Sun Standstill, Oaken Strength
‘Under the greenwood tree
Who loves to lie with me,
And turn his merry note
Unto the sweet bird's throat,
Come hither, come hither, come hither:
Here shall he see no enemy….’ W. Shakespeare
And we’ll stop there, for in summer we let the time slip, and winter and rough weather are far from our thoughts.
Whilst this blog explores the Oak, the feeling behind it is that we should heed the Solstice, using it as an opportunity to stop for a few moments. As the Sun begins its dance away from the northern lands, let’s consider the crowded first six months of its growing power. And where better to do that than under an oak tree?
Oak strength and the Druids’ Prayer
Any local tree large enough to offer us shade might serve as our Midsummer Greenwood Tree. All have their own qualities and gifts. But for Druids, the primary solar tree is the Oak. Its qualities of strength and continuity are of supreme importance in our collective psyche. And where oaks do not grow there will be a native tree to exemplify these qualities.
The Oak (Duir) and the Druid share their name at the root, and a capacity for inner strength, carried by a certainty of the harmonious nature of the cosmos. The Oak’s energy resonates with the Druid’s Prayer which sees strength as essential to spiritual exploration. And the order of the Druid’s Prayer is not random. Let’s consider the first few lines:
Grant, oh Spirit, thy protection…
To function, we need to feel protected: safe. Druids look to the wider context of a spiritually sentient world to feel supported through all the currents, seasons and vicissitudes of life.
And in protection, strength…
When we feel nature’s spiritual support, we relate to the world from a position of strength. This is not a ‘power-play’ strength, but an Oak-strength that nurtures, supports and is a force for good.
And in strength understanding…
Weakness shows in defensiveness, closed attitudes. It stops us considering other possibilities which threaten our fragile equilibrium. Strength enables us to reach out to others with understanding. The strong can listen with a clear mind and understanding, allowing others to hold contrary positions. They can flow freely with ideas, graciously changing or adapting as circumstances dictate. Strength is not a rigid or inflexible quality; it actually leads to fluidity and grace. All of this is essential before we come onto that limited mind-construct “knowledge “.
And in understanding knowledge…
Knowledge without understanding, empathy, sympathy or reference to a wider context will set a nuclear bomb off. It can be used to obstruct essential processes - of halting climate change, for example.
Understanding of a wider, natural, global context ensures that knowledge will never be used for ill purposes. How wise to support the inner strength that will hopefully make us part of the solutions of an ailing world.
The oak supports hundreds of life-forms, and if we are caught in the forest after dark and need to hunker down until dawn, that will include us! We will be drawn to a huge tree with roots we can curl up in, with a strong protective trunk at our back and leaves as a canopy above. Just being with a tree that holds this capacity through its long life can help to awaken a dormant understanding that we share those qualities. So don’t let’s wait to be lost; let’s just do it.
The Major Oak, Sherwood Forest
Mythic Oak associations
The Oak is so rich mythically that all cultures where it grows have legends and mythic figures attached, and just from the Welsh, we have Merlin and Lleu and, by implication, Arthur.
Merlin particularly is associated with the oak. He fled to the forest for healing when driven mad by the slaughter at the Battle of Arfderydd, becoming Merlin Wyllt/ Merlin Sylvestris (Merlin Wild/Merlin of the Forest). Here he gained deeper wisdom; he was touched by the poetic Awen as a commentary, was befriended by totem beasts and gained the gifts of prophecy. One legend of his mysterious disappearance into an Otherworld is of him being trapped in an oak tree by Nimue.
Merlin’s Oak in Carmarthen (Caer Merddyn) held the prophecy that if anything happened to the tree, the town would drown.
‘When Merlin’s tree shall tumble down
Then shall fall Carmarthen town.’
Such iconic oak trees that accrue legends – Gog and Magog in Glastonbury, Herne’s oak of Windsor Park and Sherwood’s major oak – occupy a significant totemic place in the heart for locals. And for that reason, some are vandalised, and the community response insists on their continuing symbolic importance. Merlin’s oak was poisoned by an Edwardian who resented its status. Its trunk was preserved with metal railings, and removed when it was set it on fire at the end of the 1970s. Carmarthen then suffered its worst floods for many years.
