The Widsom of the Apple Tree by Glennie Kindred
First Published – White Dragon Magazine. Lammas 1997
Revised 2006
Our folk memory and country lore is rich with references to the virtues of the Apple tree. The Crab Apple (Pyrus malus) is native to Britain and is the wild ancestor of all the cultivated varieties of Apple trees (Malus pumila domestica) available today. The Crab Apple has thorns, which have been bred out in the cultivated varieties. This beautiful tree, in all of its varieties, provides us with abundant food, and has many uses both in the kitchen, as a herbal remedy and a healing energy. All the many Apple trees have the same herbal, energetic and healing properties as the native Crab Apple. In every country this generous tree grows, apples are regarded as sacred, magical, a symbol of the Earth’s abundance and fruitfulness, a means to immortality, a cure for all ills and a gift of Love.
A wealth of legends and myths surrounding the Apple tree, indicates that there is a link between Apple trees and altered states, that deep trance states can be invoked while sitting in orchards. The Apple tree is honoured as an entrance to the Otherworld, the faerie realms, the land of the dead, paradise, the home of the Gods and Goddesses, for journeying to all the unseen worlds of the imagination that lie so close to ours.
The sheer extravagant abundance of apples on an Apple tree in the Autumn is the key to understanding what the Apple tree has to teach us. It shows us how to give all, in total trust that all will be replenished. The Apple tree is there to help us to keep our trust in times off lack, and teaches us our true power is built up by giving, in abundant openhearted generosity.
The Apple tree can help those who harm themselves by their own miserliness. It teaches us to open our hearts to the abundance in our lives. When we, like the Apple tree, give all of ourselves freely and openly, then our hearts are open and we are open to receiving more. Holding back is a symptom of greed or insecurity. Many feelings of bitterness, irritation and anger result from feeling a lack of worthiness. These negative feelings create a pattern of imbalance, which can significantly reduce the flow of the life force energy in your body. If you do not feel worthy to receive certain things, the way for them to come to you will be blocked, as you have believed it to be. The Apple’s message is to value and celebrate all you have in your life. By affirming and feeling thankful for what you have in the present, you open up the channels for your own abundance.
Apples are a natural remedy for the stomach, bowels and heart, the main organs of giving and receiving. Our folk memory is rich with such phrases as “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” and not without good reason. It is a very digestible food, and it aids the digestion of other foods. It is an excellent baby food. A ripe juicy apple eaten at bedtime every night will cure constipation. An apple before bed is also an excellent dentifrice, being a food that is not only good for cleaning the teeth, but also hard enough to push back the gums so the borders are clear of deposits. The valuable acids and salts exist to a special degree in and just below the skin, so to get the full value of an apple it should be eaten unpeeled.
The bark of the Apple tree is a tonic and a stimulant, bringing down the temperature in a fever. The bark contains phlorizin, which is used in its pure form in modern medicine. To use the bark, strip a small area in the tree taking care not to ring the trees, as this will kill it. Bark pieces can also be saved from the year’s prunings. Dry the bark pieces in brown paper bags in a warm airing cupboard. They can then be stored in brown paper bags or a dark jar. Their herbal qualities should be potent for two years. Boil the bark pieces in water for 15 minutes and leave to infuse overnight. Dosage is 1-4 fluid ounces of the infusion daily.
The Crab Apple is a tradition herbal treatment for cleansing the body, for both internal and external wounds. It helps to heal skin tissue and is an anti-inflammatory and anti-septic – hence the connection in our folklore with beauty. A poultice made from the boiled or roasted fruit will remove burn marks from the skin. The same boiled fruit is good for sore or inflamed eyes.
An ointment mentioned by John Gerard in his Herbal of 1633 suggests mixing apple pulp with fat and rose water to make a treatment for rough skin. For a more magical beauty treatment, the following charm is and extract from Clair O’Rush’s book The Enchanted Garden: “Gather May dew and steep apple blossom in it, heating all over a fire of ashen wood, bless the apple water and apply to the skin, letting it dry of itself. Ask a blessing of beauty and purity from a chosen deity and the tree spirit and it will heal the complaint and grant a lovely complexion.”
Apples are also an old folk remedy for the cure of rheumatism by rubbing the affected area with a rotten apple. They were also a folk cure for warts by rubbing the warts with two halves of an apple and then burying them. The pectin in the apple is a good germicide and promotes the growth of new skin tissue, providing a medical basis for this old wives’ tale.
This type of folk remedy is a form of Anglo Saxon sympathetic magic. Early medieval sympathetic magic depended much upon associations. It was common practice to write a holy name on an apple; eaten on three consecutive days it would cure all ills. The apple was considered effective against venom, or poison, a purifier and cleanser, all of which corresponds with the apple’s known properties today.
Of all the Bach flower remedies, the Crab Apple is unusual because it is the only one that can be used directly externally, as it acts on the mental and physical levels as well as the subtle energies. Crab Apple will remove negative impression, for instance after a dirty job, or after a long and difficult nursing task. Ten drops can be added to a full bath. Some practitioners recommended Crab Apple when fasting, others recommended it to overcome the effects of a hangover (four drops every half hour). Wounds can be bathed in it if you have reason to believe it is infected with poison that needs to be drawn out. Five drops in a little cooled boiled water is sufficient for a compress.
People in need of the Crab Apple flower remedy tend to be more then usually sensitive, taking in much more, at subtler levels, than their general constitution can cope with. They can sometimes be a magnet for dark forces. This unconscious stress often gives them the feeling of being unclean, in need of cleansing. This can manifest is self-disgust, over-anxiety about physical cleanliness, fear of contamination. The flower remedy can be used whenever there is a poor self-image, especially if it relates to parts of the body.
Apples have a long history of being used for divination, especially to foretell the future in matters of love and prosperity. Because of the strong tradition behind many of the superstitions, many have survived, albeit in a degenerate form, as entertainment. The methods of divination are varied and include such things as counting the apple pips in an apple, with reference to a specific question; burning the pips after naming each one with a young man’s name, and watching which ones explode in the fire; pressing the named pips with the finger to see which sticks the longest; apple bobbing ( trying to catch the apples with the mouth only as they “bob’ about in a bowl of water); throwing the peel over the left shoulder to see it forms the initials of an individual when it lands; and putting an apple under your pillow to dream of your sweetheart. All of these games and folk customs are survivals of much older ceremonies in honour of the Apple.
Many of these customs are particularly performed at Samhain, as traditionally the Apple is linked to the Celtic Otherworld, where the tree is called the ‘silver bough’ and possesses magical properties. Samhain is traditionally the time of the year when the veil between the worlds is at its thinnest, a doorway opens between the seen world of matter and the unseen world of Spirit. It is the best time of the year to make shamanic journeys, to connect to the dead, to the Spirit Realms, to gain oracular knowledge and healing powers.
Within each apple is to be found the pentagram. Cut it widthways and the shape is revealed in the formation of the pips. This ancient symbol of knowledge is sacred to the Celtic death Goddess, Cailleach, the Crone, the Veiled One, and Samhain is her time of the year. The Apple is also associated with Venus, Goddess of Love and also linked to the five pointed star.
