Tree Pilgrimage from the South Coast to the North Wessex Downs in Wiltshire, Raising Tree Planting Funds for Ancient and Sacred Trees.
Celebrating AST member Gillian Butlers' tree pilgrimage raising funds for UK tree planting with Ancient and Sacred Trees.
Walk a Sacred Tree Trail Along The Spine of Albion.
Gillian Butler, an Ancient and Sacred Trees member, has started out on a pilgrimage to honour our Ancient and Sacred Trees of Britain while raising funds for tree planting. Gillian who is a Mentor/Coach, Weleda Wellbeing Advisor, Massage Therapist and Animistic Practitioner has planned her trip inspired by the book The Spine of Albion written by Gary Biltcliff and Caroline Hoare.
Over the coming months she will be walking and honouring the trees that grow along and around the ‘Spine of Albion’; an Alignment, or Ley, that runs through the UK from the South Coast of England up to and beyond the Highlands of Scotland. The route is inspired by Gary Biltcliffe & Caroline Hoare’s book “The Spine of Albion”
If you purchase the book direct from here please email the authors Gary & Caroline to say you heard about it through AST and they will donate £2 for each book sold to AST UK tree planting funds!
“I am passionate about raising awareness of the utmost importance of trees to our very existence here on earth.” Gillian then went on to list some vital tree facts."
Life Saving Tree Facts
Fact: Life could not exist without trees
Fact: Trees produce most of the oxygen that humans and wildlife breathe – they are, quite literally, the lungs of our planet
Fact: Our global forests act as the world’s giant air filters
Fact: Trees help reduce the effects of climate change
Tree Pilgrimage from the South Coast to the North Wessex Downs in Wiltshire and Raising Tree Planting Funds for Ancient and Sacred Trees
The South Coast
Gillians' pilgrimage started in Hill Head Beach on the shores of the Solent, where at its western end is a small harbour located at the mouth of the River Meon close to where Elen, the female energy current and the male energy current, Belinus, (which intertwine up the centre of the British Isles) enter the mainland from the Isle of Wight.
St Mary's Twyford Trees.
Elen visits St. Mary’s, Twyford passing through the yew tree below. Gillian says;
“ I sat for quite a while underneath, losing myself in the energies contained within every part of this tree. An honouring indeed!”
Honouring The Trees
Gillian honours the trees in the following ways,
"I gently, quietly call to them using the names given to them by our ancestors; using the words from an ancient mother tongue that was spoken by our Bronze Age ancestors; Proto-Celtic or Common Celtic words which are 4,000 years old.
So, for example, there is more than one word for Oak, but I resonate with the word ‘Daru’, so as I am walking towards an Oak I will gently call out to connect with the Oak “Galwo Daru”, three, maybe more times.
“I walk for the trees,
I talk to the trees;
I dance for the trees,
I sing to the trees;
I honour the trees, I
listen to the trees;
and the trees listen to us.”
Then I will stand or sit with them, feeling their powerful, but gentle energies flowing deep into their roots and high into their branches – connecting with us, connecting with life.”
Winchester Trees
Legend has it that a giant on St. Catherine’s Hill hurled a large megalith from here that fell on the Downs above Mottistone to become the Longstone.
You can follow Elen’s path as she meanders through the water meadows in the Itchen Valley to the Hospital of St. Cross which is home to England’s oldest Almshouses. Here Gillian had a picnic sitting under a sweeping Willow Tree close to the river.
Following the beautifully clear waters of the River Itchen head for Winchester Cathedral, first passing the grounds of the College and an avenue of Lime Trees.
Here the journey concludes under the branches of an ancient Yew, part of a small grove of them in the grounds of Winchester Cathedral.
Honouring The Trees
“We walk for the trees, we talk to the trees,
We dance for the trees, we sing to the trees,
We honour the trees and we listen to the trees
And the trees listen to us”
Gillian Butler 2021
Watership Down, The Wayfarer’s Walk and Ladle Hill Trees
Elen journeys through Watership Down and the Wayfarer’s Walk connecting with Ladle Hill, a 7 acre hill fort through with lots of trees to honour along the way. Gillian described her connection with trees and nature here;
"With the combination of the rain on their leaves and the winds through their branches, the trees most definitely were singing to us and it was a real privilege to spend time listening to their songs."
St. Mary’s, Micheldever Trees
Gillian says; "Possibly one of the most glorious locations for a church, hidden by a variety of magnificent trees and sitting in a hollow by the River Itchen, was the setting for our first visit of the day. Entering the grounds of the church, over a little footbridge spanning the river and through a delightful Lych Gate."
Walbury Hill link to Wayfarers Way Trees
"Amongst the many trees on our walk, we met a number of Hawthorns, resplendent in their crowns of May flowers, and even the sheep were impressed enough to leave woolly offerings."
Chilton Foliat on the River Kennet ,Wiltshire Trees
The avenue of Lime Trees leading to the entrance of St. Mary’s, is a memorial to the inhabitants of the Parish who lost their lives in the First World War and other trees in the Churchyard commemorate those who lost their lives in the Second World War.
As Gillian rightly says; "What a beautiful tribute and honouring of those dear souls."
In Chilton Foliat is a magnificent London Plane Tree, said to be over 400 years old.
Also here is the beautiful river Kennet and one of England's most important chalk streams runs through.
Many of the wild animals and plants of the Kennet and its banks are increasingly scarce; fortunately, because it has an extensive range of rare plants and animals that are unique to chalk watercourses, this part the river is designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. The protection that this status affords means that many endangered species of plants and animals can be found here. Animal species such as the Water Vole, Grass Snake, Reed Bunting, Brown Trout, and Brook Lamprey flourish here, despite being in decline in other parts of the country.
Next Time:
Tree pilgrimage traveling through the Cotswolds.
To purchase the book that inspires this pilgrimage buy it direct from authors Gary & Caroline here & please email them to say you heard about it through AST and they will donate £2 for each book sold to AST UK tree planting funds!
Donate for AST tree planting in the UK here
Visit Gillian's blog here for more information on her journey and the earth energy lines https://gillianandthetrees.wordpress.com/blog/
All photos ©Gillian Butler