NOTES for 2015 Celtic Tree Calendar

[The motivation to compose a 'traditional' Celtic Calendar was to try and break down the artificial construct of the confused Roman calendar, and focus on the important times of the year to commemorate and observe, the 8 holy-days, in order to reconnect in a real and meaningful way with the planet's life and motions - ie the real world.]

Notes for the Celtic Tree Calendar

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

2^nd L LUIS (loush) ROWAN Jan 21 - Feb 17 Duck (Lacbu) - Grey (Liatb) – Yellow Chrysolite

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

13^th R RUIS (roosh) ELDER Nov 25 - Dec 22 Rook (Roenat) - Blood-Red (Ruadh) – Dk Green 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 of the solar year, recognised from antiquity and in the earliest courts of law as ‘A Year and a Day’, has its Mayan counterpart in the southern hemisphere on the 25^th July, known by them as the Day Out of Time. They are the ‘connecting’ day of their respective 13 moon natural time counts, where the old is atoned for, resolved and let go, and good intentions set for the coming year; the West’s tradition of making New Year Resolutions is an echo of this shared ancient human story. Its Celtic correspondences are the letter ‘J’, amber in the precious jewels, and mistletoe in the ‘trees’ – the plant most venerated by the Druids for its spiritual (psychotropic) qualities.

The Celtic culture and epistemology also has innumerable synchronistic parallels with its Australian Aboriginal counterpart, and indeed with all the world’s traditional indigenous cultures. We all once shared more or less the same method of time reckoning, primarily by the fixed solar and lunar cycles, and all once devised seasonal calendars describing the signs in Nature that indicated change in all the important plants and animals that were utilised in our day-to-day activities – deeper gnosis revealed the fine details of how to manage our societies to integrate into the territorial and marine ecosystems to maintain biodiverse health, ecological balance and productivity.

The Celt’s Tree Calendar, originally conceived by the Druids as a secret/sacred language, evolved into a mnemonic teaching aid for all the community. Each month of 28 days (four seven-day weeks) was attributed a corresponding consonant, totemic tree, colour, bird and mineral. The four solar ‘stations’ of the year, the fixed Solstices and Equinoxes, plus the Day of Liberation, made up the five vowels and the four Gaelic moveable seasonal observances, situated roughly halfway between the equinoxes and solstices;  Imbolc (i-molk) 1^st February; Beltane (bel-tine) 1^st May; Lughnasadh (loo-nasa)  1^st August; Samhain (sah-win) 31^st October, made up the 8 yearly ‘holy-day’ ritual celebrations that structured their lives.

As with many other traditional cultures around the world, many of the once phenomenal Aboriginal cultures are currently experiencing a revival. The Aborigines, possibly the first civilisation to evolve on Earth and arguably the most advanced, multi-dimensional, highly evolved and fully realised in their integration with the environment of all human cultures, are custodians of the longest continuous holistic knowledge streams, which may well be invaluable to our survival in a rapidly changing future.