February 21–March 20
Fifth Lunation, February/March
Ogham: Nuin, N: 
Keywords: The world tree, inner and outer worlds linked, “As above, so below,” macrocosm and microcosm, integrating the cosmos, the runes
Totems: Dolphins, the Hanged Man of the tarot, mermaids, water nymphs
Guides and Deities: The shaman; the priestess; Merlin; the crone aspect of the Goddess; gods and goddesses of the waters—the oceans and seas, lakes, rivers, streams, pools, ponds, and waterfalls; the Weird Sisters/the Wyrdes; Odin and the Norns (Norse); Three Fates or Moire (Greek)
Practical Guidance: Be willing to follow your inner guidance and act.
Nuin/Ash Month Ceremony
Purpose
Dive deep and retrieve your own wisdom.
Preparation
Collect a bowl of seeds of your choice. You will need a bowl filled with earth in which you can plant your seeds.
You will need a set of runes and a book to go with it. If you don’t have runes you can omit this teaching aspect from the ceremony. I use the set that comes with Ralph H. Blum’s book called The Book of Runes (St. Martin’s Press, 1973) but it is a rather old source. You can also make your own set on stones or pieces of cut wood. Some books you might reference: Nordic Runes: Understanding, Casting, and Interpreting the Ancient Viking Oracle by Paul Rhys Mountfort and Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic by Edred Thorsson.
Welcome and Greetings
Welcome to our Ash month ceremony. Introduce yourself and go around the circle having each participant share their name and why they came to the circle. Have them close their eyes and share a moment of silence to prepare for the ceremony.
Call the Directions
Call in the directions and invoke the energies of the Ash tree (connecting the inner and outer realms) and her totems, guides, and deities (Merlin, water goddesses, the three fates, the dolphin). Set the intention of this ceremony to open the portal that will allow you to dive deep and find your own wisdom.
Teachings
The symbology of this month and the Ash tree has to do with Norse mythology. The Ash tree was named Yggdrasil, and it was known as the tree of life at the center of the world. It was during a nine-day trial that the principal Norse god Odin hung himself upside down from this tree, and through his suffering was gifted the runes from the three Norns, the goddesses of destiny. These “three maidens” resided in the Well of Urd, which rested at the foot of Yggdrasil. They are known for their magical carvings or sigils on the trees, which have the ability to shape the course of destiny—one of the foremost tasks of Germanic magic. Presumably, then, Odin discovered the runes by ritually sacrificing himself and fasting for nine days while staring into the waters of the Well of Urd. It was he who imparted the runes to the first human runemasters.
The runes today are used as an oracle or divination system. The wisdom within the runes offers the spiritual warrior practices for progress and evolution. This ancient Nordic alphabet consists of twenty-four symbols and was the first system of writing developed and used by the Germanic peoples. The runes functioned as letters, but they were much more than just letters. Each rune is an ideographic or pictographic symbol of some cosmological principle or power, and to write a rune was to invoke and direct the force for which it stood. The runes are a vital part of the pre-Christian northern European mythology, worldview, and spiritual practice. You will find rune writing on many stones on the British Isles because of the many invasions by the Norse people. Thus, they represent another tie to the ancestors of the British Isles who used them.
Tell the story of how Odin received the runes from the three fates. You can find the story at norse-mythology.org/runes. Set the runes in a bowl and have each participant choose a rune. Read them the meaning of their rune. Remind them that this is their symbol to connect them to the inner depth and wisdom of the Ash.
Chant
What is the teaching of the Ash? Slow down.
Our inner knowing comes from going within.
Behold! We are inspired and renewed.
And we are free to commune with our own divinity.
We seek spiritual wisdom within the silence.
What is the teaching of the Ash?
Enter the doorway within your own heart.
Guided Meditation
Now it is time for you to connect with your own inner wisdom Ash tree. Quietly go within and feed your heart flame. It is your heart center that you will connect to your inner tree. Notice your own tree. You might see, sense, or imagine your tree. This tree is your world tree and you have the keys you need to enter it. Within this tree is all the guidance and knowledge you will ever need. There is nothing outside of yourself that is more magnificent or amazing.
Stand in front of your tree and look up to see how tall it is. See its root system that you stand upon stretch out in all directions. See a golden door that is built into the tree and is big enough for you to enter. Notice that you hold a set of golden keys in your hand. Find the key that attracts your attention and know that it is the key that will open the tree’s door. Go ahead and use the key to open the door. As you stand at the threshold see bright white light that is most welcoming. Take a moment to adjust to the light before you enter. Take off your shoes and leave them at the entrance.
