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©2001 by Donna Cunningham, MSW
An Andean species grown as an ornamental in the mountainous Pacific Northwest, monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria arauconi) is an evergreen unlike any you ever imagined. It's like a Christmas tree on acid!
The mature tree can be 50-75' tall and resembles a tangled mass of monkey's tails. The tails (i.e. the branches) are covered with concentric rings of sharp, pointed petals, like greatly-elongated green pine cones.
The small photo here doesn't really convey the tree adequately, but click on the link for a larger version. Prepare to laugh--fittingly so, for humor is one of the qualities the essence develops!
The circumstances of my making the essence also hinted at some of its
qualities. Though I'd been charmed by these trees at first sight, none
grew near my apartment. Nevertheless, I was awakened in the middle of the
night by an unknown monkey puzzle tree which insisted I was to make 
an essence of it. I asked what the essence was for, and was told it
was for solving knotty problems.
I said, "But you don't have flowers. How am I supposed to make an essence of you?"
It replied saucily, "Well, that's your first puzzle, isn't it?" (This sally--typical of the tone of its communications throughout--was followed by a cosmic, "Har De Har Har.")
Dr. Bach made most of his tree remedies, including Pine, his only evergreen, by boiling parts of the tree for half an hour, but that method didn't feel right for this purpose. I recalled that Li Bette Porter of Eugene, Oregon, had recently mentioned in a workshop that she didn't pick the flowers. I consulted her, and she said to tie a one-ounce amber dropper bottle to the tree with a string and ask the devas (plant spirits) to imprint the water in it with the pattern of the tree.
The deva of the tree instructed me to make the essence twice, once with Mercury retrograde, as it was then, and again when Mercury had turned direct and other astrological conditions were right. (Its creation during key points of Mercury's cycle seemed appropriate for an essence that turned out to be related to mental work and puzzles.)
On the astrologically-appropriate day, a friend and I went looking for a likely specimen, rejecting the young ones no taller than Christmas trees, and finally spotting a very old tree, which towered over an abandoned wooden house. In the course of making the essence, I formed a deep bond with the spirit of the tree, which sorely missed the elderly lady who had owned the house and thus was very lonely.
I followed the elaborate instructions it gave me, including the two-stage preparation. The day that was astrologically right for the second stage of the essence making turned out to be a cold, rainy day, to my dismay. The tree spirit told me to bury the bottle in its roots overnight and leave the imprinting to it. In return, the tree--originally a South American species--demanded, and got, an egg-shaped rose quartz that was a treasured souvenir of a trip to South America. When I went to dig the bottle up the next day, I brought home a long tail (branch) of the tree, which had fallen to the ground, and put it on my window sill next to the remedy bottle.
I started experimenting with the essence and also continued to attune to the tree spirit for more guidance on the properties. The tree said that the essence is for solving knotty problems and extracting yourself from overly complex situations (though not codependent ones). It may also have some usefulness as a "type essence" (See David Vennell's article.) It is for the type of person who tends to think in an overly-convoluted fashion--appropriate to the fact that it was prepared in such an elaborate way.
The essence is good for software or accounting snafus--a straight dose of stock can be taken situationally as such problems arise. I kept a dosage bottle handy at the terminal and found that grabbing it and taking a dose when I ran into a poser cut down on the time needed to solve such problems. However, for those who are new to computers or consider themselves techno-bimboes, it also improves one's effectiveness at computers and math to take dosage level several times a day for a few weeks.
Just at the time I made the essence, my sister had gone to college for the first time at age 50 and had enrolled in a computer certificate program. Though very bright, she found returning to school after so long a challenge, and I sent her a dosage bottle of Monkey Puzzle essence to try. It worked so well for her, she kept asking for more, so I finally sent her a stock bottle.
Sometime later I discovered that she had been passing it out to her fellow students and that it was becoming the rage in the computer classes! These fledgling computer nerds hadn't the faintest notion what they were taking, nor did they particularly care. They just knew it helped, especially at test time.
Monkey Puzzle essence is good for those who enjoy crosswords, puzzles like the Rubric's Cube, and mysteries, although some may find they preferred their mystification before taking the essence.
I had never had an interest in crosswords, but once I started taking the remedy, I suddenly found myself doing them regularly. Interestingly enough, they turned out to be a form of meditation for me, calming and settling an all-too-often overactive mind. Years later, these puzzles still help me shut down my mind so I can sleep.
Another side effect, and I hesitate to say that it would work for anyone other than myself, is that it helped when my mental wires got as tangled up as the branches of the tree itself. I had suffered a head injury some years earlier and still experienced many residual effects, like stuttering or switching letters and numbers when under pressure of mental overwork. I accidentally discovered that taking the essence--actually, applying it to my third eye as well as taking a straight dose of the stock--seemed to help me let go of the pressure and accompanying mental tension so that I could perform without these errors.
Be advised that this essence, though promising, is experimental and no claims are made for its effectiveness, though I'd be intrigued to hear of your experiences. I'm not set up to distribute essences, but if you'd like to try it, our co-editor, Deborah Bier, has graciously consented to offer Monkey Puzzle through her Whole Energy Essences (available by special order only....contact them). (If you have a yen to make Monkey Puzzle or any other essence, see Vibration's Virtual Booklet, Making and Testing Essences.)
I have since moved from the town where this essence was made but remember warmly how sentient and communicative that tree was. Some time later, a friend of a friend was going to the Andes with an environmental group to protest a planned man-made lake that would destroy an entire forest of ancient monkey puzzle trees. I sent along a stock bottle of the Monkey Puzzle essence, and the group used it in ceremonies to communicate with and release the spirits of the trees before their destruction.
About the Author: Vibration Co-Editor Donna Cunningham is an internationally-known astrologer and long-time writer in the essence field. See a collection of her other articles in this ezine here.
Art Credits: Based on graphics from a clip art disk by Micrografx. The photo of the monkey puzzle tree is from ArtToday.
The World Wide Essence Society does not mean to imply any recommendation of nor give certification to any individuals or companies above. This article is provided purely for informational purposes. We ask consumers to make their own determination as to quality of the services and products offered above. This article is not meant to be advice, and the information is not meant to replace medical or psychological treatment.
