Midsummer , Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year, one of the minor High Day of the Reformed Druid calendar, is associated with the goddess Danu. There has been much discussion in the scholarly community on whether Danu and Anu are cognates of one another or separate goddesses entirely.

Anu and Danu were both fertility goddesses and Mother Goddesses in early Irish mythology. Anu is described in Cormac's Glossary (Sanas Cormaic ,10th century) as the mother of the Irish gods, and in the Coir Anmann (Fitness of Names) as the goddess of prosperity to whom the province of Munster owed its wealth and fertility. Danu is associated with the divine race of people, the Tuatha De Danann, the People of the Goddess Danu, who are recorded in the Leabhar Gebhála (Book of Invasions) having arrived in a cloud from the North, invading Ireland, and defeating the Fir Bolgs and later the Fomorians.

 Anu is identified with the earth and fertility of Ireland. She gives her name to the two rounded hills in County Kerry, called Chich Anann or the Paps of Anu. In Ireland today she is still talked about from Cork up into South County Tipp people and is considered the earth goddess of Ireland. A distinction is made between her and Danu. Anu is considered to be pre Tuatha and possibly the Sheela na Gig.

Anu also identified with Aine, another goddess associated the land. Her cult was localized to County Limerick, Munster, where she was still worshipped up until the 19th century. She was said to live in the hill Cnoc Aine. On St. John's Eve, Midsummer's Eve, the local people carried torches of hay and straw around the hill that were then taken to the fields to bless cattle (another instance of fire being used to insure the health and fertility of the flocks for the coming year).

Danu, according to MacKillop, is the speculative name for the mother goddess of the Continental Celts, based on the evidence of place names, for example  the Danube river (die Donau). He writes that "a prosthetic D-changes Ana, Anu to Dana, Danu; some commentators advise that these forms are later scholarly inventions, while others point out that the name Dana has discrete associations and parallels." But if you look at the types of places Danu is associated with, a pattern begins to form. Derivations of her name being rivers show strong evidence that she is a river goddess, as opposed to Anu who is a land goddess. Rivers all over the Indo-Europeans lands were named for her: the Danube in Austria (the Greek author Herodotus commented on the Keltoi residing in the area of the Danube valley in the fifth century B.C.), the Don in southwest Russia (where an inscription referring to an attack on the kingdom of Bosporos and a scattering of La Tene objects across the southern steppes in indicates that some Celts might have reached), Dneipr in the Ukraine (where the Celts settled around 300 BC), Dniestr in Moldavia, and even the Don and Dee in Scotland are all cognates of her name.

Other linguistic evidence exists showing Danu's position as a Pan-Indo-European river Goddess. Her name is Sanskrit and in India's Rig-Veda signifies "stream" and "the waters of heaven."

 Carleton Grove: News from Minnesota

We had a full week for Beltane! There was a sweatlodge on Friday, tea on Sunday, and Beltain on Wednesday! First off, there was a sweatlodge Friday night in the Small Grove. For those who don't know, the sweatlodge is a tool for physical and spiritual cleansing as well as an excellent place for reflection and meditation. There was some cooking over in Greenhouse during the day on Friday (Thanks Liz!). There's was so much that needed to be done outside--chopping wood, carrying rocks, bringing water and setting up the lodge, for starters.

Our rules are simple: 1) Try to eat as little as possible. Many people fast for the day and eat in the evening after the lodge has ended. 2) Don't consume any meat, dairy products, caffeine, or alcohol for at least 24 hours before the sweat. 3) Drink water, and lots of it! 4) Drink more water! (I'm not kidding!) 5) Be in the Small Grove on Friday at 8. That about covers it.

ow, on to the tea. This was Sunday at 3 in Nourse Main Lounge, and we made dreamcatchers. Craft-oriented-types displayed their creativity and make something useful at the same time. For those of you lacking the craft-gene, don't worry! Making dreamcatchers is so simple, a blind monkey could do it one-handed!