As you walk into the tree begin to feel the beauty and presence of this tree. Find that you are both the microcosm and the macrocosm. You are all and everything and you are in oneness. Here you receive the understanding that you have never been separate. Take a moment to simply open to this communication.
Sit down and breathe deeply. As you sit here quietly in the heart of your tree, begin to connect with your own heart. As you honor your central flame you feed it with love. As you do this your heart flame grows and fills you with warmth and appreciation. Listen very carefully for that small central voice at the core of yourself that lives here. Listen to its messages and to its concerns. Simply lend your ear … (pause)
Be willing to quiet your mind, which is so concerned with its judgments, comparisons, and analysis. Be willing to rest in surrender to beauty, peace, harmony, and love. You may remember music, songs, books, or poems that have moved you. You may remember what has inspired you. Think for a moment about what really feeds you and what you most enjoy. Here at the center you find inspiration, the courage to be yourself, and the ability to connect with your own heart. Take a moment to really remember who you are and what you truly love … (long pause)
As this journey completes itself give your gratitude to your inner tree. Honor your world tree and let it know that you intend to spend time with it. Know that you can create the next chapter of your life in a good way. Are you ready to act upon your inner guidance and walk your talk? Are you prepared to stay close to your heart and feel the power of possibility and intention toward your good? Are you prepared to share this good in the future as this is the fruit that will grow from your own tree?
Sharing
Come back into this time and into this place from which you originally journeyed and write your experiences in your journal. Make sure you ground and center. Have the participants share their experiences with the group.
Activity: Retrieving Information and
Planting Our Desires for Manifestation
Take a moment and have each person remember something they learned or received from their own inner counsel, their own inner tree. What did each person receive? This could be a word, a smile, a vision, a feeling, a blessing, quietude …
Say: “And so, when we have retrieved authentic information from our depths, what can we do with it? What will we manifest or create? Think of one thing you can do with your gift. Think of one change, one decision, one thought, feeling, or action that you could make to help bring this gift out into the world to share.”
Pass out a bowl of seeds and ask each person to take one. Go around the circle and have the participants share what they desire to manifest. Then have them plant that seed in a communal earthen bowl, filled with rich dirt, that sits at the central altar in the middle of the circle. After each person plants their seed have the group respond together with “And so it is!”
Read
Now that you have planted your seed, your tree of manifestation will bud, and blossom come spring, and by summer your tree will grow fruit, and the fruit will be the keys of light that you share because they were fostered from within your true essence.
Ending
Release the directions and open the circle with gratitude for the Ash tree and its helpers.
An Ash Story: My Totem Dolphin Saved My Life
This is a story that demonstrates the power of working with the totems of the trees. I was driving home from work one day and thinking I would like to get down to writing about my experiences with the dolphin as a totem animal, and in the next instant, a truck pulled up alongside of me and on its side was a large picture of a beautiful dolphin with the word dolphin spelled out. I like to take these synchronicities as signs of encouragement.
And so, I begin! I have always enjoyed stories and pictures and movies about dolphins, but I have never felt a close identification with them on a conscious level. I have never been swimming with the dolphins or even seen them from a boat, like so many people have. And yet my inner dolphin has certainly sustained me and shared with me. My first encounter with my totem dolphin saved my life!
At the age of forty, I was working part-time teaching troubled high school dropouts, attending graduate school in psychology, parenting my challenging six-year-old son, getting a divorce, living on a shoestring financially, and partying whenever I could fit it in and when my son was with his father. My last class course before my counseling internship was on drug and alcohol addiction and that’s when I began to understand that I had a problem with alcohol. My relationship with my boyfriend had just ended with his decision to leave for India, and I was feeling alone, raw, and vulnerable. I was falling through the cracks of my life.
After a series of embarrassing fiasco party events, which occurred under the influence of alcohol, and feeling engulfed by the incredible pain of where my life was in the moment, I had reached the bottom. The pain and grief I was experiencing seemed too great to endure any longer. It was as if the weight of all the emotional debris of my life was hitting me with a tidal wave force, and I had no legs to stand on, let alone anything to hold on to. I seriously considered death as a viable option.
