A large part of my path is working with trees. I do this because I’m the sort of person who is drawn to trees and manages to speak with them with little or no difficulty. One of the best things in the world is to sit at the roots of a tree in a hot summer day and talk to it.
I have a Common Alder that I go by twice a day on my way to work and talk to. One evening I found a branch down at the foot of the alder. This was obviously a gift from it, but I checked all round the alder (which is only ten feet tall) and could see no marks from a branch being either torn or cut from it.
In some books people are advised to talk to trees by imagining the sap inside it. Whatever you do, do not do this. I was at a gathering where this was being done, and the poor tree was in agony from strangers poking at its insides. I psychically built a brick wall around and above it to seal the tree off from humans. I don’t know if this is permanent as I don’t live in the area, but it was a quick fix in an emergency situation.
The best way to talk to trees is to first find a tree that you like. It doesn’t matter what the reason is that you like it, but it’s best to start off with a tree which you will want to visit.
Then just say “hello” to it. If you can, sit at its roots and read or have a picnic and basically spend some time with it. At first, you may not get any response at all. The alder I mentioned previously took two to three weeks to start communicating back and that was with me saying “hello” to it twice a day on my way to and from work.
I have found that trees which grow in public places to be easier to communicate with, as they spend more time with humans. One London Plane in Aylesbury dropped a bit of its bark on me to get my attention!
Don’t try and communicate with a tree which has lost its leaves, as it will be going to sleep for the Winter and conserving its strength and resources to get through that time. But when the tree has leaf buds out it will be waking up for the Spring and any time between then and when it starts losing its leaves is a good time to start to communicate with it.
I have found that trees that grow on land you own are most friendly and open to communication, but trees growing wild or in forests are difficult to communicate with as they have not had much experience with humans.
Warts n' all 
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