I hope everyone is having a lovely day and a lovely week, and I hope everyone’s Ostara plans are coming along nicely. I think we have maybe four days, five days left to get our ducks in a row. And then right on the heels of the equinox, we have the New Moon on the 21st which coincides with the sun moving into Aries, and then a penumbral eclipse on Saturday the 25th and all of this is just to say these skies are about to get buckwild. This energy is going to be all over the place, so let’s just buckle up and hold on tight.
We are going to talk about the Celtic Tree calendar and also the Celtic Ogham alphabet and we will get into what it all means and how we can use this knowledge to our advantage and that’s going to be a fun topic for discussion, I think. But first, I want to read an email. I’m still getting emails from witches in response to the Past Lives and Reincarnation episode from February 23rd and I am loving all of these messages. There are so many past life regression stories that I just find so intriguing, and I wanted to read this one:
“I had my son in 2009, and I always said he saved my life. I was suicidal and self destructive but he gave me purpose. Every single morning of the pregnancy I had a panic attack in the shower, terrified that I was going to lose him. I didn’t even know what a panic attack was at that time, or connect what I was physically feeling to my anxious thoughts. When I was in the late stage of pregnancy I had a lot of fear around his birth. I irrationally, didn’t want him to leave my womb because I knew he was safe there. My body responded in kind – he was late, and I had to be induced. We have had a strong connection and deep love that continues even now that he is 13 and individuating into his peer group.
“Also, I have always had a love of books and reading. It was a sacred escape from childhood trauma as well as a source of learning, and I am most happy as a perpetual student. One special interest of mine has been Ancient Greek theology; it just lit a spark in me when I first learned about it in sixth grade. I have always had an affinity for Aphrodite in particular.
“In 2020 I had a QHHT session (which stands for Quantum Healing Hypnosis Technique; which was developed by Dolores Cannon who was a pioneering regressive hypnotherapist) and learned that I was a priestess in Ancient Greece. I could see large stone steps and went inside to see a library of resources. I didn’t live in the temple, I had a small home and a young son. I could sense the soul of the child and I knew it was Tavish, the same soul I have as a son in this lifetime.
“During the session, when asked to go to an important event in that life I went back to the steps and looked up to see it absolutely destroyed. I fell to my knees and sobbed at the desecration of the site and the loss of all the sacred knowledge held within. Then I heard commotion behind me and leapt up in fear, running home to find my son and protect him. Desperately trying to navigate the chaos, I could see we were overrun with Christian barbarians, and my fear for my baby grew.
“As I was running to him, a large man caught me and either stabbed me in the chest or slit my throat -I’m not sure which, as it happened so fast. My spirit left my body and I was hovering up above the Earth, I looked like white vapor, and still I was trying to get back to him but I couldn’t; it felt like this wasn’t allowed. I kept trying to resist but suddenly I was sucked into my next life in Victorian England.
So this story really got to me, and a few things really stood out. First of all, we have the parallels between this ancient lifetime and her current lifetime, there’s of course the preoccupation with ancient Greece and goddess worship, and there’s the irrational fear for her son during her pregnancy and their very strong bond now that he’s older. But beyond that, what stood out to me was the struggle that this witch recalls after her violent but ultimately very quick death. She recalls being snatched so quickly from her physical body, and then having this singular mindset of going back so that she could protect her son, but also having the sense that she wasn’t permitted to do so, and then her next memory is one of being thrust into another lifetime in Victorian England.
Now, I did the math, and this is where it gets really interesting. The Romans converted to Christianity in like 300CE, roughly thereabout. And these Christianized Romans conquered Greece about one hundred years or so later. So, although it would have been about 1400 years between the Roman invasion of Greece and the beginning of the Victorian era, which is when she said she was sent to her next incarnation, it seemed like it happened so quickly from her perspective. I mean, at least it reads that way, that’s how I understood her recollection as it was written. She’s there in Greece, violently murdered, and then struggling to get back with her complete focus on her son, and then bam! She’s reborn in Victorian England which would have been sometime between like 1840 and 1900.
So it makes sense to me, because my understanding of reincarnation based on my own reading and my personal experiences is that the souls are not always churning through new lifetimes one right after the last; there can be, and often is, a delay between one lifetime and the next. For whatever reason. And then if we continue to follow the timeline that this witch gives, there can’t have been too many years between the end of her Victorian lifetime and the beginning of this one. Obviously, we don’t know how long she may have lived, and I don’t know when she was born in this lifetime, but there is definitely a much shorter gap between the first two lifetimes and the most recent.
