Celtic Tree Sign
Celtic tree astrology by your birthday — the tree that mirrors you and your innate nature.
This tree reading assigns your birthday to one of 13 Celtic trees. The tree that mirrors you is read for your innate nature, love and aptitude. This tree calendar is not, however, ancient. It spread from the poet Robert Graves, who in The White Goddess arranged the Celtic ogham tree letters across thirteen months, and there is no record that the ancient Druids ever cast birthday readings of this kind. It is closer to a modern reconstruction than to a tradition, and the character descriptions attached to each tree come from that tree’s form and uses.
How it works
Your birth date finds your tree among the thirteen of Celtic tree astrology. Each tree holds a stretch of the year, and some — birch among them — straddle the turn from December into January.
What you'll get
Among the thirteen trees, the one your birthday falls under is found first, along with the temperament drawn from how that tree grows and what it is used for. Love and work, money and health then follow from the nature of that tree, and the year's flow and what to watch for close it out. The tree calendar splits the year into thirteen, so its date borders miss those of the zodiac and a different story is normal.
Ogham letters and the names of trees
Ogham is an old script surviving in Ireland and Wales, cut as strokes across the edge of a stone. It is true that its letters carried tree names such as birch, alder and willow, and the trees in this reading come from there. What is missing is any record of those letters serving as a calendar in which each one governs a stretch of the year. The tree names are ancient; assigning a tree to a birthday is a modern arrangement.
Why the year is cut into thirteen
A full cycle of the moon waxing and waning runs a little over twenty-nine days, so it comes round twelve and a half times in a year. Cut the year by the moon and twelve months leave a remainder while thirteen do not, and this tree calendar follows that idea in dividing the year into thirteen. It is also why its boundaries fall out of step with the zodiac, which cuts the year into twelve by the position of the sun. The two readings mark their edges on different dates.
When it tells a different story from your sign
It happens often that the temperament of your tree and the reading for your zodiac sign do not agree. One works from the moon and the trees, the other from the sun and the constellations, so different accounts of the same person are only to be expected. There is no need to decide which is right; keep both as separate mirrors held up to you. Where the two diverge, in fact, you often notice which of the two explanations you would rather believe.
Go and find your tree
Once you have read the interpretation, it is worth going to look at the tree itself. See the white bark of a birch, the thick limbs of an oak, the way a willow hangs, and you understand at once why those temperaments were attached to them. Every description of character in this reading is a figure drawn from how a tree looks and what it was used for, so the more you know the trees the deeper the reading goes. A nearby park or a street planting will turn up several.
Do not pass it on as ancient tradition
It is better to enjoy this tree calendar knowing that it was put together again in the twentieth century. Something invented recently is not thereby unusable, but telling other people that ancient druids really practised this is passing on something untrue. Take it as modern imagination laid over genuinely old tree names, and it still makes for plenty worth reading on its own terms. Being honest about where a story came from costs the story nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Celtic tree astrology?
It is a Western tradition that divides the year into thirteen stretches, each held by one tree. Your birth date decides which tree is yours.
I was born near the turn of the year — is that a problem?
Not at all. Some stretches, birch among them, cross from late December into January, and that is handled automatically.
How does this differ from the zodiac?
Both start from your birthday but come from different lineages. The zodiac uses the twelve signs the sun passes through; the Celtic trees use thirteen periods from the tree calendar. The dividing dates differ too, so the two readings tell different stories.
Do the trees really have different characters?
It is a tradition that read temperament from each tree's form and use. A hard wood like oak comes out as endurance; a tree that grows first, like birch, comes out as new beginnings. Meant as entertainment.
Can I use a lunar birthday to find my tree?
You can, but the reference is the solar date. Thirteen trees divide the year into date ranges, so choosing lunar converts first and then finds the range that date falls in. The two calendars can sit nearly a month apart, so a different tree is the usual outcome — keep track of which one you entered.