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This is a Celtic Tree Calendar, different from the
birthdays calendar in that this is based more
on the lunar cycles, and not on myth.
Beth
(Birch) - December 24 to January 20
The Birch stands out
as a graceful, slender tree with a characteristic white bole. The
white indicates cleanliness and determination in overcoming
difficulties. This tree starts the Celtic tree calendar, and so
represents the energies associated with new beginnings.
Magical Associations: Protection of children, purification,
creation |
Luis
(Rowan)- January 21 to February 17
The Rowan has long enjoyed its reputation to protect against
enchantment. It name is linked with the Norse 'runa', a charm, and
the Sanskrit 'runa', meaning a magician. Rune staves, sticks upon
which runes were inscribed, were cut from the Rowan tree. Rowan
played a central role in Druid ceremonies. Even in more recent
times, these beliefs have been upheld in practices from different
parts of Britain. In the North, for example, sparys of Rowan were
fixed to cattle sheds to protect the animals from harm, and in
Strathspey farmers drove their goats through hoops framed from
branches of Rowan. Sprigs were also placed over the main door of
the house and also worn on the person to ward off false
enchantment -- the 'evil eye'. In Wales or Cymru, Rowans used to
be planted in churchyards to watch over the spirits of the dead,
as Yew is elsewhere.
Magical Associations: Healing, personal empowerment,
divination |
Nion
(Ash) - February 18 to March 17
The Ash of
the Ogham alphabet is the Cosmic Ash, or World Tree. It also
appears in Norse mythology as Yggdrasil, the tree of Odin, or
Woden, who hung from it in order to gain enlightenment in the
secrets of the Runes, and whose Celtic equivalent is Gwidion. The
Ash tree has deeply penetrating roots and sours the soil, making
it difficult for other vegetation to grow beneath it. Its twigs
are thick and strong. In Norse mythology, this tree spans the
universe -- its roots in hell, its branches supporting the heavens
and with Earth at its center. In Celtic cosmology in particular it
connects the three circles of existence - Abred, Gwynedd and
Ceugant - which can be variously interpreted as past, present and
future, or as confusion, balance and creative force; there being
no hell, but only continual rebirth as passage is made from circle
to circle until the Land of the Blessed is finally reached.
Magical Associations: Prosperity, protection, healing |
Fearn
(Alder) - March 18 to April 14
The Alder,
like the Willow, is a water-loving tree. Its timber is oily and
water resistant and therefore used extensively for underwater
foundations: parts of Venice and many medieval cathedrals were
built on Alder piling. Bran the Blessed, or Benegeit Bran, is the
god linked with this tree in the Ogham alphabet. He is reputed to
have used his body to raise his followers above the dangerous
waters, as the wood does when used as a building material.
Mortally wounded in the battle with the Irish, Bran prophesied the
events that would follow his death, instructing his followers to
cut off his head and carry it with them. They traveled to Harlech,
where the head sang for seven years; then to Gwales, he head
remaining uncorrupted and prophesying the while. Eventually, they
came to rest in London, Caer Llyndain, and buried Bran's head at
the White Mount, or Bryn Gwyn, now the site of the Tower of
London. It was held that as long as the head remained concealed it
would give protection against plague from across the sea. King
Arthur, it is said, once dug it up; an unwise action, since the
Saxons then invaded the country.
Magical Associations: Spirituality, teaching, weather magic,
duty, mental prowess |
Saille
(Willow) - April 15 to May 12
The Willow
in the Tree alphabet stands for the female and lunar rhythms of
life. She is water-seeking, thriving from preference on the damp
margins of lakes and streams or across the low-lying water
meadows. Water and the tidal movements of the sea are governed by
the pull of the moon. The moon in its monthly rhythms is female,
contrasting with the male sun's daily and yearly turnings. In
several ways, the Celts held women in higher regard than we do
today. On the material level, women were property owners, and
whoever controlled the property controlled the marriage. Women of
all types and ages appeared in the Celtic pantheon, the spiritual
strength and life-giving qualities given by both female and male
recognized equally. There were may colleges of Druidesses -
learned women and teachers - respected equally for their gifts of
see-ship, often expressed through dreams, or night visions.
Magical Associations: Romantic love, healing, protection,
fertility, magic for women |
Uath
(Hawthorn) - May 13 to June 9
According
to the Ogham calendar, May, the month of the female Hawthorn,
leads up to the fertile Oak month following on from Mayday, or
Beltane. The Hawthorn is a small tree that grows with a dense,
many branched and twisted habit. Due to its impenetrable growth,
it is mainly used as hedging, and the origin of her present name
comes from the Anglo-Saxon 'haegthorn', meaning hedge-thorn. Other
common names are whitethorn and may. Whitethorn originates from
the contrast of her smooth gray bark with the powdery black bark
of the Blackthorn; the name may from the time of her flowering,
when the blossom is used to form garlands on houses and maypoles
for Mayday. She also has thorns for defense.
