The wood from
our native trees and shrubs have special properties in the magical community, these are
set aside from the aesthetic and medicinal properties of the tree.
By understanding the magical properties of trees it helps you select
the best wood for making ritual tools such as wands, staffs, runes
and athames etc. The pleasure obtained from going out and sourcing
the wood required for each project, gets worked into the finished
tool. It feels so much better than buying ready made tools. It may
not make much business success but this is one of the main reasons
that Moonshadows shop doesn't stock many tools for the craft. I
believe that making your own tools for the craft brings you and
the magic one step closer together, if you can't craft something yourself, you should at least buy something that a magically gifted person has created and not some lifeless mass produced thing!
Raven is the wood and metal worker in the Moonshadows household,
examples of things he's made are below. Basic shapes are easy enough
to do as can be seen below, the runes are simply a hazel branch
sawn into disks which have a 7mm thickness, the bark was left on,
and the symbols were added with an old soldering iron. They were
then finished with yacht varnish to give a glossy durable coat,
they feel wonderful and work well as a tool, much better than a
commercial set I purchased.
Oak Athame |
Hazel Witch Runes |
Ash Burin |
In the list that follows below I'm focusing on the magical properties, brief description of the tree and a few facts and a some folklore of native British trees and shrubs; doing a search recently I found lots of
sites with information on the Celtic Tree Calender and sites that
included trees found in American, but as some of them cannot be
found in this country, I decided to compile my
own list.
Part of the art of tool making any tool is gathering the raw materials yourself,
so I see no point in listing the properties of trees such as Maple,
Mahogany or Ebony. Not unless you're going to cannibalise Aunt
Maud's antique furniture? And lists that include Heather and Vine
seem academic, because although they are useful in spells and magical
incense blends, things like heather and vine would not make suitable
woods for using in tool making.
We won't even start on the endangered wood and protective species
that makes using some of the more exotic woods unethical.
There are are over 360 trees found in the UK but only about 42 of them
are native British trees, you'll find 24 listed here, more will follow when I've discovered the trees to take photos of them. Of the natives, not all of them have magical
uses, so I'm concentrating on trees with magical properties only.
There are also some native shrubs such as elder, woodbine and myrtle,
that have magical properties and wonderful wood for making magical
tools, so they have also been included in the list below.
In the future in Moonshadows Wood area there will be a page dedicated to the identification
of each of the trees and shrubs listed below.
I'll also be adding pages that have trees that you find in the UK
even though they're not native, such as Poplar and Sycamore.
|
Properties
Of Common Native British Trees & Shrubs
|
Alder
Alnus
glutinosa
|
Alder leaves are deciduous, alternate, simple, and serrated. The flowers are catkins with elongate male catkins on the same plant as shorter female catkins, often before leaves appear; they are mainly wind-pollinated, but also visited by bees to a small extent. They differ from the birches (Betula, the other genus in the family) in that the female catkins are woody and do not disintegrate at maturity, opening to release the seeds in a similar manner to many conifer cones.
Wood
used for creating magical whistles and flutes. Ash is associated
with the Faery folk and is sacred to Bran therefore oracular
and used for divination. This tree will protect and aid awareness
of difficulties, often offering solutions and direction towards
a resolution while teaching us to trust in our intuition.
Choose this tree to make ritual items for divination such
as runes and wands. |
Apple
Malus
domestica
|
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family Rosaceae. It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits. The tree is small and deciduous, reaching 5 to 12 metres (16 to 39 ft) tall, with a broad, often densely twiggy crown.[1] The leaves are alternately arranged simple ovals 5 to 12 cm long and 36 centimetres (1.22.4 in) broad on a 2 to 5 centimetres (0.79 to 2.0 in) petiole with an acute tip, serrated margin and a slightly downy underside.
Apple wood burns slowly with a good flame, but they don't give off much heat, they do fill the room with a pleasant aroma though, perfect for a Samhain fire. Apple wood can be used in spells for love, garden magic, healing and immortality. One of apples folk names is 'Fruit Of The Gods' and as such it is useful to add apple wood to incenses honouring Venus, Dionysus, Olwen, Apollo, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Diana & Zeus.
