Last Wednesday, an Ash tree called to me. Turns out, they had a very powerful message to deliver, one that I am still deciphering seven days later, and may be for some time.
Mama Mary and I went a hike to visit a grove of old growth Oaks which live near me here in Portugal. On the interpretive sign at the start of the trail, I noticed something I hadn’t seen before: a symbol marking the location of a 700 year old Ash tree just a few kilometers away. I felt the familiar pull in my belly that told me I needed to go to it. Mama agreed.
The Ash tree sat unceremoniously near an old abandoned Quinta (farm) and had no fence around Them. On arrival, I simply walked in circles around their circumference a few times, then I made a small offering of a two-tone red and orange leaf I’d found on my hike. After I set the leaf gently on the mossy surface of the Ash tree’s trunk, I noticed a small piece of felled bark sitting a handspan from the leaf, and felt the tree encouraging me to take it. I asked for confirmation, received it, and brought the Ash bark home to sit on my altar.
I had no previous experience with Ash medicine. Over the past week, I’ve been listening to the Ash bark on my altar, and slowly, curiously exploring mythological references to Ash (particularly those of Western European Ash, where I reside). This is what I’ve found.
In Norse mythology, the Ash tree is considered the Tree of Life; the first man on Earth was said to have come from an ash tree. Still today it is sometimes known as the 'Venus of the woods’ (hello, Goddess).
Ash also plays a significant role in Celtic mythology. In my womb-line homeland, Ireland, as in Norse mythos, it's agreed that Ash creates the central column of the Tree of Life or the World Tree. It’s a bridge between worlds; a cosmic axis running from Annwn (the lower world), Abred (this world), Gwynvid (the upper world), and disappearing finally into Ceugant (eternity).
Three of the five guardian trees of Ireland were Ash trees, cherished for their strength and healing power. Ash often grows beside Irish holy wells and is said to protect the purity of springs. As a now-keeper of a well, this touched me.
Ash trees are associated with life force energy, creative expression and the power of the spoken word (a totem for my aspiring writers heart). They inspire us to sense the energy of the words we hear to understand their true meaning.
“The first letter ‘A’ in the English alphabet is directly related to Ansuz… Anglo-Saxon’s split the Ansuz rune into three sounds: ‘o’ (mouth), ‘ac’ (oak) and ‘ae’ (ash). Ash as ‘ae’ formed the words aether ‘luminous air’ or ‘divine breath,’” and is comparable to cross cultural terms for life force, spirit or breath of the most-strong. The same root has been profoundly meaningful to me for at least a decade, evolving across Judeo-Christian, Vedantic, and now Celtic cultures - always coming back to the same deep meaning - the animating, feminine, ‘Holy Spirit,’ the force of movement, prana, chi, the breath of life.
Leaving social media in the depths of winter plunged me into a hermit phase and some days, I’ve been quite lonely. According to Celtic wisdom, the Ash tree may be a the key to healing loneliness by linking humans to the Beings of the Otherworld. It’s also known as a Tree of Initiation, holding the key to Cosmic Wisdom and Universal Truth. The tree is consider protective and physically healing, too. Its bark has an antiseptic quality which was used on wounds prior to the development of antibiotics, and it’s known as a liver tonic, laxative, childbirth tonic, aphrodisiac and diuretic. This is interesting as I’ve been concerned about my liver, sluggish digestion, and lower than usual libido. It’s as if Ash arrived to offer its medicine in more than one form.
When I went to search about Goddesses associated with the Ash tree, I was startled and cosmically amused to read: “The name Mela or Melia comes from μελία, the ancient Greek word for ash-tree. In the plural, the Meliae were a class of nymphs associated with trees, particularly ash-trees.” My family nickname is ‘Mela,’ diminutive of ‘Amelia.’ Get this: Meliae translates to ‘of ash-trees, of honey.’ The Meliae were daughters of Gaia and Uranus, sisters of the Furies (remember my angry women post?) It would seem the Ash tree is calling me by name, which perhaps is also one of their names.
As a water witch, I was touched to find that Ash is also said to hold magic over water, so the Irish would carry a piece of ash wood on sea voyages. I’m thinking of the experience I had traveling back in time to journey with my great-great-great-grandmother across the sea from Ireland to North America, and wondering if the ash bark on my altar is what she also would have held as she trembled and shook in the dark hold of the long crossing.
Then there’s the connection to fire. For six years in my twenties, I knew I was apprenticing to water. For the past decade of my thirties, I’ve been attuning to the wisdom of Earth. For the last year, I’ve been hearing whispers from fire, but felt unsure if it was truly time to turn this direction.
Then I read this line of a poem by Walter de la Mare: “Of all the trees in England, Her sweet three corners in, Only the Ash, the bonnie Ash Burns fierce while it is green.” Ash is associated with renewal and resurrection because, as firewood, it burns intensely and brightly for a long time - even when it is green and still alive. The meaning for me is that I am moving into fire even as I live and breathe and embody Earth. To move into fire is not to dry up and combust, but to learn to channel my life force (breath and body) into fuel for the fire of vision and creativity.
In the Ogham, the early medieval alphabet of my ancestral people, the symbol for ash relates to power and strength associated with the mastery of our selves, knowledge, and skills. Ancient druids carried Ash tree wands to support the pursuit of self-mastery, offering protection, and building courage. For the Celts, the “three cycles of being;” past, present, and future were linked and tied to the ash tree as the world tree. Simply being in proximity of the Ash tree was said, in Druid wisdom, to help the spiritual aspirant live into the phrase, “Know yourself and you will know the world.”
Ash wants to help me cleanse my body, breathe more deeply and remember Spirit, the breath of life. It’s offering to help me connect the inner and outer world, above and below, protect me and give courage to overcome my demons, and lead me to greater self knowledge.
I’m still listening to Them, and I think the conversation is just beginning. I guess the message for tonight is…
When a tree calls you, listen.
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