I remember the night when I realized I could not go on. I made a prayer to the universe asking for help. I felt that without some sense of guidance or support I would not go on with my life. It was with great clarity that I made my prayer. I admitted to myself that I was abusing alcohol and that I drank to kill the pain of my life. I felt such shame and failure. With this on my mind, I fell into a deep sleep. I have never experienced such a deep sense of futility and self-loathing.
Upon awakening, I recalled the most intensely real and actualizing dream. That night, my “porpoise” came to me. I stood on the edge of a vast ocean. Rather close to shore, a bottle popped up in the waves. It was a vodka bottle, and in it was my mother.
My mom was an active alcoholic in the last years of her life, and she died of accidental drowning probably due to a blackout experienced while she was swimming alone in shallow water. Her favorite drink was vodka.
From the bottle, my mother beckoned me. She called my name in a sweet seductive voice that flowed like honey. Her hand extended from the bottle and she signaled for me to come to her.
It was crystal clear in the dream that if I followed her, I too would drown. The bottle was a trap, and not a vehicle for managing or navigating the ocean of emotion and the unconscious. As much as I desired to join my mother and follow the seductive call, I clearly and adamantly decided not to go toward her. In that moment of decision my dream changed, and I found myself sailing in a boat, moving along on aquamarine water at a fast speed. I noticed the sail catching the wind and the vast blue sky and the bright, full sun above. The air was full of the smell of the sea salt and the crisp cut of the wind. Above me was a beautiful kite, sailing high along with the movement of the boat and the wind.
In the myth of Osiris, Isis comes to her dead husband’s body as an Egyptian bird—a kite. She flies to him and, through her magic, becomes impregnated by him to give birth to their spiritual son, Horus. I had originally thought that she had come as a kite, the toy that we play with as children, because I didn’t know anything about Egyptian birds. And that is the way that I had always imagined the story. To me the kite in my dream was Isis, the mother of the world, who brings the power of new life and the infusion of spiritual meaning and healing. She portends resurrection.
Next to come in the dream was a beautiful porpoise or dolphin. She showed up as my purpose! She swam alongside for a while and then she came up to the back of the boat. The boat slowed down enough for her to rise out of the water and hover above it so that she could meet me at eye level. Her eyes were filled with a powerful unconditional love that filled my being and soul. She was full of merriment and unconditional acceptance and care. She restored me. My pain broke into a million pieces and dissolved. In exchange she offered me faith and hope.
There I was, clearly navigating the waters of my life. The air and the wind were my intellect, my inspiration and aspiration, and my ability to communicate. The kite was my connection to the divine feminine and my Egyptian spiritual lineage. The boat was my vessel, my own life, riding on top of the water. The porpoise was a guide and supreme transmitter of consciousness, who modeled for me how I could navigate my life. I did not need to live in my pain and sorrow. The porpoise was my companion and totem. Her spiritual sensitivity and dedication to service was my clue. I was to navigate the water of emotion in a different way than my mother had chosen, and I had lots of help!
After going through the memory of this powerful dream that morning, I knew that my prayer had been heard and responded to. I was filled with new purpose, hope, and understanding. I was not alone! I felt rejuvenated and I clearly understood that alcohol was a trap and would lead me to a wasted life. And so, dolphin became my personal guide, and this was long before I knew anything about totems. Dolphin saved my life, strengthened me, filled me with love, and put me back on a path to health and thriving.
You too can connect with your totems. Think about the synchronicities in your life. What are the messages? What is the encouragement? If you have a deep need of healing because of a wound that is interfering in your life—and we all do—sit in meditation before you go to sleep. Ask your most authentic self for the guidance you are seeking. Ask for the transmission of healing and love. You may not receive a dream right away, but you will begin to see signs and signals like the dolphin showing up on the side of a truck when I considered writing about my healing experience with the dolphin. Interesting that the dolphin as the totem of the Ash is representative of diving deep into the waters of the self and uniting with the larger definition of self, our identity as spirit.
Ash navigates the waters between the worlds. When we pick up the phone line, whether through dreams, visions, meditations, knowing or sensing, or synchronicities, we hook up to our wiser, unconditionally loving self. That is who we really are. Meditate on the world tree, the Ash, and all her helpers. See yourself as the tree. Know that you are connected to below and above and with the inner and the outer. You are built to receive this regeneration and renewal if you but ask and open yourself to it. Be open to finding out about your own helpers. Look to the creatures that show up in the world around you and in your dream life. What totems are you already attracted to? They are probably already on your team just waiting for an invitation to become better friends and allies to you.