Wind, Water and Willows

So here I am playing ‘catch up’ again after being away visiting family in my home island of Jersey, C.I. … 🇯🇪🌞 I took plenty of tree photos whilst I was there which can be seen here on my Facebook page 🙂📷🌳🌲🌴

‘Vine time’, according to Grave’s calendar, started on the 2nd September ..

Most of September is dedicated to Muinn the Vine on the ‘Celtic Tree Calendar’ but sometimes you will see Bramble in place of Vine for Muinn – this is because it is it is considered to be the closest equivalent for those living in the more northerly climes 😉

Also grape vines were not introduced to Britain until the Romans arrived and the climate was a lot warmer than it is now.  Vineyards flourished in much of Britain right up until the second part of the 16^th Century when temperatures began to drop again. 

You can still see the descendants of original Roman vines growing at The Roman Palace of Fishbourne in West Sussex and the wine Wrotham Pinot is made from this variety of grape.

Vine is the only cultivated ‘tree’ of the Ogham and being an introduced species had to be treated with meticulous care in order for it to survive and produce enough fruit. 

In Celtic art you will often see the ‘spiralling vine’ – no doubt a symbol for them of evolutionary growth, expanding awareness and connection with the Divine.

Of course getting merry on the wine produced would also have been regarded as a route to ‘Divine inspiration’ but as we all know exhilaration can so easily be lost when we over indulge so the Vine also encourages “all things in moderation” 😋🍷  

Muinn also symbolises completion of work and its rewards .. so in effect ‘harvesting’ which is very appropriate for this time of year.  

September’s full moon is known as the Harvest Moon (the full moon closest to the Autumnal Equinox) and this year it  falls on Tuesday 21st at 00:55hrs  so why not celebrate by treating yourself to a nice juicy bunch of grapes!🍇😜  … well we do have to be sensible now don’t we! 😉 

Have a Great (rest of) September!

Kim  x

La Mare Wine Estates ~ Jersey, C.I.

Today we come into the ‘month’ of Hazel according to the Robert Graves’ ‘tree calendar’ .. 🌜🌳

You may already be familiar with the ancient Irish Celtic myth about the ‘Salmon of Knowledge’ – the magic fish who lived in the otherworldly ‘Well of Wisdom’.  Nine hazel trees were said to have grown around the well, from which dropped nine hazelnuts – the Salmon eagerly gobbled them up and thus gained all the knowledge of the World ..only to then became the brain food for Fionn mac Cumhaill!  🌰🌰🌰🌰🌰🌰🌰🌰🌰🐟 …..😋

Well it was actually supposed to be for his teacher Finn Eces – if only he’d done his own cooking! 🤭

You can read the whole story here ..

Ask About Ireland ~ The Salmon of Knowledge

River Boyne, Ireland

Interestingly a search on the net for the ‘top 10 brain foods’ will show you that oily fish such as (wild) salmon near enough tops the list every time  ..with nuts of all kinds not much further behind – this due to the essential fatty acids such as Omega 3 contained in these foods 🌞

Hazel trees often grow near water and water is associated with ‘intuitive knowledge’ which probably explains why hazel wood is a favourite choice for dowsing rods 🍃

The number 9 in numerology symbolises (among other things) ‘universal understanding’ and is considered to be a sacred and magical number in many ancient and modern traditions ✨

 Here is a website which gives an extensive insight into the number 9 ..

Library of Halexandria ~ Nines

… so definitely some food for thought there! 🧐

Most of us get our hazelnuts via (not so healthy) biscuits, cakes and chocolates – praline being a particular favourite .. just thinking of that big green triangle 😋   Otherwise Christmas is probably the only time that some of us will eat them in their raw form .. when the walnuts, brazils and almonds have gone 😌 ..

Christmas is still a long way off but with my Swiss Father-in-Law celebrating his 90th birthday next week I thought it would be nice to make mention of this traditional Swiss cake which originates in his home canton of Berne 🇨🇭🎂🎉

It’s called ‘Haselnusslebkuchen’ which literally means ‘hazelnut ginger cake’ though cinnamon rather than ginger seems to be used in the recipe.  You may be wondering why a bear on top of a Christmas cake? 🐻  Well that is because he is Berne’s heraldic animal, its mascot and possible namesake, though Santa Claus is sometimes piped in his place 🧑🏼‍🎄

You can read all about this world famous product here on Wikipedia – I’ll try to obtain a recipe for it to post on site for you just before Christmas, in the meantime enjoy the rest of the summer Folks!

🌞🌳💕

Kim x

Into the Oak!

According to Robert Grave’s Celtic Tree calendar, June 10th is the first day of the month of the Oak or ‘Duir’ (pronounced ‘DOO-r’) in old Irish gaelic. 

‘Duir’ derives from the indo-european root ‘deru’ of which sprouts some very interesting shoots indeed – including, as you might expect ‘door’ but also the words ’tree’, ‘true’ and ’trust’ 🌳

From Wikipedia ..

‘Proto-IE *deru-, a cognate to English tree, is the word for “oak”, though the root has a wider array of meanings related to “to be firm, solid, steadfast” (whence e.g. English true).’

In Old English the words ‘true’ and ‘tree’ looked and sounded very alike – ‘true’ was ‘treowe’ and ‘tree’ was ‘treow’ – which in turn derived from the Germanic adjective ‘treuwaz’ and the noun ‘trewam’  ..which again both came from the Indo-European ’deru’ meaning ‘solid’ and ‘steadfast’, qualities that can as easily apply to truth as to trees 😊

 We’ve also been given the words ‘durable’, ‘duress’, ‘duration’ and ‘endurance’ from the same root – all again relating to solidity or firmness and/or steadfastness – ‘trust’ can also be thought of in these terms ❤️

‘Druid’ also derives from ‘deru’ and can be translated as ‘oak knower’ or ‘truth seer’ – the Oak tree being the most sacred tree of the Druids who would make their wands from its wood. 

This brings us back to ‘door’ as the Oak was thought to exist in the Celtic ‘Otherworld’ as well as this one, so in essence, a portal to another realm 😉

So it’s easy to see how the Oak is associated with the qualities of nobility, strength and protection.

 The Oak

Live thy Life,
Young and old,
Like yon oak,
Bright in spring,
Living gold;

Summer-rich
Then; and then
Autumn-changed
Soberer-hued
Gold again.

All his leaves
Fall’n at length,
Look, he stands,
Trunk and bough
Naked strength.

Alfred Lord Tennyson 1809-1892

Have a very Happy June! 🌞💕