The Hawthorn - Faerie Tree...
Sorry this is overdue. I am not even going to go into the Christian lore of the Hawthorn as I just can't be bothered.
Hawthorn - Huathe
Month - May 13th - June 9th
Ogham - Straight line with one line in the middle on the left.
"mark the fair blooming of the Hawthorn tree
Who finely clothed in robe of white
Fills full the wanton eye with May's delight - Chaucer
A member of the rose family, the Hawthorn is also known as the May Tree, Whitethorn, Hagthorn or Quickthorn. The tree can grow up to 9 foot but is commonly seen in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland in shorter form as hedgerows around farm land, thanks to the enclosure acts of 1650 and 1850. The hawthorn attracts a lot of life to it, including up to fifty species of insect which in turn attract birds and small mammals. Unlike its close relative the Blackthorn, it doesn't deplete the nutrients from the soil meaning that a lot of plants can thrive in it’s shade and tangled amongst its blossoms, such as jack-by-the-hedge, bryony and even belladonna. As a full grown tree the hawthorn can have bark and branches like a twisted old rope, giving it a wood-fey-feral appearance and lends to it's legend as a witch and faerie tree. The roots of the tree can be just as twisted, especially when spied jutting out of the earth beneath it over a bank or ditch. It then has an Arthur Rackham quality to it where you can believe that the spaces between the roots are doorways into subterranean lands and faerie dwellings.
Mythology and folklore
Hawthorn is most commonly associated with Beltane and as such is a tree of fertility and associated with goddesses of the spring such as Blodeuwedd, Flora and Hymen. The Queen of the May is in fact Blodeuwedd in all her nine flowers of Spring, whilst the King of the May courts her wearing hawthorn amongst his green. In ancient Europe there were cults ruled over by goddesses to whom the tree was sacred. Cardea, another goddesses of the hawthorn, presided over childbirth and protected infants.
However, although the hawthorn and thus the month of May were held as a sacred time of fertility and fecundity for the celts and possibly earlier than that, in Rome during the month of May it was taboo and temples would be purified and sex abstained from. Both used the hawthorn in their marriages however - Roman marriages were propriated with five touches of the hawthorn for example.
In ancient Celtic culture harming the hawthorn in any way was punishable by death, and this may survive in folk memory in the belief that to destroy a hawthorn would result in the death or loss of cattle and children.
During May festivities hawthorn blossom crowns would be plaited and left out as offerings for the faeries or angels. Hawthorn branches were also woven onto globes which hung in the kitchen as a luck bringer for the whole year, after which time it would be taken and burned in wheat fields to protect the future crop and a new one would be made, singed with the ashes of the old one.
Although considered lucky at times the hawthorn was also held to be unlucky as it was considered to be a doorway into the otherworld and associated with death: it was very unlucky to bring it in doors save for on May Day, because of its connection with death and of bringing death or worse upon the home. The flowers do in fact contain a substance called Crataegus Monogyna which has a smell identical to that of rotting meat and corpses.
As a faerie tree and guardian to the otherworld, the hawthorn is often found near wells where the veil between spirit and matter is thin. These trees often have their own characters, twisted and shaped oddly and given names like "Old Sal' or "Sally Hawthorn". Because these trees are seen as intermediaries between the lower and higher realms, wish rags are often tied to the branches by those looking for love, luck, protection and so forth.
The hawthorn is a faerie tree and is part of the Oak, Ash and Thorn triad. Where these tree grow the fey are said to favour and haunt them. Any human sleeping in such a place on May Eve is in danger of being taken away by the faeries. In medieval Europe the witch was also thought to be able to transform into a hawthorn at will.
When gathered the blossoms of this tree will bless any newly married or otherwise "joined" couple.
Inner Lore and Magic
The night-travelling Hexe or Hedge-Rider
Keywords for the hawthorn are: Protection, fertility, guardian of the doorway to the Otherworld, happiness, the heart.
Hawthorns are easy to connect with depending on their age and their context. Like the Elder they are like a mother to whom you confide and upon whom you depend. You can tie wish rags to the older well-dwelling guardians, or seek out a place where the Thorn grows with the Oak and Ash and see what magics you find there. My favourite hawthorn is one that grows in a park near a bridge - that I call Troll Bridge - because it seems to bend over and peer into the darkness beneath. A lot of older trees have such power to them that you really need to go to them when it’s darkest and find that veil between this world and the other world via some connection in your mind. I once found such a tree when I was doing conservation in woods that were once part of the forest that covered the whole of England. The corner it stood in was naturally dark but it had such energy about it that your skin tingled with it.
However, surprisingly it is the hawthorn of the hedge that has the most significance. The boundary between this world and the next is signified by that hedge: the Anglo-Saxon word for witch is Haegtessa or 'hedgerider'; the hedge is the boundary between this reality and consciousness and the Otherworld and the dark Unknown. Witches were the 'Hedge riders' on their broomsticks, flying between this world and the Other.
Or as Nigel Jackson says in Call of the Horned Piper:
The witch crosses the hedge to journey between worlds - she is the hedge sitter or hedge rider, the Haegtessa, hagazussa or haghetisse from which derive the words hag and the German Hexe, signifying a witch....The hedge encircling the village is the sacred boundary between this world and the eerie immensities of the otherworld. it is the boundary of the village settlement and beyond its perimeter lie the fearful powers of primal nature...within..lies ordinary life and the every-day consciousness of middle-earth but out there on the other side is the realm of mystery and dread where faeries, ancient ancestors and wild animals wander in the night, the domain of the dead and ancient ones.."
