witch-of-the-dragon:

So maybe you’re a college witch with limited space and money, limited to the one window in your dorm. Or, maybe you’re a witch without extensive backyard space who wants to start up a magical garden. Perhaps you’re a kitchen witch who wants the freshest herbs right at her fingertips.

For many witches, having a garden seems to be a bit of a no-brainer. After all, plants and magic go hand-in-hand. Plus, when thinking of a witch, it’s hard not to think of a cottage in the woods with a little vegetable garden out front. Unfortunately for the majority of us, our cottage in the woods is a tiny flat, and our garden out front is a windowsill with limited space.

This is when it comes time to embrace your craftiness and bring your garden indoors! Not only does it place your garden in a convenient location, it also allows you to freshen the air, recycle what would otherwise harm the earth, and embrace your witchy green thumb!

A Practice As Old As Time

In previous Domestic Garden Witch articles, I’ve covered setting up altars and arranging gardens so as to be living altars. As witches, we are often looking for ways in which we can reconnect with nature and find harmony with its ebb and flow. For as long as mankind has been around trees, it seems as though these impressive and beautiful plants have inspired and drawn us closer to the divine.

Nearly every culture has something to say when it comes to trees – their growth patterns, their spiritual significance, and even the varying properties of their constituent parts. Roots, leaves, branches, seeds or fruit, and wood… all have a part to play in many religions. This is particularly true for modern druidic practice, which draws from Celtic lore and centers around the magic in certain woods. And as can be seen from my current Runic Friday series on the Ogham, certain woods were prominent enough in Celtic lore to inspire a form of divination symbolized by Irish Celtic writing.

There are many ways in which we can bring the magic of trees into our lives, but when it comes to garden magic, I have yet to see a method so endearing as building shrines on or near them.

Simple or Complex, Religious or Spiritual

Shrines are most often associated with religion – especially religions such as Hindu, Shinto, and Buddhism. In short, a shrine is a type of altar which is usually dedicated to a specific god, spirit, or ancestor as opposed to being devoted to whole pantheons. Depending on the practice, these shrines can be ornate or very simple.

But shrines aren’t limited to religion or ancestor worship. Like altars, they can be places of meditation or magical working, and therefore can have a place in spirituality regardless of the faith practiced.

Tree shrines are a great way of integrating your practice with your garden, providing a place to meditate or work magic, or to honor deities. As an added benefit, they can be used to honor the spirit within the tree if desired. For those on a budget, the shrine need not be overly fancy – a small altar made of stone or wood at the base of the tree is sufficient. But if fancier shrines are more your style, inspiration can be drawn from real world shrines, which are often built into the hollows of trees or carved into them. Here, offerings can be made or deities worshipped as you see fit.

Consider the role the tree plays in your garden, and build your shrine with that in mind. Is your oak tree a silent protector? Or perhaps you feel that your maple tree brings luck and money to your home? If this is a tree in your orchard, the shrine may be a way by which you can ask for healthy and bountiful harvests!

A few examples:

-Oak: Oak trees are common, and are often symbolic of protection, knowledge, wisdom, and strength. Building a shrine decorated with acorns and fallen oak branches may be a way of encouraging the oak to protect your home, or inspire the drive to learn in your heart. Or even, perhaps, it can be a way of honoring the Oak King if you follow the Wiccan Wheel of the Year!

-Maple: Often associated with the moon, maple trees are linked to both magic and healing. Shrines dedicated to bringing about good health and happiness are ideal with maple trees, allowing them to extend their healing energies to you!

-Pine: Pine trees, a mainstay in the northern hemisphere, are trees of strength and raw power. They are ancient and invoke a sense of mystery. Shrines built at the base of a pine tree can be dedicated to finding that primal strength that lives within all of us, and for helping us connect with the past. These are excellent trees for ancestor shrines, depending upon your practice.

-Apple: Speaking of ancestor worship, apple is associated with otherworld. Its link to the dead is on a mythical scope, lending its energies quite well to ancestor shrines. However, it is also a tree of fertility and choice. As such, shrines meant to encourage fertility in the garden or one’s own fertility are great when built at the base of an apple tree. Furthermore, it helps encourage decisive action, inspiring quick decision making and wise undertakings.

In Conclusion…

While this week’s article is quite different from most, it calls us back to a time when the gardens we tended were the ones planted by nature itself. Whether your shrine is dedicated to the tree or some other spirit, or if it is built to honor an altogether different plant, it is a useful tool for the garden witch who thrives when working magic outdoors.

Consider how your garden can benefit from the added spiritual energy of shrines. Perhaps the trees have more to offer than we may realize!

May all your harvests be bountiful! )O(