Celtic Tree Year

Further NOTES for the Celtic Tree Calendar

The Celtic culture and epistemology has innumerable synchronistic parallels with Australian Aboriginal counterparts, the first civilisation on Earth from which all others are derived. One of the ‘clues’ is the consonant ‘Ng’ found in Celtic language (theirs was orally transmitted with the aid of iconography, song and dance, just as Aboriginal culture was, and required the same whole-brain ‘pattern-thinking’ as do all non-written indigenous cultures) – it is said that it was pronounced ‘Ny’ but I doubt that – if it was, why didn’t they write it Ny? I believe it was pronounced the same as Aborigines do, as in si’NG’ing, and is a relic from the archetype Aboriginal language, which was obviously first as it came tens of thousands of years before any other culture! It is more or less the same as Aboriginal calendars (many on the internet now…) being a seasonal calendar describing the flowering and harvesting times for all the plants and animals they utilised in their daily activities. Ancient Cultures in both northern and southern hemispheres are currently experiencing revivals of their lost knowledge streams.  Aboriginal cultures are the most advanced and highly evolved of all.

So the Tree Calendar, originally conceived by the Druids as a secret/sacred language, evolved into a teaching aid for all the community – if you delve in more deeply, you can uncover an entire encyclopaedia and epistemology for the life-cycles and uses (practical, medicinal and ceremonial) of all the plants and animals they shared their world with … exactly the same as Aboriginal teachings.  The Tree-cycle encompasses virtually all the folk-lore, every aspect of the culture that children would need to know to survive in their world.  By studying it they would learn about every plant in their local habitat and more specifically, how to manage the forests so they keep all the useful species healthy and productive. One ‘poem’ (song cycle) explained all the aspects of the wood from various trees, how to season the logs, how to utilise for carving, for heating purposes etc.

Each month of 28 days (four sever-day weeks) was attributed a consonant and corresponding tree, animal and mineral  - the four ‘stations’ of the year, the Solstices and Equinoxes plus the Day of Liberation, made up the five vowels. 

Day of Liberation, 2012

"We must retrace our steps or perish"

Notes  for Celtic Tree Calendar

First Quarter          Full Moon           Last Quarter           New Moon

1     B      BETH (beh)       BIRCH      Dec 24  -  Jan 20     Pheasant (Besan) - White (Ban) - Red Sard

2     L       LUIS (loosh)     ROWAN    Jan 21 – Feb 17     Duck (Lacbu) - Grey (Liatb) - Issachar

3    N      NION (knee-un)      ASH      Feb 18 – Mar 17   Snipe (Naescu) - Clear (Nechot) – Sea-green Beryl

4    F       FEARN (fairin)      ALDER      Mar 18 – Apr 14     Gull (Faelinn) - Crimson (Flann) – Fire Garnet

5    S    SAILLE (sahl-yeh)  WILLOW  Apr 15 – May 12   Hawk (Seg) – Fine Coloured (Sodath) -Carbuncle

6    H    HUATH (hoh-uh)  HAWTHORNE May13-Jun 9  Night Crow(hadaig)-Terrible(Huath)-Lapis Lazuli

7    D   DUIR (dooir)    OAK         10 – July 7    Wren (Droen)  -  Black (Dub)  -  White Carnelian

8   T  TINNE (chihnn-uh)  HOLLY  July 8 – Aug 4  Starling(Thuin) - Dark Grey(Temen)–YellowCairngorm

9    C    COLL  (kol)     HAZEL     Aug 5 – Sept 1      Crane (Corr)  -  Brown (Cron)  -  Banded Red Agate

10  M    MUIN (mooin)    VINE    Sept 2 – Sept 29     Titmouse (Mintan) -Variegated (mbracht) - Amethyst

11  G     GORT (go-ert)    IVY    Sept 30 – Oct 27     Mute Swan (Geis)  -   Blue (Gorm)  - Yellow Serpentine

12 Ng   NGETAL(nyetal) REED  Oct 28 – Nov 24   Goose (Ngeigh) -GlassGreen(Nglas)–ClearGreenJasper

13  R     RUIS (roosh)   ELDER   Nov 25 – Dec 22   Rook(Roenat) - Blood-Red(Ruadh) -DkGreen Malachite

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The Day of Liberation on the 23^rd December, the ‘extra’ day that stands apart from the 364 days of the thirteen months, recognised from antiquity and in the earliest courts of law as ‘A Year and a Day’, has its Mayan counterpart on the opposite solstice, and was known by them as the ‘Day Out of Time’– its Celtic correspondences are the letter ‘J’, amber in the precious jewels, and mistletoe in the ‘trees’ – the plant most venerated by Druids (and Druidesses) for its spiritual (psychotropic) qualities. This bardic poem alludes to the horticultural history of the grafting of this sacred plant onto the oak tree:

"The day that is no day calls for a tree that is no tree, of low yet lofty growth.
When the pale queen of Autumn casts her leaves, my leaves are freshly tufted on her boughs.
Look, the twin temple-posts of green and gold, the overshadowing lintel stone of white
For here with white and green and gold I shine - graft me upon the King when his sap rises
That I may bloom with him at the year's prime, that I may blind him in his hour of joy."

- Robert Graves, The White Goddess

[The full moon of December 2012 is included as it falls within the first Celtic month of Beth]