BELTAIN! Wednesday, May 1st was Beltain, the biggest event of the Druid year. We marked it by celebrating Spring with music, dancing, singing, storytelling, food, masks, plays, tarot readings, fishing for people, tree-climbing, Druid weddings, donut trees, revelry, merriment, general frolicking, and much more! Festivities were at the Stone Circle in the upper arboretum. The celebration lasted all day. Weddings and a ritual began at 6pm.

Carleton is now officially on summer break.

 Akita Grove: News from Northern Japan

Pat is back from his trip!

http://www.mythinglinks.org/ct~water.html is interesting. It's about water, wells and healing. Please enjoy.

I've finished the trans-Japan hike from the Sea of Japan beach to the beautiful Matsu-jima islands near Sendai

No matter where you go in Japan, you're hardly going to find a virgin forest. Not just because virginity is a short-lived state in nature, which loves to proliferate at the slightest chance, but because men have been molding this island for so many hundreds of generations. Where tourists see forested mountain sides and winding rivers, the locals see carefully planted rows of Cedars, tended "wild plants", stocks of deer and bear, carefully engineered irrigation systems, and channeled river flowage. The absence of concrete is not necessarily an absence of the hand of man.

There is a spine on mountains running north-south through the center of Japan, so any east-west crossing involves a lot of steep hikes. In particular, I loved the panoramic vista of a reaching the break in a range;

Mountain pass at night Moonlit, chilly, very quiet. Roads slope down both ways.

I'll write more when I feel inspired in a writing way and review my notes.
-Pat

 Digitalis Grove: News from DC, formerly Monument Grove

Eric is doing well, but can't write an article for this issue, too busy. He says that he'll write something about Irish cleaning habits for Lughnasadh. No news from Mairi and Sine in the Pacific Ocean someplace.

No big change in my personal life, but I'm glad to see the RDNA Talk Circle conference is assisting other Druids to get in contact with each-other, freeing up my hands to do more research and work on ARDA II.

Well, actually, I am just having a good time in DC with all the memorial Day events and getting ready for this summer. I'll be in Northfield MN, at Carleton College from June 21 to July 7, finishing the editing of the epic sci-fi series, "Drake's 17" filmed mostly with Druid recruits back in 1996. I also hope to meet several old time folk-dancing Druids, who should be there for the Carleton Reunion. It will be a good time to start planning the 40th anniversary for RDNA in 2003. By the way, keep your eye for a possible credit for me in Austin Powers III this summer; I helped them research Japanese navy outfits for one seen in their trip through time.

I'm thinking about assisting ex-Carleton professor, now Senator Paul Wellstone, in his campaign for a third term this fall. As a side-light, check out Celtic Clothing at http://www.reconstructinghistory.com/celtic/intro.html

 Life Garden Grove: News from Long Island, New York

Hello there. I have started a new grove and would like to inform you of our existence. Here is my information

We don't have any leaders because we are all equals but here is a list of members and their roles in our grove:

Andy "Silent Dragon of Spring" Costantino : Bard, musician, artist Kimberly Salinas : lover of all living creatures, writer, poet ZuZu : she just kind of sits around and looks for love as most dogs do.

Here are our tenants (taken from the Native American 10 commandments. We discarded a few like that do not pertain)

Our website is still under construction but a temp shall be up and running within a few days at: http://www.access-solutions.com/LGgrove.html ? Our contact information is this e-mail address: fistfullofdust@angelfire.com

 Swamp Grove: News from Florida

Greetings from the sunny south. All is well with the Swamp Grove, our rainy season is just starting and the fruit trees around the grove are doing just fine. This will be the first year that our banana trees should produce, loads of wild grapes, papaya and citrus are getting ready for the coming season, there are certainly worse places to be than south Florida in spring. Our rituals are very laid back and unorthodox because of the odd growing season down here, we figure that it is more important to worship nature than to worry about when we do it.

 Oaken Circle Grove: News from Kentucky

Our grove is continuing to grow, we recently met with two more ladies and if they decide to join the grove ,our grove will be up to 12 adult members. We are currently working on the youth grove and setting up our classes. We are also planning a paganing for one of our grove couple's daughter on the summer solstice, she is going on three months old. We have a lovely new born ritual that was forwarded to us by our dear friend in New York, Inion_an_Daghdha!!! Thank you Inion!!!!!!