Now, what does all of this mean? I don’t know, man, it’s just cool. All we can do is continue to try and learn as much as we can about our past lives and try to understand how they may inform our current lives and try to figure out what we are here to learn. In the case of this witch, she feels that she and her son still have a lot to learn from one another, and that they have remained connected across lifetimes and continue to find each other for some greater purpose, whatever it might be. And I do have one more email that I want to read, but it’s a quick one:
“I wanted to see if you had any insight on how to improve the energy of my home. On Valentine’s Day we had a water leak that damaged my two bathrooms, basement, and part of my kitchen. The restoration company had to demo and I am living with exposed walls and floors. Ever since this happened I haven’t been comfortable in my home. We have been given a 4 to 6 months timeline on when they can start to rebuild. I am trying to practice gratitude as this could have been so much worse but the biggest thing I have been struggling with is that the energy of my home just feels wrong. I’ve tried to cleanse but it just doesn’t seem to do the trick. Is this just my life until the rebuild is done or is there something you would suggest trying? Thank you for taking the time.”
So when I read this, I just immediately felt sympathy for this witch’s home. And I essentially told her this: Homes have an energy and spirit of their own, and they respond to renovations and damage the same way that we would if we were in a serious accident and had to spend a lot of time recovering and rehabilitating. To be very blunt, it sounded to me like this house is depressed.
So I suggested that this witch sit and have a conversation with her home and explain what’s happened, how sorry she is that it’s been damaged this way, how thankful she is that it continues to protect her family, and just to let it know that she’s working hard to get it rebuilt again. And then to continue to talk to it from time to time. Then a day or two later, I got an update:
“Good Evening Eli,
I wanted to let you know that this morning I took the time to talk to my home. I sat in the dining room, poured us some coffee and just started talking. Funny enough once I started it wasn’t weird at all. Like talking to a friend. I explained what happened and what’s next and that I’ll do my best to care for it. I even ended up apologizing for the “ugh I hate this house” comments I made when things got crazy.
I don’t hate my home, I just hated the condition it was left in by the previous owners. I told my home I will take care of it and bring love to the space. Afterward, I just sat and watched the smoke from the incense I had lit dance around up and down the walls and felt the peace and coziness envelope my home. Thank you again for suggesting it. Me and my home will be just fine.”
And we should all do this with our houses, our apartments, even just our own room if we’re living with roommates. We should say hello when we arrive, say goodnight before bed, and just remember to treat our homes as we would a member of the family. So, please keep sending me those messages, and keep writing with questions you may have, or comments, criticisms, I welcome all of it. Through email at eli@middleagedwitch.com, on social media at @middleagedwitch, or in the Facebook Group or the Discord server, which I will link in the episode description.
And now with all of the housekeeping out of the way, we can get to the topic of the day. While I was getting my thoughts together about this, I realized that I’m going to have to begin at the beginning. The Celtic Tree calendar is a concept that’s easier to track once we have a bit of an understanding of the Celtic Ogham alphabet. So we are going to start there. Ogham is an early Medieval alphabet that was mostly used to write the early Irish language. And according to the writing conventions of the time and specific to the region, many of the letters of this alphabet correspond to certain trees.
Now, the Irish at this time didn’t need to use this alphabet, they were well familiar with the Latin alphabet and could have used it instead, but scholars believe that Ogham was developed specifically to be cryptic. In other words, the alphabet was “created by Irish scholars or druids for political, military or religious reasons to provide a secret means of communication in opposition to the authorities of Roman Britain.” And I’ll provide links to the source materials of these assertions in the show notes.
So with that in mind, the Celtic Tree calendar is based on the concept that letters in the Ogham Alphabet correspond to different trees, and the trees in turn correspond to a different month in the lunar cycle. The possible reasons for assigning the letters to trees and then in turn, assigning the trees to the months is not well-documented or well-understood; this alphabet was devised like 1500 years ago. But, whatever the reasons were, it’s a fascinating method of time reckoning, it is an interesting addition to the many and varied astrology disciplines, and it can be used for divination as well, which we will talk a little about later on.
But first, let’s run through the Celtic tree months. And while we go through these, try to find your Celtic tree sign, and just see how well you feel it lines up with your personality.
So first, we have the Birch moon. This is the Achiever. This period begins December 24th, roughly in line with the winter solstice, and ends January 20th. Folks born under this tree are ambitious, loving, and courageous. But above all else, they’re incredibly driven.
