The ancient Celts used the first alphabet in Europe which is called the Ogham script. Each letter is associated with a tree or an important plant. The alphabet was used as a mnemonic device to encode knowledge, the Celtic song of the universe, Ceolta na Cruinne (Diana Beresford-Kroeger). The thirteen months of the year (pre-Gregorian calendar) were each represented by a particular tree. The new year began on Nov. 1st with Birch, followed by Rowan in December, Alder in January, Willow in February, Ash in March, Hawthorn in April, Oak in May and Holly in June. The tree associated with July is Hazel.
The Hazel was called Coll and it was represented by the letter "C".
The Hazel tree is a member of the Birch family. It is more
of a shrub and can grow up to 6 meters.
It likes damp places but fruits better in well-drained land. The Hazel
is common throughout most of Britain, Europe, America, Africa, Turkey and
western Asia. It is found in copses, oak
woods and hedgerows. The bark is smooth,
light brown and speckled. Hazel leaves
are small, rounded and heart-shaped with serrated edges. The male catkins swell
in early spring with pollen. They are
called “lamb’s tails”. The female
flowers which are found on the same shrubs as the males are small, like
stalkless buds. They stand upright with
red styles which look like small crimson brushes. These threadlike styles catch the pollen and
carry it to the seeds hidden inside scaly covered bracts. These seeds become hard green nuts which
turn brown by autumn. The fruit, the hazel
nut is also called filbert or cobnut. It takes 9 years for Hazel trees to make nuts.
Hazelnuts provide food for many small animals such as
squirrels and nuthatches as well as for humans.
The hazelnut was a very important source of food for the Celts.
Hazel wood is whitish-red and it has a close, even
grain. Coppicing Hazel was very common. This was a process in which stems were
continually cut from the trees whose spreading roots allowed the tree to send
up new long thing stems that were pliable and tough. This provided an ongoing supply of stems which were used
to make hampers, hoops, wattles and baskets.
They have also been used for walking sticks, fishing rods and rustic
seats. Hazel wood makes good artists’ charcoal. Charcoal for gunpowder was made from Hazel
and Willow.
Dwellings called “benders” were made with long hazel poles
which were bent and tied in place upon a circular base-frame to form an igloo
shape with a tunnel-shaped doorway. The frame was covered in furs, skins,
hides, branches, reeds or thatch.
The Celts grew hay with hedgerows of Hazel. The hay protected the roots of Hazel and the
Hazel protected the hay from the wind.
The Greeks used the fresh bark of Hazel to write on. Hazel was used with willow, cow hides and
pine resin to make coracles.
In North America, the Indigenous Peoples used the Beaked Hazel for the fevers of teething. More recently the medical biochemical paclitaxel has been derived from the Hazel. This is an anti-proliferation agents that is used to treat cancer.
Scotland's old name Caledonia derives from Caldun or fort
of the hazel. Hazel was used for
protection through shields, fences, caps, singed hazel rods, and the carrying of hazelnuts. In the north of England,
the Hazel-tree guardian was called “Meslsh Dick” and in Yorkshire “Chum-milk
Peg” (milk-peg is a babytooth.)
Hazel was a chieftain tree under Brehon law and it was the
Celtic tree of knowledge and wisdom. It
is the ninth Ogham letter (C) and there are nine sacred hazel trees at the Well
of Segais. In Irish legend, salmon were swimming in the River Boyle under the
overhanging hazel tree from which the nine nuts of wisdom fell. These were eaten by the salmon who absorbed
the inspiration they encapsulated. The
hazel and the apple were two trees that incurred the death penalty to anyone
who felled them illegally. Scottish
legend also had a sacred pool guarded by Hazel trees with two magical salmon.
In British folklore, silver snakes lived in hazel roots. These became the snakes in the caduceus. The
caduceus, the symbol of medicine. is made of a hazel wand with 2 twined
snakes. The wings were originally hazel
leaves.
 |
| Caduceus, the modern symbol of medicine. |
The terms “in a nutshell” in which information is contained in a small hazelnut and “thinking cap” are from Hazel as caps were made of hazel twigs to wear in
order to gain wisdom.
According to Glennie Kindred, Hazel represents divination,
visions, deep listening, intuition, divine source, essence of knowledge,
essence of being, wisdom, creativity, transformation, catalyst and the
flow. Hazel connects the conscious mind
with the unconscious mind to bring ideas to the surface and transform ideas
into reality. It brings an increase in
intuition and inspiration.
According to Colin and Liz Murray, Hazel is associated with
meditation and mediation. Hazel represents intuition and the power of
divination. Hazel twigs have
traditionally been used for divining because of their pliancy and affinity with
water. These powers of poetry,
divination and mediation can be a channel for creative energies especially that
which allows you to inspire others.
Hazel allows you to be “a catalyst or transformer, working through the
promptings of intuition to bring ideas to the surface.”
Varieties: The largest Hazel is Turkish Hazel ( Corylus colurna), one variety in Great Britain is Corylus avellana. Two species are native to Canada: Beaked Hazel (Corylus cornuta) found from BC to Newfoundland and the American Hazelnut (Corylus americana) which is found from southern Manitoba to southwest Quebec.
This is a compilation of information taken from
the following sources:
Diana Beresford-Kroeger (2019) To Speak for the
Trees. Random House: Canada.
Danu Forest (2014) Celtic Tree Magic: Ogham
Lore and Druid Mysteries. Llewellyn Worldwide: Woodbury, Minnesota.
Glennie Kindred, (1997) The Tree Ogham.
Glennie Kindred: UK.
Liz and Colin Murray (1988) The Celtic Tree
Oracle. Connections Book Publishing: London, UK.
Jacqueline Memory Peterson (1996) Tree
Wisdom: The definitive guidebook to the myth, folklore and healing power of
Trees. Thorsons: London.
Elen Sentier (2014) Trees of the Goddess. Moon Books:
Winchester, UK.
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