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Celtic tree calendar · Celtic tree month 12

Reed

Reed · Ngetal

Reed (Ngetal), month 12 of the modern 'Celtic tree calendar', 28 October – 24 November.

The reed, used for thatching and for arrows and pipes, represents in the tree calendar the season of Samhain, the honouring of the dead and the search for what lies hidden beneath the surface.

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

probing · perceptive · secretive · loyal · truth-seeking · intense

In the modern 'Celtic tree calendar', a person born in the Reed month (28 October – 24 November) is described as perceptive, probing and drawn to hidden truths. The scheme was devised by Robert Graves in The White Goddess (1948) and has no basis in ancient Celtic sources; Reed corresponds to the Ogham letter Ngetal, whose identification as a reed is itself uncertain.

Modern writers associate the Reed month with Samhain, the honouring of the dead and the search for what lies beneath the surface; the reed, used for thatching, arrows and pipes, carries sound and points straight. Reed people are said to be investigators and keepers of secrets, intense, loyal and fascinated by mystery, history and the unseen. Their challenges are described as secretiveness, suspicion, a manipulative streak and a tendency to brood.

In love Reed people are portrayed as passionate and deeply loyal once trust is given; in work, as researchers, investigators, psychologists, historians and storytellers. Like the rest of the tree calendar, this portrait is a modern symbolic reading, not a description handed down from the Celts.

Sources and further reading