
over. So it could be extremely ancient, perhaps as Ancient as Michael
believes the one he healed under is, I like to think its possible.
Meditation
Inside
the hollowed out trunk there is an amazing patterned area, which
reminds me of the Elgin and Golspie stone's. It is incredibly
beautiful so I decided to draw it first, and the meditate. This was
actually quite meditative in itself and helped me to settle down and
tune in with the tree.
Before
starting my meditation I found some broken dry parts of the trunk of
the floor and I burned a piece as Incense which smelled amazing. I
decided to get as comfortable as possible, and laid down on part of
the trunk which was growing away from the hollow area. I closed my
eyes and remembered my intention for rebirth. I began to focus on my
breath. I felt very safe & nurtured by the Yew. I reflected in
this safe space on how far I have come in the last three years,
having only been in touch with my desire to help people back then,
when I was drunk or on drugs, and the only way I could think of was
as a counsellor. I felt a lot of joy that I had come such a long way,
especially recently starting Herbcraft. I even felt that some of this
was gratitude from the Yew, that I had chose to come to it with my
intention of rebirthing myself as a Healer. I feel that the yew tree
really is a healer, ad that I will come to this tree many more times
in the future to work with him (he has no berries, and is therefore
male, although that can change) The meditation was puncuated by a
Churchbell, which I think went off every 15 minutes. This kept
reminding me that I was in a Church, and I think a combination of
having been shouted at a lot in the past, and the whole Pagan Vs.
Christian thing, caused me to lay there imagining someone coming to
shout at me and tell me off for laying on the tree, maybe because it
was a bit broken too! I realised what was happening, and I decided to
try giving my fear to the Yew. I felt it accepted it, and I affirmed
then that I was reborn as someone who does not imagine such scenarios
or fear getting into trouble. I am safe and all is well.
I
opened my eyes a few times and saw beautiful, tiny birds, I also
looked around at the tree a bit, whose beauty was also amplified from
before. I decided to end the meditation as the Church bells had rung
several times, making it approximately 45 minutes, and my left arm
and leg had gone quite numb. I thought afterwards that this meant
there may be an issue with it as either my giving, or receiving side,
I didn't know which one it was, but perhaps I got extra healing there
(I found out after it is my receiving side, but I am left handed and
give a lot from that side..) It could also mean I just laid as best
as I could in an awkwardly shaped, very ancient and noble tree!
Identification
The
yew is an evergreen tree, with fine needle's. The female's can be
easily identified in autumn because they will be laden with bright
red berries, the flesh of which is the only part of the tree that is
not highly poisonous. Yews have reddish flaky bark, some areas where
it comes off, are almost as red as blood, in fact there are even Yews
that appear to bleed and when it rains they can look completely red.
The trunks are easily identifiable because they grow as if they are
several smaller trunks, intertwined together.
I ended my time with the Yew tree by gifting it a
purple/green fluorite octahedron, which a placed in a hole in the
area I drew, which reminded me of the stone carvings, and now looks
like it has an eye.
Ogham
Stick
After my meditation, I sat down
nearby to write down my experiences straight away. Then I got up to
make some photo's (I am training myself to think of it as making a
photo instead of taking anything) and observe the tree a bit more. I
was about to leave when I remembered I wanted to get a piece of him
to make an Ogham stick. I always like to get pieces that have already
fallen, or sometimes the best pieces of all are the ones which have
died on the tree, rotten down to just the hardwood and are still
attached. I found a perfect piece and the yew was happy for me to
take it. The Yew has been described by Michael Dunning as embryonic,
in the way that it keeps growing up & down at the same time, and
the shape a yew will grow into, left to it's own devices. Part of the
piece I got has an embryonic or vulva like shape to it, which is
where I decided to put the Ogham symbol with a wood burner, after a
bit tiny bit of carving near the top, some light sanding and oiling
with natural linseed oil, bringing out the red in the wood
Sadly
the Ogham Stick no longer exists as my dog Hildegard decided to eat
it!
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