Wood, Stone and You
There are wood and gemstone associated with birthdates. Do you know your birth tree signs and birth month objects?
Choosing special products and objects that link with you is fun and gives you a tale to tell when someone else admires your possession. Celtic tree astrology signs provide a talking point and add an extra layer of detail to celebrate the birth of a child.
Many people have lists of flowers, woods, and materials that link to UK wedding anniversary gift traditions with hidden meanings. These traditions mean you can give a birth tree gift created from wood and precious gems that have more meaning because you have chosen the materials for their significance as well as their beauty.
Birthwood Meanings
Your tree sign will depend on your chosen tradition. North American and Celtic tree astrology sign’s are slightly different. Native Americans and Celtic druids thought trees had fairies and spirits, and your birthwood reflected your character and life position.
Each tree species has unique health and spirit benefits, regardless of your birthday.
Celtic Birth Trees and Associated Stones
The Celtic tree calendar follows the lunar and not the sun cycle. There are thirteen lunar months which do not match the Julian or Gregorian calendars. The word month comes from the moon.
Dates shift subtly around. If you are born on a boundary date, you might want to check for the year of your birth month tree to be sure of your Celtic tree zodiac sign. See what your birthday tree says about you and your personality traits below.
Gemstone Philosophy
Numerous myths and stories surround gemstones and other semiprecious jewels. Names for these have changed over the years. When an old text refers to diamonds, it might describe a pale light topaz or sapphire. Colour was an essential characteristic, so garnets and rubies would class as the same.
Symbolic meanings of the gemstones listed next to each birth tree by month:
Symbolic Meanings of Birth Wood
Find your birth tree picture below and the real meaning of things, and discover the truth about you. You can also view the ogham symbol in the image corner.
Birch 24th December-20th January
The Birch tree holds deep feminine connections, being a symbol of rebirth, renewal, and honesty. Babies born with the birch sign have beautiful souls and are tolerant of others. Important in Russian culture with spiritual significance in others also.
A magnificent tree, as every part is edible and useful with healing properties. The birch bark extract produces a substance for pain relief, and the sap is delicious. Wood is hard, fine-grained, and pale. It has an eager ability for renewal even in harsh conditions, restarting woodlands after disasters.
Crystal, as clear quartz, is the master healer and attracts positive thoughts.
Rowan 21st January-17th February
Rowan tree symbolism represents protection. On every berry, you can find a small pentacle, a traditional emblem of protection against evil. Plus, they consider the red colour protective and lucky worldwide. Those born under the Rowan tree sign live charmed lives and are highly intuitive. Berries are rich in vitamins A and C and can be edible with processing into jam or jelly, but the taste is tart. Bark and berries produce a black dye.
Tourmaline is protective and heals. The colours of each have their additional property. Black is for self-assurance and clear vision. Pink is naturally for love and gentleness. Purplish ones typically help you relax and are said to ward off migraines. Blueness represents an open mind and excellent communication skills. Greener colours for courage and strength. Brown (shades of yellow) is for positive thinking.
Ash 18th February-17th March
Ash represents connection, power, awareness, and sensitivity. They might not care what others may think of them, immersed in their own world of fantastic vision and design. Ash is the most likely Norse world tree having roots in the underworld and branches in the heavens. If you are born under the Ash tree sign, you will always seek knowledge and intelligence.
Turquoise gemstone beads from 5000 BC were unearthed in Iraqi excavations. It represents protection (especially from falls) and longevity.
Lepidolite is for calm and serenity during anxious moments. In crystal therapy, lepidolite soothes life transitions and emotions like grief.
Alder 18th March-14th April
The Alder Tree, a part of the Birch family, is typically found growing near wetlands. Alders represent determination and inner confidence but considerate of others. People born under this Celtic tree are passionate, robust, and endure all life’s storms.
It is easy to push the soft pith at the core of the twig out, leaving a wooden tube. The twig makes a fine flute or whistle. Legend has it that music played on an alder whistle will summon fairy folk.
Lapis Lazuli is often called a sapphire in old texts. This represents insight and seeking a strong sense of truth.
Willow 15 April-12 May
The Weeping Willow sign represents the qualities of imagination, vision, and intuition. Connected with mourning–when the Israelites wept in the shade of willow trees. Wearing the willow is a phrase that means to be mourning a death or a lost love (to a rival). The traditional material for cricket bats and weaving baskets. In the fable, the willow tree bent and survived the storm that felled the mighty oak. Those with this tree symbol are agile in body and mind.
Moonstone is for emotional stability and calmness.