The Rowan moon is known as the Thinker.This period begins January 21st and ends February 17th. Folks born under this tree are intelligent, patient, and influential. These are the philosophers, and they can often feel misunderstood.
The Ash moon is the Enchanter. This period runs from February 18th through March 17th. Someone born under this tree is free-thinking, artistic, imaginative. The thing about the enchanters is that others tend to find them fascinating, although they can seem withdrawn and moody at times.
The Alder moon begins March 18th and ends April 14th. This is the Trailblazer. Folks born under this tree are especially romantic, brave, and generous. These people see their goal and they find a way to make it happen.
The Willow moon runs from April 15th through May 12th. The willow is the Observer, and someone born during this period is known to be generally calm, intuitive, and sympathetic. And another interesting thing about Willows is that they are known to find meaning where others may not see it.
The Hawthorn moon begins May13th through June 9th. Hawthorne is the Illusionist. This person is secretive, although they’re also a lot of fun and quite passionate. These are people who will make you look at things differently, and they’re great for bouncing a situation off of if you’re having trouble seeing solutions.
The Oak moon begins June 10th and ends July 7th. The Oak, unsurprisingly, is the Stabilizer. Someone born beneath this tree would be loyal, generous, and courageous. Oaks are going to stick up for the little guy and they’re going to speak out against injustice. Strong Griffyndor energy with the Oaks.
The Holly moon runs from July 8th through August 4th. Holly is a Ruler. These people are leaders, they’re very confident and they’re particularly noble. The thing to look out for if you are a Holly though, is that you don’t become overly competitive.
The Hazel moon begins August 5th and ends September 1st. Hazel is the Knower. They’ve got crazy intelligence, they’re just as confident as the Hollys, but without the conceit. These are the organizers, they’re clever, they can come off as know-it-alls if you aren’t ready for them, but ultimately they’re solid friends and very loyal.
The Vine moon begins September 2nd and ends September 29th. The Vine is the Equalizer. This group is charming, loving, and especially elegant, but they can also be super indecisive and a little bit fickle. One thing they can always do though, is see both sides of an argument.
The Ivy moon begins September 30th and ends October 27th. Ivy is the Survivor. These people are brave, they’re determined, but they’re also quite kind. These are the folks who can really be put through the wringer and come out the other side intact. You are not going to crush an Ivy’s spirit.
The Reed moon begins October 28th and ends November 23rd. Reed is the Inquisitor. Folks born during this period are compassionate, truthful, and curious. If you need to confide in someone, confide in a Reed because these people will never betray a confidence.
And finally, the Elder moon starts November 24th and ends December 23rd. The Elder is the Seeker. The Elder is loyal, ambitious, and thoughtful. They’re always looking for experiences. Some people may interpret this as thrill-seeking, but what it really comes down to for Elders is a yearning for freedom.
And those are the signs of the Celtic Tree zodiac. Now, I don’t have time today to get too involved with the ins and outs of each tree, but you can look up Celtic Tree astrology and find out so much more. And you may recall that I spoke earlier about using the Ogham alphabet as a divination method, so I wanted to expand on that really quickly.
You can make or buy Ogham sets for divination. There are 25 symbols that make up the entire alphabet, and they’re basically used just like the Futhark runes. Each symbol is given a divinatory significance and so you can throw the staves or sticks or bones that the symbols are carved into and then read them, just as you’d read runes. I don’t want to mislead anybody, I am not great at reading Ogham. I still lean hard on my books to help me understand the meaning. It’s just like any other discipline, it just takes time. But the symbols themselves are really, really cool looking.
I am always a proponent of learning about as many different disciplines and methods as we can because you never know when something is going to click for you. For some folks, it’s tea leaves, for others, it’s pendulums, for still others, it’s tarot, and for you maybe it’ll be Ogham. Maybe traditional Western astrology doesn’t hit for you, and Celtic tree astrology is where it’s at. That’s where we’re coming from today, it’s no more serious than that. So let me know what you think.
Have a fantastic rest of your day, have a very lovely weekend, and thank you for joining me. We’ll talk again next week. My name is Eli Ro, and this has been the Middle-Aged Witch podcast.
Facebook Group link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/941149357051804/
Discord server: https://discord.gg/KW65UFvF3A
Resources:
Ryan, Catriona (2012). Border States in the Work of Tom Mac Intyre: A Paleo-Postmodern Perspective. Cambridge Scholars.
https://www.learnreligions.com/celtic-tree-months