Apple wood is ideal for opening doorways into the Faerie realm, spells to do with horses or travel, illumination, enhancing any skill, love, harmony, beauty, harvest, and for honouring the dead, it is also associated with the element of Air.
|
Ash
Fraxinus excelsior
|
The ash tree is a large deciduous tree growing to 20-35 m (exceptionally to 46 m) tall with a trunk up to 2 m (exceptionally to 3.5 m) diameter, with a tall, domed crown. The bark is smooth and pale grey on young trees, becoming thick and vertically fissured on old trees. The shoots are stout, greenish-grey, with jet black buds.
Wood from the Ash is still
used for making Druid wands and staffs as the Ash links
the inner and outer worlds. Twigs were placed in circles to
protect from snakes while witches would use the Ash as handles
for their broomsticks. Children would be passed through the
tree's branches to protect and cure them from illness. Leaves
of the Ash were placed under pillows to induce prophetic dreams
or in bowls of water to ward off illness. Wood from the ash can be used for charms are rituals involving protection,
prosperity, sea rituals and health and healing. Aids in communication and learning, removing blockages that prevent the flow of words and knowledge. It is the wood of the poet and the scholar.
|
Beech
Fagus
sylvatica
|
Beech (Fagus) is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe and North America.
The leaves of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 515 cm long and 410 cm broad. The flowers are small single-sex. The bark is smooth and light gray. The fruit is a small, sharply threeangled nut 1015 mm long, borne singly or in pairs in soft-spined husks 1.52.5 cm long, known as cupules.
The nuts are edible, though bitter with a high tannin content, and are called beechmast.
Beech grows on a wide range of soil types, acid or basic, provided they are not waterlogged. The tree canopy casts dense shade, and carpets the ground with dense leaf litter, and the ground flora beneath may be sparse.
Magically the beech is associated with wishes and wisdom.
The wood of the Beech is employed for furniture making, writing
tablets and basket work. This tree is also used for spells
involving cleansing and warding. In listening to the Beech
the ability to learn from past experiences becomes apparent. |
Birch
Betula
pendula
|
The bark of all birches is characteristically marked with long horizontal lenticels, and often separates into thin papery plates, especially upon the Paper Birch. It is practically imperishable, due to the resinous oil which it contains. Its decided color gives the common names Red, White, Black, Silver and Yellow to different species.
The buds form early and are full grown by midsummer, all are lateral, no terminal bud is formed; the branch is prolonged by the upper lateral bud. The wood of all the species is close-grained with satiny texture and capable of taking a fine polish; its fuel value is fair.
The leaves of the different species vary but little. All are alternate, doubly serrate, feather-veined, petiolate, and stipulate. Apparently they often appear in pairs, but these pairs are really borne on spur-like two-leaved lateral branchlets.
The birch is known as the tree of rebirth, spring
and fertility. People were once "Birched" to drive out evil
spirits while twigs were given to newly weds to ensure fertility.
Witches in some traditions would use Birch twigs bound with Ash for their besoms. Birch has been know to cure muscular pains and
the sap is used for wine, beer and vinegar. Birch suggests dispelling
negative energies and influences while preparing for a fresh
start or new beginnings, it is also associated with protection,
exorcism and purification rituals and magic. |
Blackthorn
(Shrub)
Prunus spinosa
|
Blackthorn is also known as the Sloe, is a species of Prunus native to Europe, western Asia, and northwest Africa, it is one of the first trees to flower in early spring. It is a deciduous large shrub or small tree growing to 5 m tall, with blackish bark and dense, stiff, spiny branches. The leaves are oval, 24.5 cm long and 1.22 cm broad, with a serrated margin. The flowers are 1.5 cm diameter, with five slightly creamy-white petals; they are produced shortly before the leaves in early spring, and are hermaphroditic and insect-pollinated. The fruit, called a "sloe" (slae, in the Scots language) is a drupe 1012 mm diameter, black with a pale purple-blue waxy bloom, ripening in autumn in October or November when they are most ripe - usually after the first frosts. They are thin-fleshed, with a very strongly astringent flavour when fresh.