Hawthorn - Huathe
Month - May 13th - June 9th
Ogham - Straight line with one line in the middle on the left.
"mark the fair blooming of the Hawthorn tree
Who finely clothed in robe of white
Fills full the wanton eye with May's delight - Chaucer
A member of the rose family, the Hawthorn is also known as the May Tree, Whitethorn, Hagthorn or Quickthorn. The tree can grow up to 9 foot but is commonly seen in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland in shorter form as hedgerows around farm land, thanks to the enclosure acts of 1650 and 1850. The hawthorn attracts a lot of life to it, including up to fifty species of insect which in turn attract birds and small mammals. Unlike its close relative the Blackthorn, it doesn't deplete the nutrients from the soil meaning that a lot of plants can thrive in it’s shade and tangled amongst its blossoms, such as jack-by-the-hedge, bryony and even belladonna. As a full grown tree the hawthorn can have bark and branches like a twisted old rope, giving it a wood-fey-feral appearance and lends to it's legend as a witch and faerie tree. The roots of the tree can be just as twisted, especially when spied jutting out of the earth beneath it over a bank or ditch. It then has an Arthur Rackham quality to it where you can believe that the spaces between the roots are doorways into subterranean lands and faerie dwellings.
Mythology and folklore
Hawthorn is most commonly associated with Beltane and as such is a tree of fertility and associated with goddesses of the spring such as Blodeuwedd, Flora and Hymen. The Queen of the May is in fact Blodeuwedd in all her nine flowers of Spring, whilst the King of the May courts her wearing hawthorn amongst his green. In ancient Europe there were cults ruled over by goddesses to whom the tree was sacred. Cardea, another goddesses of the hawthorn, presided over childbirth and protected infants.
However, although the hawthorn and thus the month of May were held as a sacred time of fertility and fecundity for the celts and possibly earlier than that, in Rome during the month of May it was taboo and temples would be purified and sex abstained from. Both used the hawthorn in their marriages however - Roman marriages were propriated with five touches of the hawthorn for example.
In ancient Celtic culture harming the hawthorn in any way was punishable by death, and this may survive in folk memory in the belief that to destroy a hawthorn would result in the death or loss of cattle and children.
During May festivities hawthorn blossom crowns would be plaited and left out as offerings for the faeries or angels. Hawthorn branches were also woven onto globes which hung in the kitchen as a luck bringer for the whole year, after which time it would be taken and burned in wheat fields to protect the future crop and a new one would be made, singed with the ashes of the old one.
Although considered lucky at times the hawthorn was also held to be unlucky as it was considered to be a doorway into the otherworld and associated with death: it was very unlucky to bring it in doors save for on May Day, because of its connection with death and of bringing death or worse upon the home. The flowers do in fact contain a substance called Crataegus Monogyna which has a smell identical to that of rotting meat and corpses.
As a faerie tree and guardian to the otherworld, the hawthorn is often found near wells where the veil between spirit and matter is thin. These trees often have their own characters, twisted and shaped oddly and given names like "Old Sal' or "Sally Hawthorn". Because these trees are seen as intermediaries between the lower and higher realms, wish rags are often tied to the branches by those looking for love, luck, protection and so forth.
The hawthorn is a faerie tree and is part of the Oak, Ash and Thorn triad. Where these tree grow the fey are said to favour and haunt them. Any human sleeping in such a place on May Eve is in danger of being taken away by the faeries. In medieval Europe the witch was also thought to be able to transform into a hawthorn at will.
When gathered the blossoms of this tree will bless any newly married or otherwise "joined" couple.
Inner Lore and Magic
The night-travelling Hexe or Hedge-Rider
Keywords for the hawthorn are: Protection, fertility, guardian of the doorway to the Otherworld, happiness, the heart.
Hawthorns are easy to connect with depending on their age and their context. Like the Elder they are like a mother to whom you confide and upon whom you depend. You can tie wish rags to the older well-dwelling guardians, or seek out a place where the Thorn grows with the Oak and Ash and see what magics you find there. My favourite hawthorn is one that grows in a park near a bridge - that I call Troll Bridge - because it seems to bend over and peer into the darkness beneath. A lot of older trees have such power to them that you really need to go to them when it’s darkest and find that veil between this world and the other world via some connection in your mind. I once found such a tree when I was doing conservation in woods that were once part of the forest that covered the whole of England. The corner it stood in was naturally dark but it had such energy about it that your skin tingled with it.
However, surprisingly it is the hawthorn of the hedge that has the most significance. The boundary between this world and the next is signified by that hedge: the Anglo-Saxon word for witch is Haegtessa or 'hedgerider'; the hedge is the boundary between this reality and consciousness and the Otherworld and the dark Unknown. Witches were the 'Hedge riders' on their broomsticks, flying between this world and the Other.
Or as Nigel Jackson says in Call of the Horned Piper:
The witch crosses the hedge to journey between worlds - she is the hedge sitter or hedge rider, the Haegtessa, hagazussa or haghetisse from which derive the words hag and the German Hexe, signifying a witch....The hedge encircling the village is the sacred boundary between this world and the eerie immensities of the otherworld. it is the boundary of the village settlement and beyond its perimeter lie the fearful powers of primal nature...within..lies ordinary life and the every-day consciousness of middle-earth but out there on the other side is the realm of mystery and dread where faeries, ancient ancestors and wild animals wander in the night, the domain of the dead and ancient ones.."