I have had a life-long love affair with oak. I grew up on a farm in Ohio that was abundant with the towering white oaks of the Midwest. There was an oak right by our backdoor that stretched one of its branches right beside the balcony off my room. I breathed and dreamed with oak every day for the bulk for my childhood, until I went away to college. There was a grove of oak trees near our pond where I would hang out with my first love (and later husband) and we would cuddle and kiss and chat for hours and hours held by the embracing roots of the oak.
Now, I have a sweet stone cottage in a green garden in Ireland, thousands of miles away from that place where I grew up. There is a another pond and another oak tree, not as towering or grand as from those of my childhood, yet exquisite and, of course, as sacred. And I am in wonder at my life’s unfolding. I am following the Druid path (the name druid derives from the Irish word for oak: duir or perhaps a combination of oak and vir which means “knowledgeable”) and I am a devotee and aide woman to goddess Brighid, who built her temple in a grove of oak trees.
In my Irish spiritual tradition oak is the tree that holds the energies of the height of summer, the Summer Solstice, as his branches reach high into the heavens, exalting the sun and the light. Some Earth-centered traditions believe that oak rules the light half of the year (beginning his reign at Winter Solstice) and then acquiescing to holly for the waning half of the year. With that oak would embody the more masculine principles of light and expansion and holly embodies the more feminine aspects of dark and inwardness. Both are equally important. As nature and the trees teach us, both are meant to be balanced, both create wholeness. Both are sacred and holy.
Oak: Irish: Duir or Daur (Old Irish), letter D, ogham: 2 ticks to the left
Noble of the wood: brehon laws: death if fell an oak
Kennings for oak: (from Celtic Myth and Religion, cited from older manuscripts, McManus, MacNeill):
Most exhalted tree (higher than bushes is Oak), Handicraft of an artificer (a skilled craftsman), Most carved of craftsmanship
Possible divinatory meanings: The veneration of sacred qualities; connection with the divine; great skill
Oak: Irish name: duir/ Ogham alphabet letter: D
long lived- can be 1,000 years or more, may take up to 60 years to produce a full crop of acorns
symbolizes hospitality and protection
one of the most revered trees worldwide for its protection, endurance and strength
struck by lightning more than any other tree- so was seen as a channel through which the sky gods could reach down into the world of man
Is the tree of the Summer Solstice: represents the sun’s strength and its ability to ripen the fruits of nature
inflexibility is the oak’s weakness- loses limbs in storms easily: lesson that stubborn strength and resistance will not endure, be more flexible
oak represent kingship in general and rites of initiation in Ireland would have been performed in presence of an oak or oak grove
varieties native to Ireland include Sessile and Pedunculate
one of the most sacred trees to Ireland, currently still living is the Brian Boru oak (I have visited this wondrous tree!) in east County Clare and it dates from the time of his kingship in the 9th century!
Fortitude is a key word for the spiritual offering of oak. Fortitude is also one of the great Celtic virtues and means (as given to me by my teacher Gina): “Strength of mind, courage to persevere in face of adversity”.
Myth:
A god of the Tuatha de Dannan, the Dagda, had a harp made of oak that was named the Oak of the Two Meadows and from that he would play the three strains of the great bards to create joy, laughter and sleep.
King Arthur’s roundtable was made from a massive oak trunk
In the Irish epic tale, the Tain, Cuchulainn writes a spell in Ogham on a piece of oak to withhold Maeve’s approaching armies.
“From spirits and fairy folk” in oakwoods, the ancient lore of Samhain was offered (based on the Discendchus of Ireland, c 900 CE)
Healing:
· leaves, bark and acorns are all medicinal: antiseptic, astringent and anti-inflammatory
· In Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, the main character, Lauren’s favorite bread was acorn bread made with acorn flour.
· fresh crushed leaves can be applied to hemoroids to ease inflammation and promote healing
· stripped of their outer seed coat, acorns can be roasted and ground and used as bitter coffee substitute
· the oak flower remedy is for nurturing inner strength and improving ability to take the strain associated with general worry
Reflection questions and actions:
1. What associations/ memories do you have of oak?
2. What lessons have you personally had with oak?
3. What sound do you hear from oak? Bring this sound up from your own soul, express it.
4. What shape in your body would oak form? Invoke oak and take that shape.
5. Visit an oak who lives near you. Be present. Be open to the possibilities. Release expectation. Breathe with them. Engage all of your senses with them. As always give gratitude to their being, their breath, their wisdom. Leave a gift (remember that gratitude and a kiss is lovely and enough). Receive a leaf to place on your altar as a reminder of fortitude, a symbol that oak represents.