Choose the wood of the blackthorn for making your own besom or staff, blackthorn is a good wood to use to make divining rods and charms for protection especially from evil. Hedges of blackthorn were grown round villages to make fences or barriers to keep
people and evil spirits out. The Blackthorn is symbolic of
a cleansing period which may be somewhat unpleasant. The thorns
are sometimes used in piercing waxen images and may bring
hardship upon either the practitioner or the recipient. A
strong tree made from the blackthorns berries (sloes) will offer courage and strength towards facing
a situation.
Sloes when picked and soaked in gin make the famous liqueur sloe gin. |
Cherry, Sweet
Prunus avium
|
The word cherry refers to a fleshy fruit (drupe) that contains a single stony seed. The cherry belongs to the family Rosaceae, genus Prunus, along with almonds, peaches, plums, apricots and bird cherries. The cherry is native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with two species in America, three in Europe, and the remainder in Asia. The word "cherry" comes from the French word "cerise", which comes in turn from the Latin words cerasum and Cerasus.
Choose cherry wood to make divination tools such as runes and wands, it is also associated with love and divination magic and is imbued with the
power of making and doing, achievement, and self-assertion
over obstacles and critics. It can harness the pure energy of will
and desire. Aligned with the Moon and Mars, cherry is highly useful for intuitive magic and conquering conflict. As a magical tool, it is highly recommended for those who identify well with earth energies.
|
Elder
(Shrub)
Sambucus nigra
|
The Elder is a species of elder native to most of Europe, northwest Africa and southwest Asia. It grows in a variety of conditions including both wet and dry fertile soils, primarily in sunny locations.
It is a deciduous shrub or small tree growing to 46 m (rarely to 10 m) tall. The leaves are arranged in opposite pairs, 1030 cm long, pinnate with five to seven (rarely nine) leaflets, the leaflets 512 cm long and 35 cm broad, with a serrated margin.
The flowers are both male and female and are borne in large corymbs 1025 cm diameter in mid summer, the individual flowers white, 56 mm diameter, with five petals; they are pollinated by flies. The fruit is a dark purple to black berry 35 mm diameter, produced in drooping clusters in the late autumn; they are an important food for many fruit-eating birds, notably Blackcaps.
The twigs of the Elder
enable the wearer to see spirits and experience visions. Flutes
made from Elder held the power to enchant spirits, the flowers and berries
provide wine and many medicinal remedies and wonderfully tasty culinary recipes. The damaged branches re-grow signifying the circle
of life and rebirth, new beginning from the old. Wear for protection, and place bunches of twigs around the house to ward off evil.
An Elder tree growing on your land protects it from negative energy and lightning attacks. The elder is also associated with healing, prosperity, sleep magic and has strong magical connections with the Fae. |
Elm
Ulmus procera
|
The English Elm or Atinian Elm was, before the advent of Dutch elm disease, one of the largest and fastest-growing deciduous trees in Europe. A survey of genetic diversity in Spain, Italy and the UK revealed that the English Elms are genetically identical, clones of a single tree, the Atinian Elm once widely used for training vines.
The tree often exceeded 40 m in height with a trunk up to 2 m (diameter at breast height) diameter. The largest specimen ever recorded in England, at Forthampton Court, near Tewkesbury, was 46 m tall. The leaves are dark green, almost orbicular, < 10 cm long, without the pronounced acuminate tip at the apex typical of the genus. Wind-pollinated, the small, reddish-purple hermaphrodite flowers are without petals, and appear in early spring before the leaves. The tree does not produce fertile seed, and propagation is entirely by root suckers.
Elm is often associated with the Mother and Earth Goddesses, and
was said to be the tree where the faeries live, it adds stability and
grounding to a spell and in the foloral language of old it is associated with dignity. Good for using for Earth magic and invocation
of the Goddess, healing, fertility, gardening, rebirth, destiny,
wisdom, passage from one life (or phase of life) to another,
metamorphosis, endurance. |
Gorse
(Shrub)
Ulex europaeus
|
The Common Gorse is an evergreen shrub in the family Fabaceae.
It grows to 1-2 m tall, rarely 3 m. The young stems are green, with the leaves modified into green spines, 1-3 cm long. Young seedlings produce normal leaves for the first few months; these are trifoliate (three leaved).
