Fred Hageneder – Biography

Fred Hageneder was born in 1962 in Hamburg, Germany. He has been researching trees since 1980, in conjunction with cultural history, mythology and comparative religion.

Since 1999 Fred has written various ethnobotanical books about the cultural and spiritual history and meaning of trees. So far, his work has been translated into ten languages (Spanish, German, Dutch, Japanese,…).

He has given lectures at various locations in Germany and Switzerland, at Wakehurst Place (Kew Gardens), the National Museum of Wales, the National Arboretum Westonbirt (UK), and at the Abant Izzet Baysal Forestry University in Turkey. In March 2009 he was contracted by Pacifica Graduate Institute in Carpinteria, California, USA, to serve the Department of Mythological Studies as an external reader for a dissertation on the World Tree.

Fred is a co-founder of the Ancient Yew Group (AYG), an independent group of researchers which has been working since 2003 to advance scientific and historical information about yew trees to the public, to researchers and to decision-makers. Fred associated with SANASI, an international group of scientists who are creating a database of the world’s ’sacred natural sites‘. And he is a founding member of the German/French Freunde der Bäume/Amis des Arbres (‚Friends of the Trees‘), a registered charity for the creation of modern sacred groves as spaces of tranquility as well as multicultural and multi-faith meeting places.

Fred also plays traditional harps and has composed music for various tree species (hear samples of his CD The Spirit of Trees here).

He lives near the Black Mountains in Wales, UK.

 

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