Sacred Trees | KM Red Hoop Wisdom

Tree Symbols
The Cherokee call trees the Standing People and teach that all of their plant relations are the givers of the Earth providing for the needs of others. Each tree has its properties and attributes with the ability to share these with the people - tree symbols. Trees provide healing medicines, shelter from their branches, a place for burrows for the small animals and provide materials to build homes. A Tree symbolizes permanence, longevity and its firm base symbolises the concept of ‘roots’ and an ongoing relationship with natural surroundings. Such positive characteristics and attributes of trees lend themselves to being revered.

Tree Symbols:
Ash
The ash symbolizes peace of mind, sacrifice, sensitivity
and higher awareness

Tree Symbols:
Aspen
The Aspen symbolizes clarity of purpose, determination and overcoming fears and doubts

Tree Symbols:
Arbutus
The sacred Arbutus symbolizes knowledge

Tree Symbols:
Beech
The Beech symbolizes tolerance, past knowledge and
softening criticism

Tree Symbols:
Birch
The Birch symbolizes truth, new beginnings
and cleansing of the past

Tree Symbols:
Cedar
The Cedar symbolizes cleansing, protection, prosperity & healing

Tree Symbols:
Cherry
The Cherry tree symbolizes strong expression, rebirth, new awakenings and compassion

Tree Symbols:
Elm
The Elm symbolizes wisdom, strength of will and intuition

Tree Symbols:
Maple
The Maple symbolizes the tree of offering, generosity, balance, promise and practicality

Tree Symbols:
Oak
The oak symbolizes strength of character and courage

Tree Symbols:
Pine
The pine tree symbolizes creativity, peace and harmony

Tree Symbols:
Sycamore

Sycamore symbolizes ambition

Tree Symbols:
Willow
The willow symbolizes inner wisdom, an open mind with the stability and strength of age and experience.

Tree Symbols:
Walnut
The Walnut symbolizes clarity and focus, gathering of energy and beginning new projects

Tree Symbols:
White Pine
The White Pine symbolizes serenity

Trees were a reliable source of food to many Native American tribes. While berries and other fruit were seasonal, pines, pecans, walnuts and other nut trees provided year-round nutrition. Oaks were valued for acorns. The leached flour made from acorns was a staple of Northern Californian tribes of Miwok, Karok, Yurok, Hupa and Pomo. These tribes are known to have cultivated orchards of these useful trees.

Pine trees that grew abundantly in the northern regions provided pine nuts, and tribes even used their bark in times of scarcity. The Adirondack tribe of upstate New York earned its name, which means “bark eaters” in Iroquois, from its consumption of pine bark. Early European visitors to the continent found large stretches of pines with the bark stripped, but it should be noted here that it was done without killing the trees. Birch, spruce, slippery elm, tamarack and balsam fir are some of the other trees that provided edible bark.

Beech was another tree with medicinal properties. Even the water collected in the hollows of these trees was used to treat skin problems. The Iroquois used the boiled leaves as dressing for burns and prepared a salve with beechnut oil and bear grease to ward off mosquitoes. Rappahannock people found beech tonic to be effective against poison ivy.

Sumac, white pine, slippery elm, red cedar, oak and maple also figured in the medicine man’s chest.

The Cedar Tree
The ancient Mississippian Mound Builders believed that the universe consisted of three parts with good and bad spiritual forces. These three worlds were linked together and their connection was usually portrayed as a cedar tree.

Tree Symbols - The Tree of Peace
The Iroquois had two great leaders Dekanawida, the Great Peacemaker and Hiawatha who united the 5 nations to create the Iroquois Confederacy. The Great Peacemaker used a white pine, called the Tree of Peace, to symbolize the peace and friendship that had been established by creating the confederacy. The branches of the Tree of Peace represented protection.

A far seeing eagle sat upon the top of the tree to symbolizing a warning system between the tribes and beneath the roots of the Tree of Peace a weapon was buried. This symbolic act meant that there would be no fighting between the Iroquois tribes.

Medicinal Use

The indigenous people of America met most of their medicinal needs with herbal remedies that included the use of leaves, bark and other parts of trees. Willow bark tea is the most famous among their concoctions. This potent brew of the “toothache tree” is effective in bringing down fever and relieving headaches and arthritic pains. This is not surprising, since the tree contains salicylic acid, the ingredient that gives aspirin its analgesic effect.

five common trees in North America that continue to be used for various medicinal purposes. They are:

White pine: While the inner bark is often used as an infusion, the young shoots, twigs, pitch and needles of white pine were also used by Native Americans to treat a variety of conditions both internally and externally.
The pitch or pine sap was used as a poultice on a hot cloth and applied to the chest to treat coughs and pneumonia. Pitch applied directly to the skin was used to draw out boils, abscesses and splinters. It also was used as a poultice for wounds or sores.
An infusion of the crushed pine needles, often combined with the inner bark and young shoots, was used to treat colds, fever, heartburn, croup, laryngitis, bronchitis and coughs.
The scent of the white pine itself has aroma therapy properties, especially when applied externally to the chest or throat as a poultice for cough or sore throats.

