Name: Luis

Letter: L

Textual reference: Luis is named from Mountian Ash as it is the Gaelic name for Rowan

Rowan Sorbus aucuparia

Word Ogham of Morainn: LI SULA, delight of eye.

Word Ogham of Cuchulain: LUTH CETHRA .i. LEAM strength (or friend) of cattle, the elm.

Word Ogham of Aonghus: CARAE CEATHRA, friend of cattle.

Quatrain:

The saving herb draws healing through its root,

Dispensing many gifts through every shoot.

Physic of cattle, lustre of the eye,

Answer need's prayer with mercy as we cry.

Physical: You will keep your senses about you to distinguish good from bad, and harm from help.  The rowan tree is known as the quicken tree or the mountain ash, although it is not a true member of the ash family.  It earned this name due to its ability to grow high on mountainsides, clinging precariously to outcrops of rock and fissures in boulders.  The general shape of its leaves resembles that of the ash, and hence the name mountain ash.  Most people will be familiar with this very attractive and distinctive tree, with its slender shape and clusters of bright red berries.  The rowan can grow to sixty-five fee, but is usually quite a bit smaller.  Its bark is smooth and shiny gray, with little pores all over it.  Its leaves are stalkless and in pairs, long and thin with forward pointing teeth.  In May, it is covered with clusters of little white flowers, which gradually turn into the familiar red berries, a favorite food of many birds.

These berries are edible, but have a very bitter taste, and are best cooked with other fruits to make them palatable.  This combination can be made into pies or jelly.  The berries can also be boiled for wine.  They contain vitamin C and were once used as a cure for scurvy.  The juice is both antiseptic and astringent, and may be taken internally or externally.  The yellow-gray wood of the rowan is strong and flexible, and was commonly used for making tool handles and carvings.  It was also used as a substitute for yew in longbows.

It is rare to find a group of rowans large enough to form a forest.  If you come across a group of rowans in full bloom, it is a very bold and fetching sight, especially when they bring a splash of scarlet into what is often a rather barren and bleak hillside.  There is a species of rowan found only on the Scottish Isle of Arran that is not a hybrid, but is instead a true genus of rowan.  This is appropriate because Arran was considered by the Irish Celts to be the physical manifestation of the Otherworld.  This give the island and everything growing on it a strong magical link.

The surnames MacCairthin and MacCarthy come from the old Gaelic for rowan, and literally mean "son of the rowan."  Today, Rowan is a common name in English-speaking parts of the world.

Mental: You will not be swayed, tricked or beguiled. Keep your wits about you.  The rowan has long been associated with magic and witchcraft, and many rural dwellers use charms and spells involving rowan to ward off evil or to protect cattle from being milked dry by malicious fairies.  The word rowan my come from the old Norse word runa, which means "charm" or "spell."  Its name in the Tree Ogham, Luis, means "swarm" or "a great many."  This may be a reference to its plentiful berries, but it could also be a hint of a magical aspect.  In the old legends, a rowan tree is often mentioned as an an assembly point for warriors.  In the great collection of poems known as Duanaire Finn (Lays of Fionn), there is a lengthy poem called "The Rowan-Tree of Clonfert," which is about a large gathering of the Fianna under a rowan tree.  In another of these poems, "The Wry Rowan," two thousand huntsmen gather on a hillside covered in rowan trees.  

When rowan appears in Celtic legend, it is mostly in connection with either the druids or some other practitioners of magic in the great collection of tales known as the Dindsenchas ( The History of the Names of Places), there is mention of a female druid called Dreco, who was the granddaughter of a great male druid called Cartan, whose name was a corruption of Caerthann, which means rowan.  Dreco is credited with the wounding of a man called Cethern, using a spear of rowan- a "forked branch of the harsh rowan."  Dreco chanted incantations as she dealt the wounding blow, which shows that the rowan was more of a Magical Weapon than an ordinary assault weapon.

