Druids and Dryades

The origin of the word Druid is under dispute. Max Müller believes that, like the Irish word Drui, it means "the men of the oak trees." He further draws attention to the fact that the forest gods and tree deities of the Greeks were called Dryades.

Some believe the word to be of Teutonic origin; others ascribe it to the Welsh. A few trace it to the Gaelic druidh, which means "a wise man" or "a sorcerer." In Sanskrit the word dru means "timber."
Excerpt from The Secret Teachings of All Ages by Manly Palmer Hall.

(Welsh: derwydd; Old Irish: druí; Scottish Gaelic: draoidh)

Following the Roman invasion of Gaul, the druid orders were suppressed by the Roman government under the 1st century CE emperors Tiberius and Claudius, and had disappeared from the written record by the 2nd century.


Many years ago I lived in a street named Dryade Street.  I had no idea of the street name meaning at that time and I even went so far as to ponder what a funny name for a street. 

It is a genuine  satisfying feeling when you find out the origin of something, even if it is just a street name.  Dryades and Druids ... who would have known.

There is much more to know of these Dryades.

DRYADES (Dryads) and OREIADES (Oreads) were the nymphs of trees, groves, woodlands and mountain forests. They were the spirits of the oaks and pines, poplar and ash, apple and laurel. For those known as Hamadryades, a tree was born with her birth to which her life was tied. While the tree flourished, so did its resident nymph, but when it died she passed away. There were several types of Dryades associated with particular trees: 

Luis  F Lopez

(1) The Meliai (Meliae) were nymphs of the ash-trees. They were born when Gaia (Gaea, the Earth) was impregnated by the blood of the castrated Ouranos (Uranus, the Sky). They were wed by the men of the Silver Age--in the time before the first woman was created--and from them mankind was descended. 

(2) The Oreiades (Oreads) were nymphs of the mountain conifers. The eldest of these were daughters of the five Daktyloi (Dactyls) and five Hekaterides (Hecaterides). Subsequent generations were descended from these elder Oreiades and their brother Satyroi (Satyrs). 

(3) The Hamadryades (Hamadryads) were the nymphs of oak and poplar trees. They were usually connected with river-side trees and sacred groves. 

(4) The Maliades, Meliades or Epimelides were nymphs of apple and other fruit trees and the protectors of sheep. The Greek word melas--from which their name derives--means both apple and sheep. 

(5) The Daphnaie were nymphs of the laurel trees, one of a class of rarer tree-specific Dryad. Others included the Nymphai Aigeiroi (of black poplars), Ampeloi (of grape vines), Balanis (of the ilex), Karyai (of the hazel-nut), Kraneiai (of cherry-trees), Moreai (of the mulberry), Pteleai (of elm trees), and Sykei (of fig trees).

Oreiades were nymphs of the mountains, Alseides of the sacred groves, Aulonides of glens, Napaiai of vales.  Click HERE to find out more on this most interesting subject.  

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Walk three times around Tenterfield's lucky Cork Tree.

Tenterfield in Northern NSW has a special tree repuded to have been brought from England in a *'Jam Tin' by Edward Parker in 1861. It has become known as the lucky Cork Tree.  It is located in Wood Street in Tenterfield NSW.
Located here on the map below.

The legends of the Cork Tree ...

Known as the Wishing Tree, as well as Cork Tree in English folklore, it is said that the trees are surrounded with a strange power to bring good luck to those who observe certain rituals dating back to the time of the Great Plague of London 1665. At that time, people came from all parts of the country to walk around the tree three times and as they walked, to make a wish. Some came for better health, some for better fortune and others for a wife or husband. It was said that few were disappointed.

Fortune Favours those who see
More in me than just a tree
Look at my cork
And three times walk
Before my girth for all to see

Photo Source: Flickr

Julie-anne

Tenterfield grew as it did and was populated with colonists who saw the likeness to the old country, the weather was similar to bonny Scotland, Ireland and England.  Its still a cold place and saw snow covering everything a few times last winter (2015).