White willow: All willow trees have a chemical element called “salicin” in the inner, xylem bark. White willow has the highest concentrations. A German chemist synthesized this element in the 1800s and developed a tablet with both pain-relieving and fever-reducing properties. The chemist’s last name was “Bayer,” and the tablet he invented was called “aspirin.”
Native Americans would steep the xylem from the inner bark of the white willow in very hot water and drink it as a pain reliever and to reduce fever. One of the side benefits of this infusion for some people is that it does not thin the blood like regular aspirin. This has value for people on blood thinners, people with naturally thin blood due to genetics or diet, and people afflicted with hemophilia.

Slippery elm: Slippery Elm preparations were made from the inner bark and in some instances, the leaves. Once again, an infusion was made by Native Americans, often with a combination of inner bark and crushed leaves and used to treat digestive disorders, gastrointestinal conditions, gout, arthritis, stomach aches and sore throat. It also was used as a mouthwash or gargle to treat sore throat, mouth ulcers and toothache. As an external treatment it was used as a wash or poultice to treat skin conditions, hemorrhoids and insect bites.
As a poultice the infusion is poured into a piece of fabric and applied to the skin. It is said to have significant benefits for pain reduction, inflammation of wounds, boils, burns and skin ulcers. One recipe calls for five tablespoons of ground inner bark infused in a very hot cup of water and strained to make the basic infusion that can be either sipped or used as a wash or poultice. Here again, take a little at a time to assess its concentration and your reaction to the compound if you choose to use it as an herbal remedy.

Juniper: The Juniper is an evergreen that grows around the world. The small, round bluish berries are the primary flavor ingredient in gin. When the berries are fully ripe in late summer, Native Americans would eat them off the tree to treat kidney, bladder and urinary tract conditions, digestive disorders, gum disease, diarrhea, gout and arthritis, and rheumatic conditions.
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There are some cautions to keep in mind. It’s believed that Juniper berries can cause miscarriage in pregnant women, and high doses can irritate the urinary tract. It also shouldn’t be given to children, considering their low body weight and the potential for even the smallest dosage to be too high.

Poplar: Poplar trees are ubiquitous across North America, and in the spring Native Americans used the poplar buds as a topical treatment for muscle soreness and headaches when applied to the brow as a poultice. The buds were usually ground, and the sticky result was applied to the skin, around painful joints or bruises or anywhere else localized pain occurred, including insect bites. It is not intended for internal use but as a topical treatment only.
The key ingredient in poplar buds that makes them effective as a topical pain reliever has a familiar name: salicin. This is the same chemical found in willow bark and used as the base ingredient in aspirin.

Oak Medicine

The oak tree, specifically the red oak and white oak, were so important to the first people of California and Oregon that they called it “The Tree Of Life”. Those in the know still rely heavily on these majestic trees for their abundance of health benefits, and for food.

“Each plant has its own pace, its own way of living from year to year and producing nuts, seeds, and fruit – many of which are good food and medicine.”

all acorns are edible and delicious when prepared the right way. They were planning on grinding these up into a nutrient dense acorn flour and making bread from it.

The bark of the oak tree has been used for thousands of years for its medicinal qualities. For indigestion and bowel problems, the fresh bark is charred and made into a “charcoal soup” that alleviates the symptoms. A decoction of the bark is used to treat throat infections, kidney infections, and kidney stones.

Because of their styptic properties, the leaves and bark of the oak are made into infusions and used to treat burns and cuts.

Pine Medicine

The pitch:

Scraping off a bit of the sticky ooze from the bark, he explained that this delicious smelling pine pitch has powerful antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. use this as quick wilderness first aid for cuts, slivers, and burns.

The inner bark can be eaten as a survival food in times of severe hardship or if you are lost in the woods for an extended period of time. It can also be used as an expectorant to lubricate the respiratory tract and ease a bad cough.

the young pine needles are a great source of vitamin C, A, E, and a host of B vitamins. They also have strong antimutagenic, antioxidant and antiproliferative properties, which help in preventing the growth of cancer cells.

Many don't know, but explorers who were bedridden on ships, dying of scurvy, who were saved by indigenous healers with spruce needles. During the Spanish influenza the folks who ate pine needles didn’t become ill, and the ones who didn’t did.