Verjuice, a kind of scrumpy cider, was ritually drunk at this time of year, to induce altered states and otherworldly experiences. Verjuice is made simply by gathering ripe crab apples, laying them in a pike and leaving them to rot and sweat. The rotten fruit is gathered into a bowl with the stalks removed, beaten to a pulp and pressed through a coarse cloth. The liquid is bottles and is ready to use a month later.
The Apple tree has close links with the shaman, the wise woman, and magicians. It is used when undergoing magical transformations or Otherworld journeys. Celtic/Arthurian myth names one of these other worlds as Avalon, the Apple Vale, the mythical paradise where the hills were clothed with Apple trees bearing flowers and fruit together. The word “Avalon” is derived from the old Irish ‘avaloch’ meaning ‘a place of the Apples’. The old Irish name for the Isles of Arran in the Scottish Firth of Clyde was ‘Eamain Abhlach’ or ‘Evain Avaloch’, which means ‘Holy Hill of the Apple Trees’. Eventually ‘Avaloch’ became pronounced ‘Avalon’. The Isle of Arran was believed by the Celts to be a physical manifestation of an Otherworld paradise. From the Welsh poem ‘Avellenau’, the bard Merlin reveals to his lord the existence of his orchard, which he carried around with him always. It was borne from place to place by the enchanter on all his journeys. We all have this ability to link to other worlds and realities within ourselves through our imaginations, to create shifts in our perception, which will reveal fresh insights and understandings for personal healing and development.
Other legends tell of Otherworld visitors to our world who appear in the same guise as the shaman, carrying and Apple branch with bells on it. The Apple Tree also represents shelter, either in this world or as a place to rest when making Otherworld journeys.
Using an Apple wood wand would be the appropriate magical tool to use if you wanted to make shamanic journeys to the Otherworld. It is said that the Apple is used as a calling sign to the Otherworld that you wish to enter their realm. Making your own wand will also help you physically, mentally and spiritually connect to the Apple tree.
Finding the right piece of wood for a wand may take time. Go about this task in a magical frame of mind. There are many considerations such as: how do you feel about cutting a piece from a tree? Or are you going to wait for a piece that needs pruning? If you have your own Apple trees, this is easier, or you can ask friends or family to let you know when they prune their Apple trees so that you can find a suitable piece for yourself that will be cut anyway.
If you cut from a tree, remember to ask the tree, listen to the answer, respect your intuition and respect the tree. As always, thank the tree for its gift. I feel that asking the tree for a wand, is the beginning of a relationship between you and the tree, which is stronger than if you have a piece of wood from an unknown tree.
Another thing to focus on is the size of the wand. I personally favour pencil-sized wands, which I can easily carry around with me in my pocket, but meditation wands, talking sticks and ceremonial wands are usually bigger. If you want to take the bark off, it is easiest to do when the wood is freshly cut, before it dries hard onto the wood. You might not want to take the bark off. Focus on what the wand means to you and you will feel that is right to do.
Apple wood is traditionally used for carving, so you might try your hand at a bit of inspired carving. Rough carving is quite good to do while the wood is fairly fresh, and then leave it to dry out before finishing, but it is prone to splitting, so it is best not to carve when it is very fresh. It is a hard wood, so it is not easy to carve, but it is full of beautiful patterns and colours found in the wood. It doesn’t have a regular straight grain and it is a wonderful orangey colour and smells wonderful too. The sweet smell is intensified when it is burnt, and it is worth saving every scrap for ritual fires.
How long it takes for your wand to dry out depends on its size. A thin pencil wand will only take a week or two, but a bigger piece may take a few months, depending on where it is left. Apple wood takes longer than most to dry out and is liable to split if it is not done naturally and slowly. If you take the bark off it is best kept inside a garage or a shed, in a cool, airy place. This way the wood will keep its colour. If the bark is kept on, it can be left outside where the wind, rain and sun can season it slowly, but the colour fades.
Use your Apple wand as an aid to Otherworld journeying. Find a nice quite space (under and Apple tree would be wonderful. In an orchard would be perfect!). Holding a piece of Apple wood or wand, close your eyes, and welcome the Spirit of the Apple into your heart. Do not try to predict what will happen but imagine yourself in a group of trees. If you can’t actually sit with an Apple tree then imagine yourself sitting under an Apple tree, looking out at a group of trees. Take note of whatever comes readily into your mind, but let your thoughts and feelings stay fluid, staying focused on your link to the Apple. Then let your mind wander out to the other trees. Look at what trees your unconscious has chosen to be with you, and taking each in turn, what you feel about them. Try to notice if the tree’s energy changes, in relation to the other trees that are next to it, also if there are any people or animals, and if so if they have anything to communicate to you. Notice if any tree species are more plentiful than other, as this might be a clue to an area of your life, which needs extra attention. Once you have established this place, then call on you Otherworld guide to meet you. This may be a tree spirit, animal, bird or person. It may take several attempts before you feel or notice that contact has been made. Don’t worry about it; let things happen in their own time. It gets easier on repeat journeys.
If you wish to work with the energy of the Apple, you can aid the process by sitting with Apple trees as often as possible, get to know their vibrations, make friends with them. Old orchards are particularly potent places. Also, work with Apple wood, eat more apples, drink apple juice and cider, especially if it is organic and home made!. Dry apple peel and drink it as a tea. Try cultivating Apple trees from the pips for some very special trees which you are closely linked with.
Plant Apple trees where ever you live, even if you know you will be moving on. Plant them for the future and for future generations. With the decline of the old orchards, many of the old varieties of apples are now lost to us. But there are many who are seeking to save them. If possible plant varieties that are known to do well in your area, taking into account the size of the future tree and the space available. Every garden has room for at least one Apple tree! There are dwarf varieties available for the small garden, or any variety can be trained to grow flat against a wall or fence. They can also be bought at garden centres already trained to grow flat. There are even varieties that can be grown in a container or pot, although these need a lot of care, feeding and watering. Planting an Apple tree helps you to build up a special relationship with the tree, as you care for it. You find yourself talking to it as you appreciate it‘s many virtues, especially the beautiful blossom in the Spring and of course, the joy of collecting and eating fresh apples in the Autumn.
Spirit of the Elder by Glennie Kindred top
First Published – White Dragon Magazine. Samhain 1996
Revised 2006
Of all the native trees of the British Isles, it is the Elder tree, which evokes my deepest affection. Of all the trees, I talk readily to the Elder and feel the presence of its spirit in a tangible way. It is easy to be thankful for all its abundant herbal, magickal and culinary gifts and easy to feel and honour the wisdom of a wise elder, the wise woman spirit – the Queen of Trees, the Elder Tree Mother. The Elder is the Old Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess, a wise old energy at the end of the year’s cycle.
