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The Celtic year has 13 lunar months, each one named after a tree. The first of these, November, is the birch. The silver birch (Betula pendula Roth) is the most common tree in much of Europe. It grows up to 100 feet high,and is often found in sandy soils. It is one of the first trees to grow back in an area after a mature forest is cut; this is probably a large part of its symbolic connection with new beginnings. Formerly covering the whole of the United Kingdom, it is a graceful and slender tree with a characteristic white bole.
The birch represents new beginnings and opportunities. The name for the birch in the Tree Ogham, Beithe, has two meanings in Irish. It can mean "being," in the sense of the verb to be, and it is also a noun meaning "a being."
Children's cradles were made of Birch, and the inner bark provides a pain reliever while the leaves can be used to treat arthritis. Axe handles were also made from Birch. On the Isle of Man, off the west coast of Scotland, criminals were 'birched' to purify them and to drive out evil influences.
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BIRCH* (Betula spp.)
A lovely pale, fine-grained wood. Long associated with fertility and healing magic, birch twigs were used to bestow fertility on cattle and newlyweds, and children's cradles were made from its wood. Birch is one of the first trees to grow on bare soil and thus it births the entire forest. Criminals were at one time birched to drive out evil influences on them, to renew them for the new year. Birch was associated with Thor, probably in recognition of his role as an agricultural and fertility deity. Birch is an incredibly useful tree - nearly every part of it is edible, and it's sap was an important source of sugar to Native Americans and early settlers. The inner bark provides a pain reliever and the leaves are used to treat arthritis. It's bark was used for everything from paper to canoe hulls, and axe handles were also made from Birch. Birch is most useful for fertility and healing spells 
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