It is known that the druids had a special platform, called the Wattles of Knowledge, which was made from interwoven rowan twigs.  This was used as a bed during the ritual known as Tarbh Fheis (tarv aysh).  we do not know much about this ritual other than that the outcome seems to have been a magical trance during which the druid gained hidden knowledge.  Druids kindled fires made entirely of rowan before important battles.  They used these magical bonfires as a focus for their incantations, in an effort to make the fight go well for their people.  In the legend concerning the death of Cuchulain, whose name means Hound of Culain, the Ulster hero is tricked into eating dog's flesh, which he was prohibited from doing because the dog was his totem animal.  He knew that to take the dog meat would herald his death, but he was in a position where he could not honorably refuse.  The witches who tricked him were roasting the mean on spits of rowan.

The word luis also means "herb," the same word may stem from a root meaning "flame."  Some poetic references to the tree's bright berries.  The flame that kindles in the mind and soul and produces the divine light of inspiration also connects the rowan tree to the overall magick and druidic associations.  The description of the rowan in the Ogham word Morainn is "delight of eye," and can refer to its pleasing appearance, or to a deeper, more significant meaning.  The word, Li, actually means "color" or "hue," and not necessarily "delight," as it is usually translated.  More importantly, the word Sula, suil ("eye" in modern Gaelic), can also mean "expectation," "hope," or "vision."  An alternative translation of Li Sula could therefore be the "color of vision."  Taken on a purely magical basis, this indicates that the rowan may be connected with Otherworld visions, scrying, or divination.

In some versions of the death of Balor, King of the Fomhoire, the hero Lugh is said to have destroyed the evil king's death-dealing eye by throwing a spear of rowan.  Note the connection between eyes and rowan.  The whole magical aspect of rowan is closely connected  with portents of future events and the ability to have Otherworld visions.  Its use throughout the centuries in warding off evil spirits and unwanted influences indicates a practical purpose for a wand of rowan, which you might explore.

Spiritual: Your strength will turn away anything that threatens your purpose and your serenity. Be not afraid.  The rowan is closely connected with the Lord of the Hunt, the spirit of the animals and Green World, who appears in many world mythologies under various disguises and names.  The most common names are Cernunnos, Herne the Hunter, and under the Irish system, the Daghdha.  Our spiritual energies should be channeled toward  this image when working with the rowan.  The descriptions given tot he tree in the Word Oghams of Cuchulain and Aonghus, "friend of cattle" and "strength of cattle," enforce this connection with the Lord of the Hunt, who sustains and provides for the cattle and all the creatures of the Green World.  Cattle were probably chosen for these references due tot he great importance of cattle to the ancient Celts.  many of the legends known as Tana (raids) center on cattle raids, such as the epics Tain Bo Cuailnge ("Cattle Raid of Cooley") and Tain Bo Fraoch ("Cattle Raid of Fraoch"). 

The Lord of the Hunt is always depicted as being fierce, ugly, and aggressive, with horns and a vicious-looking club.  Beneath the surface, he is really a caring, helpful, and docile being, willing to help you, if you are worthy.  He is one oft he great Openers of the Way who will test intruders in his world, but who will also direct the frightened traveler to safety and along the road to fulfillment.  

In the "Pursuit of Diarmaid and Grainne," the two lovers hid in a rowan tree that grew from a berry brought to Ireland from Tir Tairngrire (the Land of Promise), a poetic name for the Otherworld.  This tree is protected by a fearsome character called Searbhan Lochlannach, which means "Servant of Norway."  Norway is another poetic allusion to the Otherworld.  He is described in this passage;

A thick-boned swarthy giant and weapons do not wound him and fire does not burn him and water does not drown him, and there is only one eye on the top of his forehead.  there is a thick collar of iron round the body of the giant and an iron club through the end of the collar and the collar is wound round the body of the giant.  He is not doomed to die until three strokes of his own club are struck on him; and he sleeps on the tops of the rowan tree by night and at its foot by day guarding it.  He has made a wilderness of the area around him and the Fianna of Ireland do not dare chase or hunt there for fear of him.

