Ancient Yew Trees

I love yew trees. They seem to call to me and I feel a deep connection with them on a soul level.

There is recent evidence that ancient yew trees once thought to be several hundred years old could be over a thousand years old. It has been found that they can regenerate even when they appear to be dying.

Yew trees are able to grow new roots inside their old decaying trunks which grow down into the earth. When the old trunk finally disintegrates, a new multi-stemmed tree is revealed.

It is thought that some of these multi-stemmed trees could even account for a number of clusters of yew trees that can be found in parts of Britain. There are many multi-stemmed trees that are themselves hundreds of years old, which grew from a single yew tree that was over a thousand years old.

These ancient majestic trees are probably older than most of the churchyards in which they grow. They have stood guard over the graves of our ancestors for many hundreds of years and some are so old they were there before the churches. In fact it is thought that some churches were built next to yew trees that were already growing in that place.

Long before churches existed, our ancestors recognised yew trees as sacred and divine. They knew that yew trees have always been here and always would be here. They would have prayed and held ceremonies under the yew trees and buried their dead, knowing that the graves would always be protected by these magnificent tree people.

 

 

 
We humans, the animal, mineral and plant kingdoms are all connected, we are all one. The native Americans believed this and referred to the different kingdoms as the two legged people, four legged people, winged people, fin people, stone people and tree people.

The native Americans talked about the coming of the “rainbow tribe” (red, black, white, yellow skinned people) and honoured “all our relations” (from the past and the future). They knew that whatever we may appear to be on the outside is not who we are in reality.

We are great souls, we are divine. When we go within to that quiet space in our hearts, we can recognise our true reality, who we really are. We can honour our true selves and honour the divine soul inside everyone we meet in our physical life.