The Magic of Trees: A Guide to Their Sacred Wisdom & Metaphysical Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2017

Chestnut
The Trees

The beautiful chestnut (Castanea) can live to be more than a thousand years old, and some species can get quite huge. With luxurious shade and nuts that can be a reliable food source even for prolonged periods of time, this ancient tree is a divine and miraculous blessing to all who benefit from its many gifts.

Magical Uses

Abundance

Chestnuts have been cultivated since ancient times in both east and west and, like a grain, is considered a major food staple. (In fact, some cultures may have survived almost exclusively on chestnuts, at least at certain times.) Also like a grain, chestnuts are magically aligned with sustenance, and therefore abundance and prosperity.

In the Bible, Jacob puts a peeled chestnut twig in his livestock’s water source to promote their healthy and abundant procreation. (In ancient times, an abundance of healthy livestock was a major indication of wealth.) In Japan, chestnuts are eaten at New Years’ for success and good fortune.

Employ chestnuts in a meal to activate prosperity, or empower your household’s wealth by placing a chestnut twig in your watering can before watering your plants.

Attracting Animals

Deer love chestnuts, and other animals, such as squirrels and birds, are attracted to chestnut trees as well, as they provide both shelter and sustenance. Plant chestnut trees in your yard if you’d like to attract animals, or spend time with a chestnut tree if you’re in the mood for a little animal communication.

Relieving Worry

The Bach Flower Remedy made from white chestnut blossoms helps relieve excess worry and frenetic thinking. Additionally, some American Indians made infusions of chestnut leaves to relieve that perennial worry symptom: the headache. Certainly, a lush chestnut tree in the breeze instantly soothes the spirit and calms the mind.

Interestingly, the Christian mystic Hildegard von Bingen stated that chestnuts promote longevity. Perhaps this is related to the chestnut’s ability to relieve that primary health hazard known as stress by quieting a worried mind.

Transforming Karma

There is a Korean legend about a boy who a traveling Taoist predicted would be eaten by a tiger at a young age. However, the prediction also came with a remedy: plant and care for one thousand chestnut trees. This the boy did, and when he turned twenty, a stranger knocked on his door and demanded his life. Upon learning about the chestnut trees, however, the stranger died on the spot just after his true identity as a tiger was revealed. This allowed the boy to live a long and successful life.

In Taoism, it’s believed that many things contribute to our destiny and our good fortune, and this includes our deeds. In this story, by cultivating one thousand chestnut trees that otherwise wouldn’t have existed, the boy counteracts his fate by nurturing so many living beings—and harvesting so much sustenance for his fellow creatures in the process—that he effectively transforms his fate.

While one thousand might be just a tiny bit too many, if you feel that intense karma transforming is needed, you might plant one to three chestnut trees in your yard or a nature area (provided they’re beneficial to the ecosystem and you have the approval of the stewards of the land). Tend to them lovingly and make sure they thrive.

Magical Correspondences

Element: Spirit

Gender: Masculine/Feminine Balance

Planet: Mercury

ssoming cherry tree or take cherry flower essence.

Goddess Energy

In addition to being ruled by the planet Venus and sacred to the goddess of love, the cherry tree is a symbol of the Japanese goddess Konohana-sakuya Hime, who is considered a divine foremother of the human race. Indeed, the cherry tree is a potent powerhouse of divine feminine energy and can assist us in getting in touch with the goddess within. In other words, she can help us radiate our divine beauty and embrace our sensuality, magnetism, receptivity, and sensitivity. For this purpose, place cherry blossoms on your altar or empower a bowl of cherries in sunlight and mindfully eat them.

Love

An important aspect of many Japanese wedding celebrations, every component of the cherry tree vibrates at the frequency of love. Bless a romantic relationship by spending time together under a blossoming cherry tree or by planting two cherry trees in your yard. You can also create a love-drawing charm by placing two dried cherry pits in a pink drawstring bag, anointing it with rose absolute, and using a safety pin to pin it to the inside of your clothes so that it rests against your skin.

Power and Strength

Popular for furniture, interior details, musical instruments, and carving, the deep red of cherry wood conveys a sense of the tree’s energetic potency. Similarly, the mahogany-colored flesh and skin of some varieties of the fruit reveals its sanguine magical signature. Spend time in quiet contemplation with a cherry tree to bolster your personal power and strength, or bless nine cherries before mindfully eating them.

Sweetness

Not all cherries produce edible fruit, but the ones that do produce very edible fruit. So edible, in fact, that the phrase “life is a bowl of cherries” is used to communicate that life is sweet and filled with enjoyment for its own sake. A maraschino cherry in a cocktail or on top of a dessert is the quintessential symbol of pleasure and satisfaction. And children of all ages are enthusiasts of cherry-flavored candy and snow cones, as well as the actual candy-like fruit itself. To add more sweetness to your life, spend time with a cherry tree or bring one or more into your yard. Or, of course, you can always simply eat cherries.

Magical Correspondences

Element: Fire

Gender: Feminine

Planet: Venus