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| bur oak |
hello my darlings - I'm enjoying doing these community readings, and I hope you are getting something out of them too. this week, I didn't feel called to ask any specific questions, I just wanted to clear my mind, shuffle, and see what the cards themselves had to offer. the deck asking to be utilized for the task was the Celtic Tree Oracle - interesting because they're not really cards I use, but cards I keep because they were a gift from a dear friend, and many years ago, a deck belonging to a different dear friend gave me some profound insights into my life at that time. while there isn't a Celtic bone in my body (though there could be a past life...), I deeply respect the traditions of others, and love the natural connection these cards invite us into through the trees. as it happened, I had the opportunity to do this reading outdoors, so I sat down under a bur oak, and enjoyed the scent of wild rose in the air while paying attention to the details in the images. though there is a particular system which one is supposed to employ for their use, I know these cards well enough to know that they don't mind my freestyling. so - let's see what wisdom they have to offer us:
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| image shows three cards from The Celtic Tree Oracle deck on a pastel colored cloth with silver stripes. on the left we have 'Quert' (apple), in the center 'Muin' (vine), and on the right Ioho (yew). each card has the corresponding Ogham lettering in the border on each side of the center tree image, a detail below, and intricate knotwork designs all around. |
Quert - Apple: ah, the apple! one of the oldest known cultivated fruits, it is associated with choice, possibly between similarly attractive options, though the options may matter less than the fact of a choice needing to be made. in Arthurian legend, apples are connected to Merlin and Avalon - a secret mystical island where the uninitiated must not eat of the fruit, for it contains the Pythagorean pentagram (the seeds in the shape of a star, possibly symbolizing divine wisdom). it was both where Excalibur was forged, and where Arthur was laid to rest, and said to come back from someday. I always think of the Greek goddess Eris in connection to apples, and the chaos she instigated with her golden apple for 'the prettiest one' that started the Trojan War, as well as the Garden of the Hesperides where that golden apple was grown.
from "How Merlin Dwelt Among His Druids in a Secret Orchard in Celyddon, in the Emperor Arthur's Time"
Seven-core and seven most fruitful Appletrees
E'en since the very dawn of the age, there
Had made spring murmurous with bright small bees
Crooning their tune i' the white bloom-laden air:
And 'neath the flaunting skies of midsummer
Had swayed green plumy jewel-luminous seas:
see also Poem: Avallennau Myrddin (Merlin's Apple Trees) over at Contemplative Inquiry
Muin - Vine: this card is associated with Lughnassadh/Lammas, the August 1st Celtic beginning-of-harvest-season festival dedicated to the Sun. grape vines - in the context of wine - speaks to the release of prophetic powers, letting go of logic and intellect, and letting intuition lead. permitting instinct to show you what needs doing, allowing emotion to flow freely, and openly trusting your senses to act for you. be open to noticing all the signs and omens. *at this point in my meditation of the cards I kept noticing a heavenly scent of flowers which I couldn't identify, but oh, it made me look! on my way out of the park I found the source - these wild roses in the image posted below. intoxicating! I used to work at an apple orchard, and one of the many things I learned from old Mr. Soons was that roses are in the same family as apples, as are peaches, pears, plums, strawberries and cherries. also, there's a theory that the golden apples in the Garden of the Hesperides - the "nymphs of the evening" - may really have been oranges! (signs & omens)
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| wild roses! |
Ioho - Yew: several of the oldest trees on Earth are yews, and as such, are deeply sacred. their branches grow down into the ground to form new stems and trunks, and when the old trunk dies, new ones grow from it, giving this tree the meaning of rebirth and reincarnation. a new soul sprung from ancient roots in a new body. that the eldest of the oldest yew trees (age estimates vary between 2000 to 9000 years old) stand in churchyards shows they were previously sites of ancient Bardic/Druidic groves; interestingly enough, in 2015, one of these appeared to have changed sex (the ongoing reemergence of goddess energy in the collective consciousness?)! the longbows the Celts were known for their skill with were carved from yew, and while the needles were historically used to brew poison, it can be used homeopathically as well. this card is direct contact with your past, spiritual strength renewed, a revivification - understanding through wisdom that was always there, which we may have forgotten, or ignored. things that were, are, always will be ~
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| Ioho (Yew) card detail with intricate boarder knotwork, Ogham letter, center image of tree, and inset detail of trunk, needles, and berries, in muted colors. |
look for an upcoming choice, which when paying attention to signs omens, calls for the possibility of a new life growing from the old one. dive deep into the well of your own understanding, and trust what you find there!
thank you for coming along, commenting, and sharing - this reading is for anyone who wants/needs it! as always, I hope there's something in here for you, personally, and feel free to contact me for a private reading.
resources:
Avellenau (Appletrees) The Black Book of Carmarthen, XVII
The Theosophical Path, Volume 15 edited by Katherine Augusta Westcott Tingley
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