This is a typical description of the Lord of the Hunt in mythology.  The rowan's ability to impart Otherworld knowledge is shown later in the same legend, when Fionn and his warriors make camp at the foot of the tree.  To pass the time, Fionn plays a game known as fidchell, which was similar to chess.  This word means "wood-knowledge," which the trees and, perhaps, fluent in Tree Ogham.  In the legend, Fionn's opponent is about to be defeated, but Diarmaid, who is high in the tree above them watching the game with interest, sees a way out of the situation.  he drops one of the rowan's berries onto the fidchell piece the opponent should move next.  The player does this, and eventually wins the game.  it was, symbolically, the rowan which gave him the knowledge to win.

The Lord of the Hunt represents the two sides of the Green World that must be recognized and accepted by those of this world who wish to live in harmony with it.  There is the harsh, threatening, and uncontrollable Nature, but there is also a softer, gentler, more pacific side seen in the beauty of plants and folds of the earth, the stillness of a summer's day full of the hum of insects, the delight of a cow with calf, sheep with lamb, and mother with baby.  Both of these aspects are necessary, and it is only our reactions to them that makes one different from the other. 

The Lord of the Hunt will help you to understand this, and face up to both of these aspects in your dealings with the powers and energies of the Green World.  Although he is an ugly, frightening character who issues grave threats, warnings, and challenges, at this level, he should be seen as the Higher aspect of your Self, which can also appear hideous or frightening during magical workings.

The rowan is the second tree of the Tree Ogham, yet it is the highest tree in that it climbs higher up the mountainside than any other, in search of illumination.  When it succeeds and puts down roots to grow, its bright red berries shine like a beacon from the greenness of its mountain home, encouraging the weary traveler to make that final effort to reach the top.  This is a good image to keep in mind when dealing with the rowan on a spiritual level.

Work with the rowan as often as possible throughout the four seasons to understand the subtle way it changes, and how you react to these changes, as the years is born, grows, wanes, dies, and is reborn.  Work with it over the changes of the year to highlight the different aspects of the Green World as the seasons come and go.  Discover this aspect of your own nature: How do you feel about visiting the Green World as the season come and go.  Discover this aspect of your own nature: How do you feel about visiting the Green World during winter as well as summer?  On cold, wet days as well as warm, calm ones?  In morning and evening?  When you are fit and well, and when you are tired and hungry?  Theses, too, are the two aspects of the Lord of the Hunt, and also of yourself.  You must experience these things to understand yourself and your place in the Green World.

Practical Work:  The Daghdha is more closely connected with the rowan than with the birch.  He serves as a guide and teacher for all the trees.  Once you work your way through all twenty, you can reexamine the more subtle links between the trees and the deities you encounter along the way.  Carry out a tree ritual and feel the difference when you first encounter him within the aspect of the rowan.  As you progress, you will realize that the way he reveals himself, and the information he imparts, is geared to the aspects of each tree.  Being aware of this may help to clear up confusion when this changing aspect becomes more noticeable.

This would be a good time to make yourself a Wand of rowan, to be used for ritual workings of a very magical nature, or for rituals that require more assistance and protection than normal.  An ideal length for such a Wand is between twelve and fifteen inches; any larger becomes cumbersome, and any smaller may become confused with your Ogham sticks.  It is best to make a rowan Wand from a piece of the living tree.  Some people consider it improper to cut pieces off living trees, but living wood is best, because it encapsulates the vital energies of the tree and makes the wand more effective.  It is vital, however, to first explain to the tree what you are going to do and why.  Once your wand has been cut, stripped of bark, and dried, you should dedicate it.  Keep it with your other magical tools and continue the to work with the rowan until its experience or teachings feel full.  Record all your encounters in daily life and in ritual with the rowan aspects, they can be just as revealing as anything imparted to you during formal magical sessions.

