Horoscopes · Systems of many cultures
Celtic tree calendar · Celtic tree month 8
Holly
Holly · Tinne
Holly (Tinne), month 8 of the modern 'Celtic tree calendar', 8 July – 4 August.
The holly, evergreen through the winter, is paired in modern Pagan myth with the oak as the 'Holly King' who rules the waning half of the year. In the tree calendar it represents challenge, protection and the turning of the year after midsummer.
The thirteen tree months come from Robert Graves' The White Goddess (1948), not from ancient sources. The tree associations of the Ogham letters do go back to medieval Irish scholars, but there is no evidence for an ancient Celtic tree calendar.
Personality
noble · resilient · competitive · protective · ambitious · generous
In the modern 'Celtic tree calendar', a person born in the Holly month (8 July – 4 August) is described as noble, resilient and ambitious, a natural leader who rises to a challenge. The scheme comes from Robert Graves' The White Goddess (1948) and later Pagan writers, not from ancient Celtic sources; Holly corresponds to the Ogham letter Tinne.
Modern writers draw on the holly's evergreen leaves and on the twentieth-century Pagan myth of the Holly King, who rules the waning half of the year after midsummer in contest with the Oak King. Holly people are said to be strong-willed, protective, competitive and capable of overcoming obstacles, generous to those they care for. Their challenges are described as arrogance, a prickly temper, a need to win and difficulty showing vulnerability.
In love Holly people are portrayed as devoted and protective but sometimes possessive; in work, as leaders, organisers and those who thrive under pressure. As with the rest of the tree calendar, this portrait is a modern creation drawing on folklore and contemporary Pagan myth.
Sources and further reading
- The White Goddess — Robert Graves, 1948
- A Guide to Ogam — Damian McManus, 1991
- The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles — Ronald Hutton, 1991