Speaking with Alder, the Robin Hood of Trees, and Forgotten Hero for Our Times
An essay on Alder tree magic, sharing the ancient wisdom of the Ogham and its druidic stewards, a guided journey to meet the Alder spirit for clarity on how to take action in these turbulent times
This February was blushed by Alder.
Every month for the last two years, I’ve been “dieting” trees in the Celtic Ogham. I use my drum to journey to the tree in the otherworld. I study its ancient lore, myth, ecology, history, and ancestral uses for both magic and medicine.
Each day, I create sacred space to connect with a piece of the tree I’m relating to either through bark teas, flower essences, placing seeds, leaves and/or flowers beneath my pillow, sipping sacraments in tonics and tinctures, trying out old druid magic and divination practices, or simply by sitting with the tree in this physical realm offering a daily song or prayer.
This is my second essay in a series where I share my experience, and what I’ve been receiving from these trees since I began my course, Awaken the Druid, an answer to a soul calling that inspired me to reach my hands through time like roots into the earth, and resurrect these ancestral seeds into my life.
In my last essay on Elder, I wrote about why we need to talk to the trees again. Not just to follow a cute wellness trend, or for a superficial kind of manifestation, but as a way to consult and consciously exchange with the living, breathing, animate world once more, to receive guidance and medicine during this time of collapse, and startling change.
If you haven’t read it, you can check it out here:
The separation of our bodies from the natural world has left us with lineages scared by wounds and traumas that will take generations to heal.
Communing with the trees and the animate world is not only our birthright, but a doorway that opens us to the path of reconnection and remembrance.
What We’ll Explore Here
This essay is dedicated to Alder. An often forgotten hero of the tree realm.
A tree that absolutely holds the medicine for our time.
The outlaw of the green wood, Alder’s leaves lend their iconic dye to Robin Hood’s cloak. Like the famous folk hero, Alder holds firm against the current of conformity, is resistant to chaos, and stands up for truth and morality, while creating solid ground that allow other trees and species to grow and flourish.
The Alder, often found rooted in the middle of a raging mountain stream or a marshy, flooded plane, teaches us how keep the chaos, the force of rushing water from toppling us over.
Instead, of getting swept up in the tide, or internally rotting and disintegrating over time, we learn to become strengthened by the storms that we find ourselves surrounded by.
Traditionally, an ally of wounded warriors, and a protector of all those who would fight for sovereignty, morality, equality and justice, Alder was said to bleed in our stead when used as a shield.
Alder also encourages us to seek honorable actions while helping us gain the discernment to answer a very important question: when do I use the shield, and when do I use the sword? What is my shield? What is my sword?
Associated with Bran the Blessed whose name means raven, Alder is also a tree that utters prophecy and can help us to take grounded action guided by hearing the voices of the otherworld and our ancestors during these destabilizing times.
In the essay that follows, I will share what I’ve learned about Alder’s ancient wisdom, magic and medicine as well as the way this tree has made an impact on my own story, and how it might become an important ally or teacher in yours and for our time.
Paid subscribers will also receive…
a recorded guided journey to meet the Alder tree in the otherworld to begin a relationship, conversation and receive any messages or guidance the tree spirit, otherworld, or your ancestors may have for you at this time.
a 10% discount on my upcoming courses, Awaken the Druid (July 2026), a deeply held container where we commune with trees and their magic, & Motherhood Myth and Memoir (May 2026), exploring the archetype of the mother, and her role in our collective stories, the land, and the intersection of our individual lives by writing a memoir that centers on this theme.
Recipes for medicines, and wellness products like essences and teas
Magical tools and rituals using the Alder tree from antiquity.
Your paid subscription and support means more to me than you know. It helps me continue this work while caring for my two young children, and nurturing our 20 acre land rewinding project.
If you enjoy my writing, and find these essays nourishing along the path, I hope you’ll become a paid subscriber if it is within your means to so. Let’s keep these fires alive.
We thank you from the depth of our hearts!
If you’re interested in diving deeper into tree communication with me, my two-year long course, Awaken the Druid, begins this July and is open for early-bird registration (a 15% discount).
Together, we will go on a life-changing adventure to speak with the trees in a supportive container, remembering the magic of the druids and the wisdom of our ancestors.
Now, let’s dive in…
The Robin Hood of Trees
For at least six centuries, the outlaw in the green hood has haunted the oaks in the Sherwood Forest and in our collective unconscious, inspiring children, stewards, honorable brave hearts, and believers in sovereign living in nature outside of corrupt and exploitive governments and laws.
There have been many renditions of the tale written and told overtime, but one thing remains consistent, Robin Hood is a skilled archer and warrior whose morality and chivalry has cast him out of a system run by men who lie, cheat, extort, and abuse their power.
Some of us might be wondering, where is our Robin Hood now? The hour is getting late and we need something to radically change.
Alder is here to tell you: you are the one you’ve been waiting for.
Robin Hood wears the dye of the Alder Tree not just because it allows him to camouflage in the forest canopy, but because it lends a very potent magic.
