Current moonphase: waning crescent

Current temperature: 53* F

Cloudy but mild.

Weeping willows are my favorite trees. When I was a child, we had a beautiful weeping willow that grew in our backyard. My first experience of sacred space was beneath that willow tree.

I always think of weeping willows as Willow Tree Ladies; graceful, gentle, Goddess-like trees. Recently, when I was researching herbs and trees on the ‘net, I found this story about a Willow Tree Lady:

Japanese culture, tells of a young handsome bachelor who loved the Willow tree that grew near to his hut. His name was Heitaro and the tree was his temple, his treasure and his company. To him, each year it grew more beautiful than the last.

One day, the villagers came to cut down the Willow for wood to build a bridge. Heitaro protested and scoured the country to find adequate wood for their needs. This they accepted. That night, he stood beneath the Willow and gave thanks to the gods that the tree had been spared. Something moved in the moonlight.

Heitaro peered into the shadows. There, stood a beautiful young woman. He bowed and apologised for disturbing her, and left. But after that, she joined him under the tree every night and the happy couple fell in love and were married. They had a child, and prayed thanks for the happiness each night at the Willow temple.

One day the villagers returned, requiring to cut the old tree down again to build a temple to the goddess Kwan-Yin. This time Heitaro relented, he would miss it, but he had his wife and his child. The villagers began to cut down the tree. The Willow wife cried out inside the house to her husband saying the room was becoming dark. She fell to the ground and covered her face with her hands. She twisted and turned as though avoiding blows. Heitaro could do nothing but watch. When the last blow struck the Willow tree, he was alone with his daughter.

 

This post and more over at The Cove.