Kingdom Come
Kingdom Come a novel by: Laura Chester
In the novel Kingdom Come by Laura Chester a passage in the book describes gilded mirrors hung in the home of her main character. The artwork featured is based on my “Eight Sacred Trees of the Celts’.
“At the far end of the upstairs corridor, I could see the small gilded mirrors all lined up, votive candles flickering beneath each one, illuminating the panels that depicted the seasons- a willow tree for spring. I had carved a little fish as an emblem above it. The apple tree stood for summer, with a five – pointed star shape within a circle, the alder for autumn and then a cedar. There were rays of light on the left side of each mirror, droplets of rain on the right. Together, the altars looked pagan and holy, and I was pleased with how they were hung.”
The author changed details but captured the sense of these altars. The altars are free standing and each is dedicated to a different sacred tree: Alder, Apple, Birch, Elder , Hawthorne, Hazel, Oak, and Willow.
Each tree has a symbol above it in a half moon shaped space. The little fish as described in the book is a Salmon which is the symbol for the Hazel tree. Legend has it that the Hazel nut contained the ‘Seven wisdoms of man’. The Salmon, which is sacred to the Celts and the Scots, was said to gain its strength and its intelligence by eating the nuts that fell from the hazel trees growing along riverbanks where they swam. The proof of their eating these nuts were the spots on the salmons belly.
