Axe discovered in extremely spiritual wood (5)
I believe the answer is:
slash
'axe' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to change as well as being verbs in their base form.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'extremely spiritual wood' is the wordplay.
'extremely' suggests removing the centre.
'wood' becomes 'ash' (wood from an ash tree).
'spiritual' with its middle removed is 'sl'.
'sl'+'ash'='SLASH'
'discovered in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for slash that I've seen before include "Legendary guitarist" , "Violently cut" , "Wee stroke < /" , "Cut with sweeping strokes" , "rent" .)