Danaan
Sacred Nature- Druids in North America

Cull         Symbol: Cull

Sound value: C

Literal meaning: Hazel

Pronounced as

“CULL”

Northwest Europe

HAZEL

(Corylus avellana)

Features: Deciduous, thrives in damp soils but fruits on drained land; usually solitary (Birch Family)

Uses: Nuts for food. Coppiced for fences & hedges. Medicinal uses.

North Central Florida

AMERICAN HORNBEAM

(Carpinus caroliniana)

Note: no direct local native equivalent found- this is not a Corylus spp. tree, but has similar features to Hazel.

Features: Small deciduous tree (Birch Family)

Uses: Used as hedge or tree. Wood: heavy, very hard and close grained; used to make bowls and dishes & for tool handles and mallets. ^

^Floridataa

American Hornbeam

American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), Gainesville, Florida

American Hornbeam

American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), Gainesville, Florida

American Hornbeam

American Hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), Gainesville, Florida

Modern divinatory meaning: Creativity, poetry, divination & meditation

Animal symbolism (based on traditional lore): cat

Bird symbolism (based on traditional lore): crane

Associated deities: Mercury, Thor, Aengus, Artemis

Color: brown

Element: Air

Calendar: Cull is associated with the ninth lunar month of the Celtic year, July. (Using the Celtic tree calendar system that has 13 ‘months’ starting in November, as popularized by Liz and Colin Murray. Other calendars are also used, most notably the calendar devised by the poet Robert Graves in his 1948 book White Goddess.)

Folklore

  • The Romans held hazel sacred to Mercury, who – especially in his Greek form, Hermes – was the personification of intelligence. Hermes’ magic rod may have been made from hazel.
  • The ancient Greeks called walnut, sweet chestnut or hazelnut trees Karya or Carya; this was also the name of the Hamadryad nymph of the nut-tree. Artemis had a sacred grove of sacred walnut or hazelnut trees at Karyai in Lakonia; the priestesses were named Karyatides, i.e. “ladies of the nut tree”.
  • The hazel represents wisdom, and hazelnuts were eaten by sacred salmon, then known as “salmon of wisdom”. (Often 9 trees dropped hazelnuts into a sacred well that these salmon would eat.) The Irish story of Fionn Mac Cumhaill tells how as a child he received wisdom by accidentally eating splattered juices from a salmon of wisdom while he was cooking it for another.
  • Scotland’s name- Caledonia- comes from Cal Dun and means Hill of Hazel.
  • Hazel was used for druid’s wands, and in items as protection against evil (for example heroic shields and fences).
  • Hazel has also been favored to make medieval self defense staffs, pilgrims staffs, shepherds crooks, and everyday walking sticks.
  • Hazel wood is also used for divining and water dowsing.
  • In Ireland and Wales it has long been considered taboo to burn Hazel (which was considered a fairy tree).

To Learn More:

Tree Lore: Hazel– OBOD

The Hazel of Wisdom – Caer Feddwyd

Mythology and Folklore of the Hazel– Trees for Life

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