Hawthorn 13 May-9 June
Hawthorn represents relationships but also contradictions and opposites. Greeks and Romans saw it as symbolical of belief and happy marriages. Hawthorn children are great listeners, occasionally prickly but open to change and development. Important to both the druid, pagans and Christians, with pilgrims visiting the holy thorn at Glastonbury. Legend has it the Glastonbury thorn sprang from a hawthorn staff carried by Joseph of Arimathea.
Lapis Lazuli. Blueish Calcite is for communication and calms the soul.
Oak 10 June-7 July
An Oak tree means strength, royalty, and character. This is the king of the woods or the summer king represented by Gawain in the tale of Gawain and the Green Knight. These gigantic oaks endure for generations with as much of the tree below ground as above.
When you think of ancient trees, this is the first tree that comes to mind full of history and ancestry. Naturally, those born under the oak sign are natural born leaders with long, happy lives and can endure life’s challenges.
Aventurine is for luck and wealth. It is a member of the quartz family, generally green with shimmering glitter specks.
Diamonds are for eternal love and courage and represent lightning trapped in a rock.
Holly 8 July-4 August
A Holly tree represents death and rebirth. We also associate it with holiness and protection of the spirit. Qualities are that they are assertive and objective in their approach to life, with quick wit. Also linked with Christmas traditions worldwide. The Holly King is the winter counterpoint to the Summer Oak. Holly is the material of Harry Potter’s wand and symbolises protection against evil. A slow-growing, white wood popular as a material for carving chessmen and in marquetry.
Ruby is for passionate love and protects those wearing it from evil in thought and deed.
Bloodstone is for healing and courage. It signifies integrity and tenacity to see a job through, no matter the sacrifice.
Hazel 5 August-1 September
Hazel has a long association with poetry and knowledge. In ancient times Bards used to love a good story and were the wise men. Their songs kept history and traditions alive when handwriting was rudimentary. Hazel is soft and pliable, so twigs were the diviner’s tool of choice when seeking underground water. The fabulous salmon of wisdom became wise through eating hazelnuts (nine). Hazelnuts are rich in vitamin E and are delicious in many sweet and savoury recipes.
Topaz increases the wearer’s strength and intelligence but represents love and affection.
Pearls are the tears of the goddess of love and always represent purity. Pearls are an organic gem, and if you want them to keep their lustrous qualities, you need to wear them regularly.
Apple 2 September-29 September
Apple the Celtic birth tree for September and babies born within the autumnal equinox. Characterised by gentleness, strength, attractiveness, and a giving heart. Apple trees give abundantly, and wood smells good in a fire. In Celtic cultures and American traditions, the apple always links with motherhood and nurtures a feeling of being at home with plenty to eat.
Apples arrived in Britain with the Romans. Pilgrim fathers took seeds with them to their new home in America. Apples crop up in legends all the time, from Norse apples of immortality to William Tell saving his son’s life.
Emerald was for fertility and love. Today it represents patience, sense, and self-development.
Rose Quartz is for love, a peaceful home, and to heal.
Ivy 30 September-27 October
Ivy produces wood, but it is rare and in short supply. Part of the ginseng family, but it is poisonous, so don’t be tempted to eat it. Representing peace and fidelity because it binds different plants and objects together. They associate it with wine (because it is a vine) and was an old pub sign. When ivy was hung over the doorway, it meant wine was available.
Partner to Holly in the much-loved Christmas carol (The Holly and The Ivy) and represents women. The song refers to the old dispute of the sexes around the wintertime solstice for who would rule the household–the Holly (man) or the ivy (woman).
Reed 28 October-24 November
Reed is not a tree, but the Celts regarded any woody type plant as a member of the tree family. Reeds grow up to twenty feet tall and are useful for thatched roofs and basketry. Reeds serve as a handy strewing herb on packed dirt floors that could be swept out and replaced to purify homes. All the Reed qualities of protection, communication, and purification relate to plant usage.
Elder 25 November- 23 December
The Elder tree represents a transition from one state to another. It is the tree of endings and the tree of beginnings. In folk traditions, it’s used to drive out evil spirits and destructive thoughts. Often planted for protection from malice.
The elderberries and flora are edible, but everything else is poisonous. Bark, leaves, and berries all produced organic dyes for Harris tweed. Children with this Celtic zodiac sign are thoughtful, always seeking, striving, and achieving.
Olivine, Jet.
North American Birth Month Symbols and Birthstones
Jan – Birch
See above.
