Celtic Tree Calendar

Because my roots are Celtic in origin, I thought it would be fun to do some research on the Celtic Tree Calendar, which fascinates me to no end. I've always loved history and it's so cool when learning about the past leads you to realize that the past and present are not so removed from each other. Family's hand down stories and traditions from generation to generation and I just love seeing where a particular belief or custom originates from. I can still remember my grandfather teaching me all about the trees, he was a fire marshal for the local forest service in the town I grew up in and passed his love of nature to me.

The Celtic Tree Calendar calendar has thirteen lunar divisions. Most modern pagans use fixed dates for each month, rather than following the waxing and waning lunar cycle. Otherwise, eventually the calendar would fall out of sync with the Gregorian year that we all use today because some calendar years have 12 full moons and others have 13. The modern tree calendar is based on an idea that each letter in the ancient Celtic alphabet corresponded to a tree. Today marks the end of the tree month Rowan and tomorrow begins Ash.

The tree month of Ash (Feb. 18th -Mar 17) was a sacred chieftain tree and said to "court the flash" as it was prone to lightning strikes. Its wood was thought to be enchanted and was used for Druid wands and spears. Ash people are quick witted, spontaneous and gregarious. They have a lively curiosity and are intelligent, persuasive speakers, enthusiastic, curious and communicative. In Celtic mythology the ash is known as the tree of enchantment and it is said the Welsh magician Gwydion fashioned his wands from ash wood.

The Ogham (oh-wahm) or sacred Druidic alphabet contained hidden secrets for magic and divination and only the initiated could understand these meanings. The ancient Celts had a close bond with trees and we can see in their magical alphabet and in the tree calendar.They had a deep respect for their trees and it is reflected in the old Celtic word for oak (Duir), the word Derwydd or Duirwydd (oak-seer) was probably the origin of the word Druid.