#genus loci

🌿Plant Allies 🌿. Eastern Redbud (native)

Cercis canadensis

AKA. Spice wood tree, American Judas tree,

🌱If you know of any other names for Eastern redbud, esp. native named, please share.

Eastern redbud is a legume(you can tell by the flowers and pods) /tree native to the eastern US, parts of Canada, and a population in central Eastern Mexico.(Cercis canadensis var. mexicana) The tree flowers around April. (When the pic above was taken) and for some reason the flowers may grow from the trunk. They’re understory trees who are pollinated by long tongue bees and are hosts to multiple butterfly and moths. Thier heart ♥️ shaped leaves turn yellow/orange in fall.

Redbud have been bred into dozens of cultivars, including a weeping willow-ish one called “golden falls”. An example may be in my photo.

The flowers and seeds are edible and are traditional food for the locals. Green twigs are used as seasoning in traditional Appalachian cuisine. The bark was used in medicine.

Genus name Cercis is from the Greek Kerkus “weaver’s shuttle”.

It’s the state tree of Oklahoma

The name Judas tree comes from its family member, C. siliquastrum, which, according to some folk belief, was the tree Judas hung himself on. This I’d from a mistranslation of Judea’s tree. That name comes from the former abundance of Cersis trees in the region(mountainous region of the Levant, now the location of Israel and the West Bank).

Symbolism.

Eastern Redbud. Renewal.

Cersis in Turkey. Royalty, wealth, power.

Christian lore. Consequences of temptation. It was believed the nectar was an opiate for bees and they would o.d.

Sources.

Wikipedia: eastern RedBud

Plant. Native. Eastern Redbud

It was moth week on I Naturalist, so here’s some moths from Chautauqua. County Ny.

Top 2. Right. Angle moth of some sort, left. modest sphinx

Middle. Rt. E spotted forester moth, Left. common tan wave

Bottom right. Elophilia of some sort. Left. Carrot seed moth.

They are cutting trees next door, the 3rd time since the end of March. I expect that this is the end of said trees, and I am mourning losing gentle friends & their cooling shade. It does not... endear me to whoever now owns that property, that values parking more than trees.

That is putting it mildly. (I have nothing but curses for them at the moment.) All of my backyard shade is completely gone, and I have a bare LED street lamp that fully floods the backyard now. There is no night.

the one part of the genus loci AU that actively drives me insane is the grass reeling back in shock and horror as Tubbo screams to the wind like-

Maybe you’re Tommy. And you’re everywhere, it’s like you’ve finally woken up from a very long nap and now you’re the grass the dirt the trees! And you wanna show all your friends!

But they’re not joyous. They’re mourning. Tears, heartbreak, destruction- It’s almost like you’ve died. But you haven’t; you’re right here.

you pass Ranboo, a joke in your mind to wilt all his flowers, but all you see is grief. He’s planting alliums all in a row, slow and steady in that way Ranboo does. it doesn’t feel right to wilt them anymore, but it doesn’t feel right to stay. surely this isn’t right.

you want to play a joke on Wilbur tap him on the shoulder then Haha there’s no one there, but before you even lay a flower on him, his shoulders are shaking as he hides his face behind his hands, holding a flower between his fingers, and he mourns and you think surely that’s not right

and then you see Tubbo. and maybe in the back of your head you think surely he’ll be happy!

but he screams.

he screams at the sky, the earth, and it feels so painful like all the world came to a halt as you watch one of your oldest friends beg and plead for some semblance of why

Having decided to share some of my esoteric experiments, I wanted to share a fun and practical one – contacting the spirit of bookstores.

Let me reiterate my previous statements about gods, spirits, and the like.  They are a useful concept that lets us interact with the universe by acknowledging its complexity, living nature, and complex systems.  I do believe there is “something there” but know that like any relationship some of it is what I bring to the situation.

Now with that said, let me move on to my experiment!

I love bookstores and especially love used bookstores.  Many is the time I’ve found some life-changing book or wondrous weird tome that sent my life in better and more interesting directions.  Most bookstores have a kind of magic, anyway, so why not work some real magic with them?

Inspired by Patrick Dunn’s “Divine Magic” and previous experience, I decided to form relationships with spirits of bookstores I was fond of.  They had provided me useful books, so why not reach out to them in a more personal way and form a relationship!

The path I followed was simple:

Take a coin as a gift.  I prefer quarters.

Enter the store and wander around.  Speak to the store mentally, thanking it, acknowledging it, and saying you want to develop your relationship.  You may also acknowledge relevant literature/writing gods.

Leave the coin in some out of the way place.  I slipped it behind some books or down a shelf.  Note this gift and state your goal to build and grow a friendship.

Visit the store when you can and simply talk to it.  Tell it’s what up, ask how it’s doing.  Bookstores are rife with synchronicity potential, and you may find answers appearing in covers, displays, and more.  Speak to the store and see what happens to come up or catch your eye.

Support the store when you can.  Buy something, sell your books there, clean up a disordered shelf.  This is a relationship.

See what happens at the store, what books you find, and what messages seem to appear.

So what happened in my experiments!

Bookstore One – A used bookstore I’m fond of.  After the invocation I’ve had several interesting synchronicities/communications but also found some very rare books.  We’re talking books I’ve never seen sold off, one of them extremely rare.  The store has been a great source of books for other projects and for walking around having “conversations via synchronicities.”

Bookstore Two – A used bookstore I like, but I never felt we “clicked.”  I decided to visit and walk around, chatting with the store’s spirit and hoping to connect.  I stepped outside a bit, and suddenly saw a poster for a book that fit one of my other projects.  Dashing inside I discovered not just the book but a load of other relevant material I hadn’t appreciated.  Since then we’ve just “felt” more connected.  The store has it’s own focus, it seems.

Bookstore Three – Yet another used bookstore that I had some great findings at.  This relationship feels pretty chill, and it’s a great place to walk around, have a mental conversation, and ride synchronicities.  This store seems to be good at “ask what you what, you can find something.”

Bookstore Four – A corporate bookstore.  When I did the ritual it felt very confined, afraid, restrained.  I walked around during the ritual chatting with it – and ended up with a shelf staring at a book I’d been wanting to get (and not a common one).  I had the sensation of someone glad for the attention.

Now of course some of what went on was clearly my interpretation – as in any relationship.  The unusual books I found were very appropriate to my works and in most cases, very rare and unlikely.  The synchronistic “conversations” were usually insightful.  My take is “something was definitely up.”

If you try this experiment – and I hope you do, bookstores are wondrous – some advice:

Do not force conversations.  Talk to the spirit of the store and see what response comes up in synchronicities, books you find, or those moments something “happens.”

Be a friend and partner.  Respect the store, buy from it, sell books at it, etc.  It’s a relationship.