The Christmas Tree in the Stars

Once there was a fir tree. It wasn’t a special fir tree. It was pretty much
exactly like all of the other trees that grew around him. They grew in
straight rows and people sometimes came and trimmed their branches to
make them nice and even as they grew. The trees had been planted in a
large area that once was a wild forest. Now, people had cut down all of
the old trees and planted new ones. There were rows and rows of trees.
You could see that each section had been planted in different years. Each
section was taller by a foot or so. The tallest ones had been planted about
eight or nine years ago they were about six feet tall. Every year, the
tallest section of trees was cut down in the late Fall and taken away. In the
Spring, a new section of tiny treelings was planted in its place.

The fir trees grew, as trees do in the forest, flourishing under sun and rain,
heat and cold. They were as unaware of the human beings who tended to
them as any wild tree would be. The trees left behind each year did not
wonder where the other trees had gone or what had happened to them.
They did not wonder if they would also be cut down one day. The trees
had no consciousness other than the simple feeling of Life that every tree
and plant has as a living being.

But every year, the trees that were cut down and taken away went through a special change. If a tree in
the forest dies, of a storm or lightning strike or disease of some kind, the Life Spirit within simply passes
to another seedling and grows again. There is a great Deva or Angel over all of the trees of each kind who
has each individual tree in Her mind and heart but the trees themselves have no awareness of their own
being.

When a tree is cut down for firewood or for building lumber, its Life Spirit departs immediately and goes
into a seedling to live again. This is the cycle of Life for most trees and plants. They feel no pain or
sadness at the coming and going. They are always one with the Deva and with the Earth.

However, when a tree is grown separately by Human Beings with a specific intention, things change. If it
is a decorative or ornamental tree planted in a yard for beauty or shade, it senses the presence of people
over time and their lives affect it. If it is appreciated and cared for, it flourishes and there is a kind of joy,
a very soft, small amount of self-conciousness about it. But it still declines and dies eventually and its
Spirit rejoins the Deva of its species and is reborn. The connection with the Human world enhances the
Deva and adds to the bridge of Love between Her, the Plant Kingdom and the Human kingdom. The same
is true for trees that produce fruit, nuts and other foods for Human Beings. If the Humans appreciate and
care for these trees, they do their best to provide good nourishment and a bridge of Love is also created
and strengthened between the Plant Kingdom and the Human Kingdom.

In the case of the fir trees that were intentionally planted and which were cut down each year by section,
something quite different was happening. These trees were not planted for food or lumber. These trees
were planted to be sold as Christmas trees each year. Something entirely different was going to happen to
them.

The fir trees who grew in the section that was to be cut each year were still all alike. They still slept the
sleep of the Plant Kingdom and had no dreams of what was to become of them. The one fir tree was just
like his brothers and sisters and stood among them in the sun and the rain and the snow. When the day
came for the trees in the oldest section to be harvested, they were trimmed again for the last time to be
sure that they were evenly shaped. Then they were cut down and tossed onto a large flatbed truck to be
shipped around the the area to be sold as Christmas trees.

Once the trees were cut, they began to die, as all trees do. But trees die much more slowly than smaller
plants. It takes weeks, sometimes even months, for all the Life to leave. A tree does not feel anything
except a gradual dimming in one world and more and more Life flowing back to its Deva.

In the case of these trees, something special was about to happen. Whenever Human Beings love
something, whether another Human Being, an Animal, a Plant or even a Stone, it takes on something that
it didn’t have before. Love brings in something new to its Life. It is no longer just part of the Deva, but
also begins to have a connection with the Human world in a separate way.

That is why something very special happened when the fir tree was chosen and bought by a family with
children, to be their own Christmas tree.

First, they took it home tied to the roof of their car.

Then they carried it to the back yard of their house,
trimmed a bit off the end of the trunk and put it in a
bucket of water. The tree was still alive enough for
the water to be drawn up the trunk and refresh it for
a few weeks more. They left it there for some days
in a shady area so that the sun wouldn’t dry it
further.

Just before Christmas, they trimmed a few more of its branches, then took it inside and placed it in a
weighted bucket with more water. The children were so excited to see the beautiful fir tree inside. The
tree gave off a wonderful smell that filled the house with the freshness of new Life. In turn, the tree
breathed in the scent of Human Beings for the first time and began to be aware of their presence. The
family decorated the tree with lights and shiny things. The family dog and cat came by to sniff and inspect
this smelly plant thing. The dog didn’t think much of it. The cat played with a few of the shiny things
from time to time and later liked to sleep on the blanket like thing the people placed underneath the tree to
hide the bucket.
 But it was the children who really sent waves of love to
the tree, marvelling in its beauty and filled with joy in
anticipation of the gifts that they would receive from
under its branches. Every evening, the family turned off
the lights in the room and sat and enjoyed the lights on
the tree. Sometimes they sang songs and read or told
stories. One morning, the gifts were taken out from
under the tree and opened. The tree could feel the joy
and love and happiness around it and its journey back to
its Deva slowed down. The tree became aware of itself
in a very dim way and felt itself connected somehow to
the Spirit of Christmas that pervaded the family and the
World at this time of the year.

Day by day, this dim sense grew a little stronger. But

the day finally came when the human season of
Christmas was over. The family gathered around the
tree to take down the shiny things and lights. They
removed the tree from the bucket and carried it out back
again. By now, weeks later, the Life was ebbing from
the tree. Some needles were dry and falling off already.
The wood of the tree would either be burnt or would be
taken somewhere to decay back into the Earth. The Life
of the Tree was ready to journey back to the Deva. But
something had changed, there was a new part of the tree that wanted to stay connected to the Love and
Joy it had been a part of. The Spirit of the Tree had come into being and it could not return entirely to the
Deva but it could not stay with the Human Beings, either. What could happen now?

Something wonderful happened. A new Deva appeared and

called to the tree. This was the Angel of the Christmas Trees.
She called the Spirit of the Tree to Herself. The Spirit of the
Christmas Tree rose out of the wood of the tree and left it
behind. The Angel of the Christmas Trees took the Spirit of the
Christmas Tree into Herself and rose through the Heavens. She
carried the Spirit of the Christmas Tree to the Stars and gave it
to the Star Children who were waiting for their time to be
reborn.
The Star Children placed the Christmas Tree among the stars and decorated it so that it would glow in the
Starry World where it is always Christmas and where the Christ Child is always being born.

In the vastness of the Starry World, all of the Spirits of Christmas Trees will find a new place to root and
grow and to be the symbol of Life and Love for the Star Children each year. Because Human Beings
loved it, the Love and Life of Christmas lives in each tree that becomes a Christmas Tree on earth. It lives
forever in the Starry World, fresh and fragrant. Everything that has ever been loved finds a new,
everlasting Life in the Spiritual World when the physical part no longer exists. Love is forever.

Christine Natale
January 8, 2017
Illustrations –

The Christmas Tree Fairy by Cicely Mary Barker

3 Angel paintings by Dona Gelsinger