The very same couple is also currently planning a handfasting that will take place in mid July, we want to congratulate them and offer them our best wishes as well!!!!!!!!! Also I would like to mention our Beltane celebration was a great success and there are a few pictures of our festivities on the webpage http://oaken_circle_grove.tripod.com/oakencirclegroveky/ We have added some new things to our site, it is constantly under construction. Please check it out and sign our guest books with your thoughts.

Thank you,
Sherry of the Oaken Circle Grove

 Cattle Grove: News from Texas

Hey, I just want to announce the opening of the Cattle Grove in Dallas Tx, at appx. 7pm (about 45 min from now) people should start arriving and the opening ceremonies will begin. And as of now we have a rough web page up at http://www.evilsmiley.com/druidso check it out, and if you live in the Dallas area by chance, email me and we can work something out =)

Now...

Well things are off to a semi smooth start and the grove is doing great!. We have a semi-permanent altar set up along several other things. We have a solid group of 10 that come to the meetings (which are whenever we feel like having them) which consist of 4 druids, 4 pagans, and 2 wiccans. For summer we are going to be...well doing what we feel like. *shrug*

As you walk down the path of life,
stop and roll around in the grass.

-Joss

 Mojo Grove: News from Down There

Mojo protogrove is now down to one human member, but holds steady with four canine members. We will hold a Summer Solstice ritual at astronomical solstice instead of calendar solstice unless the two coincide. It is up for debate at this time whether to go to the mountains or to the sea. There is also a possibility that we may be able to have a combined ceremony with nearby American Indian tribal members who will be observing Summer Solstice in their own time honored way.

 Cylch Cerddwyr Rhwng y Bydoedd Grove
News from Grants Pass, Oregon

has had a year of both transformation and growth. Sadly, we had a member relocate to another part of the Pacific Northwest and we have few candidates to replace him, making our numbers a small, but compatible, three.

On the positive side, our Grove is also the Mother Grove of the Order of the Mithril Star. The Order has seen growth this year on both national and international fronts. We currently have solitary members in seven countries, and Groves or ProtoGroves in Washington, Oregon and California. Our Cybernest email list has 65 members, and our current Druidcraft 101 course (taught three times a year via email) has an enrollment of 80.

We will soon be offering a more advanced course--Druidcraft 201. Also, our Clerk, Ceridwen, will be offering an online Astrology for Beginners course as well.

The Order of the Mithril Star was founded in 1996 by Elrond Pendderwydd and the late Adam Walks Between Worlds. The OMS tradition is an eclectic assemblage of various western magickal traditions, including Faery Wicca, Thelema, Discordianism, Hedonism, the Church of All Worlds Tradition, and Celtic spirituality and shamanism. Unlike traditional Druids, OMS Druids revere the Coastal Redwood (Sequoia Sempervirons) rather than the Oak. The email Druidcraft 101 course has been taught more or less continuously since 1997 with an average enrollment of 75, with an average of 20 finishing the course. It is estimated that there are approximately 150 members +/- worldwide.

In July of 2001, the Order joined the Reformed Druids of North America, becoming the only multi-Grove body within the Reform. Since then we have adapted some RDNA traditions to our use, and ?Druidified? (or ?reformicated?) some of our own traditions to ?sort of conform? with RDNA practice.

More information on the OMS-RDNA can be found on our website: http://www.geocities.com/mikerdna/www.mithrilstar.org

 Druid Heart Spirited Grove : News from California

Well, things have been very busy here. Calon Mai/Beltain campout was a success! Only about half the people showed up who said they'd be here but this didn't hinder our fun at all. The ritual went great and our Gwyddoniad kindred brought song and dance to share during our ritual's devotionals. We actually got all the food cooked before it got dark out, we ate a wonderful feast and played music. We also had a guest from a Celtic band called "The Pub Scouts." Her name is Jewel and she brought her mandolin, she and I played quite a few songs for everyone with her on mandolin and I on Celtic harp.

