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UPRIGHT
REVERSED
~ BEORC (birch) ~ bv ~
The birch figures prominently in Teutonic customs as the symbol of spring
awakening. It is the first tree in the northern forests to turn green after the
long winter. In the Golden Bough Frazer describes how the Russian villagers would
cut down a young birch tree in the spring, dress it in a woman's clothes and honor
it with feasts and celebrations, then throw it into a stream. Frazer believed this
last act to be a rain charm, but it was more likely a fertility charm. A variation
of this custom was to dress the prettiest
girl in the village completely in birch boughs.
The slender trunk of the birch, its delicate leaves and silver bark
which has the appearance of adornment, all contribute to ascribing feminine qualities
to it. Likely it was related to Freyja, the goddess noted for her love of ornament
and the most beautiful female
in Asgard.
Birch twigs were placed in houses and stables to cause women and mares
to conceive. Both men and women were lashed with birch twigs for a similar purpose.
In modern Scandinavia, the custom endures in connection with the sauna. Until recent
times school children all over Europe were beaten with birch to make their minds
fertile. In Cheshire it used to be the practice to fix a sprig of birch over the
door of a lover. Birch bark prevents scurvy and has other healing virtues. The smoke
of the burning wood is
aromatic and pleasant.
Generally, the rune signifies health, beauty and love. It causes fertility
and growth and renews the life force. It causes women to bear children. the effect
of Beorc is opposite that of its pair
rune, Tyr, which brings destruction.
MEANINGS:
UPRIGHT:
Fertility, desire, arousal, love and lovemaking, growth, melting a cold
heart, playfulness, cheer, vitality, new projects, conception of children, flow
of ideas, creation of art, rites of spring, first crush, sowing wild oats.
REVERSED:
Passion, uncontrolled desire, carelessness, abandon, wildness, lust
for life, pursuit of youth, immaturity, silliness, imprudence, infatuation for young
lovers, danger of statutory rape and the conception of illegitimate offspring.
KEY:
FERTILITY
The birch figures prominently in Teutonic customs as the symbol of
spring awakening. It is the first tree in the northern forests to turn green after
the long winter. In the Golden Bough Frazer describes how the Russian villagers
would cut down a young
birch tree in the spring, dress it in a woman's clothes and honor it with feasts
and celebrations, then throw it into a stream. Frazer believed this last act to
be a rain charm, but it was more likely a fertility charm. A variation of this custom
was to dress the prettiest girl in the village completely in birch boughs.
The slender trunk of the birch, its delicate leaves and silver bark
which has the appearance of adornment, all contribute to ascribing feminine qualities
to it. Likely it was related to Freyja, the goddess noted for her love of ornament
and the most beautiful female in Asgard.
Birch twigs were placed in houses and stables to cause women and mares
to conceive. Both men and women were lashed with birch twigs for a similar purpose.
In modern Scandinavia, the custom endures in connection with the sauna. Until recent
times
school children all over Europe were beaten with birch to make their minds fertile.
In Cheshire it used to be the practice to fix a sprig of birch over the door
of a lover. Birch bark prevents scurvy and has other healing virtues. The
smoke of the burning wood is aromatic and pleasant.
Generally, the rune signifies health, beauty and love. It causes fertility
and growth and renews the life force. It causes women to bear children. the effect
of Beorc is opposite that of its pair rune, Tyr, which brings destruction.
MEANINGS:
UPRIGHT:
Fertility, desire, arousal, love and lovemaking, growth, melting a cold
heart, playfulness, cheer, vitality, new projects, conception of children, flow
of ideas, creation of art, rites of spring, first crush, sowing wild oats.
REVERSED:
Passion, uncontrolled desire, carelessness, abandon, wildness,
lust for life, pursuit of youth, immaturity, silliness, imprudence, infatuation
for young lovers, danger of statutory rape and the conception of illegitimate offspring.
KEY:
FERTILITY
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