Earth itself is our oldest alter. Long before we lit incense or flipped through a grimoire, our ancestors knelt in the soil, drew circles in the dirt, and made offerings beneath the canopy of stars. The elements weren’t metaphors; they were companions. Fire for transformation, water for intuition, air for inspiration, and earth for grounding. Each one alive, speaking in a language beyond words. And within this sacred natural tapestry, it is the trees that stand as sentinels of memory and magic. Trees are more than wood and leaf. They are ancient guides, rooted in both the underworld and the heavens. Their roots drink from deep, hidden places. Their branches reach toward the stars. They teach us the truth of duality ... that we too can hold light and shadow, stillness and growth, the above and the below. When we lean against a tree, we aren't just resting; we’re recalibrating. Trees absorb what we carry ... the static noise, the ache in our hearts, the tension in our bodies. They offer us back a steadiness and a silence that heals. They remind us that slow growth is still growth, and that there’s power in being deeply rooted before reaching upward. Nature was our first teacher, and it remains our most faithful one.