This nature spirit watches over the lawn at the Creek Bend Nature Center in St. Charles, Illinois.

He is very down to earth (!) and watches all, with a strong and steady gaze, as they enter the lawn area from the adjacent parking lot.

He explained to me that he is Guardian of Place – the energy that represents the nature spirits of that location.

Like many images in rocks and trees, this one is immensely subtle and can be seen differently when looked at from different perspectives, or frequencies. Nature spirits often create fluctuating images – like a Picasso painting in the wild.

So – here is a “down to earth” image of a man peeking up from the ground, his eyes and nose just visible and with a very full head of hair and a tall forehead.

However, the tree spirit explained that his image can also be seen as a tree trunk with a very full and large spread of richly leafed branches, and strong roots that reach into the ground. The Celtic/Druidic image of the tree bridging the three worlds.

Looking Out Over the Oaks

Below is a view past this tree, looking down the lawn at the magnificent oaks. Their full wide spread branches do indeed look like the Guardian did a painting of them in his bark. If you walk around the trees, their very large root systems are partially visible, like the roots shown in this image.

 

 

 

 

 

A Champion Tree

The naturalists at the Center appreciate this Guardian oak tree – for its magnificent growth – and it was submitted, and has been officially recognized, as one of the Champion Trees of Illinois. Below right is a long view of the tree, with the new temporary sign posting its champion status. 

 

 

 

 

Creek Bend Nature Center is located inside the Leroy Oakes Forest Preserve in St. Charles, Illinois.

If you would like to share your own nature spirit photographs, head over to our community nature spirits group at Facebook.

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