Sacred Circles' Coven

Fairy Plants
by Anna Franklin

Used w/Permission
Extract from her newest release Fairy Lore
by Anna Franklin, illustrated by Paul Mason,
published by Capall Bann

The spots where fairies meet are rural and romantic in character. Shakespeare tells us that Titania?s bower was:

A bank whereon the wild thyme blows

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,

Quite over-canopied with lush woodbine,

With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine.

There are a wide range of trees and flowers that are particularly associated with fairies in one way or another. These include:

Elder[Sambucus nigra] In Denmark, in former times, the elder was known to be under the protection of Hulda, the Elder Mother, and in England the Elder Mother or Elder Queen. She lived at its roots and was the mother of the elves. Whoever wished to take a branch or cut the tree had to first ask her permission, otherwise grave misfortune would follow. On clearing a field, elders were left standing and had to be ploughed around. Whoever felled an elder tree risked seeing his livestock carried off by sickness. In Lincolnshire it was thought that cutting elder wood without leave of the Old Lady or Old Girl offended her and permission must be sought:

?Owd Gal, give me some of thy wood and Oi will give thee some of moine, when I graws inter a tree?.
According to popular lore, she did not like floorboards or furniture to be made of elder, and if a child were placed in an elder cradle it would not grow- Hulda would come and pull him out by the legs or the fairies would steal him.

According to Langland?s Piers Plowman Judas hung himself on an elder tree and it is also said by some to have be the tree on which Christ was crucified. An old superstition stated that to burn elder logs was to bring the devil or evil fairies into the house:

Hawthorn bloom and elder flowers

Fill the house with evil powers

Elders were planted on new graves by the Welsh and Manx Celts. If it blossomed, the dead soul was thought to be happy in the Summerland.

It is safe to take a branch from the elder on January 6th without permission if you spit on the ground three times. This elder branch can be used to draw a magic circle in a lonely place for the purpose of demanding magic fern seed, which will give you the strength of thirty men. Hulda will see that an unseen hand delivers a chalice, containing the seed.

Foxglove [Digitalis purpurea] The common name ?foxglove? may be a corruption of 'folksglove', the glove of the Good Folk or fairies who, like the flowers, inhabit the woody dells. This has given rise to many of the plant's folk names- Fairy's Glove, Fairy's Cap, Fairy's Thimbles, Fairy Petticoats, Fairy Weed, Little Folk's Gloves and Goblin?s Thimbles. In Gaelic the foxglove is called the ?Thimble of the Old Fairy Woman? [miaran nan cailleacha sith] associating it with the hag fairy [see A-Z] or Lusmore. If you want to keep fairies away, you should remove any foxgloves from your garden.

Reed [Phragmites communis] In Gaelic the reed is called ?the Distaff of the Fairy Woman? [cuigeal nam ban sith]. The Gaelic word ?gaothaiche? also relates to the reed and means ?hollow?. It refers to the mouth of the bagpipe. The pipes were originally made from reeds and in Celtic legend the fairies invented the bagpipe. Because of its thick root the Celts identified the reed with a submerged dryad. Both the biblical Moses and the Celtic bard Taliesin were taken from the reeds after being set afloat shortly after birth.

In Greek myth the god Pan fell in love with a water nymph called Syrinx and pursued her until she reached the river Ladon, where she cried out to her sister nymphs to enable her to cross it. Pan reached out to grasp her, but instead found his arms filled with reeds. Hearing the breeze as it passed through the reeds make a low musical sound, he plucked seven of them and made a pipe which he named Syrinx. The pipe had seven reeds in accordance with the harmony of heaven, which was said to contain seven sounds.

Fly Agaric [Amanita muscaria] This red and white spotted mushroom is closely associated with fairies: perhaps that is why they wear red caps. The mushroom causes hallucinations and was used by witches and shamans to produce visions and to travel to the spirit worlds. The ancient Celts, among others, had a taboo on eating red food, which was believed to belong to the spirits or to the ghosts of the dead.

Fairy Ring Mushrooms [ Marasmius oreades] These rings of mushrooms, which appear on lawns and in meadows leaving a circular bare patch, are said to be a favourite dancing place of the fairies. It is now thought that some of these rings are as many as 600 years old. If someone sees a fairy ring and jumps into it they will die young.

