Introduction
Last summer, I invited a small group of volunteers to sample a new tree essence - Tulip Poplar - for a week and send me feedback on their experiences with it. I’ve finally had time in these quieter winter months to explore their responses and pull out recurring themes. This study was an informal one - an opportunity to come together and share stories. I’d like to thank the volunteers who joined me on this odyssey! This generous group significantly expanded my understanding of this special essence. So without further ado…I give you…Tulip Poplar.
Background
The Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.) is actually not a poplar at all - it’s a member of the magnolia family. Its botanical name translates to tulip-bearing (tulipifera) lily tree (Liriodendron).
The Tulip Poplar is an ancient tree much like Ginkgo biloba, featured in last year’s tree study. Scientists have uncovered fossils of Tulip Poplar relatives that date back to the Upper Cretaceous period, approximately 70-100 million years ago. Two Tulip Poplar varieties made it into modern times - our North American Tulip Poplar and the Chinese Tulip Tree (Liriodendron Chinense), native to China and Vietnam.
The North American Tulip Poplars can be found nearly anywhere in the United States and even into Canada (in growing zones 4-9). The trees are among the tallest and straightest deciduous native hardwoods, often reaching upwards of 160 feet. They tend to appear about 50-150 years into a forest’s growth cycle, so their presence in a landscape can help us gauge the age of a forest.
Native Americans and early settlers used the trunks to make canoes and log cabins. Daniel Boone used a Tulip Poplar to craft a canoe that took his family into western territories.
Here in Massachusetts/New Hampshire, the Tulip Poplar blooms in May. The flowers are a favorite for honeybees and hummingbirds as they produce large amounts of nectar (about 1/3 of a teaspoon per bloom). As the summer progresses, the flowers ripen into cone-like clusters of winged seeds that eventually spread with the wind, traveling distances of about 4-5 times the height of the tree.
Medicinal Uses
The Tulip Poplar has a wide range of medicinal uses. In traditional folk medicine, the root bark was used as a tonic to stimulate sweating, increase appetite and generally support recovery through illness. The bark contains pain-relieving salicylates which can ease inflammations of various kinds including arthritis. Poultices made from Tulip Poplar were often applied to broken bones and skin eruptions (scrapes and sores) to speed healing. The Cherokee used parts of the Tulip Poplar to treat parasitic worms and other gastrointestinal issues, rheumatism, cough, fever and snake bites.
Making the Essence
Ever since I first got a look at the Tulip Poplar flower up close - a striking yellow-green, six-petaled cup with a streak of orange at the base - I knew I’d need to make the essence. Four or so years ago, I came across a Tulip Poplar in full bloom in my neighborhood, and the flowers were low enough on the branches for me to really see them in detail. That initial “wow” carried me through a many-years search for a Tulip Poplar essence-making partner. (I felt I couldn’t work with the neighborhood tree because it was growing too close to the street.)
I spent the next couple of years scouting different sites and asking around, but I wasn’t able to find a tree that had accessible branches in a remote enough location. I’d almost given up the search when - in February of 2022 - I went for a walk in a new spot and happened upon a Tulip Poplar on a hill overlooking the ocean. I was thrilled.
I hiked up to that tree through the winter and spring and started looking for buds in early May. I was all set to make the essence, but the tree genuinely surprised me. Although it showed signs of having bloomed before, it didn’t bloom that year. No flowers, no flower essence.
Every source I consulted indicated that Tulip Poplars bloom annually. How interesting that this one hadn’t. How interesting that I’d need to wait even longer - another whole year - to see if it might bloom the following spring. I found myself wrapped into an increasingly curious association with this tree. I was fully in the mystery at that point and fully willing to simply watch and welcome whatever might happen next.
I continued to visit the tree over the following months. I watched it change through the seasons. I got to know its energy on another level - an invisible field that I could feel as I got close, radiating outward from the trunk and rising up through my feet. When I stood next to the tree, I felt welcomed, safe, enveloped in an understated but palpable power.
By the time I visited in May of 2023 and found a profusion of flowers, I had a much deeper appreciation of the Tulip Poplar and its cycles which made the essence-making process all the more memorable. Picking one of the flowers and placing it in a bowl of water felt like a culmination, a gift of the highest order. All morning, throughout the entire process, I experienced waves of euphoria - an extraordinary mix of joy, awe and gratitude that I can’t say I’d felt before.
I would in no way trade the effort, the wait, the slow unfolding for anything. All happened as it needed to, inviting me into an exceptionally meaningful experience with this particular tree.
Feedback
I received written feedback from 15 volunteers who took the essence for a week (3 drops 2-3x/day) and considered the following questions:
This report is an overview of the Tulip Poplar’s most commonly-experienced effects. The primary areas of influence that I’ll be highlighting came up for at least 4 -5 people and sometimes more.
Italicized text = quotes from participants
1. Grounding
In the essence studies I’ve done so far, people often report feeling more grounded and secure while taking tree essences, and I received similar feedback about the Tulip Poplar. Quite a few volunteers mentioned that they felt more stable and supported after taking a dose.