A lot of major changes are taking place in the order of our Grove. We have combined forces with a Welsh Gwyddoniad order called Nemeton Gwynfyd, we have become one. Three of Nemeton Gwynfyd's members/elders will be tying their ribbon of dedication to our Nemeton's tree on the next sixth night of the new moon ritual, and this last weekend I was gifted a torc of elder membership into their order by their High Priestess. We have thus in our new kindredship with the Gwyddoniad named our Nemeton, Nemeton Awenyddion, which means: sacred grove of oracles/seers.

For Alban Hefin/summer solstice we will have our regular gathering and mistletoe gathering ritual on June 22nd. I have made special arrangements with some neighbors of mine who have a beautiful pond on their land surrounded by oak trees, one of which has a large bunch of mistletoe hanging within reach from the ground. This is where we will be doing our mistletoe gathering ritual. Then we will head back to Nemeton Awenyddion for our ritual and feast.

We are also planning on having a campout for Gwyl Ifan/Lughnasadh. There is an online flyer at: http://www.geocities.com/sailletree/calon_mai.html

Another big happening at Druid Heart Spirit Grove is that we have our plans and proposal together for non-profit status. Our plans are for buying a large piece of land for Nemeton Awenyddion, Cottage Industries, a nature preserve, and classes and nature walks we will offer to local schools. A Gwyddoniad Druid retreat center will also be our major aim in our plans, with building another stone circle Nemeton, a Celtic sweat lodge, and small tree cabins for our campouts and retreats. Our organization will be accepting board members from Druid Groves, as Groves, not individuals. I will let you all know when more progress is made. Rhiannon Hawk

 Duir de Danu Grove: News from California

We are having Celtic Nights, the second Saturday of the month. One of the projects we've been talking about doing is making Ogham fews for divination.

Baccharis Grove: News from California Publisher of "A Druid Missal-Any"

The Season of Life began in full force as May proved to be a very busy month for us.

We had the distinct pleasure and privilege of having Brother Bob Larson come to our Beltaine service.

In the middle of the month we drove to Mt. Shasta to bring Emmon's headstone to his grave at the Buddhist Abbey. We held a small service also attended by a few of the monks and buried some items of importance to us and to Emmon under the headstone (at his funeral we put some things in his casket in typical early Celtic fashion that he might need in the Other-world or next life), and each said a few words. I read the Zen Master Ryokan poem, "To My Teacher" and a dirge from the Carmina Gadelica in the original Gaidhlig.

I decided to stay longer at the "philosophical hermitage" and attended an introductory meditation lesson given by one of the monks and two sitting and one walking meditations. The half-hour sitting meditations seemed daunting at first, but I compared them to my Third Order vigil, and didn't look at them in terms of minutes ticking by but as a block of time. The sitting still and clear head practice is much the same as my daily Salutations to the Three Ways of day and One of Night so it was familiar and I found I could achieve that state. After the meditation there was a dharma talk given by one of the senior monks which seemed very appropriate for this Druid's training.

Monday morning I awoke to snow!! It was snowing! The white was very striking on the bright green of the oak, pine, and redwood trees. Snow is very unusual for Shasta at this time of year and it was like a blessing.

I visited Sister Rhiannon of the Druid Heart Spirit Grove on the way home. Her Grove site sits in the middle of a forest and has standing stones. It is truly wonderful.

Rather than consigning the Grove Birches that died last year to the firewood pile, I thought what more fitting a tribute than to make Ogham staves out of them. A friend with a serious wood-working shop graciously agreed to cut the wood to my specifications (based on the measurements of my index finger). They turned out beautifully. The next step is to purchase a wood-carving set to carve the lines. After Gaidhlig class this past Tuesday I got into a discussion with a fellow student at the Irish music session we go to afterwards about the tree alphabet that the Oghams are based on. Each Ogham begins with a letter of one of the trees sacred to the ancient Druids. It suddenly made sense! By each Ogham beginning with the first letter of one of the trees, probably common in Ireland and the Celtic lands at the time, the trees were probably a way of memorizing the alphabet! Look up, see a tree, it stands for this letter. We know that the Druids committed their learning to memory rather than writing it down. This seemingly little exercise filled in another piece of the puzzle to understanding and learning what the Druids did.

It is not a major holiday, but here are some activities to surround the holiday.

