In a world where humans were small and nature was big, surrounded by forests of trees of immense size and stature, it’s not surprising that the ancient Celts came to hold trees as sacred. Like many others, the Celts revered the World Tree or the Tree of Life as the mythic bridge between heaven and earth. The roots reach down and ground with the Earth while the branches spread their canopy up to the heavens.
During the Neolithic period the original peoples of Ireland created their sacred sites with timber circles, consisting of concentric rings of freestanding timber surround by a bank and a ditch. These sacred trees were later replaced with stone markers, keeping a more permanent watch over the area.
The Celtic tribes designated particular local trees of each area as sacred. The earliest form of Celtic writing, the ogham alphabet, developed from the Celts’ veneration of trees. Each symbol of the alphabet, which many believe was used mainly for esoteric purposes, was associated with a particular tree. In a leap of connection, the ancient Celtic mind linked their alphabet with their calendar and their sacred trees. The Celtic year has 13 lunar months, each one named as one of the sacred trees.
It’s hard for us to imagine today joining our time consciousness with trees in a way that defines the movement of our lives with a sacred connection to trees. The ancient forests of Old Europe are almost all gone now and the deforestation of the United States still continues. Yet even though we rush around from task to task more connected to our electronic devices than to nature, trees still move us into a place of awe and wonder.
I suppose my own Celtic heritage surfaces in my love of plein-air painting and drawing of trees. I have spent many wonderful moments connected to the cosmos through this intense viewing of olive trees, cottonwood trees, and oak trees. Even words about trees can move me to taking brush in hand in an exploration of the sacred nature of tress.
I was recently inspired by Elizabeth Cunningham’s words in the second novel of her Maeve Chronicles, The Passion of Mary Magdalene. She describes a magical, mystical experience in a sacred grove which transformed into a Goddess Temple. In this temple was a central pillar which was a great tree with stars in its branches. An image of a star tree bloomed in my mind’s eye.
So once again I set off on the trail of manifesting an esoteric feeling/experience into a concrete image. I have found this path to be elusive in the past, requiring multiple studies on paper and much finding and destroying and finding again of the image on canvas. My vision of The Star Tree and my attempt to manifest it onto canvas has been no different.
I worked back and forth on these two studies using gouache on paper. I felt drawn to connect a Star Goddess to the Star Tree. Then neither seemed to work for me so I started working on canvas. That process opened a new vision for the studies, which I then went back to working on and brought to this end.
Reworking the studies opened a new vision for the oil painting. It might be done as it is now but you never can tell since there’s not my usual layers and layers of paint. If I work on it more, I’ll post an update here.
Trees and Goddess have merged as one in my mind. They both express the truth that body, soul and spirit are one; that heaven and earth continually interact with one another; that life on Earth is good and beautiful; that the whole Earth is spirit made flesh. May you feel the power of the stars swirling around us in the heavens, the Tree of Life which connects us on Earth to the stars in the heavens and the Goddess who reigns over all.
Sources: The Wisdom of Trees in the Celtic Landscape, The Sacred Trees,
Judith Shaw, a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, has been interested in myth, culture and mystical studies all her life. Not long after graduating from SFAI, while living in Greece, Judith began exploring the Goddess in her artwork. She continues to be inspired by the Goddess in all of Her manifestations. Originally from New Orleans, Judith now makes her home in New Mexico where she paints as much as time allows and sells real estate part-time. Give yourself the gift of one of Judith’s prints or paintings, priced from $25 – $3000.
Judith’s deck of Celtic Goddess Oracle Cards is available now. 
You can order your deck on Judith’s website. Experience the wisdom of the Celtic Goddesses!
feminismandreligion.com 
Lovely, fascinating imagery, thanks Judith Shaw, love your paintings.