The Elder rules the 13th moon in the Celtic Tree Calendar, the ending of the old year and beginning of the new at the Celtic festival of Samhain. For this reason the message of the Elder is to honour the beginning in every end and the end in every beginning. Each death, each end, brings a new start, rebirth and regeneration. The Elder grows rapidly from any part, and so speaks to us of regeneration and the power of the life force. It is a powerful symbol of the life energy and creation at a time of the year when everything must return to the Earth for regeneration and renewal. Elder is a reminder of the never ending cycle of life, death and rebirth, bringing power and hope at his dark time in the year’s cycle. The Elder is sometimes called the “death tree” because of this. Funerary flints found in megalithic long barrows were Elder leaf shaped, suggesting this association goes back a long way. It is also called the “witch’s tree” and certainly the village hedge-witch would have used the Elder extensively, as herbally it is wonderfully rich and potent in all its parts – leaves, flowers, berries and the bark. The presence of the Old Mother energy of the tree probably also accounts for this name. It is said in Irish folklore that is it the Elder stick and not Ash ones, which were used by witches for their magic horses, which makes me, wonder whether the bark was perhaps used for inducing trance. Certainly it is a purgative and will induce vomiting and perspiration. Flutes made of Elder were used to summon spirits, and Elder was also a common wood of wands.
The earliest folk tales praise Elder’s ability to ward of evil or malevolent spirits, and to undo evil magic. Elder blossom was worn at Beltane to signify witchcraft and magic and Elder twigs were woven into a headdress at Samhain to enable the wearer to see spirits. But there are two very different folktales associated with the Elder, with a later overlay of bad press imposed by the Church, in their need to eradicate the old Pagan religion from this land. These superstitions say that the tree itself brought death, that a malevolent spirit dwelled within it, that is was the tree from which the cross was made and the tree from which Judas hanged himself. These later overlays grew out of fear of the Old Ways and eradication of the village hedge witch or wise woman who would have used the Elder in many of her herbal remedies..
There are very strong superstitions about not cutting down the Elder. Maybe a fear of releasing that malevolent spirit or maybe born of a deep respect for this tree, which gives so much by way of medicines, food and drink. Early European folk tales tell of a dryad, Hylde-moer, the Elder Tree Mother, who lives in the Elder tree and watches over it. Should the tree be chopped down and furniture made of the wood, Hylde-moer would follow her property and haunt the owners. Similar tales tell that if a child’s cradle were to be made of Elder, Hylde-moer would pinch the child black and blue and give it no peace or rest. Thus it is considered unlucky to make a cradle out of Elder wood – Birch being the proper wood for a cradle, signifying a new start or inception.
Other folklore customs associated with the Elder invoke its ability to drive away evil spirits. As a protection against evil (and later against witchcraft!) its branches were hung in doorways of houses, cow sheds, buried in graves and its twigs were carried at funerals.
Elder can be used to bless a person; place or thing, by scattering leaves and berries to the four directions, and over the thing or person being blessed, while and speaking invocations with heartfelt intention and imagry.
The Elder is the Old Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess, and powerful indeed is her protection and blessing. She guards the entrance to the Underworld and death, the threshold of consciousness and the dark inner mysteries. She represents change and transformation at the deepest inner level.
At Samhain, the last of the elderberries were picked with solemn rites. The wine made from these berries was considered the last sacred gift or the Earth Goddess, and was valued and drunk ritually to invoke prophecy, divination and hallucinations.
Elderberry wine has curative powers of established repute. Taken hot at night it will help in the early stages of cold or flu, and is excellent for a sore throat and catarrh. This is due to the viburnic acids contained in the berries, which stimulates the immune system, induces perspiration and helps to ‘bring the cold out’. It also had a reputation in the past as an excellent remedy for asthma.
Make it simply by stripping off the ripe berries with a fork until you have three gallons of berries. Pour over 2 gallons of boiling water, cover and leave in a warm place for 24 hours. Strain through muslin and press all the juice well out. Measure the juice and allow 3lbs of sugar, half an ounce of ginger and quarter of an ounce of cloves to each gallon (approx 5 litres). Boil slowly for 20 minutes, strain into a bucket, adding yeast when it is lukewarm. Pour into demijohns, standing them in a warm place while the yeast works through the sugar. Bottle when it stops. It’s really best to leave it for at least a year, and after 2 or 3 years it improves greatly and is even better.
An old cure for colds and coughs, and especially bronchitis was to make a ‘rob’ (a vegetable juice thickened by heat) from elderberries. Use 5lbs of fresh ripe berries, crushed with 1 lb of sugar and evaporate to the thickness of honey. One or two tablespoons mixed with hot water and taken at night will act as a demulcent to the chest and throat.
Elderberries are used for rheumatism, as well as being used to cool any swellings, such as piles. The can also be mixed with other seasonal fruits and used for pies, jams, vinegar, ketchup and chutney. Too numerous to go into here but some excellent recipes can be found in old herbals such as Mrs Grieves Modern Herbal.
Relearning to make and use these age-old cures for common ailments connects me to the Earth, its abundance and my power. I become a part of nature and I value and bless the plants and the trees for all their gifts to us. Medicines from the chemist invariably have all manner of unknown chemicals in them and are also very expensive. A wealth of cheap, effective, natural medicines are just waiting to be used and reclaimed, none more useful and abundant than the Elder.
The Elder has a powerful life force energy and has survived in the cities and towns and even manages to grow out of cracks in concrete. It flourishes near abandoned dwellings, in churchyards, canals, rabbit warrens and badger setts – in fact wherever the nitrogen content is high, where the soil has been broken down by organic matter such as dung, compost and refuse. It survives on the common lands, wastelands and along railways lines- so even if you live in the city it can still be found. Spot it in June when the abundance of its fine white flowers can be seen clearly. Remember where it is so that you can return to it at other times of the year when it may not be so recognisable. In the Autumn it has distinctive clusters of dark purple berries and the leaves yellow and drop early.
There are so many things to use it for that it is a valuable tree to have near. It makes a fast growing hedge, which can be clipped to thicken it. Like the Willow, it can be planted easily by pushing small sections of fresh wood into the earth or into pots of compost. This is best done in Autumn and Winter. In the Spring keep clipping off the flowers and all but the main shoot, to encourage the roots to grow during its first year. It is a useful small tree for a garden, but best grown in a back corner as not much will grow beneath it.
It is a good insecticide. Simply rub the leaves onto the skin or make an infusion of the leaves by pouring boiling water onto a jug of leaves. Cover it while it infuses, to keep in the goodness and then strain off the leaves and bottle. This can be rubbed into the skin frequently, and will prevent mosquitoes, midges and flies settling on you. (A mixture like this will be effective for a day or two but is best remade daily.) A sprig of the leaves worn in the hat also helps. The same mixture can also be sprayed onto other plants to keep off aphids and other small insects.
The leaves can also be made into an ointment as a remedy for bruises, swellings sprains, chilblains and wounds, bringing a cooling effect. Take three parts fresh Elder leaves, heat them up with 6 parts Vaseline or similar until; the leaves are crisp. Then strain and store.
The flowers, which are at their best at midsummer, also have many uses from eye bath to skin tonic, for colds and flu and catarrhal inflammation of the upper respiratory tract, such as hay fever and sinusitis. Gather the flowers on a dry day and dry them fast. They do discolour but are perfectly OK. I have found the best method is to hang the clusters upside down in paper bags, somewhere warm and dry. The bags catch the flowers as they dry and drop off. When completely dry, store them in dark screw-top jars.