Short and simple, the list looks like this:

This is an article by Rhiannon Hawk Fugatt, of the Druid Heart Spirit Grove/Nemeton Awenyddion, on how she set up her Grove site. While Sister Rhiannon uses Welsh deities, the deities invoked can be adapted to the Celtic pantheon of your affinity and their attributes and roles.

Nemeton means "Sacred Space." The Druids of old and Druids of today prefer our sacred space outdoors in a place where we feel or sense Nature Spirit activity. Many Nemetons are located in a grove of trees. Natural places can add a lot to a ritual, especially if you can find a spot that exists along a ley-line or high energy center along the Earth's magnetic grid. Our Druid Grove's Nemeton is in the middle of a forest of silver-firs, oaks, pines, cedars, and dogwoods, twenty to thirty feet behind our home. Before we created the standing stones Nemeton I searched the property by spending time in different locations attuning to Earth's energy there and paid special care of natural vibrational frequencies.

The circle of our Grove is about twenty-five feet across, and around the edges stand twelve stones in the eight directions of the wheel of the year. We spent considerable time creating this sacred space, but it is nothing compared to the hard work that went into the ancient's creation of Stonehenge or other ancient sacred places. These stone monuments, or circles, express the way Druids perceive the universe and we connect with the universe in this circle that has no beginning and no end. These standing stones will stay here to remind future people of our existence and sacred connection with the land.

 I found most of the stones in our stone circle by digging them out of the ground near the Nemeton's location. Some of them were very large, weighing up to two thousand pounds. For the larger and heaviest stones we used a come-along, a hand operated wench for pulling them. The largest stone that now stands in the East was the heaviest. I dug it out of the hard clay soil just fifteen feet away from the nemeton in the ground. After three days of cranking the come-along we finally had him close enough to the East so we started to prepare his spot in the Grove, next we stood him up and lodged him into the dig out. Now I'm sure it would have taken a lot less time if we had a tractor to move it, but we decided to do it by hand. The rest of the stones in our nemeton weighed less than a thousand pounds. I moved them by my self with a refrigerator dolly.

If you were to put as much effort into your sacred space, it might be good to get a work party together to help. While not all of us are blessed to have land, sometimes it is necessary to seek out Pagan friendly land owners. Druids who live in cities can create sacred space in your homes but, please be sure you have a fire source such as a candle, for that is where the spirits dance.

The Nemeton is circular, but Druids stand or sit in a horse shoe pattern during ritual. The opening in the horseshoe is where the spirits enter our Nemeton that is in the South. The South is also where we have our altar. The altar is used to create an open doorway for the kindred spirits to enter during ritual. The reason for the altar's location being in the South is that the South side of any clearing has the most sun through out the day. The alter I created in our Nemeton is a trithilian--three standing stones in close proximity capped with a flat sandstone. The altar is a bridge between the worlds. The lay out of the ritual tools on our altar are symbol. How they are placed on top of the altar stone reflects how we relate those symbols with our own inner spirit, and our connection with the world tree cosmology. On our alter we place the symbols of Land, Sea, and Sky, and of the balance between the moon and sun. During ritual we do not step behind the altar out of our deep respect for the Shining Ones or good spirits who may be passing through the opening into the Grove.

A Grove is what Druids call their act of gathering for rituals, magic and meditation. We are the Druid's Grove. We join with others and do the tree meditation at the beginning of our ritual to feel that the peace within trees, also exists within us, and to experience the interconnectedness of our roots growing together. The rituals take place in the Nemeton.

 These rituals are celebrated during the solstices, the equinoxes, the four fire festivals, and the healing rites we do every month. The Nemeton has a fire pit dug out of its center. Before all rituals we prepare for the spirit fire by placing oak twigs and logs in a cone shape. Oak represents durability and strength and is associated with the Welsh sun god Llew. We light the spirit fire in ritual during the moment the god and goddess who preside over the ritual are arriving. When we are in the Nemeton all is quiet except for the sounds of nature, the four winds in the trees, and our voices raised in song. We keep a peace around us that allows our senses to awaken and our minds to be open for contact with the invisible world. The invisible world exists all through out this middle earthly plane.

