WillowKai Meaning
I was asked why I chose the title “WillowKai “to represent my consulting and coaching company. Let me take a few minutes to explain this to you just in case you too might have the same question.
I have always loved trees! Blessed with a childhood that allowed me to climb every tree I could find, I experienced days and months sitting, thinking, feeling the bark and branches as they supported me. Of course, as a young child I did not appreciate it at the time…I just remember loving the smell and the feel and the sense of being held.
Fast forward to now. In thinking about what image would best represent my philosophy on life I wanted to put together in a single word and image everything that sparks my passion. Being mostly Irish I started thinking about that heritage and the strength it has given. I also have been blessed with a small, but forceful genetic tracing of Native American blood. This must explain my deep connection to the earth here in North America! Armed with these two thoughts I began my search.
WHALA!
In ancient Celtic customs “If you knock on a willow tree, it is said to send away bad luck (this is where the custom of “knock on wood” originated). It is also reported, in these legends, that the wind in the willow leaves were elves who whispered and talked among themselves and imparted wisdom to people as they passed underneath the tree allowing the low hanging wispy branches and leaves to brush against them. If you whisper and confess your secrets to the willow tee, the secret will be forever held inside the wood.
In some North American Native tribes, the peoples carried the sprigs from the willow tree for spiritual protection. The Arapaho’s looked towards the tree as a symbol of longevity. Many tribes knew of the health benefits of the inner willow bark. They would steep the constituents of the inner bark in hot water and dink it for pain relief and to reduce a fever. We now call this ASPRIN!
Moving on to the KAI reference, the Navajo use the word Kai to mean willow tree and believed that the properties of the tree are creativity, magic, protection, and healing. Other cultures use this beautiful word to mean:
Burmese: unbreakable due to fluidity
Hawaiian: oceanic and the field of potentiality. A sea of consciousness, ever changing and flowing.
Northern Germanic: “keeper of the keys to earth”
Swahili: loveable and finding in the process of human to human bonding, a common consciousness
Urdu: Kai means “the universe”. The reference being that even in our differences, we are still one.
How could I NOT have combined the two concepts into one and embraced all meanings:
Hence WillowKai.