Hazel The hazel tree has many connections with fairies. A fifteenth century recipe for summoning fairies involved burying hazel wands under a fairy hill. The tree was called bile ratha in Ireland meaning tree of the rath [the abode of the sidhe]. Boiling jam was stirred with a hazel or rowan stick to prevent the fairies from stealing it

Hazel is the commonest wood used to make a forked divining rod. In Britain these were used for divining water and buried treasures, as well as guilty murderers. The divining rod was connected with elves and pixies who have all the treasures of the earth in their keeping. It was traditionally cut on St John?s Eve, one of the great fairy festivals.

The fairies of English hazel thickets, who had names like Churn-milk Peg and Melch Dick, were said to inflict painful bloat and cramps on anyone who tore off unripe nuts, but they were probably angered more by the damage done to the trees than by the theft.

The sacredness of the hazel to the Celts is demonstrated by the death penalty that was carried out on anyone foolish enough to fell a hazel tree. An early Irish poem, the Dindsenchas, tells of Connla's well, which was located near Tipperary. Nine hazel trees overhung the well and they contained all the knowledge of the poetry, arts and science. The hazel nuts dropped into the well and were eaten by the salmon that swam there who developed one bright spot on his body for every nut he ate. Eating the nuts from these trees or the salmon itself confers knowledge and wisdom.

There is an ancient Celtic story which tells that Sinend, daughter of Lodan son of Lir, often visited a well in fairyland. There stood the hazels of wisdom and inspiration which in the same hour bore fruit, blossom and foliage which fell upon the well in the same shower. On one occasion the waters broke forth in anger and overwhelmed her, washing her up on the shore of the river Shannon where she died giving the river its name. This is a cautionary tale, a warning that the gifts of wisdom and inspiration may not be attained without a degree of risk.

Heather [Calluna vulgaris] Fairies are said to feed on the stalks of heather. The plant is much associated with mountains, and bees love to drink from it. The honeybee, which orientates itself on its journey, from the heather to the hive, in relation to the position and angle to the sun, was regarded by the Celts as a messenger travelling the path of the sunlight to the spirit world.

An Irish myth tells of the death of the giantess Garbh Ogh [probably a hag goddess] who set up her chair in the womb of the hills at the season of the heather bloom and then expired.
,br> White heather is a lucky charm and a protection against evil.

Primrose [Primula vulgaris] In Celtic lore the primrose is a fairy flower. It can make the invisible visible, and to eat primroses is a sure way to see fairies. If you touch a fairy rock with the right number of primroses in a posy [probably thirteen] it will open to fairyland and fairy gifts, but the wrong number opens the door to doom.

In Somerset, thirteen primroses were laid under baby?s cradle to protect it from being taken by fairies. In Buckinghamshire on May Eve, primrose balls were hung over the house and cowshed door.

In ancient Celtic times, the primrose was regarded as a herb of immortality, associated with the spring goddess, holding within it the secret of eternal bliss. When its lore was Christianised the primrose was said to grant access to heaven.

Ragwort [Senecio jacobaea] Ragwort causes fatal poisoning in horses. Fairies sometimes bury their treasures beneath ragwort stalks and these weeds are used as horses by fairies when they want to fly. The magic words to make them work are ?Horse and Hattock!? One Cornish man rode a ragwort to fairyland and back again.

Silverweed [Potentilla anserina] This weed is turned up by the plough in spring. One of its old names was ?seventh bread?. It is said that fairies like to eat it and it is probably assigned to them because it grows underground.

Wild thyme [Thymus vulgaris]- At midnight on midsummer's night the King of the Fairies is said to dance with his followers on thyme beds. In Shakespeare?s A Midsummer Night's Dream Oberon tells Puck,

"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows

Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows."

It is an ingredient of many recipes dating from around 1600, which supposedly allowed one to see fairies. One charm states that to see fairies you should make a brew of wild thyme tops gathered near the side of a fairy hill and grass from a fairy throne.

Like other fairy flowers, wild thyme is unlucky to bring into the home.

Cowslips [Primula veris] These lovely spring flowers are cherished and protected by the fairies. Cowslips are sometimes called Lady?s Bunch of Keys or Culver?s Keys, which unlock the doors to the fairy mounds of the West Country and the treasure beneath them.