Where you say the “deforestation of the earth continues,” is true and then again the opposite in many places, for instance New York City has delightfully been replanting trees all along their streets in huge measure. The project is called ONE MILLION TREES NYC, and which provides free trees to all property owners. There is also currently a One Million Tree project going on in London. And I would guess there are other cities around the world, let’s hope, doing the same thing.
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Also, there is Wangari Maathai, the Kenyan woman who planted trees–among so many other things, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQU7JOxkGvo
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Esther, Another good reminder! I remember hearing about her and the great work she’s doing. Women rock!!
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Sarah, Thanks for that reminder. I always love the trees in NYC and have various drawings of them from my visits there. Though the huge canopy of trees that covered the earth is gone our love of trees continues. Where humans do damage, humans can also do repair. It is heartening to see so many projects around the world that plant trees and explore the importance of trees.
The HeartMath Institute in California is currently in phase II of a tree research project. They are exploring the mysteries of trees, why they affect us so deeply, if and how they feel and communicate. Here’s a link to their site – https://www.heartmath.org/general/global-tree-monitoring-network/
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Beautiful!
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What a beautiful post, Judith. I am touched and honored that Maeve’s story helped inspire your gorgeous paintings of the Star Tree and Star Goddess. May your beautiful work move people to the ancient, timely, and essential veneration of trees. Thank you!
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Elizabeth, I am so grateful to you and other marvelous wordsmiths, whose words weave images in my mind’s eye. I look forward to reading the 3rd and 4th book in the Maeve Chronicles.
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Maeve loves hanging out with you!
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Even though I understand that our houses are generally built of wood and even though I love books printed on paper, it always breaks my heart to see a tree cut down. When they brought the Space Shuttle to Los Angeles and had to haul it from LAX to the museum where it now rests, they had to cut down hundreds of trees along the city streets to let the Shuttle pass. I have never gone to see the Shuttle because I’m so resentful that they cut down all those trees. Hooray for the Celts and their sacred trees! Hooray for your beautiful paintings of trees!
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I feel the same way Barbara. We have an insane bus project tearing up our main Route 66 street which required the cutting down of many trees which had only been planted a few years back and were just starting to have a strong presence. Hemp can replace trees for paper and homes can be built with other earth materials – stone, mud, etc so as to reduce our use of trees.
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Are any of these paintings for sale? They are wonderful.
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Juliana, The paintings are all for sale. I just finished these and still need to get them up on my website. Plus all of my work is available as prints, either 8.5×11″ photo prints or giclee prints on fine art paper.
Thanks so much for reblogging. The deforestation around the world due to logging and disease spurs me on to create more and more images of trees, exploring their sacred nature. Many, many people are voicing their concern about the trees and acting to protect and preserve.
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Reblogged this on writingontherim and commented:
See the paintings. With deforestation affecting so much of the world, the ideas of trees as sacred is especially appealing and meaningful.
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See also https://www.treesisters.org on women seeding change
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Anna Marie, Thanks for that link. Looks like a great group to join! (You have the perfect name for a tree lover – Laforest)
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Like you my relationship with trees anchors me to both Earth and Sky – your paintings move me from the inside out. Thank you.
I have just returned from New Mexico where cottonwoods and Russian Olives became my muses… here in Maine I look out on the giant wild apple tree that I planted the first spring at my house. She was a foot tall wild seedling that now bares golden apples for the deer and for me…. behind her a wood full of trees and a winding brook…. Emerald green…becomes the prayer of hope for northern trees.
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Sara, What a lovely home you have to be surrounded by trees and water. The cottonwoods of New Mexico are magnificent and continue to inspire me also. Thanks for reading ad appreciating.
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Oh such a lovely compliment…. trees are our inspiration!
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Thank you Judith, for not only the beauty but for telling us how you created these art works. I have been inspired by “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben this summer as he shares his understanding of how trees communicate with and protect each other, a “joyous entanglement” as one reviewer calls it.
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Tina, I have read some excerpts from Wohlleben’s book. I must read the whole book soon. Thanks for the reminder.
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