7 Best Single Tree Flower Essences: Western Hemlock

By Author: Daniel Tigner
Total Articles: 20
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“Boys and girls who are trained to look with understanding at trees will form tree fellowships, they will learn of the trees' struggle for existence; they will learn that trees are forever giving to man and of how dependent he is upon them for health, food, pure water, crops, rain, rivers and streams, birds, shade, pure air - in short, life and prosperity.”

Richard St. Barbe Baker

Man of the Trees

The tree flower essence is a way of recording the energy impression or memory of the trees. They are vibrational in nature.

Taking an essence is analogous to what happens listening to music. Music is not just arbitrary sound, but sound and silence arranged in a harmonious way and much more than that when it is played with a certain love, joy or intensity. Most of us have experienced how our moods change listening to music, a sunny tune and happiness arising. When you are open to it the most beautiful music leads us inwards to a place of resonance where we feel at home in ourselves. This coming home not only inspires us, but is the essence of healing as well.

Each tree has its unique song. As ...
... when you are with a tree, feeling connected, nourished in its presence, so when you ingest an essence you are in effect listening to the music of a tree.

Western Hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) is a graceful evergreen conifer native to western North America both east and west of the coastal mountain ranges. The trees that are known as hemlock have no relationship to the Poison Hemlock plant said to have been used to poison Socrates, which are members of the parsley family. Tsuga is from the Japanese word meaning "tree" and "mother" and heterophylla refers to its short but unequal length leaves which are flat, a dark green above with two white bands underneath. It is a tree which tolerates shade well and in forests that are undisturbed by fire it often eventually comes to dominate growing into dense groves as mature trees of other species die.

Western Hemlock has a fine and even softwood that hardens with age and finds a wide range of uses not only in building and carpentry but also in the making of rayon, plastics and other materials. Native peoples also found many uses for the tree. A dye was made from a substance in its bark that was used for coloring wool and as rouge for the cheeks. The inner bark or cambium layer was a delicacy used in baking cakes and feast dishes and trunks were carved from its wood.

As a single-tree essence, the Western Hemlock Essences nourish and expand qualities of gratefulness and thankfulness. There may arise a deep trust in existence which is beyond words like the experience of hearing the sweetest of songs, the light dancing amongst the leaves or the woody scent of the trees mixed with the perfume of moss and flowers. It is the quality of receiving a gift that touches the heart, a knowing that one has been graced by beauty. Opening and waiting are felt as joyful experiences in themselves.

Western Hemlock Essence brings awareness and resolution when someone is stuck in a negative state characterized by bitterness towards life. There may be impatience, mistrust and a conviction that life has turned against us. Nostalgic and weepy feelings may be present and we may pine for youth or an idyllic past. There is a loss of faith in life.

The Western Hemlock Essence nourishes our soul so that faith can be restored. Once again our hearts may open. We experience the natural course of things without bitterness – whatever is, it is so.

To learn more about the healing power of trees and to try our tree flower essences visit us at www.essences.ca

Best Wishes,

Daniel Tigner

Email: cfte@essences.ca