Member John Dalziel has written us this lovely piece with his own illustrations...
Pictures of trees with #FullMoons are beautiful and quite common in the Britain's Ancient and Sacred Trees group; I wonder how many posters of these photographs are aware of the Sacred links?
I posted this image on the 11th September on Facebook. The text is as follows…
All of our Ancestors, if you go back far enough, we’re pagans.
Their religions had few creeds or dogmas.
There were no prophets.
There were myths and legends, but no scriptures to be taken literally.
“These religions were based on what people did, not what people believed!”
The Celtic TREE Calendar is based on the Ogham (pronounced oh-am) Alphabet and its association with trees.
The Celtic Tree Calendar is a calendar with thirteen lunar divisions (months) each 28days long, as the Roman accounts have suggested the Druids did, with one extra day representing the 23rd December, the “Day of Creation”.
Most contemporary Pagans use the following fixed dates for each "month," rather than following the waxing and waning lunar cycle.
Why?
Well if this was done, eventually the calendar would fall out of sync with the Gregorian year, because some calendar years have 12 full moons and others have 13.
The modern tree calendar is based on a concept that letters in the ancient Celtic Ogham alphabet (the last column in the table above; starts on November 1st) corresponded to a tree (the third column in the chart above).
Each month is characterised by a tree (3rd column) which has special…
· teachings,
· guides,
· totems, and
· deities
…associated with each specific tree.
More about this Month “The Vine Month” – #VineMoon (Sept 2nd to Sept 29th)…
The Vine Month is a time of great harvest – from the grapes of the Mediterranean to the fruits of the Northern regions, the vine produces fruits to make wine.
The Celts called this month Muin (2nd Colum in chat above)
The Vine is a symbol of happiness and wrath.
Celts do magical workings connected to the Autumn Equinox or Mabon, and celebrate…
· garden magic
· joy
· exhilaration
· wrath
· rage
· the darker aspect of the mother goddess.
The month of the Vine is a goodtime to get balanced, as there are equal hours of darkness and light.
Revered & Sacred wisdom Keepers…
I feel it’s important to mention that all trees were revered as sacred wisdom keepers.
The #Druids are known for worshiping in sacred groves of trees, called the nemeton, and perhaps the Ogham Script is representative of their divine connection with these tree spirits.
Happy #AutumnEquinox; celebrated when day and night are of equal duration, from 20 September 2019, 17:00 – 21 September 2019, 05:00, before the descent into increasing darkness.
For many Pagans, now is time to reflect on the past season. It is also a time to recognise that the balance of the year has changed, the wheel has turned and summer is now over.
This is one of the least celebrated of the Pagan festivals although a harvest festival may be held to thank the Goddess for giving enough food to last the winter.
By
John Dalziel
PS Does your faith celebrate trees? Write and share with us! We are a group of many beliefs. Remember our crowd funder PlanetTree SOS - Save Our Species goes live on 1st October! www.planettreesos.org