Imagine what these ancient trees have witnessed in their long! Glastonbury’s Gog and Magog, once part of an avenue of oaks going to the Tor, are still ‘portal’ trees for the Isle of Avalon. Their names remember the legend that the Trojans landed in Cornwall and overcame all the indigenous giants to people the land. One, GogMagog, reappeared as two giants by splitting his name, around the time of William the Conqueror, and gave their names to these ancient giant oaks, one sadly dead ut still standing, the other reaching the end of its venerable life.
Gog and Magog
Merlin’s protégé, King Arthur, is connected to the Oak by the quality of sovereignty, but has the associations of a protective Winter King. He is born at midwinter and connects to the winter sky and the totemic bears of the constellations: the many abductors of Guinevere associate with the summer. So, when there is a necessity to exhibit solar action in the tale of the Green Knight, how can it resolve? The Holly (Green) Knight stands for Winter strength and challenge; so Arthur needs a champion who embodies the qualities of the summer sun. Fortunately, he has a Solar Knight, Gawain, so connected to the sun that his strength actually waxes and wanes with its rising and setting, to take on the Green Knight challenge. And a year later, at Midwinter, he returns from an expedition which all thought had meant certain death. This Arthur association won’t leave my mind… I wonder if Arthur as a balancing mythic force has transcended the annual rhythm of the seasons as depicted by the Holly and the Oak? Perhaps his tree is really the evergreen Holm Oak?
Holm oak: (Holly Oak, Quercus Ilex)
Lastly, Lleu Llaw Gyffes, the Solar Lord from the fourth branch of the Mabinogi, has a wife made of oak, broom and meadowsweet flowers, which are solar-associated, brilliant sun-coloured and in full bloom at midsummer respectively. When mortally wounded he transforms into a solar bird, one of the oldest animals, the eagle, and takes sanctuary in an Oak which protects him from the rain until his father/uncle Gwydion finds and tempts him down from the tree with a magical englyn. Trees and poetry - a truly magical cure for the soul.
Ancient ritual
We are six months away from this reference, but it must be noted: the Druidic oak at Midwinter is enshrined the ritual of the mistletoe, as noted by Pliny in ancient times. The mistletoe is most valued when found upon the oak, and harvested with huge ceremony on the sixth day after the new moon. And we’re told that, at any time of year, our Druid forebears always had a representative piece of oak present at their ceremonies – and that they celebrated in oak groves. All a clear indication to us to honour this great tree at both Solstice times, and at every festival in between.
‘Great Oaks take 300 years to grow,
300 years to stay and
300 years to die.’
So, what can we Druids or spiritual seekers gain from all this? We can notice our local oaks or large trees and be grateful for -
Their continuity and witnessing over hundreds of years
An understanding of the support it can be for us
A contemplation of a huge swathe of time that is their life span
Allowing ourselves to slow down to that sense of longevity and eternity
These are all very therapeutic, spiritual acts. So where is your local oak?
Like Lleu, we can find sanctuary and support in the oak when we are ill. In NHS pain clinics today healing is helped by meditations using oak trees as a form of support.
As Druids, we take a positive stance on well being by doing the same to help our stress levels.
When we take five minutes with the ancient trees regularly, we are all the better for it. But when we take ten, or fifteen… who knows what might happen? For - and this is the last magical attribute of the oak that we’ll consider this time - the ‘oak courts the flash’; that is, the lightning is attracted to it, and Druids see this as a symbol for the sudden blessing flash of Awen or inspiration.
But it needs space: unless we slow down, it will pass unnoticed.
Under the trees we can become clear and access a deeper wisdom.
And that brings us nicely back to the Summer Solstice; the Sun’s great Standstill.
Time to stop: sit under an oak, just be, and refresh that much ignored part of ourselves, the soul. For -
The soul is the greening life force of the flesh, for the body grows and prospers through her, just as the earth becomes fruitful when it is moistened. The soul humidifies the body so it does not dry out, just like the rain which soaks into the earth. Hildegarde of Bingen 1098 - 1179
Golden sunshine, sweet rest and green refreshment to us all at Midsummer.