I always reach for tree essences when I’m working with issues or circumstances that challenge a person’s sense of security. Three participants mentioned that the study coincided with an event that involved some kind of disturbance or upheaval in chakra 1 - related to safety, health or home.
One person experienced a massive flood in her community during the essence trial.
Another woman had a shingles outbreak during the study. The flare-up occurred before she started taking the essence.
A third person was in the middle of a move while taking the essence.
Tree essences, as a group, have a stabilizing effect on chakra 1 and can help us ground, move through challenging life circumstances with greater ease, adapt to new situations and even settle the system to support physical healing.
2. Expansion
Tree essences also offer us the equal and opposite gesture of the trees, themselves - into the heavens, providing a connection to expansive sky energy. Several participants mentioned that they felt anchored AND expanded while taking the Tulip Poplar essence.
A couple of people experienced this expansion in terms of their viewpoint. Some felt they were given a broader perspective on the cycles of life.
One person felt that the essence helped her see differently by supporting a neutral state of presence. Without so much interference from thoughts or feelings, she was able to access a different perspective.
Although tree essences all seem to have the capacity to ground and expand, I’ve noticed that every tree seems to enact this potential in a slightly different way. The nuances of each are a source of ongoing inquiry for me.
What follows is an overview of qualities that are unique to the Tulip Poplar essence - a collection of energetic effects that are not necessarily shared with other trees.
3. Being Who We Truly Are - In Fullness & Joy
It seems that the Tulip Poplar essence can help us get in touch with who we are at our core - inviting us to fully embody and express our heart’s truth. Many people mentioned that they felt a stronger sense of self and a boost in confidence after starting the essence.
This experience of embracing the self, I heard from several people, isn’t a weighty, super-serious undertaking - there is joy, fun and celebration in embracing who we genuinely are.
For many others, the essence initiated a process - a more gradual or layered unfolding over the course of the week that would eventually lead to the same open-hearted sense of self. Those who went on more of a journey with the essence felt it helped in two ways: it had the potential to create a safe space for the heart/self to heal if needed. It also helped to release any negative beliefs, fears, etc. that were blocking the individual from feeling his/her/their own loving power.
4. A Safe Space for the Self
A couple of participants mentioned that the essence offered a sense of protection - which allowed the self and especially the heart (if wounded in any way) to heal and build strength. The essence seemed to provide an initial boundary that enabled individuals to set and hold their own boundaries in time and to allow space for the true self to grow.
While taking the essence, the following participant had an experience of regathering aspects of herself that had gotten scattered due to past hurts - a variety of boundary-setting perhaps, as she felt better able to hold/contain her own energy.
5. Releasing Blocks
A lot of participants mentioned that the Tulip Poplar showed them significant events, wounds, embedded beliefs, etc. that were blocking them from fully realizing their heart’s truth and showing their uniqueness to the world. The essence shines a light on these sometimes painful areas, but with continued use, it can help us clear and move beyond whatever may be standing in our way.
This last person went on to describe a series of serendipitous events in her professional life after this challenging first phase - a reminder that the essence can ultimately liberate a lot energy, support flow in our lives and help us step into ourselves in a new way.
6. Speaking Our Truth
The Tulip Poplar essence not only helps us reconnect with our authentic self - it also helps us speak from and about this self. Many people in the study said they felt an urge or renewed capacity to share more of who they truly are with others and express their feelings honestly.
7. Activations in the Energy Body/Body
Volunteers most often mentioned sensations in the heart and throat after taking a dose. A few people said that the essence seemed to highlight a relationship between these two areas which underscores the themes of feeling and speaking the heart’s truth.
For some, the heart activation resulted in more openness and connection in their relationships and/or an increased awareness of the flow of giving and receiving - an expression of an open heart chakra.
With regular dosing, a couple of people felt the essence at work in other parts of the body/in all of the chakra centers.
The woman with the shingles outbreak had a unique physical experience that stood out from other people’s reports. In her case, the Tulip Poplar essence seemed to deliver some of the same healing qualities as its herbal counterpart - namely, settling her stomach (as discussed in part 1) and, to some extent, addressing rheumatic discomforts and bringing energy to the rash site.
Her experience raises questions about the essence’s possible role in more acute physical conditions which will certainly require further study.
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The Tulip Poplar essence helps us accept and love the self. With this tree’s energetic support, we are able to heal from past hurts, hold a safe container for ourselves and embody and express who we actually are. We are able to access the joy and the power of our heart’s truth - our wholeness - and expand outward into the world with love and confidence. We are also able, with the essence’s help, to ground, stabilize and develop our own root system - and/or experience expansion, welcoming a wholly different perspective on ourselves, our lives, our purpose.
* * * * *
Tulip Poplar ~ I live my heart’s truth.
Indications
Thanks again to all of the volunteers who took the time to study the essence with me!
If you feel drawn to trees and would like to explore this essence or other tree essences in a private session, feel free to drop me a line at jennifer@deltagardens.com.
I’d also love to hear any feedback you might have about the study and/or your experiences with trees.
To purchase the Tulip Poplar essence, click HERE.
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Jennifer Elmore
Author