The flowers are yellow, 1-2 cm long, with the typical pea-flower structure; they are produced throughout the year, but mainly in the early spring, they have a remarkable coconut aroma and make a lovely country wine. The fruit is a pea pod shaped 2 cm long, dark purplish-brown.
Gorse is a herb of love and protection, there is a lot of old legend associated with gorse, it has a long history associated with matrimony on account of its assocaitions with fertility,making it a perfect herb for using at handfastings. Gorse can be used to further the romance of a relationship, but only when the Magic is consensual. It has been long used to protect against negativity and dark magic. |
Guelder Rose
(Shrub)
Viburnum opulus
|
The Guelder Rose is a deciduous shrub growing to 4-5 m tall and is a member of the honeysuckle family. The leaves are opposite, three-lobed, 5-10 cm long and broad, with a rounded base and coarsely serrated margins; they are superficially similar to the leaves of some maples, most easily distinguished by their somewhat wrinkled surface with impressed leaf venation. The leaf buds are green, with are valvate bud scales.
You may be more familiar with this shrub if you buy the herbal remedy cramp bark, as its the Guelder Rose that cramp bark is obtained from.
In the language of flowers the Guelder Rose is associated with age and Winter, magical uses for this plant include protection and for boosting and celebrating female energies. Guelder Rose is also associated with the Celtic Ogham symbol Peith, it also gets called Whitten and Water-Elder. The Whitten refers to the christian association with Whitsuntide. |
Hawthorn
Crataegus monogyna
|
Hawthorn is a broadly spreading shrub or small tree 5-14 m tall, with a dense crown. The bark is dull brown with vertical orange cracks. The younger stems bear sharp thorns, 1 to 1.5cm long. The leaves are 2-4 cm long, obovate and deeply lobed, sometimes almost to the midrib, with the lobes spreading at a wide angle. The upper surface is dark green above and paler underneath.
The flowers are produced in late spring (May to early June in its native area) in corymbs of 5-25 together; each flower is about 1 cm diameter, and has five white petals, numerous red stamens, and a single style; they are moderately fragrant. They are pollinated by midges and later in the year bear numerous haws. The haw is a small, oval dark red fruit about 1 cm long, berry-like, but structurally a pome containing a single seed. Haws are important for wildlife in winter, particularly thrushes and waxwings; these birds eat the haws and disperse the seeds in their droppings.
The Hawthorn offers psychic
protection for the traveller. The twigs were once used as a
cure for depression and to protect from misfortune when taken
inside.
This tree has strong connections with the Fae and was often used for walking sticks and kindling fires.
But its most strongest magical association is with Beltane, the festival
celebrating the onset of summer. A tree of cleansing and protection, the hawthorn has the ability to see past ignorance and create strength.
Hawthorn may also be used to dispel negative energies and curses
while enhancing protection. |
Hazel, Common
Corylus avellana
|
The Common Hazel is a shrub common in many European woodlands. It is an important component of the hedgerows that were the traditional field boundaries in lowland England. The wood was traditionally grown for coppicing, an art that is slowly coming back to our hedgerows, the poles cut were used for wattle-and-daub building and agricultural fencing.
Magically the hazel is associated with luck,
fertility, protection and wish magic and its forked twigs are
still used for divination and seeking water. Druids carried staffs made from the inspirational
tree, while the nuts were savoured by poets seeking the muse.
Hazel pins were used to protect houses from fire and the trees
as shade from the sun. By embrassing and getting to know this tree you will be better understand the arts of divination and healing and maybe even soak up the ability to inspire
others with wisdom. The Hazel is known as a tree of learning
and teaching. |
Holly, European
Ilex aquifolium
|
European Holly (Gaelic: cuileann) was traditionally the most sacred tree of the Druids and associated as the ruler of winter, ending on winter solstice. For pre-Christian pagan Romans, Holly was considered the plant of the God Saturn, celebrated at the Feast of Sol Invictus on December 25th. As a result, European Holly has always traditionally had a strong association with Christmas and Yule.
The wood is heavy, hard and white; one traditional use is for making 'white' chess pieces. Other uses include turnery, inlay work and as firewood.
