Elder moon

December 17, 2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

In the Druid tree calendar, the Elder is the 13th and last tree of the year. It closes the year ( 25 November and ends the 23 December) and stands for death and rebirth. It was considered as a sacred tree by the Celts. Elder is the “tree of death and life“. He embodied the infinity of life: in winter the tree was “dead” – in spring it awoke to new life.

History

Germanic tribes like the Frisians buried their dead under the Ellhorn (elder) near the house.
The Teutons revered the elder and offered it bread, milk and even beer.
The similarity of the name of Holunder (elder in German) and Holda, the mother goddess from Germanic mythology, is not accidental. The name Holda (also Holla or Hohe, in Grimm’s fairy tales: Frau Holle) means the “radiant one”. Holda was worshiped as a house goddess, like Hestia. Her offerings were brought to the elder bush. Holda was also the patron saint for people & plants. She was able to heal people from illness. In her the goodness of mother earth and the radiance of heavenly light were equally embodied.
Freya, the Germanic goddess of love and fertility, is also said to have a special relationship with the elderberry bush and live in the Holler.
As long as people believed in Frau Holle, it was forbidden to fell or damage a elder bush. Illness and death, it was said, were the consequences.
In the course of Christianisation, St. Nicholas replaced Frau Holle. The elder branch he held in his hand – a symbol of fertility – turned into a rod.
It is said from the 17th and 18th centuries that people asked forgiveness for the elder when they had to cut it down. Only widows & children were allowed to cut them down.
An old belief says that it is a sign that a deceased has found his peace when an elderberry branch planted on his grave begins to grow.
References to the elderberry is also found in the Bible: the cradle of the baby Jesus is said to have been made of elder wood, the Holy Family is said to have rested under an elder tree on their flight to Egypt. Hence the belief that the elder is one of the trees that are not struck by lightning. The cross of Christ is said to have been made of elder wood Judas is said to have hanged himself from an elder tree.

Moonwork

Because a damaged Elder tree can regrow and a replanted branch can root from itself, the Elder tree represent the power of energy renewal and regeneration. This lunar month offers the energy to end the year mindfully and get ready for a new start

In the dark days of the end of the year, our energy goes inwards to feed our inner journey, to feed our heart’s desire. To start the new year, with this past year wisdom, we need to gather the lessons and release that does not serve us anymore. Indeed, it’s time to make an annual evaluation, by acknowledging old patterns restricting our growth and happiness and heal the eventual wounds. Taking time to evaluate what we have learned this last year and how we want to move one next year. Therefore time is needed to listen to our dreams, concentrate, go back to our roots in order to create new dreams for the New year which are blessed to become true during this moon .

Botanical

The latin name of Elder is Sambucus nigra is composed of "Sambucus" which in ancient Greek comes from  "sambúkē", a string music instrument, made from the wood of the elder tree.  "nigra" means "black", and refers to the dark berries.

Since Hippocrates, the Elder has a very great fame. We use the flowers, leaves, the second bark, berries for multiple domestic or medical uses. 

Berries and flowers have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immune enhancing properties. Berries work on the airways and are  prepared as cough syrup.

Gender: Female
Planet: Venus
Element: Water
Divinities: Holda, Hestia, Freya
Powers: Protection; Counter-spell; Healing; Prosperity.

Elder makes the strict and rigid person softer and gives to the too soft person structure and clear boundaries.

H.C

Reed Moon

November 2, 2021.Reading time 3 minutes.

The Reed Celtic Month starts on 28 October and ends the 24 November. This lunar month offers the energy to take distance with the outside world enabling deeper connection with our inner world and our ancestors.

All Festivities under the Reed Moon are linked to death and rebirth. The celtic tradition of Samhain, meaning literally “summer’s end” corresponds to the end of the harvest that marks the end of celtic year, and the start of a new year with the entering in the dark season. The veil between the worlds is thinner, enabling live and death to connect at a deeper level. In other regions, we celebrate “dia de la muerte” in Spanish and la “Toussaint” in French. It is the occasion to celebrate our ancestors, wash and decorate their tombs, talk about them, celebrate them, inviting them to be present in our life.

The Reed Month is also the time to let all the battles go and gain some insight of the year that has been.

Reed is a common name for several tall, grass-lie plants of wetlands, so they are may species. Common Read is Phragmites australis derived from the name φραγμóς meaning “barrier, palisade, fence”. Reed is associated with water: it grows in wet and swampy soils and to air.

Reeds spread in three ways: by seed, vertically by rhizomes and horizontally by suckers

Signature

At first, leaves emerge in the form of sword blades, linear, slightly wavy at the edges. Here we already recognize its aerial signature, the preferred space of the soul. Then its floral stalk rises with disconcerting ease towards this privileged azure because it benefits from the light reflected by the surface of the water.

Meditation

Here is a little meditation in the middle of the reeds:

May I be as resistant as the Reed
having his feet in the cold water and in the ice
May I be as flexibel as the Reed
that is bending in the wind
May I receive all the sun, and the reflexion of the sun,
to have even more light in me
May I sing and dance with birds coming near me
May I let things go and let it be as it is

Reed is also used in phytoremediation to clean industrial polluted grounds.

Rowan Full Moon

January 31, 2021.Reading time 2 minutes.

The first full moon of the year calendar 2021 was celebrated online without knowing who would come and when.

It asks a lot of #resiliency when knowing that last year, we were 11 women sharing the same space celebrating this very first moon under the Wolf native American symbol, with Christmas cookies and a lot of other delicious things in a beautiful garden cottage. From the wisdom I have now, I have noticed that things are never twice the same; so enjoying every moment in every form it takes, without expectation is a good recipe for happiness.

The Rowan tree stands for the tree of the first moon of the year (the Celtic new year starts in November, but I will stay with the modern calendar year). It’s winter, cold, frost and snow make the earth sterile to our eyes, but underneath life is waiting to deploy. In the fields, winter ploughing is performed to prepare the soil to receive later the seeds that will turn into harvest. It is a good time to make groundwork in the garden. If you consider your mind as a garden and your thoughts as seeds, then it is also time to gather positivity, love and abundance as a groundwork for your mind.

Here the Rowan guided imagery to help you to gather the strengths you need before seeding;

Here are the strengths that the 10 Rowan Moonlight Minglers gathered this year. From all the #Love, I got the #inspiration to make this warm color artwork: