Churchyard Cypress
Stability through the labor of processing
Monterey Cypress - Cupressus Macrocarpa
The Story
I was called to Wales by the land, that much I knew. The reason for the call wasn’t explicitly clear to me, though I had my guesses. I chose to allow it to be revealed in threads and wisps, without an expectation that it would ever be explicitly clear. On the tail end of 22 hours of travel, I found myself in a cab, being escorted from the train station in the city of Swansea to the rural Gower Peninsula. In Guardian Trees in Wales, I describe the observation I made during that cab ride: that each tree I saw, without exception, gave off a distinct sense of guardianship, responsibility, and importance that was different from anything I had observed previously.
I arrived at my hotel, checked in, dropped my bags, and all but ran outside to take advantage of the two hours of sunlight that remained in the day. I recalibrated from 22 hours of indoor-recycled air with two hours of glorious outdoor-recycled air. I moved my body and benefitted from the negative ions emitted by our wonderful earth. I walked through woods, beach, and dunes. That night I got a good night’s sleep, and I met my outdoors guide, Nia, in the morning.
I loved having a guide. I loved not being in charge. It was such a gift to turn over responsibility and let Nia guide me along. Even the lanes we walked taking us away from the bay and hotel (ostensibly the journey more than the destination) had their multitudes of discoveries and sightings of special trees. But there was an intended destination, and it was there that we made our discovery of today’s transmission.
Most old churches in the UK are built at the sites of old, sacred Yew trees. In search of a Yew, Nia led me to St. Andrew’s Church in Penrice. There was a big, ancient-looking evergreen tree, but as we got closer, Nia and I both cocked our heads in curiosity and said … “well, that’s not a Yew tree”.
After some keen observation and speculative guessing, we turned to an app to help us identify the tree. It was, as I had suspected, a Cypress. Nia asked me to stand in front of the tree for scale while she took a picture.
On the practical side, Nia and I were both very curious about how this tree ended up here. Cypress trees are not native to the UK and this certainly looked like an old tree at first glance. Monterey Cypress trees made their way to the UK in 1838, and the church at Penrice, though its construction dates to the 12th century, was refurbished under the direction of Emily Talbot of Penrice Castle in 1893-4. Perhaps the tree was planted during that time. Monterey Cypress doesn’t love wet soil, which wouldn’t make it ideal for the UK, but this church is situated on high ground, so it seems to have worked out alright for the last century-plus. The oldest known Monterey Cypress was thought to be 284 years old. These trees are often mistaken for being more than a thousand years old due to their large trunks, which can easily grow to 20 feet wide in the right conditions. That solves the mystery of this tree appearing ancient like many churchyard Yews, and at quick glance being mistaken for one.
The Full Transmission
As I approached the tree, I clearly felt the bounds of its immediate energy field and asked permission to cross the threshold and stand within it. I received permission to stand for the picture, but it was clear that there was more to know if I was to spend any more time that close to the tree. After taking the picture, I came out of the tree’s field with great curiosity to learn more from the tree itself. I asked Nia if she was interested in doing a tree attunement with me. She was, so we dove in to learn more about this giant, glorious Cypress.
My education in the Guardian Trees of Wales continued as I attuned to this Churchyard Cypress. The beginning of any plant attunement is an introduction. As I introduced myself to the Cypress, and sensed the quality and nature of its existence, I once again felt that strong sense of purpose. The first bit of information I got from the Cypress was essentially a warning:
You can enter my field, and you can get the idea of what I do, but the enormity of it is too much for you to take in in the time you have, with the amount of availability you have here and now. You won’t be able to fully understand or process all of what I am.
In appreciation and curiosity, I allowed myself to just observe what I could, similar to how I approached the initial observations on my cab ride. I’ve learned to respect and honor what the plants tell us about themselves. I certainly don’t know better than these sophisticated beings. And this tree is about 8 feet wide and more than 40 feet tall. How could I, a being with about 3% of this tree’s mass, fully comprehend all that it is or does? I was completely comfortable only getting a sliver of a sense, a momentary glimpse into all the mass of the tree's purpose and function, because I could feel that it was big and intense, too much for me to be fully immersed in, as the tree warned.
But I did get the gist of it: this tree is a processor. The job it does, as I understand it, is to process and transmute all that happens around it. As I attuned to the tree, I felt myself stand taller and straighter, with more stability. I felt what it is to be a tower of strength, able to withstand the movement of the extreme amount of energy it processes. My sense was that the tree has processed and filtered atrocities, painful and harmful things over the years. Maybe things that happened at the church or in the community. Maybe the energies the deceased who were buried around the church carried with them from this life. Perhaps the difficulties that inspired the prayers offered and pleas made at the church. Are the trees at churches part of God’s crew, helping to transmute pain into prayers answered?
It was clear to me as I felt some pain and ache in my body that the work this tree does is a lot of labor. In a smaller or even differently-structured being, it would be done at a great cost. But this tree’s capacity is equal to the extent of the work it has done, will do, can do.
The trunk gives the appearance of growing over itself, strengthening its constitution, restructuring regularly to maintain its strength, stability, and ability to do its work. It continually forms what it needs to fulfill its purpose appropriately. It reminded me of a self-healed crystal, which grows over itself, creating a sustainable structure rather than leaving its broken base exposed. This Cypress is naturally wise and resourceful, meeting its own needs and the needs of its calling and purpose. Cavities and vortexes are formed within its body. There are layers of bark, openings like envelopes or yonis, able to receive and draw in that which is to be transmuted. The energy, once transmuted, is then given back to the earth, to the air, to other plants, to the ground, the rocks beneath the soil, and to us. I imagine even the realm of the fae benefits from this processing, though that’s a thought to follow through on another day. We know trees to be air filters for us, and this one is an everything-filter for its environment and the larger web of our earth.
After collecting its essence and getting my little bit of insight, I sat near the tree once more, and offered my thanks in a gift of song, and continued listening as I gave. The work of this tree is so large that this moment of my connection and understanding is just a blip. The small gift of song I gave in thanks just a tiny influx of sacred energy. The tree told me that I could be with it for a moment and take in a glimpse, and that was true. Thank you for letting me into your world for a moment, Churchyard Cypress.
Essence Description
Churchyard Cypress will help you to remain stable as you process the energies around and within you. It will help you churn through what you need to churn through, and process what you need to process. When you are ready to do the work, Cypress supports you to develop the strength to do it and the presence to see it through. Remember: that which you process and transmute feeds you and your entire world. In order to live your life in harmony, you must do the work you are here to do. Cypress helps you to do it well.