Celebrate the Celtic Oak Moon

Celebrate the 7th Lunar month with Oak Moon. I painted this OAK Goddess for my Ogham deck. Duir, the Celtic word for oak means "door" in many languages. The 7th Lunar Month is the hinge of the year because from this point whether looking forward or backward, it is equidistant in time to the rebirth of the Sun. The OAK's healing properties are strength, endurance and cleansing.
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The gemstone is White Carnelian/Moonstone and the Bird is the Wren. (Excerpted from "Year of Moons, Season Of Trees" by Pattalee Glass-Koentop)
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And a wee wren appeared outside my window as I began, a good sign 🙏🏿 In the Southwest, try working with the commonly found Mesquite tree instead. I'm in Southern California and I planted one in my backyard. You can see it in this video in the blue vase bursting with tiny yellow flowers.

I haven't shared my Celtic Tree Goddess deck very much before this. I painted it on silk in the 90's when I lived in Laguna Beach and then turned it into an oracle deck in 2008 when I became a Soul Reader. So far, it is one of my five hand painted decks, three of which are available in my shop.

About Kathy Crabbe
Soul reader, spirit medium, astrologer and artist, Kathy Crabbe’s soul readings heal and guide and her oracle decks awaken your intuition and creativity.

Gemini Full Moon Luv + New Paintings Inspired by My Favorite Fae Books

Dear Moon Muser,
It's the Gemini Full Moon which is alllll about communication so I share with you some intuitively chosen quotes from my favorite books (faeire infused!) and my latest paintings directly inspired by them.

Sparkly Blessings!
Kathy Crabbe
Artist + Soul Reader

Twisting to the Sea

“Only his feet are red
from holding the head of the poet
red with the blood of the poet
with his countenance of night.”

"European Poems and Transitions: Over All the Obscene Boundaries" by Lawrence Ferlinghetti

La Vie in the Wild Forest

"but so far have unearthed no Albert Camus. Here comes il addizione. And an espressoed kiss.
Yolanta."

Karen Elizabeth Gordon, "The Red Shoes and Other Tattered Tales"

One Was Enough

"I was so desperate
for a laugh my brow had curdled. Then, in a surprising
burst of kindness, the Ha took pity on my sorry soul"

"Leaks" by Susan Mrosek

Transparent

"the birds, if they had stayed,
could see us,
and i do not mean white here,
but as we are, transparent women and transparent men."

Lucille Clifton, "Quilting Poems 1987-1990"

I WISH

"but the rain was too hard for them to keep their heads up-and all the time more and more frogs filled the road til it really seemed as if they must be falling with the rain."

Enid Blyton, "The Children of Cherry Tree Farm"

To Die in Secret

“to die in secret
or not at all,
to sew her body
to the ground with worms”

"Songs of the Sea-Witch" Poems by Susan Musgrave

“When we took the tree back into the woods and replanted it, grandfather said we must remember the spot, so we could find it next Christmas and see the fairies again.”

"The Fairies’ Christmas" by Charles Van Sandwyk

About Kathy Crabbe

I draw with my non dominant left hand. I started doing this in 2000 and it helped develop my intuition so much that I became a professional soul reader (psychic) and turned my artwork into oracle decks! My third deck is planned for release in 2020. I was born in Canada but now live in sunny Temecula, Southern California with my two dogs and architect husband in an adobe style home we built ourselves.

Kathy’s work has been featured in We’Moon Datebook, Sage Woman Magazine, Sawdust Art Festival and the Women’s Museum of California. She writes a moon column for Witches and Pagans and is a mentor at Wise Woman University where she teaches a Divine Feminine eClass.

Willow Goddess: Celtic MayDay Blessings

Kathy Crabbe, Daffodil & Solara, 2001, watercolor on paper, 8.5 x 11”.

Welcome, with your lovely greenwood choir, summery month of May for which I long! ~ Welsh, 14th Century

When the gates of Beltaine swing open on May 1, sunlight and blossom welcome the procession of the year into the green halls of summer...we celebrate life, growth, love, and sexuality: "the force that drives the green fuse through the flower," in the words of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. ~ from Kindling the Celtic Spirit by Mara Freeman

Kathy Crabbe, Willow Goddess, 2000,silk dyes on silk, 8.5 x 11”.

Druidic Sacred Tree Saille - The Willow 5th Lunar Month Bird: Hawk Color: Haze Gemstone: Blood-Red Carbuncle

Beltane is the 2nd cross-quarterly festival day and is sacred to Sappho, the poet, Fairy Queen Brigid and the goddess Dana. Midway between Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice, it celebrates the full blossoming of the spring. At May Eve, the goddess is one of Love and Death such as Freya, Frigg, Holda, Held, Hilde, Goda, and Ostara. Traditionally, this celebration was an orgiastic revel which celebrated the Maiden's coming of age and the rebirth of flowers and the fertility of the Earth. ~ Paraphrased from Year of Moons, Season of Trees, Mysteries and Rites of Celtic Tree Magic by Pattalee Glass-Koentop

The paintings above are available as originals, prints and cards. Please email me for more information.

More Celtic Tree Musings can be found here.

