Birch

Birch (Betula papyrifera) is otherwise known as Paper Birch Tree. It works to strip off the old and negative energetic layers that are no longer of use to you.

When obsolete, negative energetic layers have been peeled away, your true nature of love, light, and joy is revealed to you.  In that way, birch works to integrate your emotional stability.

These trees grow in Canada and Alaska, as well as in northern parts of continental United States.
They prefer forests, low mountain slopes or lowlands.

The trees are about 60 feet tall and you can recognize them by the oval or round green leaves with a sharp point at the tip. 

One more specific distinction of this medicinal plant is its white bark that can be horizontally peeled.

It’s called Paper birch because you can make paper, baskets or even canoes out of its bark, while the inner bark and pitch can be used as glue or food.

Its resin is used to make medicinal gum, while its sap is used to make wine or syrup and in some cases beer.

Essence of the tree

Birch essence can induce a profound feeling of serenity and protection. It’s mainly used to awaken the feminine aspects of your spirit.

It’s traditionally employed in Native American spiritual ceremonies with the purpose of bringing about the purification of subtle bodies.

Shamans with the ability to see auras say that the living tree and its essence have an aura of radiant light around them and that aura expands to the person who took the essence of the birch.

In Slavic and Norse cultures, birch was called the Lady of the forest. The Germanic rune berkana which means birch signifies nurturing and protective qualities of the essence.

Birch Tree Medicine

It can be used to treat lack of clarity, confusion, identity crisis, as well as skin problems such as psoriasis, eczema, etc.

Place 2-3 drops of its sap on the tongue or add the essence to a glass of water and oil it onto your skin. Repeat up to 5 times daily.

If you need to regain your sense of self and get back in touch with who you really are and what you really need in life, a birch tree sheds its bark for you to bring about simplicity into your existence.

By assisting you to release buried anger and grief, cynicism, sarcasm and such, birch works to treat depression and regulate mood disorders as well.

It works best with the crown chakra and acts as an inner guide on your spiritual journey so treat it with utmost respect and devotion.

Rowan

Shamans with the ability to sense and see auras report that Rowan (Sorbus Aucuparia) emits a bright golden glow all around.

It is used to bring about protection and empowerment to your life. Wild Rowan plant is found naturally among the trees of birch which is to say on the north.

It has a tendency to grow taller than the surrounding flora. Its essence is strengthening, grounding and centering.

The plant works to bring light to your thoughts and emotions and enhance the ability to let go of the things that no longer serve you.

If release and forgiveness are what you need to feel wholly integrated, you should use Rowan’s sap to awaken to your true purpose on this earth.

Working together with birch, it can be used to unearth deeply suppressed pain, sorrow, despair, and plain negativity.

Rowan strengthens your inner stability and opens your visceral chakra to enhance the flow of life force through your body.

Having said that, it’s important to note that Rowan’s flower essence has an amazing grounding and centering potential. It alleviates dark thoughts and enhances forgiveness, peace, and serenity.

Flower essences can be used by people of all ages without concern. Slavic tribesmen even gave them to their children and animals.

It can be used internally and externally. For internal use, one or two drops on the tongue up to five times a day are advised.

For external uses, the essences can be administered to different areas of the body or added to massage oils, baths or even body care products.  

Remember that Rowan brings about reconciliation by raising self-limiting and self-destructive patterns of thought and behavior.

It heals both your body and spirit and energizes your soul and subtle body. The essence is energetic in nature and doesn’t work on a biochemical basis only.

It’s best to have a shaman bless the plant or to take it on the sacred ground or in a shamanic Healing ceremony where you are at peace with yourself and others, ready, willing and able to surrender to the spirits of nature. 

Ash

The essence of the Ash Tree illuminates and cleanses your mind and soul. It also calms troubling thoughts and disperses the uncertainty about who you truly are.

It’s one of the best plant medicines to bring you into a state of harmony with nature and open your crown chakra which is the seat of knowledge, intuition and higher powers.

Administer the sap of Ash tree to alleviate deep-seated sadness and sorrow, suppressed anger or resentment buried deep within.

Ash can break the chains of identification with your inner negativity and it can help you release the habitual feeling of being stuck in an unsolvable, problematic situation in your life.

If you experience persistent problems of recurring hurt that you can’t let go, or if you are haunted by old grief or traumas that affect your well-being, you are the right candidate for Ash medication.

Ash works on the bodily plane as well as it can treat low immunity and residual, chronic disease.

It’s a heavy and solemn essence for people who want to purge their (subtle) bodies of toxicity. Toxicity can be chemical, physical, energetic or spiritual.

There are shamans who can sense or even see your auras and if you are burdened with heartbreaks, clouded judgment, hurt, despair, sadness, emotional or physical pain or suspicion, they can help.

Ash works to unearth anything you might have suppressed or buried deep within. It helps you to let go of overwhelming traumas or the constant fear of death.

If you have a chronic feeling that physical or spiritual toxins are seated deep within your body or your aura, the essence of the Ash tree can be administered to locate and alleviate the problem.

Ash is used by those seeking spiritual power and vigor although one should first aim for peace and serenity.

It’s not advisable to take the essence during pregnancy because it is a powerful medication and can open too many chakras too soon in that vulnerable time.

On regular occasions, you should take three drops onto the tongue or mix with water and drink up to five times a day.

You shouldn’t mix Ash with other herbs or coffee and you should keep it from excessive heat. After all, it’s a northern plant.

In Norse myths, Yggdrasil, the World tree of life and creation where Odin had his ordeals, was an Ash tree. That’s why it’s associated with power, divination, and knowledge.

Alder

Alnus rubra or (red) Alder Tree provides important healing “nutrients” to the reproductive organs, vital powers, lower back, and intestines which are accessed through the first three chakras.

Chakras blockages can be caused by trauma, injuries, fear or excessive stress and negativity.

Alder tree works to restore your natural healing potential and strengthen your spiritual immune system so to speak.

If you have experienced some physical, emotional, mental or even sexual trauma, you should seek full rejuvenation by administrating some essence of the Alder tree.

Deep-seated trauma may manifest itself as pain in the lower back, kidneys, intestines, bladder or reproductive organs.

Sudden unquenchable lust for money, prestige, attention, love, food, home, confidence, prestige, followed by insecurities in the given fields may be a sign of the disturbance in your subtle body.

The ash tree works to harmonize your subtle energies and restore the stability to your spiritual and physical health.

It’s especially helpful after surgeries or injuries in the lower torso. Ash is known to alleviate the troubles with difficult childbirth as well.

It opens and resets the first chakra at the base of the spine and the second chakra which is just below your belly button.

It not only opens the chakras, but it transmutes your body’s negative energies into positive vibrations. The tree itself radiates soothing waves that bring about natural inner peace to all of existence around.

It is native to the Pacific Northwest and it grows in stream banks, tracks or moist woods.

It forms a symbiosis with bacteria that form on its roots and extract nitrogen from the air to transmute it into plant-absorbable minerals.

In this way, Alders not only nourish human beings but the sacred soil from which other plant medicines may sprout.

That’s why it’s deemed to be a sacred plant in most of the Northern American tribes and shamans have great respect and admiration for its medicinal properties.