White Paper Birch

There is an elegance that touches a Birch Tree, beauty that radiates from its branches, bark, leaves, flowers and roots. Every part of it is perfect. Birch has a silence that draws us in, a spirit of mindfulness. I want to sit against it in every season and meditate. I want to hear what it has to say. Most of all, I want to embody it, become it, shapeshift into it, let it shower me with its vulnerability.

It catches my breath with its essence. I trace its limbs into the sky, its roots into the earth. It takes me on a journey far into other realms. It gives a simplicity to the air. It is soft and good-natured and it allows my heart and my mind to open, be exposed and vulnerable and oh so safe.

The essence of the Birch gives fresh memories of future and past and now. I flow within the trees. I am rooted and I am reaching for the sun. I give this tree my worries, my utter humanness. And it protects my heart. Its silvery white spirit peels away the layers of a life lived. It raises my vibration to a rhythm flowing and blessed and in continual prayer.

I collect Birch on my hikes to light fire when it is damp. It is everywhere on my land and in the corners of my home. Its energy grounds me, grounds my home, grounds those who enter. It adds stability and balance, a personality so soft and strong you want to tell it all your troubles. You let it light the way for you.

[Use a Birch Broom to brush out the old year on the morning after Winter Solstice.]