The Sacred Oak In Magic

Few trees are as deeply rooted in the field of human consciousness as the mighty oak.
It has forever been a symbol of the qualities needed for success in human life
Strength, fertility, protection, longevity and the only true form of human immortality,
the family line. At the birth of a boy in a great family an oak would be planted and
this tree's health and fate were bound to that of the man and the family for whom it
was planted. This "barnstock" is immensely important and features in the opening of one
of the greatest sagas in German Folklore, Sigurd Fafnirsbani. When Odin came to the
home of Sigurd's father, Sigmund he plunged the sword Gram into the oak tree that grew
in the center of the house, the barnstock of their family. Thus the beginning of the
story of the most heroic family line in Germany has an oak tree at its center.

The strong, straight trunk stands as a pillar of the heavens for generations at a time.
The great age that the oak achieves speaks to its ability to thrive whatever may come.
There has been many an oak that has lived for several hundreds of years. Oaks, their
distinctive leaves and their acorns adorn the family crests of many a noble line,
families that carry on into our age and beyond.

Oaks were and continue to be the object of "Dendrolotry", the worship of trees. Among
the many people who worshiped in oak groves are the ancient Druids to whom the oak was
exceptionally sacred for their fertility. The fertility of the oak is of a masculine
nature rather than feminine, for its many seeds, rapid growth and general strength.
The strength of the trunk and the wood of the oak is indeed mighty and good warriors
were called Battle Oaks. Its leaves crown the green man of the forest, their sacred
foliage the skin of the fertile lord of the woods himself. Every 7-9 years its acorns
grow a bumper crop, it is then that the deer feast on the bounty of the oak and their
numbers swell giving a feast of venison to men. Squirrels are known as "Oak horns" and
they, like farmers of the forest plant the oak far and wide.

The oak is sacred to Thor because of its strength in storms it is often struck by his
lightning and is left standing. Traditionally when a field is to be plowed and an oak
stands in its midst it is left there to protect the harvest from the weather. There was
a great oak tree named Thor's Oak that Christians sought to fell to prevent the folk
from their worship and as their story is written, "when one side of the tree was notched
only a little suddenly the oaks vast bulk was driven down by a blast from above." Thor
would not suffer them to destroy his oak, felling it himself.

As a solar symbol oaks play their part in the Midsummer Solstice and its rites. Oak wood
is used in the sacred bonfires that illuminate the countryside as well as the flaming
"Sun Wheels"

Even in our age there are Sacred Oaks hung with ribbons and gifts in return for the
power of the mighty trees magic. May it ever be so!