Crescent Moon and Sun Wall Art, 12″x12″ The Willow Workbench

Measuring 12″x12″ , this amazingly detailed Sun and Moon motif wall art will be a great addition to any room in the home no matter how mundane or magical that room was.  Adding class as well as a bit of mysticism to any room.

 There are two separate woods used to make this art, The sun and moon is Baltic Birch atop a backer of solid Birch.

In magics, Birch is associated with inception, fertility, and sometimes with purification. (Birch has natural antiseptic properties.) Birch is traditionally used for the Witch’s besom, Beltane fires and Maypoles, and Yule logs. “Birch into the fire goes/In sign of what the Lady knows,” goes the traditional Wiccan rhyme.

Birch does well in rough, acidic soil and cold climates—places where larger deciduous trees cannot grow. Although Birch appears fragile, it is extremely strong. The spirit of Birch offers courage and protection to those who would venture outside of the safe and the normal.

A secondary use of Birch is for protection, especially psychic protection. Birch groves provide shelter for the psychoactive Fly Agaric mushrooms, so Birch is also a patron of sorts for hallucinogenic journeyers. Where Birch is the guardian, the wanderer is said to be safe from madness and Faery tricks.

Birch has been variously linked to the Norse goddesses Frigg, Freya, Idunna, and Hel. It is also surely related to the white maidens (Faeries?) that haunt the forests of Germanic folklore. But the Birch spirit is a larger, older being than even these great Ladies. Nor does Birch easily fit into any one of the Wiccan concepts of the Goddess.