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TOPIC: Celtic Trees
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/d4be97384bdec76f?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Sat, Dec 15 2007 8:52 pm
From: James Parton


ENTS,

To the Celts, the tree was a source of basic sustenance- a bearer of
food, a provider of shelter and fuel for cooking and warmth. Without
trees, life would have been extraordinarily difficult.

Wood from sacred trees had magickal properties, which was reflected in
the Celtic Ogham alphabet, wherein each letter represents a particular
sacred tree (modern Ogham divination is based on the uses and
importance of these sacred trees to the Celtic people). Some trees
provided food, some wood for making hunting weapons; others were
sacred to the fairy-folk or to the Gods. In Celtic creation stories,
trees were the ancestors of mankind, elder beings of wisdom who
provided the alphabet, the calendar, and entrance to the realms of the
Gods.

Trees were also associated in the Shamanic beliefs of the Druids and
other Celtic peoples with the supernatural world. Trees were a
connection to the world of the spirits and the ancestors, living
entities, and doorways into other worlds. Trees also separated the
earth & sky.

The most sacred tree of all was the Oak tree, which represented the
axis mundi, the center of the world. The Celtic name for oak, daur or
darach, is the origin of the word door- the root of the oak was
literally the doorway to the Otherworld, the realm of Fairy. The word
Druid, the name of the Celtic Priestly class, is compounded from the
words for oak and wise- a Druid was one who was "Oak Wise," meaning
learned in Tree magick and guardian or the doorway.

The Hawthorn & Rowan ( Mountain Ash ) are often considered " Faery "
trees. Rowan branches were put at doorways to ward off bad spirits and
appease the faery folk. In Medieval England Hawthorn trees were
believed to be favored by the Faer Folk, who could cause good or bad
luck. If their hawthorn were cut down, the tree-murdering miscreant's
life would be forfeit for his misdeed; but whomever cared for such a
tree would have have good fortune bestowed upon them by the Faer Folk.

It was additionally believed that if one were to hang a sprig of
Hawthorn in the barn, this would cause cows to give better milk. A
Hawthorn sprig in the rafters of a home helped to keep bogarts,
ghosts, & evil spirits at bay, however in some legends the tree is
not to be brought into the home living space itself, for not all Faer
Folk were good. They could be quite sinister at times. Christianity
also disfavored the Hawthorn, since it was associated with Faer Folk
and with paganism, but even that had limits. The Glastonbury Thorn was
said to be brought to England by Joseph of Aramathea.


Long after the Druids of old have vanished into the mists of time, the
lore of trees continues as a vital part of Celtic myth and folklore.
Countless Irish legends revolve around trees. One could fall asleep
next to a particular tree and awake in the fairy realm, as was
popularly believed with Hawthorn & Rowan. In Celtic legends of the
Gods, trees guard sacred wells and provide healing, shelter, and
wisdom. Trees carried messages to the other realm, and conferred
blessings- to this day, trees can be seen in the Irish countryside
festooned with ribbons and pleas for favors, love, healing, and
prosperity.

The interlaced figures known popularly as Celtic knots represent
sacred trees and plants, and the sacred animals of the forest. The
Green Man or foliate god is the animus of nature; the spirit of the
forest and of the hunt, and is pictured as a spirit face in the form
of gathered leaves and sprouting tendrils. In older legends he is
known as Cernunnos, the horned god of the forest and looks less
treelike with horns of a deer or goat. Medieval Christianity is
believed to have adopted this horned image along with that of Greco-
Roman Pan and made it an image of Satan.

James Parton