Welcome To 'Forest Heart', With Amanda Claire Vesty, Founder of Ancient and Sacred Trees.
Sacred nature connection journeying together to the heart of the forest inspires us to grow for a happier, healthier mind, body and soul.
One Tree Is A Landmark But A Forest Heals The Earth.
Dear Forest Heart
Lovely to meet you and welcome to your Forest Heart! Here you can celebrate, learn about and connect with trees and nature for the health and wellbeing of your mind, body and soul. There are Wild Wisdom writings every Sunday (usually), plus news and views in the Forest Heart newsletter (every other midweek or thereabouts ish!) from ‘Ancient and Sacred Trees’ my Volunteer Run not for profit community project celebrating, planting and protecting trees and people, www.ancientandsacredtrees.org.
You’re here because you signed up via: the Ancient and Sacred Trees groups OR Dragon group (on Facebook) OR the Ancient and Sacred Trees website OR via my personal Jack In The Green Website OR Wild Spirit Woods. Hail and Welcome!
‘Dear Heart’ is an old affectionate form of Celtic greeting, I am a country woman born and bred and I live in the heart of England. I invite you to join me on the path to the heart of the forest. Every time I write a free article, it will arrive in your email box. You can also visit the Forest Heart homepage and browse some free articles and newsletters at your leisure.
Here you will discover a deep love for Mother Nature weaving in the sacred, the magical mythical wild wonder of the world, and ancient traditions rooted in the land where once humans were part of a wider community of plant, animal, elemental and other beings. My work brings together ideas and practices from mythology, ecopsychology, ecotherapy, forest bathing/shinrin yoku, religion, philosophy, spirituality, ritual, ancient traditions, folklore and fairy tales. By clicking the ‘leave a comment’ button at the bottom of each post, you can take part in conversations with me relating to the things I’m writing about or working with right now.
In particular, ‘Wild Wisdom’ is where I explore a tree a month, sharing more about my own personal insights and experiences, delving in to the magic, mythology and more of our friends the trees, in much greater depth inspired by the modern Celtic calendar and the Tree Ogham. Other in depth articles are also included here about my journeys and meetings with the natural world, the elementals, travels through history, celebrating ancient traditions and lots more. Exclusive and unique content weaving together fresh perspectives and insights to deepen your connections with the world and your place within it. Most articles are free. (Although there is a whole other layer for paid subscribers) You get the chance to chat with me and ask questions via the app. We journey together through the year.
Stress, busyness, negative noise, anxiety, urban living, illness and disability, it all takes it toll on us.
· How can we switch off and reclaim ourselves?
· How can we as flawed human beings make a gift of who we are?
· How can we live better lives rekindling a love affair with wild nature?
· How can we deepen our sacred connections for a more meaningful fulfilling life?
· How can we commune with trees and nature and be inspired by and learn from something greater than ourselves?
What You Can Expect In Forest Heart? (For Free)
I send out the general Forest Heart Ancient and Sacred Trees Community Newsletter (About once every two weeks very 'ish!) and my Wild Wisdom articles (usually every Sunday). Occasionally I run free courses/journeys too.
I explore a Celtic tree a month inspired by the Celtic Ogham
Earth, nature, elemental, and cosmic connections
Share some of my own personal insights and experiences
Delve in to magic, mythology, archaeology and more
Community newsletter full of ‘positiviTree’ and inspiration
You get the chance to chat with me and ask questions via the app or online by commenting or you can send me an email
Journey Through the Forest
Forest Heart is FREE to join on the edges of the woodland BUT journey through the forest and you can get see extra woodland magic, support my volunteer work, AND plant and protect trees with a paid subscription here on Substack, for £5 per month or £50 per year, £95 or just Buy Me A Coffee if you'd like to support me without a subscription)
You get all this for the price of one coffee a month:
1. Behind the scenes access to Wild Spirit Woods (our on-the-ground spiritual home)
2. Plant a tree a month *
3. Significant discounts on ALL activities by me at Wild Spirit Woods and help me to develop an online offering too.
4. 10% discount for gifts from Jack In The Green.
5. Wild Spirit Woods Forest Heart community news updates (you can unsubscribe from this bit if you don’t want to receive them and still stay in the Forest Heart Community or visa-versa)
6. Free access to AST membership to see photos of tree tours through the year*** (again unsubscribe if you want and still get the rest).
