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Oak
Keywords
Ancestry, Fertility, Healing, Health, Justice, Longevity, Loyalty,
Luck, Prosperity, Protection, Self-confidence, Strength, Subtlety,
Success, Wisdom, Wit
Historical
Background and Folklore
In ancient Greece the oak was a symbol of the strength and might
of Zeus. To the Celts, the oak symbolized the Dagda, the oldest,
most encompassing of the Gods. Peter Berresford Ellis provides a
beautiful interpretation of a Celtic creation myth about the Children
of Danu coming from the sacred oak father, Bíle. According
to Jean Markale, the Celts viewed the oak as a “representation
of divinity”.
The Lithuanians, Estonians, Slavs and other people in almost every
country where the oak grows, regarded it as sacred. It is one of
the longest living trees and considered by the Celts as one of the
king of trees.
Yuletide is when the Oak King takes over from the Holly King. Oak
is the traditional wood for the Yule log as well as a rare host
for the mystical mistletoe. In the temple of Vesta in the Roman
Forum from which people took fire to restart their hearths at certain
times of the year, the eternal flame was fuelled exclusively with
oak wood. |
Since the oak and Yule log symbolized the Green Man, the God and the
spirit of vegetation, the ashes from the fire were scattered outside
to fertilize the fields and bring abundance in the following year.
This is similar to the Hindu belief that the ashes are the seed of
the fire god Agni.
Associations
Elements: air, fire
Energy: masculine
Goddesses: Aretmis, Brigid, Cerridwen, Circe, Cybele, Diana, Morrigan,
Rhea, Zemyna
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Gods:
Apollo, Baldar, Dagda, Cernunnos, Helios, HerneJupiter, Pan, Thor,
Tyr, Zeus
Other Beings/Characters: archangels Gabriel and Metrael, elves,
faeries, King Arthur
Zodiac: Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, Virgo
Celestial Bodies: Jupiter, Sun
Color: gold
Gemstone: amber
Ogham Character: Duir – Letter: D
Rune Character: Dag/Dagaz – Letter: D
Rune Character: Ehwaz/Eh – Letter: E
Rune Character: Thorn – Letters: Th
Rune Character:Tyr – Letter: T
Dates: June 10 - July 7 (Celtic tree calendar); May 29, March 21
Bach Flower Remedy: keeps one who plods from pushing past the point
of exhaustion
Other Associations: Thursday; the cauldron; crown chakra (acorn);
sabbats: Beltane, Yule/Winter Solstice, Litha/Summer Solstice
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© Llewellyn - Whispers from the Woods
For more information, refer to the full text in Whispers from
the Woods.
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