Saille is the fourth letter of the ogham alphabet, written ᚄ, and it is linked to the willow. It carries the themes people associate with that water-loving tree: intuition, emotion, and flexibility. This page covers the letter, the willow in Celtic tradition, and what Saille is taken to mean. For the whole alphabet see the ogham letters guide, and for every symbol at a glance, the ogham symbols page.
The letter Saille
Saille is the fourth few of the first group, or aicme, written as four strokes set to one side of the central line: ᚄ. Its sound is S. In the traditional order it follows Fearn and comes before Nion.
The willow in Celtic tradition
The willow grows beside water, and much of its lore follows from that. It was linked to the moon, to the tides, and to the flow of emotion and intuition, all things that shift and move rather than stand still. The tree bends in the wind without breaking, which made it a natural image of flexibility and resilience. Willow also had a very real healing role: its bark contains salicin, the natural forerunner of aspirin, and was used for centuries to ease pain and fever.
These threads, water, the moon, emotion, and healing, are the roots of what the letter Saille came to stand for.
What Saille means in ogham
In modern ogham practice, Saille is read as intuition, emotion, and flexibility, a sign to trust your feelings and to bend rather than break. That reading grows from the willow’s link to water and the moon. As with all the fews, it is honest to note that the tree’s associations are old while the tidy one-line meaning is a modern reading. See the ogham symbols and their meanings page for the full set.
Willow in the Celtic tree calendar
Willow is one of the signs in the Celtic tree calendar, covering roughly April 15 to May 12. That calendar is a modern system, traced to the poet Robert Graves in 1948 rather than to ancient Celtic astrology, but it stays popular. If you were born in the willow period, the Celtic tree calendar and find your birth tree guides cover the sign in full.
FAQ
What does Saille mean in ogham?
Saille is read as intuition, emotion, and flexibility. The meaning comes from the willow, a water-loving tree linked to the moon and the tides, and known for bending in the wind without breaking. The tree’s associations are old, while the specific one-line divinatory meaning is a modern reading.
What tree is Saille?
Saille is the willow, a tree that grows beside water and bends easily in the wind. It was linked to the moon and to emotion in folklore, and its bark, which contains salicin, was long used as a natural remedy for pain and fever.
Is willow linked to the moon?
In folk tradition and in modern ogham practice, yes. Because the willow grows by water and water was tied to the moon and the tides, the tree gathered lunar and emotional associations. This is part of why Saille is read today as a letter of intuition and feeling.