Magical Associations: Fertility, peace, prosperity, binding |
Duir
(Oak) - June 10 to July 7
Every house
has a front door. If you wish to enter, the door must be
approached and your presence made known. The door may then be
opened. The very word 'door' comes from the Gaelic and Sanskrit 'duir',
a word for solidity, protection and the Oak tree. In the essential
forest, the Oak is King. He stands mightily solid with great
branches, matched only by still greater roots. He is often struck
by lightning. The force of the strike and the heat bursts the sap
and stem apart leaving the trunk gnarled and withered. Yet he
still manages to survive, over the years, decades and centuries.
His growth is slow but sure. His children grow into magnificent
replicas of himself and he is a marker point, a cornerstone and a
refuge in the forest.
Magical Associations: All positive purposes, magic for men,
fidelity |
Tinne
(Holly) - July 8 to August 4
The Holly
is male, and so symbolizes paternity and fatherhood. With the Ivy
and the Mistletoe, the Holly has always been regarded as a potent
life symbol, both for his year-long foliage and for his winter
fruits. Concealed within the verses of the 'Song of Amergin',
chanted by a chief Bard as the landed on the shores of Ireland, is
the line "I am a battle-waging spear" - the wood of the
Holly was used in fashioning spear shafts.
Magical Associations: Protection, prophecy, magic for animals, sex
magic |
Coll
(Hazel) - August 5 to September 1
According
to Celtic lore, Fintan 'the White Ancient' was able to take the
form of animals, one of which was the salmon. Salmon are
associated with the Hazel in Irish legend, swimming in the River
Boyne under the overhanging hazel tree from which the nine nuts of
poetic wisdom fell. These were eaten by the salmon who absorbed
the inspiration they encapsulated. The Hazel is also strongly
associated with meditation and mediation. The Druids were the
inheritors of the knowledge of measurement and calculation of the
earlier 'dodmen', the prehistoric surveyors of the lay lines and track ways
portrayed in the ancient chalk-cut figure of the Long Man of
Wilmington, shown holding staves or rods. Also skilled in the law,
the Druids were called upon to mediate in disputes concerning
property and land boundaries, much as present-day surveyors.
Magical Associations: Manifestation, spirit contact, protection,
fertility |
Muin
(Vine) - September 2 to September 29
The Vine of
the Ogham alphabet is the grape vine. Though obviously a more
recently imported, cultivated species, unlike the other Ogham
trees and shrubs, there is no doubt that the Vine has been known
and propagated in the British Isles for a long time, its
distinctive fruits and foliage appearing frequently on Bronze Age
artifacts.
Magical Associations: Fertility, inspiration, prosperity, binding |
Gort
(Ivy) - September 30 to October 27
The Ivy
grows, spreads and flourishes in many conditions - cultivated land
and wasteland, in light or in near darkness, in fertile soil or on
rubble and stones. It will push its way through tiny cracks and
crevices to reach the light and it is strong and difficult to
destroy. Since ancient times, the Vine and the Ivy have been
regarded as enemies. If the Vine, through intoxication, releases
prophetic powers, the Ivy, in contrast, puts you in touch with
your own inner resources, giving you the ability to see through
the eyes of the soul beyond the everyday world.
Magical Associations: Healing, protection, cooperation, exorcism |
Ngetal
(Reed) - October 28 to November 24
Thin and
slender is the Reed. He stands in clumps at the edge of the river
and between his feet hides the swift pike awaiting an unsuspecting
minnow to come his way. In his thinness the reed resembles arrows
that fly, silver-tipped, up into the unknown air to land at the
very source that one had searched for all these years. Firing
arrows off into the unknown is an expression of the desire to
search out basic truths. If you loose off without direction, the
place of landing will be random. If the firing off is carried out
with the correct conviction, determination and sense of purpose,
then the act becomes secondary to the event that comes both before
and after the moment.
Magical Associations: Fertility, protection, love, family concerns |
Ruis
(Elder) - November 25 to December 22
The Elder
is linked to the eternal turnings of life and death, birth and
rebirth. It represents the end in the beginning and the beginning
in the end; life in death and death in life; the casting out of
devils of the old year and the renewal and creativity of the new;
the timelessness of the cycle by which the fading of old age is
always balanced by the start of new birth.
Magical Associations: Exorcism, prosperity, banishing, healing |
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