Tenterfield NSW

* Jam Tins were very handy and were used extensively for many purposes, those include being used for a billy can by attaching wire as a handle, enabling the bushman/pioneers to make a cup of tea on the road.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Yggdrasil

The fate of Yggdrasil during the events of Ragnarök.
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil (/ˈɪɡdrəsɪl/ or /ˈɪɡdrəzɪl/; from Old Norse Yggdrasill, pronounced [ˈyɡːˌdrasilː]) is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology, in connection to which the nine worlds exist.

Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their things. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the wyrm (dragon) Níðhöggr, an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór.

Conflicting scholarly theories have been proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasill, the possibility that the tree is of another species than ash, the relation to tree lore and to Eurasian shamanic lore, the possible relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr, Hoddmímis holt, the sacred tree at Uppsala, and the fate of Yggdrasil during the events of Ragnarök. 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

The World Tree - YGGDRASIL

Add caption

The trees are more than they appear!  This is something I call innate knowledge and the reason why I tend to talk to them like they are friends, wise friends who stand still.  Well it appears to us they are stationary but in fact they never stop moving either and trees observe everything that occurs for a long time equating to many of our life times if left to grow in peace.

The World Tree

Ragnarok is upon us all now and none of us can escape what is about to happen to any of us.  In the interim if you have prepared for this you will be spared if your heart is not found lacking.   The trumpet has been blown.

Erika Hansen - Image

 The fate of Yggdrasil during the events of Ragnarök.

In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil (/ˈɪɡdrəsɪl/ or /ˈɪɡdrəzɪl/; from Old Norse Yggdrasill, pronounced [ˈyɡːˌdrasilː]) is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology, in connection to which the nine worlds exist.

Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson.

In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their things. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. 

Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the wyrm (dragon) Níðhöggr, an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór.

Conflicting scholarly theories have been proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasill, the possibility that the tree is of another species than ash, the relation to tree lore and to Eurasian shamanic lore, the possible relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr, Hoddmímis holt, the sacred tree at Uppsala, and the fate of Yggdrasil during the events of Ragnarök.  Wiki
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Trees Please Trees Please trees . . some not pleased! . . . .

Scarred Tree

Nature is an extension of ourselves.  It is intrinsically symbiotic.  Symbiosis is about survival.  The trees are the homes and safe havens to a magnificent array of wildlife, birds,  insects, bats and even homes for people.  Not the run of the mill (pardon the pun), cut it down, saw it up and build a house type house you may have thought I was speaking of.  No!  People lived in the trees, up in the branches.  A tree represented safety being up off the ground especially at night.

I have a personal connection to the trees  I talk to them and acknowledge them and in return I feel a living  presence.   I  sense the trees know I'm there in their presence also.   This gets acknowledged in ways that words can't adequately describe.  Others who feel this will know what I am talking about.

Across planet Earth in all four directions, religion has systematically destroyed cultural connections.  This has snuffed out so much knowledge.  Quickly following this, the destruction of whole ecosystems.  The very habitat animals and people depended upon to continue survival in an already harsh environment.    Country was bulldozed or dug up  or worse still blown up for money all for economic gain.   This has been on-going for a couple of centuries now on this land  

Entire forests disappearing in 2015 shows how desperate this situation is now and how disconnected most people actually are  still.  I don't think there is enough time for them to wake up now.   It is my opinion they will not be able to survive the light that is approaching.

Scarred Tree

Our existence here on planet Earth is not a mistake as many want to seemingly make it.  This makes it all pointless if there is no reason to be here.  Nature is not with out purpose, so neither are we.   We are supposed to thrive in a balanced fashion with nature, not forcing ourselves onto it and destroying everything in the wake of this.  That describes rape.   To me, this is like cutting off your own toe or stabbing your own stomach - who does that?  Having an understanding of this connection will pull you up dead in your tracks and mighty quickly too the very next time you go to cut a tree down that hasn't yet died.  When dead, the tree is in the process of breaking down.  During this part of the trees life cycle it is happy for you to make all manner of items from the wood, do ceremony and to warm your body and use for fuel for cooking fires.