Rowan Resources:  Enchanted Garden: Discovering & Enchanting the Magical Healing Properties in your Garden  By Claire O'Rush

A Witch's Guide to Faery Folk  By Edain McCoy

Enchantment of the Faerie Realm: Communicate with Nature Spirits & Elementals  By Ted Andrews

Celtic Tree Mysteries: Secrets of the Ogham  By Steve Blamires

Celtic Wisdom Stick: An Ogam Oracle  By Caitlin Matthews

The Celtic Tree Oracle: A system of Divination  By Liz and Colin Murray

Luis  L (pr. Loo'sh) Ogham Oracles:

Examine A red rowan berry and you will discover that unlike many other fruits that bear just a round hollow or dimple opposite their stalks, it carries a tiny, five-pointed star or pentagram - the ancient magical symbol of protection.  Undoubtedly if you are in danger of 'enchantment', being swayed or mesmerized by harmful or vindictive powers, you need your wits about you.  Choosing the Rowan will help you retain control of all your sense, so that you can distinguish bad from good, harm from help, using your spiritual strength to turn away anything that threatens your serenity and purpose.  You must realize though, that if the rowan appears in the opposite aspect, you still do not need to be affected by every influence that comes your way.  You must use your sense and intuition to distinguish one from another, and so be protected.

L in NORTH

Allow warmth to flood back into all your dealings.  You are freezing up.

Pain sometimes leads to separation and isolation.  The tighter pain is held on to, the more unapproachable and isolated we become.  when the hurt goes deep, we pass into survival mode and our reactions become automatic, devoid of feeling.  Bridge the separation by considering the needs of others - by giving consideration we receive the warmth of affection and respect in return.  Question: What is the healing that you seek?

L in EAST

The help you seek lies on a familiar shore.  Look closer to home.

Familiarity breeds disrespect and blindness.  The solution to the quest often lies near to hand, indeed it may have been in your grasp this long time.  Do not despise the ordinary routes.  Heroic searches in far-off places may enhance a feeling of self-esteem and effort, but often fail to pay off.  Question: What or who never lets you down?

L in WEST

You need to unknot the coil you have made.  Retrace your steps and make amends.

When There is a muddle, it is impossible to continue without sorting things out - the coils can circumscribe further action or create further confusion.  As with a tangled length of twine, start at one end and trace back patiently to the other end, stopping to untie any knots and snarls.  When things are straightened, there can be movement again.  Question:  What needs to be sorted out?

L in SOUTH

You are steering strongly but double-check the co-ordinates to keep on course.

When a voyage is begun confidently, the mariner is joyful but never complacent, ever keeping an eye on the weather and on the horizon.  Over-confidence and boastfulness will not prevent shipwreck, but courage and vigilance will bring the ship safely to harbor.  Everything is subject to sudden change.  Question: What co-ordinates need to be checked again at this time?

The Rowan tree is also known as the European Mountain Ash or the Mountain Ash. The Celtic word is An Caorthann. An even older name of the tree is "luis", which corresponded to the second letter of the alphabet.  It has distinctive white flowers and orange-red berries which contribute to its reputation. 

The druids of Ireland favored rowan, hawthorn, and yew over the oak, favored by the Celts of Gaul.  The semi-divine Tuatha De Danann were thought to have brought rowan to Ireland from Tir Tairngire (the Land of Promise). 

Rowan Tree takes its name from Celt and Scottish legends that tell of the magical Rowan tree symbolizing beauty, privacy, peace and sanctuary.

Rowan Tree Spells

Upon the morning of Rowan Tree Day, venture out into the soft, dewy stillness which lies on the breast of the land in the hour before sunrise, bearing a knife with a handle of gold or silver, or brass at a pinch (sickles work wonderfully), which you have sharpened and polished with care under the rays of the last full moon.  Seek out a rowan tree; the first you come to will be the one to work the magic.  Bow most respectively to the spirit of the tree and chant this rune:

Witch tree, rowan tree, pretty mountain ash,

Protect me right well from storm, flood and flash;

Now do I beg of thee some wee twigs and leaves,

And pri'thee turn from me all harm and griefs.

