“Old trees, wild trees.” That’s something Treebeard the Ent says in Lord of the Rings. And it’s what excited me about trying new tea varieties. Or rather, old kinds—very old. Just ones I had not tried.
I heard about the tea varietal Purple Joy on social media. A fellow tea lover posted his experience trying a wild tea, that is, a tea from wild trees. I had to try it too. Purple Joy is a black tea, and the purveyor Tea-Side also has wild green, oolong, and white tea, so I ordered one of each. I’ve seen photos of tea farming before and the tea plants looked like the clipped shrubbery in the knot gardens of English castles, laid out in mathematically precise rows, but the photos on Tea-Side’s website were pictures of huge individual trees, growing as they will in a jungle of random other plants. They looked a bit Entish.
All plants have spirits, and to connect with the magical property of each plant it is my suggestion that you talk to the spirit within it, make a connection. This is easily done, if you don’t mind the neighbours thinking you are slightly mad.
This time of year as Mother Nature's larder is at her fullest I'm always being asked about making home remedies, foraging and using wild ingredients. To me, working with nature and living close to the earth is a practical as well as a spiritual path, and gives me an opportunity to keep in close relationship with the land around me, as well as its indwelling spirits. Gathering wild herbs nuts and berries for remedies and cottage preserves, as well as fruits and vegetables from the garden I'm always reminded of the kinship I feel with the plant and tree spirits, and this dictates how I go about my gathering as well my preparations. I consider them to be among my magical and shamanic allies- they help me understand and grow into greater communion with this sacred earth, as well as adding extra energy, taste and effectiveness to the potions and preserves we make together.
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
