Anne of Green Gables fans will recall the heroine’s love of the tall, wistful poplars of her native Prince Edward Island, Canada. Additionally, the poplar is a tree sacred to the Celts, the Greeks, and the Sioux. Indeed, there is something most transcendent about poplars. Magically, they are about movement and change of all varieties, especially the expansion and elevation of the soul.
Please note that while the poplar (Populus) genus includes trees commonly called poplars, cottonwoods, and aspens, aspens have their own section in this book. This section will include poplars and cottonwoods.
Magical Uses
Activation
Poplars are aligned with the water element, appearing on riverbanks and thriving even in recently flooded areas. Like a clear mountain stream, they constantly sparkle and effervesce due to their leaf shape, which promotes continuous movement in the breeze. Magically, spending time in quiet contemplation with a poplar can quickly clear, open, and energize your chakras and invigorate your energy field in a gentle but highly effective way.
Expansion
In addition to being some of the fastest-growing trees, poplars reproduce easily from broken branches and can spread and regenerate quickly through the root system of a single tree. Also aligned with Jupiter (the planet of expansion), poplars can be magically employed for support with expansion in any life area.
For this purpose, visit a poplar and sit in quiet contemplation. When you feel aligned with both the tree and the Divine, express the type of expansion you’d like to experience in your life. Do so by conjuring up the feeling that this expansion has already occurred, and give thanks for this eventuality. Next, lovingly approach the tree and gently gather a small branch, using strong clippers or gardening shears. Thank the tree. Upon returning home, place the branch upon your altar.
Portals
The fact that poplars often appear on the borderlands between earth and water is just one indication of the poplar’s alignment with portals and doorways between the worlds. In some landscapes, their golden color is the most prominent herald of autumn and the transition of seasons. The tree is also aligned with both Persephone and Hecate, goddesses who represent spring and fall respectively—the doorways between the seasons—and also goddesses who traverse easily between this world and the otherworld. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they are traditional cemetery trees and trees linked in the Greek mind with the entrance to the underworld.
When a portal appears in your life—when you feel called to make a transition from one realm to another in any life area—visiting a poplar can be helpful in easing your way and clarifying your path. For example, this might be appropriate if:
- • You’re feeling drawn to let old challenging patterns go and to step into a positive new phase.
- • You’re transitioning in or out of a career or major life relationship.
- • You’re exploring deeper realms of your magical or psychic abilities.
- • You’re stepping into a significantly greater level of responsibility or power.
Prayer
In much the same way the constant waving of prayer flags in the breeze is believed to carry prayers to the realm of heaven, the undulating flutters of poplar leaves are prayers in and of themselves. Send your wishes and divine communications to a poplar, and feel certain that your message is delivered straight to the heart and mind of the Divine. Then, through placing your awareness on the sound of the leaves in the breeze, allow yourself to receive divine messages in return.
Magical Correspondences
Element: Water
Gender: Masculine and feminine
Planet: Jupiter