Druids: a Holy Female Sisterhood

Mugwort Zine, no. 3, Feb. 2001 © 2010 by Kathy V. Crabbe

Female Druids also known as dryads (Greek) or oak nymphs were oracular priestesses, each with her own personal tree spirit. Dryads were also known as priestesses of Artemis, whose souls dwelt in trees. Dryads could also assume the shapes of serpents and were called Hamadryads or Amadryades. Dryadism and druidism (Scottish) were two phases of the same religion, restricted to a female priesthood in the earlier, matriarchal stage, but later open to male priests as well. Irish churches were originally known by the old druidic name of dairtech, or "oak-house," a sacred grove. The Christian church attacked the Druids for their paganism, and also for their tendency to include sacred women in their ranks.

The "colleges" of druidesses, dryads, and high holy sisterhoods were later assimilated into Christian nuns. One of the three classes of druidesses consisted of secluded sisterhoods, such as the priestesses of Brigit, who lived in convent-like sanctuaries while tending perpetually burning sacred fires. Another less secluded class of druidess consisted of married women who lived at the temple and went home occasionally to visit their husbands. A third class was composed of temple servants who lived with their families.

There is no break between the ancient semi-magical formulae chanted by the Druids and later incantations of the wizard and “wise woman.”

The Vine Moon ~ 10th Lunar Month Moon of Exhilaration September 2 - 29th

Vine Goddess, Silk dyes on silk, 7 x 10 inches. © 2010 by Kathy V. Crabbe

During the tenth lunar month, also known as the “Moon of Exhilaration” or Vine Moon we celebrate the Autumn Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. The Vine Moon is dedicated to Dionysus, Osiris, and Bacchus and her five-pointed leaves are sacred to the White Goddess. The energies of this moon symbolize peace and enduring strength. The wild-growing vine or bramble also governs inspiration, imagination, poetry, and imagery.

The essence of strength contained within the Vine is retained in her wine.

My Handpainted Celtic Tree Goddess Deck ~ Inspiration

I have always been inspired by tales of the Celts and Druids probably owing to my red haired lineage and my collection of red-haired friends (and a red haired husband as well). So I painted a series of Celtic tree inspired Goddesses on silk for a hand lettered one-of-a-kind book that I later turned into a Celtic Tree oracle deck used for giving Soul Readings, Past Life Readings and Ancestor Readings.

Click here for the Celtic Year Oak Moon.
Learn more about Past Life Readings here.

Celtic Tree Wisdom Deck, Silk dyes on silk, Set of 13 Cards. © 2001 by Kathy V. Crabbe

Recommended Reading: Year of Moons, Season off Trees: Mysteries & Rites of Celtic Tree Magic by Pattalee Glass-Koentop

The Celtic Year - Oak Moon

The Ogham alphabet is an ancient Celtic Druidic alphabet consisting of Ogham rune characters. These runes have been found on isolated monoliths which date as far back as 4,500 B.C.E., earlier than most written records and histories found to date, other than the pictography writings of pre-dynastic Egypt (5,500 B.C.E.)

During that time period history was primarily handed down orally and the Ogham alphabet was also used as a hand alphabet or signal for silent communication at fairly close distances. Fingers of either hand were used along with the bridge of the nose which acted as the center or dividing line.

Ogham alphabet characters or runes are composed of 13 consonants, each of which represent a specific Moon month and its sacred tree. In addition, there are 5 vowel trees - A,O,U,E and I - which separate the year into respective seasons; Rebirth, Spring, Summer, Autumn and Death. The extra day of the year following the Winter Solstice, was represented by mistletoe and the letter "double I" (Y or J). June 11 - July 8 is The Oak (Duir) Moon

The Celtic word for Oak is "Duir" and the name "Druid" comes from a combination of the word "Duir" and the word "wyd" which means "to know." In Celtic countries the Druids often worshiped in sacred Oak groves as the celestial Oak also symbolized the god or male principle.

The Oak Moon is the seventh Moon, also known as The Moon of Strength and is associated with the Summer Solstice (in the Northern hemisphere) and the Winter Solstice (in the Southern hemisphere). This Moon is dedicated to Janus, the two-faced god, for in his maturity the Oak King looks in both directions of the year at once, as does the Sun. The word for Oak also means "door" in many languages and this Moon is known as the hinge of the year.

You can celebrate this Oak Moon by recognizing the sacred male and female within yourself, for all of us are children of both the Sun and Moon. We are both strong and steadfast like the door itself, yet we can open and close with the help of our hinges.

To learn more about the mysteries of Celtic Tree Magic I recommend the book "Year of Moons, Season of Trees" by Pattalee Glass-Koentop.

The first image pictured above is from my Celtic Tree Wisdom deck (coming soon) which consists of 18 oracle cards. Find all my hand painted oracle decks here.

Looking for Answers?
Soul Readings + Astrology can help

About Kathy Crabbe

I believe in dreams, creativity AND inspiring my peeps to awaken intuition and joy, no matter what. As a practicing astrologer + artist since 1993 I’ve learned a thing or two and I’d love to share it with you!

With Luv and Sparkly Blessings,
Kathy Crabbe, (Dec. 24, 2018)
Photo Credit: Chad Woodward

Wearable Art Oak Necklaces

My Oak Necklaces are hand painted on California oak slices collected from my property in Southern California. They are one-of-a-kind, original paintings that are varnished, hand signed and dated.

These are unique and lovely little ornaments and a magickal piece of wearable art jewelry and wall art.

All art is original, hand drawn, hand painted, varnished and hand signed and dated on the back and no two pieces are ever the same.

Your ornament, wall art, necklace is packaged with tissue to keep it safe.

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All Kathy Crabbe’s wood slice pieces are ethically hand foraged from her property in Southern California and created entirely by hand. No stencils were used and all art is original.