Magically holly is associated with purity, protection,
luck and dream magic. It is carried by Celtic men for good luck. The
Holly eases thoughts of jealousy and mistrust while protecting
from evil spirits. Holly is a magical tree of balance and strength and can be called upon when you need to overcome
challenges. An excellent tree for retaining energies and warding
off unwanted influences or attentions as it contains the knowledge of
when to fight and when to defend. |
Juniper
Juniperus
communis
|
The juniper is a shrub or small tree, very variable and often a low spreading shrub, but occasionally reaching 10 m tall. Common Juniper has needle-like leaves in whorls of three; the leaves are green, with a single white stomatal band on the inner surface. It is dioecious, with male and female cones on separate plants, which are wind pollinated. The seed cones are berry-like, green ripening in 18 months to purple-black with a blue waxy coating; they are spherical, 412 mm diameter, and usually have three (occasionally six) fused scales, each scale with a single seed. The male cones are yellow, 23 mm long, and fall soon after shedding their pollen in MarchApril.
Juniper is a herb of love, purification, protection, healing and exorcism. The resin or needles of Juniper can be gathered, dried, and powdered to make an excellent incense to protect your home. The berries can be dried and used in amulets, sachets, charms and oils. Juniper is used to keep one healthy or to assist those who need healing. It is a good herb for banishing negative energy and for attracting positive energy. In some cultures the mature berries are strung and worn to attract lovers. Grow Juniper near your doors or windows to protect your home.
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Lime
(linden)
Tilia cordata
|
The Lime tree also called the Linden tree is a deciduous tree growing to 20-38 m tall, with a trunk up to 1-2 m diameter. The leaves are alternately arranged, rounded to triangular-ovate, 3-8 cm long and broad, mostly hairless (unlike the related Tilia platyphyllos) except for small tufts of brown hair in the leaf vein axils. The small yellow-green hermaphrodite flowers are produced in clusters of five to eleven in early summer with a leafy yellow-green subtending bract, have a rich, heavy scent; the trees are much visited by bees. The fruit is a dry nut-like drupe 67 mm long and 4 mm broad, downy at first becoming smooth at maturity, and (unlike T. platyphyllos) not ribbed.
The leaves and flowers may be used in love spells. Sleep pillows filled with equal parts of Linden and Lavendar are very beneficial to insomniacs. Good luck charms are carved from the wood and carried on the person, magically the lime is also associated with protection,
immortality, love, sleep and star magic. |
Oak
Quercus robur
|
The English Oak is a large deciduous tree 2535 m tall, with lobed and nearly sessile (very short-stalked) leaves 714 cm long. Flowering takes place in mid spring, and their fruit, called acorns, ripen by the following autumn. The acorns are 22.5 cm long, pedunculate (having a peduncle or acorn-stalk, 37 cm long) with one to four acorns on each peduncle.
It is a long-lived tree, with a large widespreading head of rugged branches. While it may naturally live to an age of a few centuries, many of the oldest trees are pollarded or coppiced, both pruning techniques that extend the tree's potential lifespan, if not its health.
Magically the oak has many associations including, protection,
health and healing, money, strength, fertility and luck.
Folklore suggests that if the Oak blooms before the Ash there
will be a good harvest. The Oak is considered to be the king
of the trees and guardian of the realms held sacred by the
Dagda. Celtic Druids venerated the Oak and would ceremoniously
cut the mistletoe from it's branches with a golden sickle.
Acorns were said to protect from lightening hence they can
be found in medieval building carved into staircases etc. |
Pear, European
Pyrus communis
|
The European pear is thought to be decended from two species of wild pear, categorizsed as Pyrus pyraster and P. caucasica, which are interfertile with the domesticated species. Archeological evidence shows that pears "were collected from the wild long before their introduction into cultivation," according to Zohary and Hopf. Although they point to finds of pears in sites in Neolithic and Bronze Age European sites, "reliable information on pear cultivation first appears in the works of the Greek and the Roman writers." Theophrastus, Cato the Elder and Pliny the Elder all present information about the cultivation and grafting of pears.
