Image 1 of 1
CHERRY LAUREL (Prunus laurocerasus)
Key: balance of mind
This is the well-known laurel used as a hedging plant for which it has been used since its introduction into Britain in 1576. It is, in fact, a bird cherry of the prunus family originating from around the Caspian and Black Sea. In the past its major use was in creating a dense ground and woodland cover for game birds. Tolerant of shade and moisture it can be very invasive and its shiny evergreen foliage can reach up to 20ft (6m) – though it can be quite startling to see cherry laurel as a tree in its own right, rather than a clipped hedge. The flower spikes are visible early in spring around April, giving off a heady sweet scent from the creamy yellow flowers. Like all cherries this laurel contains a high proportion of prussic acid and when the leaves are crushed they give off the distinctive almond scent of hydrocyanic acid. The flowers ripen to shiny black berries eaten by birds.
The essence focuses on bringing balance to the mental activities and it can be used whenever there is trauma to the head. It will quickly release shock, even from near-death experiences.
Cherry laurel allows imagination to be used in a constructive way, enabling more of one’s personal potential to be expressed. Imagination and inspiration is greatly enhanced.
At genetic and molecular levels cherry laurel’s energy helps to maintain and balance an individual’s evolutionary development in an organised, intelligent manner. The intelligence and organising power of molecular structures and genetic material is upheld to allow for maximum evolutionary progress. It may be possible that harmful compounds like free radicals and errors in the genetic material can be reduced. Primarily cherry laurel works to achieve this by regulating the belief structures and fine level energy flows of the mental and spiritual bodies where such difficulties would first appear, as energy dissonance.
The brow chakra is energised in a way that quietens mental activity to such a degree that a depth and clarity of subtle perceptions and insights are able to be identified. This can help with all forms of spiritual communication and channelling. This is also aided by the activation of the crown chakra where the finest levels of the self are linked more closely to the underlying universal sources. This allows an influx of universal harmony, connectedness and fine spiritual energy into the self. The energy link is inherently protective, non-aggressive and supportive, and in this way all aspects of the mind can be made whole, holistic and healed.
Signature: The “heady” scent; and the erect spikes like aerials, or reminiscent of the higher energy centres on and above the head.
Comment: It is easy to ignore the trees that have become associated with the domestic and suburban environments, but these are the ones to which many people have the most familiar links – albeit mostly unconscious. It is all too common for these trees to be despised as “introductions”, non-natives, weeds, as though they contain less of value than other kingdoms. Such prejudices should be looked out for in oneself and counteracted by conscious acknowledgement and experience of the spirit energies of such beings. It was, after all, us humans who decided to bring these particular kingdoms closer to our own. This necessitates respect and understanding. Such beliefs, whether of other species or amongst our own, are significant energy drains and show fundamental lack of understanding of the web of creation as a unified equality of individuality.
It is interesting to note that cherry laurel’s introduction coincides with the English Renaissance when the mind, both rational and imaginative, became the main instrument for investigating both the sciences and the arts.
Cherry laurel’s native homeland is one of the areas of great importance in the cultural origins of the Old European cultures.