When I go in search of a Beacon Tree I expect to find a gnarled, veteran oak rather than small trees you would normally walk by. It is these surprises and the hidden histories that make these searches a fascinating experience. Here are two recent contacts I have made and the stories they have to tell.

The searches start from notations on local maps. Where two or more energy lines cross there tends to be a beacon tree, spring or well. In a local community woodland a variety of energy lines crossed on the boundary of the wood. My search starts with me asking my dowsing rod to take me to the tree. The journey through the wood took me to its edge and an old oak that looked the part. It was not the tree but the path next to it indicated that it was further along the edge of the wood. I ended up down a ride that lead me back into the wood. Part the way along was a double oak covered in a mantle of ivy. I made contact with the tree taking care to ground myself and control the flow of latent energy. I asked it how it was. It was not happy as the ivy was throttling it and it asked for it to be removed. On my second visit I took a folding saw and cut the ivy at the base of each trunk. In due course it will fall away and let the tree(s) breathe. As it was a double oak I asked it if it was a gypsy child burial. It was! I later checked two double oaks further down the path and they indicated that they were gypsy child burials. In the past when a gypsy child died they were buried in a quiet hidden place with an acorn in each hand. It was only on my second visit when I was cutting the ivy that I realised that the right hand trunk was not an oak but an ash. As the beacon tree(s) had not been contacted for a long time the answers were confused so getting its age and history took time. The tree told me it was 437 years old indicating that the gypsy child was buried around 1578AD. As the right hand grew faster than the left hand it was cut down for timber at 258 years and the base of the trunk rotted down over 17 years. An ash key seeded itself on the remains of the trunk. The right hand ash is 162 years old and makes this the first oak/ash beacon tree I have found. Both trunks are male and the lateral energy which I helped to release covers a large section of the woodland. As with all beacon trees its shaft of energy is 24 heights above and below it. It revealed its name which I will pass on to whoever is selected as the trees guardian.

The second beacon tree was in a wood near Churchstanton Church. The church is well worth a visit as it has many of the bench ends that were in Dunkeswell Abbey. They are 543 years old indicating that they were carved in/around 1472AD. They feature green men and plant motifs. The search for the beacon tree was long and convoluted as the tree was well hidden. I could understand why as the woodland was in complete contrast to the community wood where I found the previous beacon tree. The only management was removing tree branches that might get in the way of tracked vehicles that travel through the wood churning up and creating new tracks putting pressure on the trees. Beside one of these tracks surrounded by holly trees is the beacon tree. The hollies camouflage and hide a male oak with a low pollarded trunk. This trunk is covered in burrs with the remains of branches growing out of them. The branches growing up from the top of the trunk are long and thin like a spindly crown. The tree is 362 years old and was planted by a tree man around 1652AD. The tree is the way it looks as it was continuously cropped for timber to make furniture. The new growth would have been suitable for chair and table legs. It seems there are other similar trees throughout the wood. As it has been hidden for so long its lateral energy was still compressed but with further visits it will open out. Its vertical shaft of energy is 24 heights above and below. It has revealed its name and has chosen its guardian.