Trees are believed to connect Earth to Heaven, just like we humans connect Heaven to Earth.
That is why emotionally healthy people feel so much pain when they have to cut trees down.
Cutting trees down creates negative karma. Karma is simply the law of cause and effect. Good actions create good effects. Bad actions create bad effects. But sometimes a destructive action, such as cutting a tree, becomes necessary. For example, if a tree is covering up the entrance to your home. Or if it’s so close to your home that it’s putting it in danger.
In cases where there’s no choice but to cut a tree, I recommend you plant four trees for every one that was cut… let me tell you why in my own personal tree story.
The Peach Tree and the Hummingbird
I started to be concerned about paying our family’s tree karma after we couldn’t save an adorable peach tree in our property. This tree was located in the exact point for Health, Family and Community on our lot.
The journey of trying to save the peach tree and the tough decision we had to made led me down a healing path. This path involves saving an endangered species of hummingbird – the Black-Breasted Puffleg.
Please watch the video below to learn about this amazing journey.
We All Owe a Debt to Trees
Trees are the quintessential symbols for wealth in Feng Shui, and they also have a very strong association with health. Every single person in the world has benefited from the cutting of a tree.
In the United States, most houses are made of wood. But even if your house is not made of wood, chances are that trees were cut in the land where your property lies, to make room for the building.
If you live in a house made of adobe bricks, with a metal roof, surely you have some furniture made out of wood.
If you ever purchased a book or bought a ream of paper you owe a debt to trees.
Even toilet paper is made from trees (most of it).
Humans use the wealth of the forest for their benefit. We all owe a debt to trees, and we should all pay “tree karma.” We need to pay this debt in order to feel better and be wealthier. And the way to pay it is by planting trees or donating to organizations that plant trees.
How to Calculate Your Tree Karma
I once asked a contractor to estimate how many trees you would have to plant or have planted to make up for the ones that were cut to build a wooden frame home. This is what he told me:
- If your house is 30 years or newer than that, they probably used wood from renewable forests planted for the purpose of construction. In this case they used 50 to 60 small trees for every 1000 square feet, per story.
- If your house is older, or if you live in a wood cabin, they probably used the wood from two or three very large trees.
To pay your tree karma, calculate or estimate:
- How many trees were used to build your house.
- The number of trees that were cut to make space for your home in your land (60 trees for every acre of land).
- How many trees gave of their wood for your furniture (1 tree for every large piece of furniture, such as a wardrobe, a bookcase or a dining table, 1/2 a tree for smaller pieces of furniture).
- How many trees were cut to make the paper in all the books you have read and the reams of paper you have bought to use in your printer (about 1 tree for every hundred books, 1 tree for 50 reams of paper).
The rule is, four trees planted for every one you cut or is cut on your behalf.
Why FOUR?
In Feng Shui, the number four is the number that represents the Wealth, Prosperity and Self-Worth area. Trees are the Feng Shui symbols for wealth.
It has a powerful symbolic meaning to not just replace the trees that have been cut, but that number times four, as a way to set the intent to grow your own wealth, through the responsible and sustainable care of your resources.
Once you have made your calculations, add them all up.
Then plan to plant or have planted four trees per week, or per month. Do this until you are sure that a number of trees slightly larger than those used for your home have been planted.
Trees Send Our Report Card to Heaven
Trees are the messengers from Earth to Heaven.
According to Feng Shui, they don’t just release moisture and oxygen into the sky, but also information towards Heaven.
If you think of trees as delivering the “report card” of the conditions on this planet to the spiritual realm, paying your “tree karma” becomes an even more important endeavor.
How to Pay Your Tree Karma and Help the Planet Where it’s Most Needed
My friend Adela Espinosa and her husband have used their own money to buy land near an environmental reserve in Ecuador. Their plan was to create a buffer between the reserve and land used for commercial purposes (cattle).
Adelita and her husband have been planting trees on this land to restore the original forest.
When I heard Adelita was doing this, I thought to myself, “I have to be a part of this.”
I called her and asked her, “how can I help?” Since then, we teamed up to plant trees in this area. Recently we started collaborating with a foundation that is helping us do things more efficiently.
Please watch the video below to learn about this project, if you’re curious. If you’re ready to help plant trees, see below the video for the donation link.
Adelita and I planted several hundred trees before connecting with the Jocotoco Foundation. Once we started working with them, that number jumped upwards of 5,000! I continue to donate to the Jocotoco Foundation every month to make sure I stay ahead of my tree karma.
How to Donate
To make a tax deductible donation go here:
https://www.jocotoco.org/wb#/EN/Proyectos/3105/Yanacocha_Reforestation
When you make your donation, write in the comments “Project Yanacocha.” This will ensure your money goes to restore the habitat of the Black-breasted Puffleg.
In the photos below (click on them to see them larger). You can see, side by side, the grassy areas and the restored forest.
Below you can see some of the native tree species we are planting.
Caring for Trees from Sapling to Adult Tree
How to Donate
To make a tax deductible donation go here:
https://www.jocotoco.org/wb#/EN/Proyectos/3105/Yanacocha_Reforestation
Now it’s your turn to comment below. Are you planning to pay your tree karma? How would you like to see your own personal wealth increase?
Wow, what a cool concept. I have a degree in environmental studies, so I’m quite familiar with the role trees play on our environment, and with tree conservation methods and sustainable forest management. I have a fair understanding of the role they play socially as well, but I’ve never considered this aspect. It makes a lot of sense. Thank you for sharing this information!
Jo, given your background, would you recommend an organization for tree planting? Other people have recommended “TreePeople” and “Nature Conservancy.”
I love this… in real estate, I always advocate for trees when my clients want to take them out. With all the rain our area has had, I often worry about the ground saturation and fallen trees, but I do love them and am grateful to have some beauties in my yard.
I hadn’t thought about the connection between trees and ground water. Floods are becoming a bigger problem!