Garnet, as a raw gem, resembles a pomegranate seed, and its name means ‘seed’. Its powers are devotion and commitment.
Feb – Hackberry
Hackberry birthtree represents strong willpower, intuition, and understanding of Native American customs. A Hackberry tree person knows what they want and has the strength of will to achieve it. This tree produces small edible berries that start orange and ripen to deep mauve. The tree is native to the Americas but has spread across the globe. It has medicinal healing properties and other uses.
Amethyst being purple, was a royal gem and not for commoners. Its name means ‘sober’ and was a favourite for bishops’ rings.
Mar – Ash
As before.
Aquamarine, as its name suggests, was associated with Neptune. Sailors used this as a talisman to bring them safely home.
Apr – Walnut
Walnut represents universal intellect and knowledge. Perhaps this thought has something to do with the close resemblance a walnut has to the human brain. Iraqi caves in Shanidar show walnut consumption from 7,000 BC. If walnut is your tree sign, you can lay claim to logical thinking and an ability to see the big picture.
Diamond birthstone.
May – Elm
Elm represents strength and loyalty in native American lore. Elm has a colourful political past involving wars and revolution. The felling of an Elm tree in Normandy in 1188 was an indication of a dispute between France and England.
The Liberty Tree planted in Boston was felled in 1775 by the British and started the custom of planting ‘Liberty Elms’ all over the country. The ‘Survivor Tree’ is an elm that survived a bomb blast that killed 100 people and is a memorial to that tragic waste. Elms now represent hope in face of war across the world. An Elm child is principled and steadfast in their loyalty.
Jun – Oak
Pearl and Alexandrite.
Jul – Cherry
Cherry is for compassion, love, and romance. This makes it ideal for wedding rings or Valentine’s Day keepsakes. Anyone born under the sign of cherry has blessings of good luck and fortune. Japan makes gift cherry trees as a symbol of friendship and peace. Legend has it that the phoenix sleeps on a bed of cherry blossom, representing a time of renewal.
Rubies.
Aug – Apple
Peridot forms from the tears of Pele (volcano goddess) and can ward off nightmares if paired with gold.
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Sept – Willow
Sapphire symbolises purity, intellect, and serpent protection.
Oct – Maple
Maple is a new world tree and doesn’t feature in the Celtic calendar. Maple syrup is a delicious ingredient valued across the world. The Maple tree represents sweetness and abundance. These species cover a wide range of distinct types, from the sugar maple to the delicate Japanese Acer. Maple stands for change–the leaves change to vibrant colours in the autumn. The Japanese have a Maple ceremony that is as popular as the cherry blossom festival but less famous.
Opal is the choice of confident and faithful people. Tourmaline.
Nov – Cedar
Cedar’s pleasant scent repels moths and preserves textiles kept in boxes or cabinets. Cedar cleanses and heals, making it ideal to represent medical professions. In Native American traditions, cedar is a symbol of good fortune and generosity.
Citrine is for joy, generosity, and the ability to change and grow. Topaz as before.
Dec – Pine
Pine is versatile and quick growing and excellent for construction and furniture. As pinewood matures, it acquires a rich honey glow of old pine. The symbolics of pine is peace, harmony, and highly creative urge. Born under the pine is to be a peacemaker and artistic.
Tanzanite represents deeply intuitive and spiritually grounded people.
Zircon represents compassion, good sleep, honour, and wisdom.
Combining Wood and Stone
From birth, people seek patterns and purpose to connect to the cosmos and nature. This practice of looking for signs and omens has deep primordial roots.
Most people know their sun sign, and some go further and know their moon sign as well. Many people know their Chinese zodiac animal with its twelve-year cycle. Now you can say you were born under Thorn or Elder signs, depending on the Celtic astrology calendar, when asked.
You can match a ring or pen’s wood to the birth month trees or your relationship. Or combine woods for a more nuanced meaning and add in gems for their symbolism.
Choosing meaningful wood and stone adds significance to an object. Everyone likes to be able to add a personal touch to items they treasure or present as gifts to a loved one.
"I like to make things. I'm not a super handyman or anything, but I've always been interested in woodworking and other DIY projects. I find that if I have something in my hands, I can solve difficult problems better than if I am staring at a computer screen or reading about them on the internet." There is only so much furniture and art you can fit in a house, and giving to family and friends only lasts so long, so here we are with a crafts shop.
I enjoy writing about my projects and other topics related to crafting, like making something with your hands.
What tribe is the north american tree calander from?
Its not from any particular tribe, but what I found. Stories and lore evolve through time also some species may not grow in all areas.