Amanda Frayer artisan // illustrator // designer

The English poet, Coleridge (1772–1834), called birch the “Lady of the Woods,” due to its lightness, grace and fragrance after rain. The Druids placed birch at the start of the Celtic tree calendar, as birch symbolizes renewal and new beginnings. Birch grows more quickly than other trees. It even competes with evergreens in a cold climates. It is a hardy tree that can do well in most conditions. Often it is the first to spring up after a forest fire.

Birch is also associated with the spirits of the dead and the Underworld. An old folk-ballad known as “The Wife of Usher’s Well” tells of souls returning from the realms of the dead wearing hats and clothing made of birch. Throughout Europe, Birch twigs were used to expel evil spirits. Birch rods were also used in rituals to drive out the spirits of the old year.

In thirteenth- and fourteenth- century Wales, lovers met in “the house of leaves,” which meant under a birch tree. Birch wreaths were given as love tokens to remember those meetings. Birch twigs were used to bestow fertility on newlyweds, and children’s cradles were made from its wood.

When the stem of the birch tree is wounded a saccharine juice flows out. This was added to yeast to produce beer in various parts of Europe. During March, incisions are cut into the tree from which a thin sugary sap is collected. Honey, cloves and lemon peel is added. This is fermented to make Birch Wine and cordials.

* * *

Believed to bring the wearer: creativity, fertility, growth, healing, inspiration, love, protection, purification, renewal

Other associations: newlyweds, arts and crafts, celebrating a fresh start or birth, blessing the beginning of a project, a new relationship or new home

Spirit animals: eagle, pheasant, white stag, white cow, white egret