The Cosmic Tree, with its roots in the earth, and its branches spreading into the heavens, is a universal symbol found in many cultures and mythologies. It spans the 4 directions, integrating aspects of all. As a symbol for our healing process, it reminds us that our journey takes us deeper (in Soul work) as well as outward (the journey of the Spirit), and leads in many different directions.

“Cosmic Tree Counseling and Healing Arts” is the web home of:

• Gregory Wilson, counselor, painter, activist
• Cleo Kearns, scholar, shamanic healer, spiritual counselor and a leader of ritual and ceremony
• Helen Wilson, spiritual companion, photographer, designer

All our work revolves around facilitating the healing of ourselves, the earth, and all beings in our presence. We believe that the integration of nature, our bodies, spirits and emotions brings us ever closer to our true selves.

Cosmic Tree was founded out of a deep awareness that we face unprecedented personal and cultural anxiety, trauma, disease and addiction. This acute and widespread condition is the result of an economic regime that deprives the vast majority of people of the basic necessities of life — healthful food, affordable shelter, health care and community — and of a colonization of our minds by a largely broken educational system, toxic media and widespread dissemination of misinformation. We see and feel the difficulty of loosening the hold of these forces, and we feel, as well, the corruption of our minds and hearts, as we seem forced to participate in the system of gathering wealth from the bottom and moving it to the top; gathering energy and substance from the earth’s living systems only to place it at the disposition of the few; leaving behind wards, poverty, environmental damage and death.

Far from caring for “the least of these,” we see on every side the privileging of those who have the most. We see fossil fuel kings with active and long standing knowledge of the devastation their industry has created saying “let’s proceed anyway.” We see financiers who are more aware than most of the extreme fragility of our monetary system refusing to tolerate the least restraint, either ethical or legal, on their speculations. We see a medical profession that is deeply compromised by pharmaceutical and medical technology companies. We see an educational system that exploits classroom teachers to the point of abuse while rewarding administrators exorbitantly, and that resolutely underfunds science, most of which now requires sources of funding outside the university to continue, while it relegates the humanities to the back of the bus.

This crisis creates a deep sense of disease, or dis-ease in most of us, both healers and patients, counselors and clientele, teachers and students, ministers and congregations. Most of the time, we deny or distance ourselves from this dis-ease. We say “that’s how it is,” or “you have to live in the real world,” or “I’m just trying to make enough money to retire.”

But this distancing is costly; it comes at a price to both our physical and mental health. We see this price in the sky-rocketing problem of drug abuse, the rising rate of youth suicide, and in the epidemic of depression and mental illness. The latter has escalated to the point where mental health experts gathering first for a conference called by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta and then under the auspices of The Carter Center, can speak of “climate trauma” and of politically induced anxiety attacks. At that conference, one health care advocate noted that our addiction to fossil fuels is killing more people than AIDS, malaria and TB combined, and he concluded “In the 21st Century we can no longer support healthy people on a sick planet.”

At Cosmic Tree, all of our services are designed to contribute to addressing and healing this situation of of cultural and environmental breakdown. We seek and support effective approaches, both personal and collective, for cultivating a free mind and body, able to respond with resourcefulness and resilience to these challenges.

These approaches involve 1) understanding clearly through a process of study, research, analysis and dialogue, the forces that are determining our culture today; 2) clearing a space in terms of time, attention clarity and emotional health to address these forces; 3) exploring ways to connect with spiritual guidance in this process and 4) developing personal practices and covenants that will enable us to work together to create places of respite, renewal and creative imagination for the future.

We offer educational workshops, and counseling and healing services for individuals of all ages, couples, and groups. Call for times and locations, 802-333-9102.

For more information on Cleo’s background, click here.

For more information on Gregory’s background, click here.

Helen’s background is described here.

All our work is on a sliding scale basis, with counseling sessions between $30 – $90, and spiritual companioning between $25 – $35.