Each month of the Celtic Moon Calendar is named after a tree. The moon of late December to late January is the Birch Moon. Trees and stories are a good fit. Each tree in the Calendar is aligned with a consonant from the Celtic alphabet. It's as if the trees can speak! The Silver Birch’s distinctive bark brightens up dull winter days and is connected with new starts and renewal. It augurs Spring in every sense. Famous for its properties of purification, the Birch is the tree of clarity. The silver bark is antiseptic, anaesthetic and good for the skin. When it burns, it does so with a clear blue flame. The Birch is also the tree of ecstasy, partly because its supple branches scrape the sky and partly because the earth at its root hosts mushrooms like the scarlet fly agaric.