The meaning behind the juniper tree…

The juniper tree represents the practice because it holds to emulate the tree in strength, wisdom, usefulness and beauty. The strength of the juniper tree is seen in its capacity to survive in harsh and bare climates, growing out of rocks and surviving in areas with very little water. 

The wisdom of junipers is seen in its ability to live in almost every continent in the world and is one of the oldest living species of tree. The oldest living juniper in the U.S., the Bennett Juniper is thought to be 6000 years old. Junipers have the capacity to self-prune, shedding branches for survival, and its sap is rot resistant.

Juniper berries and sap have been used medicinally in Chinese and Native American cultures and the berries supply food and shelter for native animals. Early pioneers and cowboys have used juniper trees from building to using its soft bark to make bedding and even toilet paper.

Further-more these trees come in all shapes and sizes, just like the conditions and patients the practice treats, from unassuming shrub like bushes to graceful long arched boughs, each has a unique, mystical and artful growth pattern.