A tea made from the fresh flowers makes an excellent Spring/Summer tonic, take fresh each morning to purify the blood. They can also be added to salads, cakes and made into wonderful summer drinks such as elderflower cordial and elderflower champagne.
The use of the bark as a strong purgative dates back to Hippocrates, but is rarely used nowadays. The Romans apparently used elderberry juice to dye their hair black. Culpepper suggests boiling them in wine first. The bark of Elder branches was used in the making of a black dye and also the root. The leaves, mixed with alum, make a green dye and the berries make a blue and purple dye (with alum) and violet (with alum and salt).
The word ‘Elder’ comes from the Anglo-Saxon word “aeld” meaning fire, probably due to the hollowed out stems being used to blow up the fire. Inside the stem is thick soft pith, which can easily be hollowed out, forming hollow tubes. These used to be used to make whistles and pipes, hence the Elder’s country name ‘pipe tree’ or ‘bore tree’ and as it is still called in Scotland,.Other old names for Elder are Eldrun, Ellhorn, Hydlore and Hyllan tree.
The generic name of the Elder is Sambucus, this is apparently a musical instrument found in ancient Greece. It is said to be, a stringed instrument, a kind of harp, which I find hard to believe, when it naturally makes pipe. Many types of wind instruments have been made out of hollowed out stems of the Elder, including flutes, panpipes and a surprisingly loud reeded whistle. Italian country folk still make a simple pipe called a sampogna out of Elder. Throughout Europe, generations of country children have made pop-guns and pea shooters from the hollowed out stems of Elder.
The wood is white to yellow, with a fine grain. It is a hard wood, but it cuts easily and it polishes up well. Perhaps because of the superstitions about not cutting it down, and because it is a fairly small tree, it’s wood was not used much in the past. It was used for small pegs, skewers, spoons, small turned items, combs and toys.
The hollowed out stems make natural beads, which are very easy and satisfying to make. Cut a young branch into bead-sized pieces with secateurs or saw them. Then scrape off the bark and sand, first with a rough sandpaper and then with a finer one. Wear the beads for protection and as an allegiance to the Elder and nature spirits.
I find that the modern farmer and modern methods of hedge cutting do not heed the old lore, and plenty of cut Elder is found along the hedgerows if you keep an eye open for it. It is best to use wood, which is newly cut, or 6 months to a year old. Do not use old wood. Many insects live inside the stems, as the pith is so soft and easy to hollow out. Perhaps this is why it is not considered good to bring it into your house to burn if it’s full of ants and earwigs! I have heard that is not a good burner anyway.
If you do need to cut yourself some wood from the tree, approach the tree with respect; ask first, and listen with an open heart. Don’t cut if you get a strong intuition not to. Some people like to leave a small gift of some kind – something practical like untangling ivy, watering the tree in dry weather or tidying up rubbish from around the tree. An attitude of gratitude and thanks to the tree is a positive act which all of nature responds well to. Others say is matters not to the tree but the very act of thanking opens up something in us, which is very healthy and necessary for our spirits. For this reason it is important to state your thanks simply and from the heart, each time you take nature’s gift. I also find that it builds up a great bond with a tree, a friendship of great power and wisdom. The Elder, of all the trees, has much to teach us, through direct contact, communication and reconnection to past uses and country lore.
The Hawthorn Tree by Glennie Kindred top
First Published – White Dragon Magazine. Beltain 1997
Revised 2006
The Hawthorn (Crataegus mongyna), Whitethorn, Haegthorn, Quickthorn or May Tree, is one of the most wild, enchanted and sacred of our native trees. Known as the ‘Faerie Tree’ and the ‘Queen of the May’, this beautiful, often ancient and gnarled, thorny little tree can live to 700 years old, and can be found growing on ancient sites, marking old boundaries and growing in the wildest and harshest of spots. It grows all over Europe, Greece, North Africa and Western Asia and is rich in folklore and legend.
Even when it is found growing in a town, the Hawthorn retains the spirit of the wild, and some Hawthorn town hedges have probably been there for hundreds of years – long before the town build up around them. The beauty of this tree in the Springtime, when it is in full blossom, touches all our hearts and it holds a special place in our affections. In the Autumn, the red berries feed the birds and provide colour and beauty after the colourful Autumn leaves have gone.
Hawthorn has long been used as a herbal remedy that is beneficial to the heart. The etheric signature of the Hawthorn is said to have a pulsation that is similar to that of the human heartbeat. Before taking Hawthorn as a herb or as a flower essence, it is a good idea to tune into your heartbeat for a few minutes, to help you consciously align with the energy of the Hawthorn.
The Hawthorn will help release blocked energy, not only releasing stress, but creating an ability to trust and let go of fear. As fear is released, great psychic energy of Love is opened up. For this reason, the Hawthorn is particularly potent as a tool for healing affairs of the heart and has long been given as a token of friendship and Love.
This link to the heart and Love is reflected in its symbolism and its place in folklore and legend. It is linked to the Beltane festival of the Old Religion, which celebrated the fertility of the Earth and humankind. Later, when the Church tried to eradicate the Old Religion and replace it with Christianity, the Hawthorn became associated with misfortune, chastity and sexual abstinence. This later overlay is now being transformed again, as the Hawthorn is recognised as a positive symbol of the heart through its ability on a subtle level to open the heart to spiritual growth and Love.
Hawthorn has long been prized as a heart tonic and the leaves, the flowers and the berries can all be used medicinally. The berries especially are the most effective. They act in a normalising way upon the heart by either stimulating or depressing its activity, depending on the need, gently moving the heart to normal function. Hawthorn berries may be used safely as a long-term treatment for heart weakness, palpitations, high blood pressure and angina. It is perfectly safe for children and the elderly and for drinking daily over long periods. The Druids used the Hawthorn to strengthen the body in the frailty of old age. Drink an infusion of the berries three times a day during old age, during periods of stress, to ease pressure of work, or for any nervous condition. It improves the blood supply to all tissues and is good for improving circulation. Relieving stress and anxiety, it will bring a calm sleep if drunk at night.
Collect the berries in the Autumn before the frosts. Dry them in brown paper bags in the airing cupboard and store them in brown paper bags of dark jars. Their potency will last for two years. The dried berries are made into a decoction. Allow two teaspoons of the berries for each drink and soak in cold water over night. The next day, strain off the berries and drink the liquid cold or boil the liquid and the berries gently for 15-20 minutes and drink as a tea.
The blossom can be drunk as a tonic tea, which also has a beneficial effect on the heart and circulation. It is both necessary and safe to take it over long periods, as its action is very gradual. To make an infusion, pour a cup of boiling water onto two teaspoons of the dried flowers. Cover and leave to infuse for 20 minutes. If you collect the flowers, they need to be dried quickly in brown paper bags hung in an airy place and then sealed in an airtight container, as their potency tends to deteriorate quickly. Gather them fresh every year.