Pear wood is best used for healing, and will appeal mostly to those who have a passion to heal. This wood would not be useful for spiritual exploration, such as astral projection, divination, etc. It brings a creative, inspiring energy to the home. This wood is excellent for use with love, money and prosperity spells. |
Rowan
Sorbus aucuparia
|
The Rowan is a species of the genus Sorbus (subgenus Sorbus), native to most of Europe except for the far south, and northern Asia. In the south of its range in the Mediterranean region it is confined to high altitudes in mountains.
It has received many alternative names, the most frequently seen being "Mountain Ash" which is the name most often seen in recipes for charms and spells.
It is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree typically growing to 810 m tall, more rarely 20 m, and exceptionally to 28 m.
The bark is smooth, silvery grey of young trees, becoming scaly pale grey-brown and occasionally fissured on old trees. The shoots are green and variably hairy at first, becoming grey-brown and hairless; the buds are conspicuous, purple-brown, and often densely hairy. The leaves are pinnate, 1022 cm long and 612 cm broad, with 919 (most often 1315) leaflets; each leaflet is 37 cm long and 1523 mm broad, with a coarsely serrated margin; they are variably hairy, particularly the petiole and leaf veins on the underside.
The rowan's wood is strong and resillient, making excellent walking sticks, and is suitable for carving. It was often used for tool handles,. Spindles and spinning wheels were traditionally made from rowan wood. Druids used the bark and berries to dye the garments worn during lunar ceremonies black, and the bark was also used in the tanning process of leather and hide. Rowan twigs were used for divining, particularly for metals.
Rowan can be
planted near houses to protect from evil influences and is
used for dowsing also deflecting spells. Rowan wands were placed over doors to ensure good fortune.
When sliced in two the berries reveal a pentagram symbol of
protection. Hence the tree will protect from enchantment and
trickery and enhance strength with courage. |
Spindle, European
(Shrub)
Euonymus
europaeus
|
The European Spindle, also known as the common spindle, is a deciduous shrub or small tree in the family Celastraceae, native to much of Europe, particularly in the centre, but is to be found in locations from Ireland and southern Scandinavia in the north, to northern Spain and Sicily in the south, and as far east as Lithuania. It is also to be found in Asia Minor and up to the Caucasus.
It grows to 3 to 6 m tall, rarely up to 10 m, with a stem up to 20 cm diameter. The leaves are opposite, and are lanceolate to elliptical, 3 to 8 cm long and 1-3 cm broad, with a finely serrated edge. In autumn they often show a beautiful bright red colour.
The hermaphrodite flowers are produced in late spring and are insect-pollinated; they are rather inconspicuous, small, yellowish green and grow in cymes of 3-8 together. The capsular fruit ripens in autumn, and is red to purple or pink in colour and approximately 1 to 1.5 cm wide. When ripe, the four lobes split open to reveal the orange seeds.
Standing for honour and community spirit this unselfish tree
helps to cleanse old wounds. It's nature suggests that you
tend to your obligations and the requirements of others. The Spindle tree represents the "completion of tasks". It also represents the ability to complete something to the end, no matter how difficult it may be.
It is magical when you use it during times when you are
having difficulty progressing in a certain area of your life. |
Walnut
Juglans regia
|
The English walnut, saometimes reffered to as the Common Walnut or Persian Walnut, is a large deciduous tree attaining heights of 2535 m, and a trunk up to 2 m diameter, commonly with a short trunk and broad crown, though taller and narrower in dense forest competition. It is a light-demanding species, requiring full sun to grow well.
The bark is smooth, olive-brown when young and silvery-grey on older branches, with scattered broad fissures with a rougher texture. Like all walnuts, the pith of the twigs contains air spaces, the chambered pith brownish in colour.
The leaves are alternately arranged, 25-40 cm long, odd-pinnate with 59 leaflets, paired alternately with one terminal leaflet. The largest leaflets the three at the apex, 1018 cm long and 68 cm broad; the basal pair of leaflets much smaller, 58 cm long, the margins of the leaflets entire. The male flowers are in drooping catkins 510 cm long, the female flowers terminal, in clusters of two to five, ripening in the autumn into a fruit with a green, semi-fleshy husk and a brown corrugated nut. The whole fruit, including the husk, falls in autumn; the seed is large, with a relatively thin shell, and edible, with a rich flavour.
