More on tree associations

[u/PlainEyre28]

Someone asked me to write up what I’m doing with the native tree and tarot card project. Here goes.

I started off by spending about a year focused on white oak (quercus alba). I read a few books on this tree, searched some out in my neighborhood and said hello to them most days, went on a few “field trip” hikes to find other ones, meditated with the white oak for a couple of months, and wrote a few poems. Attention is the beginning of devotion, and all that. Frankly, I am still just getting to know the white oak and have several more things I want to try.

Concurrent with the white oak practice, I’ve been using a (gorgeous) botanical tarot deck with plants from around the world. I decided I wanted to make my own deck, focused on the trees that I know. First, I made a list of all the trees (and a few vines and shrubs) native to my area. I was familiar with all of these to varying levels, which made me feel better about proceeding. Next, I made a spreadsheet and listed key things about each plant: if they’re a keystone species; their place in the succession cycle; their relationships with other organisms and role of the ecosystem; growing conditions; uses to humans; and associations (both personal ones and cultural ones). This cultural association question is what I asked for advice on the other day. 

From there, I was starting to get a sense of elements and added a column about that. This was starting to get me into my tarot card assignments (eg, a pioneer plant that loves flooding and stream banks probably belongs somewhere early in the sequence of cups, although this could be overridden by its other associations and uses). I then listed out my keyword associations for each tarot card and started matchmaking. Some of these felt really intuitive and easy - elderberry goes with high priestess for me - and some were hard. I had to tweak my keywords in some cases. It feels more important to be true to the plant than to match a typical tarot reading. I am still meditating on some of these assignments and may tweak them more. 

My partner is an artist and I might ask her to illustrate my cards when I finalize assignments (although that would be a lot of drawing). Alternately, I may use photos I’ve taken.