Eclectic
The Elder (Ruis) is a useful tree. Its blossoms tend to ward off insects and various aspects of the tree can be used medicinally. Thus, the Elder became associated with renewal, rebirth, and death.
The Ogham sign associated with the Ruis (Elder) appears below. It translates as an “R” in the English alphabet.
Holly (Tinne) with its bright red berries was thought to rule winter as the Oak ruled summer. It was used to decorate ones home for protection and as a reminder to put your best foot forward.
Holly (Tinne) was the bush associated with T in our alphabet. As we noted earlier, to the Celts the symbol associated with Holly was more than a mere letter, the symbol carried with it the properties of Holly associated with it. In this way, Celts communicated on two levels…the level of the message and a meta level having to do with properties of the tree associated with the symbol. It is thought that Druids for instance used the first letter of a message to convey the meta message so a message beginning with T might have to do with protection at the meta level.