Take your knife, and tenderly cut away a palmful of foliage, making sure you do no damage.  Now you must say

I thank thee, wicken tre,

I thank thee, Lady!

and after bowing three times, you may turn your steps homeward, only be very certain to traverse a different route to that you came by.  The rowan leaves will give you a pocketful of goodly charms, which may be slipped into your purse and your shoe, your handkerchief and your apron, to bring you good luck and favor, and safety to your person; and if you hang a little sprig over the hearth and over your bed, the beneficent charm will also be worked.  If you keep animals, put a little over the stable door or near the byre, and the spell will work likewise.  A twelvemonth will the charm hold good; then the magic must be worked again.

Wear a sprig of rowan in your hair when you ride upon your horse, and the Goddess spirit in it will speak to your steed, and calm and soothe the beast, so that you come to no harm and your journey will be swift and untroubled, in whatever wise it may please you to travel, for the Goddess weaves a journeyer's charm about those travelers who wear her sign and signature in their hair.

Thread a necklace of scarlet berries from the rowan tree, and if you walk consciously in the Goddess's presence when wearing it, she will give you beauty of form and face and smile most benignantly upon you so that you walk always in a charmed circle.  The wood of the rowan, too, brings down the blessings of the Goddess.  It is lucky for children and animals, and all tender, newborn things, which the Goddess folds unto her heart. 

Make a rowan garland in the joyful rays of the sun, and place it around the waist of an expectant mother near her time, so that the pangs of birth will be eased for her when the good hours comes.

Make a rowan garland in the enchanted hush of the beams of the moon, and give it to one who suffers from the racks of rheumatism.  Then will his pains be soothed all away, so that however scornful he may hertofore have been in making great gave of it, he will henceforth respect most profoundly the art of wortcunning- that is, the knowledge of the properties of herbs and how to apply them for healing and magic - and its practitioners, all his life long.

Rowan sprigs collected on Bealtaine and hung over doors, food lockers, and cribs will protect until Samhain when new cures must be found.  At Samhain try hanging up dried apples or dried heather in place of rowan. 

A classic protection known as a Witch Bottle can be specifically directed towards faeries.  Witch Bottles are containers, usually of glass, which hold rather unpleasant items such as nails, pins, broken glass, urine, blood, salt, ash, or herbs which have all been empowered and buried near your home.  Items specifically used to deter faeries can be added in place of any or all of the above mentioned items.  A traditional Celtic Witch Bottle for faery protection contained nine shoots from the roots of an ash tree, or three each of rowan, oak, and ash.  A simpler and just as effective Witch Bottle can make use of rue, garlic, and cloves on a bed of ashes and salt.  Be creative and add the things which to your own mind signal protection, for these are the only things which can truly shield you.  Empower the Witch Bottle by visualizing it doing its job of reflecting away from you all faeries who seek to enter your home.  when you feel it has absorbed as much energy as it can hold you should bury it near your home.  It is traditional to bury the bottle at midnight during a waning moon, but anytime the protection is wanted and needed is the best time.

You can also tie up small bags of protective herbs in little circles of white or gold fabric and put them up in discreet corners of your home.  Use clove, bay leaves, acorns, frankincense, garlic, cinnamon, valerian, basil, blackberry, mints, pepper, sandalwood, ashes, cactus needles, pine needles, lavender, mandrake (toxic), broom (toxic), heather, or rowan.  As you place each herb in the cloth and proceed to tie it up, visualize the herbs repelling any faery being who tries to enter your home.  Remember that visualization and desire are the key elements to successful magick.

As you hang up the bags up in your home repeat a chant such as:

Bag of cloth and herb and oak,

As ye do hang, hang bane to choke.

You can create your own spells with any of the protection methods by empowering them with your energy and ritualizing them.

