The Celtic Tree of Life
—by Míchealín Daugherty

Although each tree had different meanings to the ancient Celts, the tree was uniformly venerated as a source of wisdom and hope, an enduring link between the upper and lower worlds, a reminder of the eternal cycle of the seasons.
 
• The Man in the Tree, or Derg Corra, is always accompanied by a stag. He is the Celtic guardian of knowledge.
• The oak tree is commonly associated with the ancient Druids who are thought to have congregated in groves. 
• In Doonwell, Ireland, there is a tree upon which one often sees hanging personal belongings, such as, handkerchiefs, scarves and bits of clothing. There are many trees such as that one, often called rag trees. Such trees are thought to contain spiritual powers of healing.
• The Celtic Tree of Life is an image of the Otherworld. The roots were deep in the earth and the branches stretched to the heavens. Its trunk exists within this realm. 
• The Celtic Tree of Life is one of the most popular and enduring motifs of Celtic Art, found both on Celtic crosses and on illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells. 
• Other trees of symbolic importance in Northwestern Europe were the oak, the forest tree associated with the god of the sky, the evergreen yew which lives to a great age, and the apple tree, the favourite fruit-bearing tree of the people of the North. 
• In ancient China, trees in the vicinity of tombs or temples were protected as it was believed that the spirits of the dead and of the goods resided in them.
• The Kabbalistic Tree of Life represents aspects of spirituality.
• Irish tradition supports continental evidence of the Celtic tradition of tree worship: names of monastic foundations such as Brighid's Kildare (Cell-data, "Church of the Oak") or Columba's Durrow (Dair-mag, "Oak-plain") and Derry (Doire Calgaich, "Calgach's Oak Wood"), and Ailbe's Emly in Tipperary (originally Imblech-Ibair, i.e., "the umbilicus of the Yew," marking the "center" of an ancient tribal group) leave traces of proof that later-day Christian sites
  were often converted pagan sanctuaries.
• The Irish term 'bile' denotes a red tree and is applied generally to several types, including the oak, the  yew and the ash. Such usage is illustrated by the Biliu Buada (Tree of Victory) visited by Lugh, during his trip as Cú Chulainn's surrogate to the Otherworld in the Serglige Con Culainn
• In Germany and Scandinavia, it is customary to have a guardian or lucky tree beside a house. Symbolic offerings might be made to it, and ale poured over its roots at festivals. 
• In Norway, the World Tree was a provider of nourishment and a source of healing; dews from it enriched the valleys of earth and drops from its leaves brought benefit to men. It was also the source of the world's rivers, for they flowed from the horns of the hart which fed upon its foliage, while from the horns of the goat which did likewise came the mead which supplied the warriors in the hall of Odin.
• In Winter Solstice and Yule celebrations, the decorated evergreen symbolises the life-force that persists even in the dead months of the year.
• The Celtic Moons are based upon trees.
• The Celtic Green Man stands for humanity's kinship with trees and woods, irrepressible life, and the cycle of renewal and birth. 
• Oak, ash and thorn were called the faerie triad of trees. Where they grow together, faeries live.

Sources may include: Personal knowledge, Celtic Folklore, Bellinus Press: Wiltshire, Celtic Magic by DJ Conway, Myths and Symbols in Pagan Europe: Early Scandinavian and Celtic Religions by HR Ellis Davidson, Celtic Designs, Dover Publications: Toronto, Ontario, The Secret Language of Symbols by David Fontana, The World of the Druids by Miranda J Green, Praise the Moon by Elen Hawke, The Religion of the Ancient Celts by JA MacCulloch, and The Druids: Priests of the Ancient Celts by PR Lonigan.

Page updated 10 Sep 2006
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