Indigenous people harvested live trees for making canoe and for making coolamon and various  ceremonial articles.  The bark of paperbark was used for many purposes where this grew. In some areas, the dead were wrapped in large sheets of paper bark and secured with a string fashioned from vines. 

The bark was harvested and used to carry or to store foods, sometimes for up to four years.  They did not kill the trees.  The first peoples of this land lived in harmony with the living tree.  Scarred Trees are evidence of this.  Trees were used as markers as places for birth and marriage death and ceremony and these were marked up clearly to point out what was there.  This is how life was with the on this land that is known as Australia.

In order to bring balance back to this madness there is a serious necessity to rid the world of Christendom (colonization for economic gain)  and all things related to this faulty model presented as truth.  This religious model has bled the 'creative essence' out of the planet,  making people register (crown) births, marriage and death and pay for us to pay large sums of money for all of these pieces of paper they want us to have.  This has wrung the diversity out of the living breathing entity of Earth like mad woman on wash day.  It is truly terrifying to live in this and to watch it and feel the pain of it all inside and feel helpless about so much wrong doing.

If there is to be any positives come from what I have discussed here, it is to understand that we need to bring culture back across the planet now, as fast as we possibly can. 

As people we need to start to mind our own business and have respect for others and for  the ways they do things.  No one group is the same and no one piece of country is the same and this is symbiotic and not an accident.  People respond to the land and in return the land responds to the people.  A sick land produces sick people and a sick people invariably cause a land to become sick.

These are images of some of the beautiful trees that have given me much pleasure to stand beside or to gaze upon and to climb inside and say hello to.   Some are cool and some are in pain.

A very special place

Inside a swamp Mahogany

Scarred Trees

Scarred Tree

Spectacular Skin

Ghosty

Scarred Tree

Add caption

Desert Spirit

My Friend and Confidante

Sacred Trees at Uluru

Rocking out with Uluru

1800's Carriage Way Morpeth NSW

Lone Warrior at Dawn

Spikey Exotic in Urunga

Tree Fern in the wetlands

Pink Tree at School

On the Hill in Urunga

Sleeping in Trees

Koala sitting in a tree

Crows nest sleeping in a tree

Chilling after a fire

Barbed Wire

Love

Yes!  I do truly believe that trees love in a similar fashion to how humans love.   They reach out to each other with their strong boughs and they touch each other.   The winds that blow through their canopy give them a voice.  The rain is bath time, this makes them feel fresh and probably makes them  happily hydrated. 

Trees grow strong before our eyes.  It is difficult to see this actually happening when you're in front of the tree daily.  If you go away, you note the changes the same as seeing an old friend after years  and noting the years on their face.

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

What is the Dreaming in Indigenous Australia?

Scarred Trees are important sign posts

‘The Dreaming’, an English term coined by Francis Gillen in 1896, was adopted by Spencer & Gillen

(1899) to refer to a period in the religious mythologies of the Northern Arunta people in the Northern Terri-

tory (Dean, 1996).

This term is frequently misinterpreted, as it has nothing to do with dreaming in the context of sleep. According to Dean (1996), the Dreaming is viewed by some Aboriginal groups (e.g. the Tiwi and Wuradjeri) as the period during the creation of the world when totemic ancestors came into being, representing a past reality.

For other groups, it represents a past, current and future reality, either concurrently parallel to our own reality (e.g. the Ooldea and Warrabri), or within our own reality (e.g. the Murinbata and Mardudjara).

In some cases, such as during ritual ceremonies, the past can become the present, so the term ‘Dreamtime’ used in an all-encompassing sense is not accurate, as it denotes a linear timeline, separating past, present, and future.

While oral traditions are a component of the Dreaming, they cannot be thought of purely as mythology. In a general sense, the ‘Dreaming’ is the embodiment of Aboriginal culture, which includes the songs, stories, and oral traditions, dance, art and ceremonial practices, laws and traditions, magical practices and religion, and a complex social structure.