7. Access to the paid subscriber monthly worldwide gods and goddesses podcast based on my first wild wisdom article of the month **. You get transcript and suggestions for your own alter/rituals along with my interpretations of the god and goddess who reveal themselves. These are ancient archetypes and ancient myths from around the world who can accompany us through the month working with deep nature connection for a more heart filled spiritual life.
Supported For the Year
£50 for the whole year, saves money, Get Everything Above AND also receive:
A special hand made blessing dedicated to you (or someone you choose) hung up for a year in one of the big trees at Wild Spirit Woods in Cheshire, England, with a photo to prove it..
You also plant 15 (that’s 3 extra) trees
And get a lovely personalised certificate with your name on to download, along with a PDF of planting locations and the communities you help
You will be given a place on the Ancient and Sacred Trees website on the Role of Honour as a supporter. (Please let me have your name for your certificate & if you wish to be included on the Role of Honour)
Below a handmade blessing by me, Amanda Claire. Pyrographed Blessing onto a wood slice, hand painted with hand spun blessing thread and tied with cotton string.
Wild Spirit Subscription £95 for the year with direct personal input from me to you helping to support more trees across the world, our on-the-ground home at Wild Spirit Woods and your own sacred nature connection.
As well as everything in the above tiers you also receive:
You plant 30 trees in the Tropics and a tree in the UK
A one to one god and goddess personal oracle reading for up to an hour.
You will adopt a sapling at Wild Spirit Woods for a year and have a plaque hung with your name on it. (Or if you wish, I can dedicate it to a loved one instead). You will be sent the What 3 Words location.
I will also send you a video of me hanging it on the sapling dedicating it to you (or a loved one) with my thanks. Of course if you live close enough you are welcome to visit, have a cup of foraged tea, and we will hang it together.
Creatives like me (writers, artists and others) also need to earn a living from our hard won skills. For those of us like me, who are neurodiverse (I am late diagnosed Autistic, ADHD) and have hidden disabilities (ME/Fibromyalgia), the world poses extra challenges on top so this helps enable me to keep maintaining our ‘communiTree’.
A little bit about me
I’m passionate about good mental health, social justice (for both our wild neighbours and us humans), the environment, and the transformation that comes through sacred connection to ourselves, trees and the wider world.
Evidence of this can be seen in my founding and tending to the Ancient and Sacred Trees volunteer run not-for-profit project (founded January 2014) that celebrates, plants & protects trees. This has been my labour of love for ten years now!
On top of being the founder of Ancient and Sacred Trees, I gift a lot out into the world sharing things for free via social media, newsletters and website etc.
Paid subscriptions not only plant trees but also enable me to run Ancient and Sacred Trees and fund its' website. As a volunteer custodian your subscription also helps fund my activities at Wild Spirit Woods such as providing volunteers with food and drink and my transport costs etc. Plus, I can fund reduced costs and free activities for people with serious and terminal illnesses and those in serious financial hardship. Social justice is very important to me and good fortune is only good fortune when it is shared. I hope you agree.
Right now, as a society we are, it seems to me, in the grip of a dominant death cult ethos which is destroying ourselves, our communities and our planet.
Here is perhaps one of the most important pieces of information I can gift you here for free and it is that…
When we feel good we are empowered to do good!
Now, you can choose to empower yourself AND you could also empower a loved one by gifting them a paid subscription and have this tree planting certificate made out to them. You get a PDF of where the trees are planted and some information too.
In a nutshell your paid subscriptions fund the planting of trees in the UK (one of the most nature depleted places on earth) and the Tropics (the lungs of the world) with Ancient and Sacred Trees, as well as receiving exclusive sacred connection ideas and inspiration to guide our lives by.
However you choose to support Forest Heart, for both free and paid tiers, my commitment to you is to ensure that you receive something of value in return.
You get carefully crafted words and knowledge, guiding, teachings, ideas and inspiration for a better, more meaningful nature connected spiritual life. My aim is to make EVERY email worth your while opening to find a little gift of inspiration.
Together we journey to the Heart Of The Forest, wilding within and without. Together as a green and growing CommuniTree we can choose the path through the woods for a more fulfilling life and a better, greener, world.
Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!
Warmest Wilding Wishes to You and Many Blessings.
Amanda Claire x