Walnut
wood ranges from light to very dark and is well-suited to
wand carving. It is especially suited for wind and weather
magic, spells of expansion, enhancement of the
powers of breath and inspiration. |
Willow, White
Salix alba
|
It is a medium-sized to large deciduous tree growing up to 10-30 m tall, with a trunk up to 1 m diameter and an irregular, often leaning crown. The bark is grey-brown, deeply fissured in older trees. The shoots in the typical species are grey-brown to green-brown. The leaves are paler than most other willows, due to a covering of very fine silky white hairs, particularly on the underside; they are 5-10 cm long and 0.5-1.5 cm wide.
The flowers are produced in catkins in early spring, and pollinated by insects. It is dioecious, with male and female catkins on separate trees; the male catkins are 45 cm long, the female catkins 34 cm long at pollination, lengthening as the fruit matures. When mature in mid summer, the female catkins comprise numerous small (4 mm) capsules each containing numerous minute seeds embedded in white down which aids wind dispersal.
Willow wood makes excellent lunar wands. Willow also helps to soothe
those who feel bitter or jealous. The water loving Willow symbolises the rhythms
of the cycle of the female. It's an amazing wood for magical tools because it is already perfectly aligned to magic (the movement of energy guided by will ). This wood reacts to the will of the one who is working with it, enhancing it accordingly. The stronger the will, the more effective the willow will be.
Willow is extremely useful in healing, it is also good for love spells and rituals involving emotion. It also increases psychism, and is a great tool for divinatory magic. |
Woodbine
(Shrub)
Lonicera
periclymenum
|
Woodbine, also called Common Honeysuckle and European Honeysuckle is a deciduous climber that grows up to 10 m high. It is native to much of Europe, growing as far north as southern Norway and Sweden; in Britain it is one of two native honeysuckles, the other being Fly Honeysuckle (Lonicera xylosteum). It is often found in woodland or in hedgerows or scrubland. The flowers are creamy white or yellowish, trumpet shaped and very sweet smelling. The plant is usually pollinated by moths or long-tongued bees and develops bright red berries. The wood is used to make wands and staffs because of its nature to grow around and entwine saplings.
Honeysuckle resembles
the growth patterns of the Ivy and the search for the self.
The Honeysuckle encourages us to reach for those desires sought
and ignore distractions, while remaining true to the values
and beliefs held. The sweet scent of the Honeysuckle signals
joy in the search for the self.
It can be used to enhance psychic powers, to bring protection and to help draw money to you. Burning honeysuckle in the home will help to bring good luck to all those who reside within. |
Yew, Common
Taxus baccata
|
The Yew is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree, growing 10-20 m (exceptionally up to 28 m) tall, with a trunk up to 2 m (exceptionally 4 m) diameter. The bark is thin, scaly brown, coming off in small flakes aligned with the stem. The leaves are lanceolate, flat, dark green, 1-4 cm long and 2-3 mm broad, arranged spirally on the stem, but with the leaf bases twisted to align the leaves in two flat rows either side of the stem, except on erect leading shoots where the spiral arrangement is more obvious. The leaves are highly poisonous.
The yew tree is sacred to the
Druids because of its symbolism of death and rebirth.
Druids also sleep
under the Yew to receive visions from the vapours given forth
by the leaves during the summer months. Yew branches grow directly into the ground, so
when the central trunk dies, the tree lives on as the
branches become trees. The Yew symbolises transformation,
great age, and reincarnation, and is good in any
rituals that use the preceding symbolism. Yew holds
and conducts energy very well, and is a good
shield for magical energies, any energies that directly hit the wood
are reflected.
Transformation,
reincarnation, eternal life and immortality sums up the attributes
of the Yew tree. |
If you're
wondering why I haven't included the chestnut and the sycamore,
it may surprise some readers to discover that despite being found
in lots of locations throughout the UK, not all trees found in
parks and woodlands are actually native to Britian. Examples include
the Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum), London Plane
(Platanus Χ hispanica) and Wellingtonia (Sequoiadendron
giganteum).
As an aside, if you're not sure about a woods origin then the
Friends
Of The Earth website has a list, along with the opportunity
to buy a book called The Good Wood Guide.
London Plane Bark
|
Wellingtonia Bark |
Horse Chestnut Bark |
|