When we had finished building our stone circle I did a ritual to welcome the new stones. This is done by consecrating the stones with offerings that have been blessed by the spirits. First we invite a patron god and matron goddess from the Welsh pantheon into our Nemeton. We call on the goddess Brúd. She brings with her the flame of inspiration and the creation of fiery spirit energy that dances in the center fire. We call on the god Manawyddan, he is the voyager who sails on the ocean, and over the land. He goes between our world and the other worlds and assists us to lift the veils between the worlds. I invoke Brú� and Manawyddan into two white candles. These represent the brightness of the god and goddess and reminds us to keep alive our own inner spark of the divine. The invocation is done with songs and poetry. Then we take the candles and we light the center fire to connect the spirits and us with the Celtic world tree.

The center fire of our Nemeton represents the center of the world tree and the center of the world tree is the Middleworld or Earth. We invite the god and goddess of the rite to dance there in the spirit fires. Then we call the Celtic triad spirits to bless us with their presence. The triad spirits are our Ancestors of the sea, the Nature Spirits of the earth, and the Shining Ones of the sky. The triad spirits we invite into the Grove each have an earthen bowl that contains an element that is attributed to the realm they come from. A bowl of water is placed to the left on the alter for the Underworld and the Ancestors. A bowl of earth for the Middleworld and the Nature Spirits is placed in the center. The Shining Ones have a feather and an incense bowl on the right side. We invoke these spirits with poetic verse to imbue their spirit into the water, the earth, and the incense.

 The poetry we use is written by our Grove's Bard. Then we take the two candles around to each stone and pour a small amount of melted wax onto the ground in front of each stone. This is done to awaken each stone to the spirits of the god and goddess we have invoked into the candles, that their energy may vibrate from the Earth that is within the newly created Nemeton. A Druid then takes each bowl starting with the water of the Ancestors, and pours a small amount on top of each stone while invoking the energy of the Ancestor's realm of the Underworld to pulsate through all of the stones in the circle. The Underworld is more distant from our world than the Otherworld, and is usually found through water. The world tree's roots are in the Underworld, so are the past, our ancestors, and our minds. This the Druid says during invocation to each stone while pouring the waters, "May the vibrations of the Underworld, through this stone, pulsate with the luminous light of the Anwyn." The name for the Underworld in the Welsh lore is Anwyn. Then the Druid goes to each new stone member repeating this same process then returns the bowl to the alter giving thanks by words of prayer.

The same process is done to awaken the stones to the energetic activity of Nature Spirits, who's world comes next on the way up the world tree. Nature spirits are part of the creative energy flow in nature, they exist in plants, streams, mountains, trees, animals, and in this Middleworld earthly plane. They can be any size. They work together in a synchronized harmonious flow to keep balance present in the Nemeton. The trunk of the world tree exists on Earth. It is the Middleworld, it is our nature and earthly relations, our physical body's connection to Earth. The spirit fire in the center of our Nemeton is the very center of the world tree and is also in the trunk. To synchronize the stones with nature's energy a Druid takes the bowl of Earth and walks towards the first stone to the right of the altar and says,

"May the rhythmic vibrations of our Earth Mother pulsate with you, and through you, as it does in us. Help us amplify the healing powers of Abred in our Nemeton. Make this a place that will awaken our ability to be more attentive to the forces of Abred."

Abred is the Welsh name for this Middleworld. The Druid then pours a small amount of earth from the bowl over the stone, and repeats the same process with the other stones. The bowl then gets returned to the alter.

 Next, we bring to the circle of stones the presence of the Otherworld. We do this by asking assistance from the Shining Ones who have come to us from the Otherworld. In The world tree cosmology, the Otherworld and the Underworld are not the same. The Otherworld is above and more celestial. It is the canopy of branches and leaves on the world tree. Access to the Otherworld is usually through portals on Middleworld (Earth) in areas where there is energy concentrated, such as ley-lines and power spots, sacred hills, stone circles and the like. The Shining Ones that live in the Otherworld are the gods and goddesses from old Celtic lore and legends. We honor them in our rituals with offerings of herbs, songs, and prayers. To merge the light energy of the Shining Ones with the stones, an active Druid takes the bowl of incense and feather and approaches the stone starting with the one to the right of the alter. Sain is the Gaelic term we use for wafting the smoke. The Druid starts to Sain the stone while saying,