The Hawthorn’s many names reflect its uses and properties; Haegthorn is Anglo-Saxon and refers to its use as a hedging plant, and Quickthorn also reflects its use as a quick growing hedge or boundary hedge. Whitethorn refers to the lightness of its bark, which contrasts with the Blackthorns black bark. In many olden tales it is simply referred to as the Thorn, as in the ballad ‘Oak, Ash and Thorn’. This is a particularly potent combination of trees if found growing together. The Hawthorns thorns are long, straight and extremely hard. They were used as a kind of pin or brooch – for holding material together.
The most common folk name we have for the Hawthorn is the May tree. The May blossom appears on the tree at the beginning of May in the south of England, at the time of the Beltane or May Day celebrations, when people and houses were decked with May blossom. This was referred to as ‘bringing home the May’. The popular rhyme “Here we go gathering nuts in May” may have originally been ‘knots of May’, blossoms from the Hawthorn for the May Day Celebrations (as nuts do not grow in May). These celebrations included a May Queen, representing the Goddess, and the spirit of the new vegetation, the Green Man.
May was known as the “Merry Month” and folk went about ‘wearing green’, decking themselves in greenery and May blossom. Everywhere at this time is bursting with life and fertility, and the old festival of Beltane is a celebration of this fertile force of Nature. The cutting of the May blossom had great significance and symbolised the beginning of new life, the onset of the growing season and potential of unions.
The ceremony of the maypole and maypole dancing is symbolic of renewed life and sexual union. The pole itself is a phallic symbol and the disc at the top, from which the ribbons are tied, represents the female opening. The maypole dance itself represents the union of the male and female and fertility. In some parts of the British Isles, it was the custom to plant a May tree outside every house, or for young men to plant a May tree outside the home of their sweetheart.
It was said to be common practice to fetch a living Hawthorn tree into the village from the woods every year. This living tree would still have a resident tree spirit or Dryad within the tree, and it would have been the tree-spirit itself who was central to the ceremony. The villagers would welcome it into the village and ask for its help and blessing, to bring fertility to the land and good luck to the harvest. This later became symbolised by a person dressed as the Green Man, or tree spirit, who would dance around the outside of the maypole dancers.
Another old folklore custom is that of tying of ribbons or shreds of clothing or rags onto May trees at this time, especially when they grew near wells. The rags were dipped in the spring water and tied on the tree with wishes for the future. As this is the fertile time, then this is the perfect time for this form of magic. The rags were also said to be gifts for the Faeries or Elementals that were thought to dwell near Hawthorn trees.
A twig of Oak, and Ash and Thorn, bound together with a red thread, was used as a protective charm, as was the use of bells (on the legs of the dancing Morris men).
In later folklore, the Hawthorn becomes a tree of misfortunes and bad luck. The power and potency of the old customs was defused by the Church, which tried in every way to make the people fear the old ways and reverse their own power symbols. In Rome, Greece and Britain, the Hawthorn became a tree of enforced chastity. What had been a time of revelry and celebration of sexual potency became a time of purification ceremonies. No marriages were allowed during the month of May and up to the Ides of June (mid June) as it was considered unlucky to marry in the Hawthorn month. The people were encouraged to abstain from sexual intercourse during the month of May, which is why it was considered not a good month to marry. People went about in old clothes, didn’t wash or do anything to make themselves beautiful. “Ne’re cast a clout till May be out” is not necessarily referring to the unpredictable British Climate, but meant instead “do not change you old clothes until the unlucky month is over”. (I wonder here if the odd rough and tumble in the woods would then go unnoticed, and there was therefore an advantage in staying in ones old clothes!). There is a similar proverb in northern Spain, referring to his custom of wearing old clothes in May, which cannot be a reference to the weather, which is very settled there by then.
The Hawthorn then became a symbol of chastity, purity and cleansing. The May Queen became white, virginal, pure and untouchable. The May Eve night of the Green wood revelries of Beltain Eve that had previously lasted all night and included washing your face in the morning dew, became the May Day village event, where all were seen, and respectability was demanded by the puritanical expectations of the Church. This made it hard for the villagers to stay up all night for Beltain and, at the same time, be bright eyed and respectable for the daytime celebrations. And so the month of the May blossom became transformed from a celebration of the sexual and the fertile life-force, to its opposite – a period of restraint, waiting, and keeping oneself pure and respectable.
Another name for the Hawthorn is the ‘Bread and Cheese Tree’. This refers to the young leaves and leaf buds which country folk and children would eat straight from the tree. They have a sweet nutty flavour and can be added to salads along with the flowers. A liqueur can be made from Hawthorn buds and brandy, and from Hawthorn berries and brandy.
Haw wine is made by pouring 1 gallon (four and a half litres) of boiling water over 4 pounds (2kg) of berries. Cover and leave this to stand for a week, stirring daily. Strain off the berries and add the juice and thinly peeled rind of 1 lemon and 2 oranges, and 2 pounds of sugar (1kg), melted in a little water. When the mixture is cool, add the yeast and leave in a covered bucket for 24 hours. Strain off the rind and transfer to a fermentation jar. When fermentation has finished, bottle and keep for a year. Hawthorn berries make a thick sherry type wine.
Formerly the timber, when of sufficient size, was used for making small articles, such as handles, and because of its hardness, it was used for engravers’ blocks. The root wood was used for making boxes and combs. The wood has a fine grain and polishes up beautifully. It is a most desirable fuel wood as it burns very hot, but it was protected by folklore from being cut wantonly because of its association with Faerie.
The Holy Thorn of Glastonbury, a Hawthorn tree that flowers at Christmas time as well as in May, has been used as a talisman since if first appeared on the Isle of Avalon. It was said to have grown from the staff (magician’s tool) of Joseph of Arimathea when he thrust it into the ground of Wearyall Hill at Glastonbury. Since then, many people have claimed that just touching this tree has helped them in their quest for deeper spiritual understanding, and the leaves are used as a talisman.
Talismans are a form of contagious magic, carried on the person. A talisman made from Hawthorn wood will enhance you ability to release Love, open the heart and align yourself to your spiritual development. The Ogham letter for the Hawthorn is H. Huath. Representing good fortune, spiritual growth and psychic protection. When you you’re your self a talisman, state a phrase that expresses the purpose for which the talisman is made, as this will help focus its use. Wear your talisman round your neck, or as a brooch, or simply carry it in your pocket, to touch and gain strength from when needed ( the origins of ‘touchwoods’).
If you wish to cut yourself a piece from a living tree, be sure to do it with reverence and thanks to the tree. I always manage to find plenty of cut Hawthorn in the lanes rounds about, but I do keep my eyes open for it, as I don’t like cutting it. It is a warm golden coloured wood that polishes up well and has such a lovely feel to it.
Carve off the bark while it is still fresh if you want to reveal the wood, as it comes of easily before it dries hard onto the wood. Keep the cut wood outside until you are ready to start working on it, as that will stop it from drying out too quickly. Hawthorn is an especially hard wood and carving is more easily done on green wood, although green wood is likely to split
Wands can be made in the same way, large wands for ceremonies and smaller ones for healing tools, which can be carried in a small pouch or pocket. Hawthorn is traditionally used for psychic shields, particularly for the innocent and vulnerable. It can be given to help protect a child from any harsh energies in the environment, and particularly at puberty when a child is particularly sensitive and vulnerable, and in need of psychic protection. This aspect is also reflection in its use as a hedging plant, not only as a thick impenetrable growth but also as a psychic shield.