Traditional knowledge is handed down primarily through oral tradition and typically involves a moral charter. Much of this knowledge is considered sacred and secret and is not shared with non-Aboriginal people. Even within the community, some information is secret to men, some is secret to women, and some is secret only to initiated individuals.

This is all part of a complex social structure that has been an integral aspect of Aboriginal cultures for tens of thousands of years (cf. Ross, 1986).|

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Out west where they think no one cares!

Out west of Dalby Queensland near Tara, there is just yet another example where the government and mining companies are desecrating sacred spots of the indigenous peoples of this land.

What was all of the "Sorry" about?  Why is there a register of these spots if it is ineffective and is failing to save these places?  I am so annoyed and my spirit cried out in both sadness and anger.

The man I met out there was a gentleman and the land owner and his name is David McCabe.  He was desperate to see these places protected on his land.  All of the years he has owned there he has had respect for this special place and knew to stay away.  He told me all about this. 

He was unsure what to do at first because of the fact that it was a woman's place and he was a man,  but he needed to do something to save it.  The mining companies had crept in closer and closer and had now already fallen one of the scarred trees on his land.   He was gutted.  

In desperation he made phone calls and contacted and indigenous group in the city in Brisbane,  they took all of the details and no one came. The mining companies took more and killed the creek opposite to where these trees are.  A took one of the scarred trees off at the base and there was no need as it was no where near the well.  

There is a spot that is known as the "wells" where there are deep holes in the flat rock near the creek and there the woman would harvest ochre of all different colours and when finished they would place a stone back on top to keep animals from falling in.  I have a picture of these places.

I promised this man I would do something and now I am sending this to my friends and my brothers and sisters with a spirit heart to intervene here and get justice ...  This is not on and what ever indigenous person or persons who sign off on its desecration as has happened in many other places is corruption on many levels with out even visiting the spiritual karma this is causing for us all. 

This is the Ochre Wells in the Flat Rock

The First Scarred Tree

The Second Scarred Tree

Close up image of the tree above

An image of the top of this tree

Dave... he is desperate for them to be saved and he is a white man.  He has always known these places were special he said.  I am so honored he showed me and I said I would do something to help.

This was a nearby Road Sign in the area for recognition purposes only.

This is how the land is ending up when the mining companies have had their way!

Please go to this page to see the message about the Yidake. 
I put it all down so it was not forgotten. Our drift is in the air but the questions can you catch it?

Images @ Eminpee Fotography

Off to see the Wizard ...

We like visiting our friend Adam, today we are visiting him and we are pleased the sun is out finally.  Drying out the carpets at home from the shed and mopping up the mess left behind from the big wet.
The tree that fell in our yard has now been taken away. 

The council came and did this job.  They cut some rounds for me.  I was pleased to have some plant pillars as I call them.  Wood to elevate some of the plants to a higher status in the world.

I was out photographing trees and I noticed this cute little round nodule on this one in the light.  I thought it looked cute and I told it so.
Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr

We invoke the sacrifices of our fallen heroes in the abstract, but we seldom take time to thank them individually.

~ Rahm Emanuel ~

Last night at approximately 1.30am this Eucalyptus Tree came crashing down in our front yard.  It woke me with the death groan it made falling,  I was awake before it hit the ground.
The result of the fall was a tree across the road on the crest of the hill.   I had no telephone connectivity, it had gone with the tree.  
I thought for a minute and weighed up the consequenses and rang 000 and told them on my mobile phone there was a tree across the road and someone needed to help me to avert a fatality.

Our Fallen Tree

The tree looked to me like a fallen warrior,  for the three years we lived here I could feel the pain of this tree, its branches all contorted and twisted.   I had wondered how old it was,  I wonder even more now.
Flooding has increased all over the North Coast area and many are experiencing the worst flooding in white recorded history.  
The weather is going to hang around for a little while and the worst of the wind is yet to come.

Images @ Melonpopzdropz Flickr