Legend has it that the three methods of soking a Wildfire were brought one each from Ireland, Britain and Gaul, the Three Great Houses of Druidism. The first method is known as Friction. The second was a concentration of sun-rays though a magnifying crystal. The crystals used were varied in colour, and often embedded in the blades of their sacred implements (such as sword or sickles). The most covered by the Druids was the “Dragon Stone,” a Red Ruby or perhaps a Rose Quartz or Garnet, said to have been mined from the slopes of Snowdonia. The third way was by the Lightening, or “Sky-Fire,” which was believed sent by the gods, and so constituted a sacred fire. During storms, the priests would often venture outside to collect a flaming branch form a tree or bush, which would then be used to light a sacred needle fire or candle, and kept carefully alive as an “oracle fire.” Only with Wildfire could Oghams be constructed, believed to be then sacred substance and always read true.
At a time, wood had a monetary value, and cutting down the wrong tree resulted in a fine, such as usually the loss of a hand, or even being put to death. This was because the trees were thought of as being with ranks of spirit and nobility. This poem is of recent English folk origin, dealing with the sacred wood for fires, but is drawn from earlier ideals:
Oak-logs will warm you well
That are old and dry;
Logs of pine will sweetly smell
But the sparks will fly.
Birch-logs will burn too fast
Chestnut scarce at all;
Hawthorne-logs will burn to last—
Cut them in the fall.
Holly-logs will burn like wax
You may burn them green;
Elm-logs like to smoldering flax,
No flame to be seen.
Beech-logs for Winter time,
Yew-logs as well;
Green elder-logs it is a crime
For any man to sell.
Pear-logs and apple-logs
They will scent your room,
Cherry-logs across the dogs
Smell like flower of broom.
Ash-logs, smooth and grey,
Burn them green or old,
Buy up all that come your way—
Worth their weight in gold!