A Hawthorn globe or charm ball can be made from twigs. Traditionally made at first light on New Year’s Day (Samhain) from last year’s foliage, and tied with white ribbon. Traditionally the old charm ball from the previous year was burnt on a bonfire of straw, Ash twigs and acorns. Ritually this is to represent your old self being transformed in the Fire. Your new self is forged anew in the new Hawthorn globe, which is kept until the next New Year’s Day.
Whatever you make from Hawthorn be sure to state your intent, and treat the tree with great respect if you cut the wood. The traditions of it being under the protection of the Faeries, and the subtle wild energy of this little tree should leave you in no doubt of its power. It you wish you learn from the wisdom of the Hawthorn, choose an old tree of great maturity and make time to sit with the tree, opening yourself to it's wisdom. The many traditions associated with the Hawthorn, especially around spring and early summer suggests that its energy is strongest at this time.
I believe that the Hawthorn is a very much involved in humankind’s evolution into the Aquarian age to evolve a more open-hearted and humanitarian attitude to life, Love and spirituality. I sense a willingness within the Hawthorn’s energy to help us and be part of this transformation.
The Rowan Tree by Glennie Kindred top
First Published – White Dragon Magazine Imbolc 1998
Revised 2006
The Rowan (sorbus aucuparia), Mountain Ash or Quickbeam, has the ability, perhaps more than any other tree, to help us increase our psychic abilities and to receive visions and insights through communication with the Spirit Realms or the Otherworld. In the past it was valued as a protection against enchantment, unwanted influences and evil spirits. Sprigs of Rowan were placed over doorways and fixed to cattle sheds to protect the animals from harm. Similarly, farmers would drive their sheep though hoops of Rowan branches, and in Wales, Rowan trees were planted in churchyards to watch over and protect the spirits of the dead.
In the past Rowan was valued for its ability to provide us with forewarnings and foreknowledge. It brings an increased awareness of outside influences, which may be affecting us, which we may have been unaware of. This is why it is such an important tree to communicate with. It brings a quickening of awareness of all our senses and abilities, on many different levels of our existence. If you are working with the Rowan, the messages which are constantly passed to us from the Spirit Realms become more obvious, as we become more open to receiving and interpreting these signs in our everyday lives.
, Meditation is greatly enhanced by holding a Rowan twig, wand or touchwood. Similarly, Rowan wood can be used to focus your intention to understand and receive messages from the Spirit Realms and your Spirit Guides. Wearing a Rowan talisman, or carrying a piece of Rowan touchwood, will also enhance these abilities.
Rowans ability to open up communication with the Spirit Realms is the key to Rowan energy. Its name is linked with the Norse word ‘runa’ meaning ‘a charm’, and the Sanskrit ‘runa’ meaning a magician. Rune staves are sticks on which the runes were inscribed and were often made of Rowan wood. In the Celtic Tree Ogham, Rowan is the second of the Ogham letters, and is named ‘Luis’. It provides ‘the quickening’ of energy set in motion by the first tree, the Birch, and opens up communication with the Spirit Realms, which is so necessary for anyone wishing to work with trees, healing and energy pathways.
With clear intention and focus, use the Ogham symbol whenever the Rowan’s qualities need to be invoked. It would also be an appropriate wood to choose for making a set of Ogham sticks if you wanted to make a set quickly without waiting to collect each stick from each of the relevant trees. Mark each stick with each of the 20 Ogham symbols and use for received messages or divination by interpreting each symbol in the light of the question asked.
Rowan twigs are used for metal divining, just as Hazel twigs are used for Water divining. Rowan wood is also used for making magically charged staffs or spears, magically protective house timbers and posts, which are inscribed with runes or other symbols.
Rowan is the wood to use for making any magical tool that involves divining, invocation and communication with the Spirit Realms. It will help you to discriminate between what will do you harm or do you good, and help you deal with anything that threatens you. Rowan leaves and berries can be added to divination incenses.
If you feel you are in need of the protective qualities of the Rowan, perhaps because you have feelings of being oppressed by strong powerful forces or dark influences, or you feeling you are under psychic attack, then harness the power of the Rowan. Nail sprigs of Rowan across your doors and windows and wear a sprig of the leaves, flowers or berries in your hat. Carve yourself a brooch or a talisman to wear. Take a small piece of Rowan wood and sandpaper it smooth so that is it a constant pocket-companion for you to touch and gain strength from. Make a healing-pouch out of chamois leather by cutting out a circle the size of a teacup. Make holes all the way round the edge and thread a leather thong or plaited thread through the holes. In your pouch place a piece of bark or berries from the Rowan and wear it round your neck next to your skin if possible.
The Rowan berry has a tiny five-pointed star opposite its stalk. The pentagram, ancient symbol of protection, is an outward manifestation of the Rowans protective powers, but there is more to the picture than this. It is not just the Rowan that protects you, but you, yourself. An increase in psychic ability and life-force energy puts you in touch with your own power, thus breaking any victim consciousness, or malevolent influences, which may have entrapped and weakened you.
The Rowan grows higher up the sides of mountains than any other native tree, often sprouting and growing from the tiniest of crevices and growing in the most inaccessible of spots. Its life-force energy is strong and determined. It reflects a power, a vitality and tenacity, with a clear message that harnessing the power of the life-force will make any manifestation possible. Its message is not to give up, but to hold on strong to the highest good you believe in. What you believe will become manifest, as you have believed it to be. We need to keep aware of what thoughts and influences we ourselves set in motion for ourselves.
The Rowan strengthens your personal power. It is this aspect that makes the Rowan such a powerful ally. Strengthening your positive life-energy increases your personal power so that you can withstand any negative forces. This is how it acts as a protective influence.
The Rowan is associated with the planet Mercury, the principle of communication between the worlds of the seen and the unseen.
Rowan is associated with Imbolc, the Great Fire Festival of early February, which is held to mark the quickening of the year. Imbolc is connected to the powerful surge of new growth, which is stirring in the depths of the Earth. It also represents the rebirth of Spirit, the spiralling out of the light energy from within and the upsurge in personal energy with which this is linked. Imbolc is dedicated to the young maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess, she, like Rowan, is associated with divine inspiration, illumination, intuition and the binding power of poetry and healing. More then ever, we need to harness these qualities and to make them part of our everyday lives. Imbolc and the Rowan help us to tap into a true synthesis and integration of our physical and spiritual selves by helping us to receive and act upon our intuitive insights that rise from within us. Learning to trust these parts of ourselves brings us into balance.
Working with the Rowan tree at Imbolc facilitates a quickening of personal power and inner resources. Make time to link in with Rowan energy, to help transformation, inspiration and visions. Choose any method of divination, such as candle-gazing, scrying, meditation, inspired drawings or free-flowing poetry. Leave your conscious mind behind and allow the intuitive process to unfold. Stare into nothingness, stare into mandala patterns or Celtic knot work patterns, or simply sit and ‘be’ and daydream. These are all very good for you and help you receive understanding and insight on another level. Sitting with trees and receiving impressions from them, reading the patterns in their bark, in their branches or in the landscape, or seeing pictures in the fire – all can open the doorway to receiving messages from the Otherworld and our Spirit helpers and guides.
