One day a couple of weeks ago, Jo got up early to go for a walk while I was still asleep; she just picked a direction she hadn’t been in yet and set out to see what she might find. (She does this a lot, and I’ve started doing it increasingly myself since we moved to Eugene; it’s an Odinic wandering impulse, and in this city you’re almost guaranteed to discover someplace wonderful.) When she returned later, she told me she had to show me some incredible birch trees she had found. I believed her when she said the trees were something special; one of the attractions of moving here, for me, was the profusion of truly breathtaking trees. But nothing could have prepared me for this.
That’s me standing between the two trees, to give you an idea of their immense size (which is unusual for birch). They looked, to me, like two white columns of flame ascending into the sky. Birch trees are especially significant for me because of their associations with Frigga (holder of the keys to Asgard) and the rune Berkano; they are trees of beginnings, of opening, and of the mysteries of death and rebirth. They have a connection both with my spirit-work name, Valgrind, and my middle name, Beth (which I’ve started going by since moving here). To find two such huge birch trees, inherently “gate” trees anyway, actually forming a gate like this was a very special experience for me, and this is definitely going to become one of my power spots here. Unfortunately, the trees are in the middle of a community center which sees a lot of mundane use, but I’m sure there are times I can arrange to visit (early morning or after dark) to make offerings and commune further with the birch wights there.
Here’s a view of the trees from directly below. Also, in the same community center we found some Pacific yew trees that Jo hadn’t seen on her first trip there–actual trees, not bushes. Yew trees are sacred to me because my UPG associates them with Odin’s mother Bestla, and also because they’re the tree I identify most closely with Yggdrasil (which in the Voluspa is referred to as a “needle-ash”).
The recreation area was very boggy, as many places in Eugene are due to the heavy rainfall we get for most of the year; we found ducks swimming in one of the many temporary ponds. And finally, what would a spot connected to Asgard be without Ratatosk making an appearance? (Or, more precisely, trying not to?)
