Living Treefully
An inspiring metaphor for living and learning
Pamela Meeking-Stewart’s book The Wheel of Segais – Living Treefully was officially launched at the Verb Readers and Writers Festival at The National Library on Sunday 7 November 2021.
Living Treefully is a book for any person, organisation, group, team or relationship that has ever asked the question, ‘Where next?’ – a system for managing change and ‘living treefully’ in the seasonal way that trees do.
It can help to guide you and provide insight, no matter where you are in the journey of your life right now. When you are starting a new endeavour, just like the tree you will begin in Winter with planting the seed of what it is you wish to harvest. Alternatively, when you are stuck in a rut, instead of trying to jump to a solution you can take a moment to ask where you are in the cycle of the seasons at this moment. Winter/Seeding? Spring/Emergence? Summer/Maturation? Autumn/Manifestation?
Praise for Living Treefully
“If you find yourself wondering what your next step might be, or what your intuition is trying to tell you but you can’t quite make out, then this book is for you. It’s a book that can help you make decisions, plot your course through life, and bring projects to fruition.”
Philip Carr-Gomm, Chosen Chief (Emeritus), Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
“Living Treefully is a powerful metaphor for life. Pamela Meekings-Stewart’s concise journey through patterns of seasonal change is abundant with bite-sized kernels of wisdom.”
Dr. Danuta Raine
“Pamela reminds us of the growth and development of trees and how, like them, we can take our time for germination, growth, harvest and decay. This is a beautiful tool for re-imagining purpose in the 21st Century.”
Georgina Langdale, Centre for Nature Connection
Buying The Wheel of Segais – Living Treefully
Simply use the order form here and either pay by internet banking (NZ only – account number: 020536 0250075 00, account name: PJ Meekings-Stewart – please add your name as reference) or with PayPal
Book only (incl gst) in New Zealand $30.00 NZ
Book + postage (incl gst) in New Zealand $35.00 NZ
Book + postage to Australia $42.00 NZ
Book + postage to UK and all other countries $55.00 NZ
Once your payment and full address details have been received, your Wheel of Segais – Living Treefully book will be dispatched – in New Zealand by Parcel Post /overseas by International Air Parcel (Australia 3-6 days / rest of world 4-10 days).
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The cycle of the seasons
The understanding of the Cycle of the Seasons is profound and universal. It is a way of describing the world and ourselves found in the wisdom of the great philosophers and teachers worldwide.
“Wise Druids were the priests, philosophers, scientists, judges and teachers of their people, and reached a standard in each of these fields that at least equalled, and probably exceeded, that of any other practitioners in the ancient world . . . [T]heir knowledge of the natural world was based on close, intelligent and accurate observations; and their arbitration of civil disputes and judgement of criminal cases were regarded as final, so absolute was the respect in which they were held by the communities whom they served. They were exemplars of personal sanctity and sagacity, working within a tradition of received wisdom, training and mutual support that brought out the best of which humans were capable.”
Ronald Hutton, Professor of History, University of Bristol
Journey around The Wheel of Segais
The Druids, as with other ancient cultures, used their observations and understanding of the planting cycle and the cycle of the seasons to offer wise counsel on the order of all things.
WINTER – the time of SEEDING, of Potential and Possibility, of Beginnings. The seed beneath the Winter soil is excited by the spark of life, promising what is to come.
SPRING – the time of EMERGENCE. The passion for growth is nurtured by the warming Spring rain.
SUMMER – the time of MATURATION. Under the harsh glare of the Summer sun, the plant’s abundance requires some discipline and structure, laterals are pinched out and a trellis is erected, to ensure the best possible harvest (outcome).
AUTUMN – the time of MANIFESTATION. A time of completion, of Harvest. A time of satisfaction and reflection.
And the cycle goes on. We can choose DECAY or GENESIS, an ending or the planting of a new Seed.
The Wheel of Segais – Living Treefully describes this seasonal cycle as a vitally important process and an invaluable tool that you can start using any time. Journey around The Wheel of Segais, delve into the wisdom pool and the quadrants of the four seasons. See how others have benefitted from ‘living treefully’ in the personal stories told throughout the book and try out the exercises offered at the end of each segment.
Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were. The life of humankind is a circle from childhood to childhood and so it is in everything where power moves. Our tepees were round like the nest of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation’s hoop.
Black Elk
Way-showing & Wisdom Cards
As a companion to the book I have produced a set of Living Treefully cards – 36 ‘Way-Showing’ cards and 16 ‘Wisdom’ cards. These cards can be used for finding an answer to a personal question you have when taking a walk in a forest or a labyrinth. These cards came out of a workshop with a number of colleagues who were working around the Wheel of Segais testing the ‘Living Treefully’ metaphor for me. I have a beautiful, large labyrinth on my farm and I thought walking it could also help test the metaphor. So we took a few questions and wisdom statements from the book and out to the labyrinth we went. It was a great success. Participants kept saying things like, “How did it know?” or “The answer was so right for me but I would never have thought of it!” and so on. The book benefited and the Cards were born. Happy Wheel!
Buying Way Showing & Wisdom Cards
Cards only (incl gst) in New Zealand $46 NZ
No postage information is available at this time. Email pamela@thewoolshed.com for updates.
WHEEL OF SEGAIS COURSES
These days I use The Wheel of Segais – Living Treefully in all my Life Coaching work. As well as doing personal sessions, I run 3-monthly ‘Wheel’ workshops here in New Zealand. The students at these workshops are learning to plot the paths, the cycles, of their projects, their relationships, their lives, through the four (inevitable) stages of Initiation, Emergence, Maturation and Manifestation.
In Aotearoa New Zealand I run several one-day facilitated workshops for up to 20 people following the 12 streams that flow from the Well of Segais: Transformation, Openness, Affinity, Passion, Commitment, Alignment, Identity, Discrimination, Ripening, Healing, Harvest and Reflection.
I am exploring the possibility of making these workshops available online for those of you in other countries or out of town.
Hopefully, I will be travelling to Australia, the UK and Europe in 2022 and I am keen to run one-day Wheel of Segais – Living Treefully workshops. If you would be interested in attending one of these please register your interest. If you would like to organise a one-day workshop for me (promotion, venue, admin, etc.) then I would be happy to offer you a place for free.
To register interest contact Pamela Meekings-Stewart.
