I hear the Fairies whisper in my ear, "Take the Oak tree essence." I dutifully grab the bottle. My third eye is now throbbing and a symbol pulsating with light appears in front of me from nowhere. It is growing closer and closer until I am surrounding by light. I feel woozy and ungrounded. I want to hold onto something for balance but there is only air around me. Two minutes before I was working on my book, The Fairy Field Guide, wondering what to write about next. "You need to see this. Feel this," the Fairies had told me.

A vision appears before me of a massive oak tree. I must be in a forest.

The tree is so close to me I can count its ridges and see its bark peeling. The spirit of this tree feels male and embodies the qualities of strength and endurance-withstanding all obstacles to still stand tall and survive.

I feel a wave of emotions so strong I lose my breath. Tears burst from me. This sadness is overwhelming. I feel loss and emotional pain surge my insides and rip through me. Oh my, I realize, this is what the great Oak is feeling! My vision widens and the movie screen grows bigger. I can see now what surrounds him. Miles around are the burnt skeletons of thousands of fellow trees. Some white with ash, they look like ghosts. This forest was decimated by a fire! This oak tree before me and a few surrounding him are all that remain intact. In connecting to this tree, I know this fire was caused by the thoughtlessness of Man, and the trees, this tree, feels the pain and the loss. The earth below him feels the loss also, and now I do too.

With this knowing, as quickly as I was thrown into this vision, it is now fading and disappearing. I am back in my room with the soft blue cushions beneath me. I can hear the sweet barks of my dogs in the next room, and a deep voice whispers into my left ear, "THIS is why you must write the Fairy Field Guide. Tell the stories of the trees. Let the people remember you are a part of us, not separate."

But I realize, I had forgotten. Each tree has a spirit much like we do. Each tree's personality is different and unique like a thumbprint. I forgot this simple truth. I lost my reverence. I, like all the others, saw the trees as things to decorate my landscape. Yet, many trees' roots are longer and stronger than mine. They've seen wars, housed creatures, and withstood prefab buildings put around them. They were not inferior to me--the great, mighty human. I was ignoring this great teacher standing right outside my door.

I grab my good pen and a pad of paper. "Lesson from an oak tree", I write, in bold black letters. I start my story: "I hear the Fairies whisper in my ear…"