Bieth: "The Birch"

Birch Basics

The Birch tree is known by several folk-names:  Beithe, Bereza, Berke, Beth and Bouleau.  Its associated deity is Thor.  Its gender type is Feminine, its planet ruler is Venus, and its associated element is Water.  Birch is used to attract the powers needed for protection, purification and exorcism.

The common birch tree (Betula pendula alba, also B. pubescens, and B. verrucosa) is one of the sacred trees of Wicca/Witchcraft.  Coleridge (the English poet and critic 1772–1834) spoke of the birch as the “Lady of the Woods”, due to its lightness, grace, elegance and fragrance particularly after rain.  The wood of the birch is soft and not very durable but being cheap and the tree being able to thrive in any situation or soil, it is grown all over Europe and used for a wide variety of purposes.

When the stem of the birch tree is wounded a saccharine juice flows out and when added to yeast it produces a vinous fermentation from which beer, wine, spirits and vinegar are made in various parts of Europe.  Normally during March incisions are cut into the tree from which a thin sugary sap is collected.  Honey, cloves and lemon peel is then added and the whole fermented with yeast from which Birch Wine and a very pleasant cordial is made.  From 16 to 18 gallons of sap may be drawn from one large tree and a moderate tapping does it no harm.

The bark of the birch contains only about 3 per cent of tannic acid but is still used extensively for tanning throughout Northern Europe or wherever there are large birch forests.  As it’s tannic acid gives a pale colour to the skin it is used for the preliminary and the final stages of tanning.  The bark also contains betulin and betuls camphor, while the leaves contain betulorentic acid.  By destructive distillation the white epidermis of the bark yields empyreumatic oil known variously in commerce as:  Oil of Birch Tar, Oleum Rusci, Oleum Betulinum or Dagget.  This is a thick bituminous brownish-black liquid with a pungent balsamic odour.  It contains a high percentage of methylsalicylate as well as creosol and guaiacol.  The Rectified Oil (Oleum Rusci Rectificatum) is sometimes substituted for Oil of Cade.  The Oil of Birch Tar is almost identical with Wintergreen Oil.

Birch Lore

Astrologically birch people (i.e. those people born in the month of December) can be vivacious, attractive, elegant, friendly, pretentious and modest.  They do not like anything in excess and abhors the vulgar.  They love life in nature and create a calm and content atmosphere, but while they can be full of imagination, they are not very passionate and have little ambition.

Listen closely and you will detect whispers of transformation and growth in the midst of the birch groves within your soul.

The birch is highly adaptive and able to sustain harsh conditions with casual indifference. Proof of this adaptability is seen in its easy and eager ability to repopulate areas damaged by forest fires or clearings. Bright and beautiful, the birch is a pioneer, courageously taking root and starting anew to revive the landscape where no other would before.

This is a powerful metaphor for our lives. The birch asks us to philosophically go where no other will go (voluntarily or otherwise). The birch asks us to take root in new soils and light our lives with the majesty of our very presence. The birch sings to us: “Shine, take hold, express your creative expanse, light the way so that others may follow.”

Paradoxically, while the birch is a brilliant symbol of renewal, it is also symbolic of stability and structure. The druids also held the birch as the keepers of long-honored traditions.

Bieth Magick

In Witchcraft, the Druids placed the birch at the start of the Celtic tree calendar from whence it became associated with inception and new beginnings and twigs of the birch were use at Beltane celebrations to light the festival fires marking the beginning of a new season.  The birch was also associated with the spirits of the dead and the Underworld.  An old folk-ballad known as “The Wife of Usher’s Well” tells of souls returning from the realms of the dead wearing hats and clothing of made of birch.

One of the ritual tools of a Witch is the Broom, which traditionally it was made by tying the twigs of a Birch tree around a handle made of Ash with strips of Willow.  In folklore it was thought that the Ash with its association with water had command over the four elements.  The Birch with its connection to the spirits of the dead drew those spirits into one’s service and the Willow through its connection with Hecate allowed communication with the Goddess.  The handle, brush and binding of the broom are also symbolic of the triformis aspects of the Goddess.

In folklore, tying a red ribbon around the stem or branch of a birch tree would ward off the evil eye.  Because of its purificatory and cleansing properties as well as its association with the Underworld, birch twigs can be used to exorcise evil spirits by gently striking possessed people or animals.  Babies’ cradles were once made from birch wood to protect their innocent charges and the birch was also used for protection against lightning.