Four Tree Allies for Empowerment

Florian and I use essential oils to support and guide the psyche on the healing journey towards individuation.  Individuation is a word C.G. Jung coined to mean the natural process a person goes on in order to find their innermost uniqueness. We sometimes refer to this focus as finding one’s personal myth, living one’s soul purpose or self realization. We use the tree allies for empowerment in different forms.

The four tree oils that we stock at Cathy’s Attars are extremely important allies in the toolbox we use to support people on their journeys of individuation. They all have strength, protection and support in common and help us to find true love of the self and self compassion and yet they also have their own unique signatures. 

Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris)   is the first tree I truly connected to. It grew ferociously in the south-east of France, where I lived for many years. I made many aromatic medicines from it including incense from its resin and bark, syrup from its sticky buds, tea from its needles and finally hydrosol and essential oil from the whole tree. This tree took much further than medicine making though. At a time in my life when I really needed to learn to love myself and feel worthy, Scots Pine became my biggest and most powerful teacher. One day in the woods, it literally opened up its energetic arms and held me. It taught me to consciously feel love and that I was loved. I’ve remembered this lesson ever since. Scots pine’s ability to relieve joint pain and help support us literally also relates to its profound ability to support us emotionally and psychically. We use it with clients when we sense that there is a need for a reliable ally and teacher to help someone feel less alone. You can depend on Scots pine, it will brace and bolster you. It has your back!!!   

Atlas Cedar (Cedrus atlantica) is a huge, sacred, long-lasting, powerful tree–a symbol of immortality. You can smell its beauty, loftiness and force in the essential oil. It is exactly for these qualities that we use it. Trees come into our work with clients when there is a need for strength and Atlas Cedar is energetically the epitome of this. Imagine its trunk as a pillar, its branches reaching out to the heavens and its roots reaching into the underworld. This is the structure it brings to people. Humans like trees are pillars between earth and the heavens. Atlas Cedar helps people to free themselves from any blockages or stagnations that stop the energy from flowing freely through the body connecting these two realms.    

Atlas cedar also fits in with our tools for cleansing and protection. If someone is working on ridding their psyche of inherited dark traumas, tyrannical energies or toxic emotions, Atlas cedar will help protect them whilst doing this cleansing, exorcizing work in a way no other oil will.    

We use Cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) for helping people get into alignment. The challenge of being in a physical body is that it is not easy to align with our highest power or true essence. Life is continually throwing us off. This is a great oil for someone who is having trouble making important choices in their lives. It will help the person to feel, evaluate and balance the choice in relation to their journey of finding their soul’s purpose, aligning with their personal myth. Cypress helps us to keep a clear head and a cool mind when emotions are getting out of hand and even more importantly to be able to discern “what is mine and what isn’t” in terms of the emotions coming through us. Cypress is an oil of inner strength, it will strengthen the nervous system and very much like galbanum it brings us to the essential in life, keeping us to the chosen path. 

Sandalwood (Santalum album) has a long history as a sacred wood in Asia. It reminds me energetically of a mountain. It is very anchoring with a strong connection to the root chakra, which links to the crown chakra and beyond. This lovely earthy base gives us the solidness needed to be able to meditate and open the third eye chakra. Sandalwood warms and activates each aspect of the psyche–the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies, making it an oil that resonates with the whole of our being. It is also the base of the attars we sell here at Cathy’s Attars. The more delicate flowers such as jasmine, rose and tuberose are distilled into sandalwood that awaits the aromatic molecules in the receiving vessel. Sandalwood has a gift in being able to stand back and take on these precious delicate aromas, whilst giving the attar a much needed gentle and yet strong grounding note.

Having these precious tree allies in the form of essential oils that can easily be slipped into a pocket and smelled throughout the day is a gift we are hugely grateful for. The energy of these huge, majestic beings can be at our fingertips wherever we may be. We need them. Trees are the spiritual masters of the plant world and true allies on the healing journey the planet and its inhabitants are on. When we work with these green beings, they don’t just help us heal, they know that when we heal, we walk more lightly and in deeper connection on this precious planet.