The rowan is another ancient and magical tree.  Its spirit holds the knowledge of the omens of nature and how to read them without becoming superstitious.  This spirit is so strong that when linked with, it can teach you to call up magic spirits, guides and elementals.  It is a tree spirit who helps prevent intrusions by outside forces.  It is grounding and prevents becoming lost in the faerie realms.

In Tochmarc Etain (the Wooing of Etain), the jealous Fuamnach transforms Eatain into a pool of water by striking her with a rod of rowan.  Ailill mac Mata sends Fraech in search of rowan, just as Grainne demands that Diarmait get some for her.  Often the rowanberry was thought to foster rejuvenation: a man 160 years old could be returned to his prime with the honey taste of rowanberries.  The happy dead rest under woven roofs of quicken or rowan boughs.  The salmon of Knowledge eats rowanberries (or hazelnuts.)  In all Celtic fairylore, the rowan was thought to offer the best protection against enchantment and witchcraft.

In the Isle of Man twigs of rowan were made into crosses, crosh cruirn, and placed over doorwas and hidden in the long tails of cattle to protect them from harm.  On Man, also rowan boughs were carried in Beltaine (May Day) ceremonies.

This tree was one of high magic, and was supposed to have magical powers, Its round wattles, spread with newly-flayed bulls' hides, were used by the Druids as a last extremity for compelling demons to answer difficult questions".

According to tradition, the tree would normally be planted at the door of the house for protection from evil spirits and give the occupants privacy, peace, and refuge. Also twigs might be placed over the byre door. Necklaces of rowan berries with red thread worn for protection by Highland women.

The delicate-leaved rowan with its clusters of autumn berries that delight the eye is called by countryfolk the 'witch' or 'wicken tree', and so is revealed as sacred.  If its seed roots naturally in the garden, then that garden is blessed indeed and enjoys the favor and protection of the faeries.

The rowan as the Druid tree, is part of the ancient Celtic brotherhood of the forests; its wood, foliage and bonny scarlet berries were revered ingredients in their magical arts. The rowan turns away all evil and thrives upon sites where once stood Druidic stone circles, or lands where Druidic rites and perambulation  have blessed the soil. When the rowan is hung with a rich crop of burgeoning berries, it is said that the earthly remains of some sainted soul lie buried nearby.  Even if, say the old wise-saws, a sprinkling of their antique dust is all that quietly remains in the earth, the essence of their goodness and wisdom endures, and is celebrated and tenderly protected by the ardent branches of the wicken tree.

The fairies often adopt a lone wicken tree as their own, making a palace within its etheric body and below its roots deep and far into the earth.  The rowan is one of the special trilogy- oak, ash and thorn - which protects from malignant spirits and all forms of psychic attack.  The rowan tree is a holy tree and a fairy tree, for there is no division between sanctity and the fairies, although orthodoxy has traditionally claimed there is.

If your garden is without a rowan, plant one in a tranquil spot and give the young tree your heartfelt care.  Then your souls will unite one with the other, and if danger or illness should threaten you or yours, the rowan will speak a warning of it by falling listless and withering a little in growth.  When it flourishes fine and strong, fortune is sure to smile upon you; and in all the calamities of your life, the wicken tree will be to your a source of protection and comfort, and shelter for your soul.  Water the young tree well each and every day for a year and a day after planting, and bless the water each Monday and Friday of the week by holding your hands aloft over the pail and whispering a prayer to the Goddess to send a stream of light from your heart down into the water.  This you will breathe froth from the exalted organ as if you were weaving a skein of silver stars into the depths of the mysterious reflective element. 

Above all, remember that the wicken tree is proud.  It will not gladly suffer other plants to touch or to grow too near; therefore be counseled to leave a little space clear around its bole, for honor's sake.  The secret of the majesty of this spiritual tree and its regal Goddess powers is celebrated on 3 May, which is Rowan Tree Day, more generally known as Holy Rood Day, the feast of the Invention of the Holy Cross.  On this day, the home and all its outlying buildings should be decorated with sprigs of the rowan, to court the blessing, felicity and protection of the Goddess.