Post by wren on Jan 4, 2007 17:42:55 GMT -5
Idho (Yew) pronounced EE-yoh
Botanical name: Taxus bacca. Status: peasant tree.
Elaborations on the Ogham Name Idho: There is no extent elaboration for this tree letter.
Word Ogham of Morainn mac Moín: Yew is the oldest of woods, a name for a service tree.
Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Yew equals essence of a sick man, people or an age.
Word Ogham of Óengus: Yew equals abuse for an ancestor or pleasing content.
Transition.
A great yew tree stands in a dark grove, the gaping hollow of its trunk opening like a gateway.
Idho, yes, is a tree of transition. It represents on one hand, things passing, ending and dying. One aspect of your life is fading away, ceasing to be. This is often a difficult or painful thing to accept, yet Idho also signifies that which is about to be reborn. It ushers in the new and draws our attention to the continuous cycle of endings and beginnings.
Yew once inhabited the primordial coniferous forests of ancient Europe, prior to the triumph of the broadleaf. Apart from being a very ancient type of tree, it is also extremely long lived, the ‘oldest of woods’ in the words of the Word Ogham of Morainn mac Moín. There are a number of yews around the British Isles that predate Christ and the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, is said to be 9,000 years old!
Yew has poisonous seeds, was used in the construction of longbows and arrows and has a long-standing association with death. Also significant here is the way in which a yew’s trunk hollows out as the tree ages. These hollows, with their fluted openings, appear as symbolic gateways into the dark and chthonic realms, reflected in the fact that yews are often found in churchyards. This and the fact that yew is evergreen lends it an ageless quality, an enduring association with immortality. Yet yew is also one of the first trees to flower in spring, symbolizing rebirth.
Yew traditionally stands as a gateway tree in Celtic thought. Its dark, hollow trunk marks it as an exit into the realm of the departed. Its bleak mouth draws in, swallows, and consumes the things in your life which are withered and passing. There are many things that correspond spiritually to the archetype of death. A phase of your life, relationship, vocation, place of residence or some other matter is coming to an end. Yew houses the dead. This is a threatening thing to face, as we all become attached to the fixtures of our lives. However, without the old being cleared away, there would e no room for the new.
Viewed this way, the dark mouth of the yew takes on a new significance. It is not simply the menacing entrance to the underworld, but a gateway into another time and space, a portal to a new life. It takes you through and beyond whatever is ending in your life to the domain of that which is genuinely new. Idho thus links back with the first Ogham (beth, birch, birth) in a typically Celtic theme of rebirth. To the Celts, nothing was final. When we look at Celtic knotwork, we see the lacertine pattern in which a single line passes under and over itself again and again, like the soul through its transformations and incarnations.
Reversed, Idho can signify an actual death. Death is something none of us likes to think about or talk about and is especially taboo in modern Western culture. One of our greatest challenges is to transform this perspective. Death is threatening and beyond our comprehension: it involves anguish and suffering for those left behind. But since death is universal and inescapable, what might this great rite of passage be teaching us about our place in the natural order of things?
Keywords: Transitions, things ending, passing, dying, fading away, withering, an exit, a gateway, a grave, a sign of death, transformation, renewal, rebirth, an opening, a new element approaching.
Reversed: Death, grief, pain, acceptance.
Botanical name: Taxus bacca. Status: peasant tree.
Elaborations on the Ogham Name Idho: There is no extent elaboration for this tree letter.
Word Ogham of Morainn mac Moín: Yew is the oldest of woods, a name for a service tree.
Word Ogham of Cú Chulainn: Yew equals essence of a sick man, people or an age.
Word Ogham of Óengus: Yew equals abuse for an ancestor or pleasing content.
Transition.
A great yew tree stands in a dark grove, the gaping hollow of its trunk opening like a gateway.
Idho, yes, is a tree of transition. It represents on one hand, things passing, ending and dying. One aspect of your life is fading away, ceasing to be. This is often a difficult or painful thing to accept, yet Idho also signifies that which is about to be reborn. It ushers in the new and draws our attention to the continuous cycle of endings and beginnings.
Yew once inhabited the primordial coniferous forests of ancient Europe, prior to the triumph of the broadleaf. Apart from being a very ancient type of tree, it is also extremely long lived, the ‘oldest of woods’ in the words of the Word Ogham of Morainn mac Moín. There are a number of yews around the British Isles that predate Christ and the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, is said to be 9,000 years old!
Yew has poisonous seeds, was used in the construction of longbows and arrows and has a long-standing association with death. Also significant here is the way in which a yew’s trunk hollows out as the tree ages. These hollows, with their fluted openings, appear as symbolic gateways into the dark and chthonic realms, reflected in the fact that yews are often found in churchyards. This and the fact that yew is evergreen lends it an ageless quality, an enduring association with immortality. Yet yew is also one of the first trees to flower in spring, symbolizing rebirth.
Yew traditionally stands as a gateway tree in Celtic thought. Its dark, hollow trunk marks it as an exit into the realm of the departed. Its bleak mouth draws in, swallows, and consumes the things in your life which are withered and passing. There are many things that correspond spiritually to the archetype of death. A phase of your life, relationship, vocation, place of residence or some other matter is coming to an end. Yew houses the dead. This is a threatening thing to face, as we all become attached to the fixtures of our lives. However, without the old being cleared away, there would e no room for the new.
Viewed this way, the dark mouth of the yew takes on a new significance. It is not simply the menacing entrance to the underworld, but a gateway into another time and space, a portal to a new life. It takes you through and beyond whatever is ending in your life to the domain of that which is genuinely new. Idho thus links back with the first Ogham (beth, birch, birth) in a typically Celtic theme of rebirth. To the Celts, nothing was final. When we look at Celtic knotwork, we see the lacertine pattern in which a single line passes under and over itself again and again, like the soul through its transformations and incarnations.
Reversed, Idho can signify an actual death. Death is something none of us likes to think about or talk about and is especially taboo in modern Western culture. One of our greatest challenges is to transform this perspective. Death is threatening and beyond our comprehension: it involves anguish and suffering for those left behind. But since death is universal and inescapable, what might this great rite of passage be teaching us about our place in the natural order of things?
Keywords: Transitions, things ending, passing, dying, fading away, withering, an exit, a gateway, a grave, a sign of death, transformation, renewal, rebirth, an opening, a new element approaching.
Reversed: Death, grief, pain, acceptance.