Plant a Rowan tree near your house, and build up a relationship with this very special tree as it grows. It has been planted near houses for centuries to ward off evil (and witches too it is said, but we all know that this is a corruption of the earlier tradition.) This small, beautiful tree is an ideal garden tree as it does not take up too much room and it’s sparse foliage allows other plants to grow beneath it. In Spring it has clusters of white, starry flowers and in the Autumn the leaves turn red and orange and it is a mass of red berries, which attract the birds into your garden.
The berries can be made into a variety of drinks, jams and medicines. Cut the clusters of berries off the trees in October while they are still firm (leave some for the birds!) and dry them by hanging them upside down in brown paper bags. This is best done in a warm, airy place or airing cupboard. When they are completely dry, keep them in brown paper bags or dark jars. The juice from the berries is mildly laxative and makes a good gargle for sore throats and hoarseness. To extract the juice from the dried berries, soak one teaspoonful in one cup of cold water for 10 hours or overnight, strain and use as a gargle.
When made into jam, the fruit becomes astringent, which is good for mild diarrhoea. To make the jam, collect fresh berries in the Autumn, trim off the stalks and weigh the fruit. Boil the berries, strain off the seeds and skins and re-boil the liquid with 1 pound of sugar to each pint of juice until it sets. You may need to add some crab apples to the original boiling, to provide pectin to help it to set. It has a sharp flavour, which is good with cheese, salad or with meat.
The fruit can also be boiled, strained and made into wine, or gently boiled to make a vitamin C drink which was previously used for scurvy. The Welsh made a special ale using Rowan berries, but the secret of this is now lost. Perhaps with a creative, intuitive approach the ale-makers amongst us could create a new Rowan berry ale for feasts, rituals and ceremonies.
The Rowan yields a black dye used for tanning. The Druids used it for dying their ceremonial black robes, which they used for lunar ceremonies. The ancient Druids of Ireland also lit fires of Rowan wood before battles and incantations were spoken over the flames to summon spirits to take part in the fight and to combat evil forces. Bewitched horses and animals were controlled by Rowan whips.
It was noted by John Lightfoot in his Flora Scotica of 1777 that Rowans were planted in the neighbourhood of the ancient stone circles and great Rowan thickets were planted at oracular sites throughout Europe.
It was also known that the Druids built special platforms made from interwoven Rowan twigs known as ‘The Wattles of Knowledge’. These were used as a kind of bed on which a Druid would lie as part of a ritual, which induced a trance to gain hidden knowledge.
The surnames MacCairthin and MacCarthy come from an old Gaelic word for Rowan and literally means ‘Son of Rowan’.
Wands of all sizes may be made from Rowan wood, from a pencil thin wand for the pocket, to a large ceremonial wand, decorated with symbols and dedicated to the Rowan. Is also makes very good walking sticks if you can find a straight length. It is particularly good if you are intending to go night walking. The increase in psychic abilities is obviously enhanced by holding the wood for any long periods of time.
As always, only cut from a living tree only after you have asked the tree, told it of your wishes and waited to feel that the tree gives you it’s consent. Making a deep connection of thanks to the tree is also very important and will ensure that your stick or wand does not carry any residue of unhappiness with it.
If you wish to take all or some of the bark off, it is best to do so soon after you have cut it, as it peels off easily at this stage. Rough carving is easiest then too and you can then leave the wood to dry out naturally before fine carving and sanding. It is an easy, softish wood to carve and can be used for small carved objects. Keep awareness of the sacred task you are undertaking while you work and feel your way into connection with the underlying energy of the Rowan, which you must honour. Be alert for an increase in your psychic powers, which your Rowan wand or stick will induce in you. Use your Rowan wand to help you find inspired solutions to your problems. Sleep with a piece of Rowan under you pillow to bring inner knowledge to the surface. Heed any portents or signs relating to future events.
Rowan energy should not be underestimated and its influence will bring about energy shifts on many subtle levels. For this reason, it has always been used by the wise, and respected and revered as a powerful energy tool, enhancing our ability to travel between the worlds.
The Power of the Willow Tree by Glennie Kindred top
First published - White Dragon Magazine. Imbolc 1997
Revised 2006
The Willow tree is associated with the Moon, Water, the Goddess, and all that is feminine. It is the tree of dreaming, intuition and deep emotions. Symbolically it belongs to the beginning of Spring, when all of life is stirring from the depths and begins to shoot outwards once again. In the Ogham alphabet, the Willow’s name is Saille, which became anglicised to ‘sally’, which means a sudden outburst of emotions, action or expression (to ‘sally forth’). The Old French ‘saille’ also means to rush out suddenly and the Latin ‘salire’ means to leap. This is the underlying energy of the Willow, and the key to understanding the powerful spirit of this beautiful tree.
The early Spring Celtic festival of Imbolc, Oimelc or Imolg is one of the two great female Fire Festivals among the yearly cycle of four. Imbolc is celebrated at the beginning of February and, like the Willow, is sacred to Brigit, Brigantia, and Bride, being the Maiden aspect of the Triple Goddess. It celebrates her re-emergence as a young virgin from the mountain fastness of her mother Caileach – she who is of Winter, the Goddess of burial mounds and dark places. Cailleach, the Crone aspect of the Triple Goddess, drinks from the well of youth and is transformed into Bride/Brigit who is her other self. This is the Celtic version of the Demeter/Kore story of death and rebirth. Imbolc is sacred to women and the power of the feminine principles of inspiration, illumination and seer-ship. Bride is the Goddess of healing, poetry, the hearth and smith-craft. It is a time of initiation and of beginnings and celebrates the renewal of the potency of the Earth mother and the union with the male principle of the returning light. The Church transformed this festival into Candlemass but kept much of the Celtic/Pagan symbolism.
The Willow has much to teach us in its associations with our feminine aspects. By spending time with Willows, or using the wood to make a talisman or wand, by taking it herbally or as a Bach flower remedy, we can deepen this connection. Spending time with Willow trees at the full Moon will increase the potency of the insights and understanding to be gained from our dreams. Working with the Willow in the early Spring, when the Willow’s energy and the Earth’s energy are aligned, is also a particularly potent time to explore its aspects.
The Willow has always been known as a tree dreaming and enchantment, and it was associated in Celtic legend with poets and with spells of fascination and binding. This is the Willow Moon energy, which puts us in touch with our feelings and deep emotions. It is the ability of the Willow to help us to express these, let them out, own them and change them in fantastic leaps of inspired eloquence and understanding.
Our deep unconscious thoughts speak to us through our dreams. If you have lost touch with your dreams or wish to increase their potency, make your self a Willow wand and sleep with it under your pillow focusing on your intention to work with your dreams, before you go to sleep. You will find your dreams will immediately become more vivid and meaningful. Studying your dreams, writing them down, opening your intuition to interpreting them can lead to healing emotional problems and releasing tension in your life.
