Lady of the Woods

So.

I went and named myself a birch tree maiden — because I like them, because they make me smile, because of the character in Thomas the Rhymer, because birch switches have kinky connotations and so do I — and today I went and looked them up in the context of Druid Trees.

The context of why I decided to do this now:  Someone I know is looking for a tied-to-her-ancestors lens through-which to understand her own abilities to communicate with (and, er, draw the attention of) non-human intelligences.  I’ve been pushing her towards various types of neopagan druidry because… it seems to fit.  The skills she already has fit the profile of a seer, but her animism also fits with the ways her (and my) ancestors read the world, its holy places, it’s vast and acknowledged life-in-all-things.

So I’ve been looking at Druid Stuff today, and this gave me an excuse to go looking up the Birch Tree and seeing what-all it’s about.

 

I see rulership.  I see a tree of song, communication, music, and words.  I see an association with the ancestors.  I see healing and blessing.  I see love and trust and partnership.  I see new beginnings (appropriate for my own pantheon — My Lady of New Beginnings stands in scrub-land and meadow, between the field and the forest, and that’s the space the birch tree occupies).  I see creativity.  I see fertility.  I see world-trees.  I see new perspectives (shades of the Hanged Man in my tarot deck).  I see protection (both in the sense of the magical and in the sense of the literal – housing and roofing materials).  I see water associations.  I see women associations and goddess associations.  I see winter associations.  I see … huh… an unexpected tie to Macha, the earthy, horse-woman of the Morigan trio who handles fertility as well as death.  Really?  Huh.  Can anyone confirm this?  <*eyebrow*>

 

I see a lot of ways in which I picked the right tree for me, my pantheon, my own life and work.  Eeeeeeeeeeeeenteresting. 🙂

 

Anyone worked with birch before?  Care to share?  Drop me a comment and we’ll yack. 🙂

 

TTFN

Meliad the Birch Maiden