"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 23rd 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."
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]
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