Through out history trees have held a special place in the human imagination,

trees were seen as living entities endowed with conscious spirit. Tree worship was common among many peoples the world over. Certain trees become oracular gods or goddesses. Many myths speak of the World Tree or Tree of Life, and European pagans used the tree alphabet for divination and the transmitting of secret messages.

I thought it would be fun and interesting to share some of the mythology of trees with you and get your thoughts. I’m starting with the oak tree and will do more later if people enjoy this one.

OAK

The king of trees, has been widely revered. Classic component of the Dianic grove or nemeton, resident of the god who controlled thunder and lightning, deity of druids and dryads, the oak was duir in the druidic alphabet and represented power.

The biblical shrine Mamre at Hebron included a sacred oak in a female-symbolic grove. Although even to the fourth century AD it was still a pagan site dedicated to the worship of “idols” Old Testament scribes pretended it was the home of Abraham. Similarly England revered its “Herne’s Oak.

The oak stood for Diana and her lovers the Kings of the Wood well into the Christian era. Roman solders where awarded a crown made of oak leaves and acorns for saving the life of a citizen.

Medieval Europe credited the oak with magic over the weather and nearly everyone believed that oak trees were residences of the lightning god.

The Oak King was the god of the waxing year battling with the Holly King at Midsummer and Samhain, or Halloween. The Oak and Holly kings are two halves of the same being, the polarity of light and dark, just as summer and winter are two halves of the year.