"Oh Shining Ones, hear our prayers and accept our offerings. For today with your help, we consecrate our new stone members to make them wholly in the realms of Anwyn, Abred, and Gwynvyd at the edges of our Nemeton! May the higher frequencies of Gwynvyd illuminate through you, within and without, let the messages of the Gods and Goddesses speak through you to us clearly, that we may hear the truth and feel their hearts nobility brought to this Nemeton."

The Welsh name for the Otherworld is Gwynvyd. When the Druid returns the bowl of Gwynvyd to the altar all raise their hands to the South, above the altar and say,

"Let the powers of Land, Sea, and Sky live within and on the edge of this Nemeton. Let the spirit fire and world tree connect the stones to the center of our Nemeton."

To end this rite a Druid approaches the fire and takes some ashes from the spirit fire and first enters the South saying,

"Voices from the ocean of the four winds! Come! Rush through the stones and spiral into the center of the world tree."

The Druid then sprinkles some ash on the ground in front of the stone, and on the stone, and does this for each of the stones in every direction. The Druid does this while chanting,

"Let the spirit fire and world tree connect the stone people to the center of our Nemeton. By the blessing of all spirits, dance together our ancestors, our nature spirits, and the Shining Ones, we welcome these new stone members into our Nemeton."

All say, "Gadael hi bhod!" Rituals are always followed by a song of peace, and a fellowship feast.

One of the easier trees to spot, this sturdy and reliable tree naturally features prominently in Celtic Lore and in the customs of various Indo-European peoples. Modern pagans are well familiar with the phase "by oak, ash, and thorn," which is used as a blessing during ritual or to affirm a charge of power in spellcraft.

There are about fifty species of the genus Fraxinus, and cultivation has produced and perpetuated a large number of varieties. The Common Ash and the Privet are the only representatives in England and Ireland of the Olive family Oleaceae, of which is the furthest northern species. It is the fourth most common tree in the British isles, and traces of pollen date back 7000 years. Other species include White Ash--fraxinus americana; European Ash--fraxinus excelsior (Including British Isles); Flowering Ash--fraxinus ornus. Rowan (or "Mountain Ash") is from a different family. The ash tree is known by several folk names: Nion, Asktroed, Jasen Bell, and Freixo. The word 'ash' derives from the Icelandic aske which means "great fire blaze," or from the Anglo-Saxon word Asech a poetic word for spear, while the botanical name Fraxinus means "great fire-light" due to its high flammability.

It grows 40' to 70' tall (some as great as 40meters) with a potential canopy of 20' to 50' in width. Unless cut back, it will have a long straight trunk. They take 45 years to mature, with a life span of 200 years, and longer if coppiced every 12 to 20 years. It likes rich, well-drain soil, with ample moisture, like the olive family. It is often found near limestone, but is adaptable to a wide range of pH. It can tolerate salt. Extreme cold and winter contraction can damage rapidly growing young trees.

Leaf: Opposite, pinnately compound, seven to 11 sessile, serrated leaflets, total leaf 10 to 14 inches long, dark green above, lighter below with tufts of brown hair. Normally very late coming into leaf, it can then be one of the earliest to loose its leaves.

If the oak come out before the ash There's sure to be a splash If the ash be out before the oak Why, then you're sure to get a soak.

Feathery foliage allows many shrubs and plants to grow beneath it. Yellow in the fall. A wind pollinated species, the ash is generally a bisexual tree but you do get male and female trees but these can change sex! Some ash trees have flowers with both male and female parts, some have only male or only female flowers, and some produce separate male and female flowers on different branches. Some branches which produce only female flowers one year may produce all male flowers the following year. The fruit of the ash are the ash-keys: an oblong seed chamber with long strap wings. The keys hang from branches in little bunches and turn from green to brown. The seeds, or keys, stay on the trees through the winter, and only fall in spring. They can be carried quite long distances by the wind, and spring up quickly in almost any type of soil

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