Love Ash;
The branching tree,
Of all the worlds.

Beautiful ash trees (Fraxinus excelsior) whose timber is a tough hardwood with a straight grain and well used to absorbing shocks, but now under the threat of a disease, ash dieback (Hymenoseyphus fraxineus) a fungus, which may wipe it out.  Under normal circumstances, the tree can live to the ripe old age of perhaps 400 years, but now its future is bleak.  Can they survive?

Typically, it has been used for making tools especially handles that absorb shock: hammers, axes, spades and oars.  So useful, perhaps that’s why in mythology it has been referred to as the Tree of Life.  It is the 5th tree in the Celtic Tree Ogham and below I include a photo of my own piece of ash with the ancient symbol for the tree.

 

Buds opening,
Bright, on this dull day;
The Spring Equinox.

From this day onward, the days will become longer and warmer.

I recently came across this wonderful album called Songs For The Trees by Kate Daisy Grant and Nick Pynn.  In the notes to the album, Kate says “there needed to be songs written to honour and portray some of the innate powers, characters and stories of the trees, so they could be central characters themselves“.  What a wonderful thought and one which I applaud.

With Kate’s permission I have included the track Od’s Song (For The Ash), the last lines of which are as follows:

 

 

The brightest of the noble trees
That reaches through the skies

Mighty tree you'll be my steed
As I wade through the river and rime
Through boiling waters with a scream
And a gift for all mankind
You will see what is not yet and back to early time
As above is so below; without is so inside
So drink up, revel in the cheer- the three worlds come to life
For the swing and the sway is the only way
To where all worlds collide.

To all who pass this way, Happy Spring Equinox.

LOVE TREES, ONE OF OUR OLDEST COMPANIONS

Ashley 🌿