Thoughts on trees

I'm on the train writing this, though I won't post it till I get home, obviously. I just finished the book (and thanks to Ashley,) I own it so I could scribble all over it. So now I'm going through my scribbles.

One of the reasons I love Fantasy as a genre is that you can follow the rules, or you can bend them, when it comes to traditional roles of creatures, objects, ect. Obviously, since witches, (and often wizards) are usually a negative thing, Rowling is already bending the rules. I am interested to see where she deviates and where she upholds traditional symbols. I am always on the look out for devices that have history.

So...
Harry's wand...

Two feathers of a phoenix tail. The phoenix, is a symbol of both natural life, and immortality, as it lives indefinitely, but goes through a cycle of death and resurrection every few centuries. (How long is the cycle in the Harry Potter world? Anyone know? Does Professor D say in the next book?) The whole immortality thing seems to be an ongoing theme with V, and so in that Harry is so closely connected with him, I guess it's fitting for Harry to have the phoenix too.

The wood, however was what I really wanted to look up. I brought my Encyclopedia of Celtic mythology with me on the train, because you never know when you might need to look up something like this. V's wand is made of Yew. Yew is also a symbol of, you guessed it, mortality and immortality. It is traditionally planted in grave yards. It is associated with the afterlife, otherworld, and transformations, interestingly enough. There is a story about a Welsh hero who turns into an eagle at his death and makes his home in a yew tree.

Harry's wand is holly. My books traces the association with holly and Christmas to the pre-christian symbol the winter king, opposed to the summer king; the oak. For those of you who have read Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles, the winter king is Arawn, the villain in that story, if I remember rightly. But he is lord of the after life in celtic myth. "Otherworld" seems to be a positive after death experience. His rival Hafgan, the oak, fights him for power over Otherworld. And there is an especially odd story in which Arawn switches places with a human named Pwyll for a year and Pwyll, pretending to be Arawn, defeats Hargan.
Holly is the masculine counterpart to Ivy (thus, "The Holly and The Ivy").

So, I wonder if Rowling chose the holly for it's Christian association with Christmas, (the incarnation symbolizing hope for the world, a chosen one,) or if she wanted Harry associated with the Winter King, also apparently a positive symbol, though kind of an odd one. I am not going to be looking out for oak tree symbols.

:) Hagrid's wand was oak.

Harry's father had a mahogany wand, but I couldn't find anything about it. It's supposed to be good for transformations.

Harry's mother has a willow wand, "Nice for charm work." Willow is a healer in celtic folklore.

On a side note, I think I will need some help with some of these terms at some point. I get what a transformation is, but what's the difference between a charm and a spell? I get curses. And there are counter curses. What are the other magic terms. I remember trance being used. Enchantment?