Movement on the emotional level, of allowing the emotions to come through to the surface, is the power of the Willow’s essential energy. Deep emotional pain blocks the energy of the body and can cause many illnesses. The Willow will allow the person to move through the many levels of sadness, express the pain though tears and grief, and, by moving through these emotions, facilitate healing. The Bach flower remedy Willow is to be taken by those who have suffered adversity or misfortune in life and remain embittered by it. Willow will help the movement out of this negative state to a greater interest and in the present.
When you are either over-stimulated by your feelings or cut off from them, connecting with a tree with a Water attunement will greatly help. If you are attracted to a particular tree, then allow this and reach out to the tree with openness and a willingness to accept your intuitive responses. Physical contact with a tree will help balance your bodies’ energy, and as you stand or sit with a tree you might receive some insight and inspirational thoughts. If you feel you have made a deep connection with a tree and want to end that communication, thank the tee and then move slowly out from it and focus some Love-light around the tree. It has been proven that the plant world is greatly enhanced by this. An attitude of thanks and gratitude for nature is also a sure way of opening up the channels of communication with tree and plants.
On a herbal level, Willow bark has been used for its pain reliving qualities for at least 2,000 years. The Willow contains salicin, which is converted to salicylic acid in the body. Salicylic acid is closely related to aspirin, the synthetic drug that has displaced Willow bark from popular use. Willow bark reduces fever and relives rheumatism, a common ailment in these damp isles. A decoction can be used for gum and tonsil inflammations and as a footbath for sweaty feet. The bark is collected in the springtime, being careful not to ring the tree or it will die. The decoction is made by soaking 3 teaspoons (15ml) of the bark in a cup of cold water for 2 – 5 hours. Then bring to the boil. Strain and take a wineglassful each day, a mouthful at a time. The bark can be dried, powdered and stored in any dark container, for it is light that will destroy its herbal properties.
Black Willow (salix nigra) is used in very much the same way as the White Willow, (salix alba). Willow bark tea is recommended for indigestion, whooping couch and catarrh. The same decoction can also be used as an antiseptic and disinfectant.
Culpeper says in his Complete Herbal “The Moon owns the Willow”. Moon magic puts us in touch with our emotions and unconscious, which balances out our solar rational conscious mind. By working with the Moon and the cycles of the Moon, we reconnect to the duality of the Light (waxing) and the Dark (waning) and the tides, the seas, underground as well as surface Water. This puts us in touch with the healing energetic qualities of Water, which include flowing, surrender, harmonising, memory, intuition, change, reflection.
Willow was also known as the witches’ tree and the tree of enchantment. Robert Graves suggests that witch, and wicker are derived from the word Willow. Willow rods (‘withies’) are certainly used for binding magical and sacred objects and the popular witches’ broom (the besom broom) is traditional made with an Ash handle and the Birch twigs that make the broom are bound with Willow.
Willow wands are used for any ritual association with the Moon and as a protection on deep journeys into the Otherworld and the unconscious.
The Willow will always enhance inspired leaps of the imagination and is recommended to be used when seeking to assimilate the teachings of an elder, wise woman or master. Understanding another person’s enlightened place is made easier through the Willow’s energy. Also work with Willow energy when seeking to understand ancient ways, so that you can assimilate past levels of information and quickly move through the underlying emotions of the times, to appreciate humankind’s patterns and move forwards, to utilise this information for change.
Willow is used for charms of fascination and binding, and during the Spring Moon we link to the myths and legends that tell of the power of the Spring Maiden who fascinates and binds the power of the young King. Aphrodite is associated with the Spring, the bright half of the Moon, courtship and Union, which blesses the land with fertility. British and Irish mythology is also rich with legends of the beguiling willowy Spring Maiden called Olwen, Niwalen, Gwenhyver, Cordelia, Blodeuwedd and many others, who initiate the young King into deeply sexual experiences.
Tree magic generally falls into the class of sympathetic magic, which operates through the ‘Doctrine of Signatures’. This states that a plant will act on that part of the body that it most resembles. This can be sub-divided into homeopathic magic (the Law of Similarity) and contagious magic (the Law of Contact, using a magically charged object).
Homeopathic magic works on the principle that ‘like begets like’, and by using Willow wood for a wand or talisman it will be charged with the energetic properties of the Willow tree. The flexibility of the Willow’s twigs inspires us to move with life and our feelings, rather than resist what we are feeling. It can also help you to let go of conditioned responses to life’s experiences and to move towards a greater acceptance of self and others.
When one of the Willow’s branches or twigs becomes disconnected, it will easily grow into a new tree if it finds some soil and Water, teaching us that contained within a loss, or a new direction, is the capacity for growth and healing. Willow is one of the best water-divining woods, along with Hazel and Birch.
Willow’s weeping stance reflects its association with grief. By wearing a piece of Willow (as in the popular song “all around my hat I will wear the green Willow”) a person will be able to access all the levels of grief connected with a loss, and be able to move through all these different levels, experience the whole deep emotional experience, to reach the place where they can gain healing and inner strength from it.
Homeopathic magic and contagious magic can be combined in the making of wands, talismans and any other objects made for personal or ritual use. Making a wand from Willow will help you connect to all the Willow’s qualities, which are naturally contained within the wood. Although you may want to charge or empower certain aspects for specific use.
Willow wands are used whenever there is a need to connect with intuition, dreams, seer ship, visions, poetic and inspired writings or images, and whenever there is either an emotional numbness or emotional excess, or where there are negative emotional feelings, which need to be worked through.
I like to work with wind blown wood that has naturally broken from the tree, but it must be a piece that the tree has recently shed. Alternatively ask the tree for a piece to use and cut your wand in a respectful and intuitive way, thanking the tree in what ever way feels appropriate. You may like to use a penknife to take the bark off, or some of the bark off, and carve it and energise your wand with magical symbols. It is easier to carve fresh wood and then let it dry out. Small twigs dry out quickly in a porch, out house or shed but it is better to let larger pieces of wood dry slowly under a hedge, in the wind and the rain, to prevent cracking. When it is dry, after carving or working the wood, it can be sanded with varying grades of sandpaper, from rough to fine. Then it may be oiled or polished using a wood oil or several layers of beeswax to protect and feed the wood and stop it drying out.
Talismans may be made in the same way, perhaps using the natural shape of the wood to suggest and inspire a carving. Talismans may be worn round the neck or as a brooch, or carried within a pouch and kept close. They may be magically charged by the power of intention and carved with symbols relevant to their use.
Symbolism is not fixed, there are no correct versions of anything, and the Willow particularly stimulates our ability to follow our intuition and find our own meanings behind symbols that bring meaningful inspired leaps of understanding and personal insights. It is true there are traditional meanings associated with symbols, but traditions must evolve and include new insights and adapt to new circumstances. What was meaningful to people in one part of our evolution or history may no longer apply. Past interpretations may no longer speak to the conscious or the unconscious minds of our present age. New inspirations are waiting to evolve, if the old symbols are to have relevance and power. The patterns, which a seer unfolds, need to be potent and meaningful to our present spiritual evolution. We have been taught to regard our intuition as unreliable but we know that this isn’t true and we must use it more in order to develop our abilities. Willow can enhance this resolve.
