Technically, we’re out of the Celtic Lunar Month of Birch (it ended on January 21st), however, I wanted to share a little bit about birch trees and things you can do with birch trees, birch wood, birch lore.   Birch is my favorite tree!

Birch is one of the easiest trees to recognize.  White birch tends to grow in clumps (especially if you’ve bought it from a garden center).  It’s not native to the South — we have river birch and paper birch down here.  Up north, though, there are few things as beautiful as a stand of birch trees.  They give glorious color all year long, whether they are budding or leafed out, gilded in autumn gold or standing as pale sentinels in the winter wood.

Birch is a tree of many uses.  The sweetener called xylitol you see in sugar-free products is made from birch.  Birch bark was used to make baskets and canoe hulls.  Birch bark is excellent tinder for starting fires and burns with a sweet, pleasant smell.  Birch wood is straight and tight-grained, making it one of the strongest woods you can use for building or craft projects (the colder the climate, the tighter the rings and the stronger the wood).  Musical instruments made from birch have extremely bright resonance. 

Birch was one of the sacred woods used to kindle Druidic fires.  Birch was the wood from which Bride’s wand is crafted.  Birch is one of the first trees to set forth buds and gain green flexibility as spring approaches.  Birch branches were used to beat people’s skin to cause the blood to flow to the surface, purifying the body.  In some traditions, Birch is also one of the three traditional woods used to make a Witch’s broom (the other two are ash and willow).  The twigs of the Birch tree make the “skirt” of the broom, appropriate since Birch is used for purification and banishing. 

Birch bark slips can be used as writing paper for spells.  Harvest bark that has already peeled away from the tree (that the tree has naturally shed — deliberately peeling birch bark off a tree can kill it!).  Cut into uniform slips and store in a dry place for future use.

Birch wood gives off a smoke that can be used for purification.  Burning birch strips makes a traditional Celtic-style smudge smoke that is sweet, non-cloying, and yet carries the properties of purification with it.  Add a bit of dried heather for even more depth and scent.

Birch has a lot to teach us about standing straight and tall and finding strength without losing our grace.  Birch is a very feminine tree, connected to one of the most feminine runes in the Futhark — Berkana.  It is a rune of Birth and Beginnings, suitable for Birch’s place at the beginning of the Celtic Lunar Tree Calendar.

Photo by Akahodag (via Flickr).