Alder [Alnus glutinosa] The alder tree grows near water and it is said to be under the protection of the water fairies. The alder yields three dyes, red from the bark, green from the flowers and brown from the twigs, taken to represent fire, water and earth. The green dye is associated with fairies? clothes.

Bluebell A bluebell wood is a place of fairy spells and enchantments. The presence of bluebells in oak copses is a sign that oakmen are present and mortals should be wary. Witches often grow bluebells to attract fairies, and at one time their presence in a garden was a damning piece of evidence in a witch trial.

Four leafed clover[Trifolium sp] The clover has always been highly regarded and associated with the Triple Goddess of classical myth, with the Celtic sunwheel and later with the Christian trinity. According to Christian lore the four leafed clover represents the cross and enabled the wearer to ward off evil and witches, to see fairies and spirits, to heal illness and gain good fortune. Four leafed clovers will dispel any fairy magic.

Hawthorn [Crataegus monogyna] The hawthorn is a tree very much associated with fairies; their trysting places are under its shade. It is said that when the oak, ash and thorn grow close together it is a favourite haunt of the fey folk and those solitary hawthorns growing on hills or near wells are markers to the world of the fairies. Any human who sleeps beneath one, especially on May Eve, is in danger of being taken away by them. In some parts of Brittany and Ireland it was considered dangerous to pluck a leaf from old and solitary trees especially those growing in unfrequented spots and on moorland. Fairies are very protective of hawthorns, and a blooming tree should never be trimmed as it angers them, and always the tree should be trimmed east to west.

Oak [Quercus robur] The Romans believed that men, nymphs and fauns sprang from the oak. Fairies often like to dance around old oak trees. Wood-wives [German forest fairies] frequent the old sacred forests and oak groves. Some tribes once worshipped a wood-wife between Christmas and Twelfth Night. Her clothes were kept in an old oak tree.

Elves live in oak trees and the holes found in the trunks are their means of entrance and exit. A New Forest rhyme advises ?turn your cloaks for fairy folks are in old oaks? [to turn your cloak inside out protects you from being distracted from your path by fairies].

In England unfriendly dwarfish creatures called oakmen live in the saplings which grow from felled oaks. If bluebells are present in the copse, this is a sure sign of their presence. Oakmen may offer food to passing mortals that will turn out to be poisonous fungi disguised by magic.

If an oak has to be cut down it should only be cut down during the waning moon and should be told about the forthcoming event. An acorn should be planted near to the old tree to provide a new home for the tree spirit.
<BR. Rowan [Sorbus aucuparia] Rowan draws its name from the old Norse word 'runa' meaning 'a charm'. The rowan is associated with protection, particularly from witchcraft, fairies and lightning. In the north of Britain sprigs were once fixed above cattle sheds to protect the animals and in a like manner over the doors of houses to protect the occupants from enchantment. Sprigs of rowan were also worn on the person to ward off the evil eye. As a protective charm rowan should be gathered at Beltane [May Day] and bound together with red thread to form an equal-armed cross. Boiling jam should be stirred with a rowan stick to prevent the fairies from stealing it.

Birch [Betula alba] One of the main associations of the birch is with purification. Birch is also a protective tree, believed to guard a man or woman who carried it and to keep livestock safe when attached to their barn or shelter. In some parts of England a birch was hung with red and white rags and leant against stable doors at Beltane (May Day) to prevent horses being 'hag-ridden', i.e. being taken out by fairies or witches and ridden.

The hallucinogenic mushroom the fly agaric grows beneath the birch. This may be why the birch constitutes the shaman?s seven stepped pole. In Russia the forest spirits called Lieschi were considered to be always present in clumps of trees, particularly the tops of birch trees.

In Somerset, a female spirit called ?The One With the White Hand? flickers from birch copses, pale and gaunt as the trees, to ambush young men.

Toadstools Mushrooms and fungi, with their unearthly shapes and rapid growth, are often associated with fairies, as evidenced by some of their names, which include Yellow Fairy Club, Slender Elf Cap, Dune Pixie-Hood and Dryad?s Saddle.

Blackthorn [Prunus spinosa] In Ogham, the Druidic tree alphabet, the blackthorn was straif which translates as 'strife'. The words 'slay' and 'sloe' [the fruit of the blackthorn] are also closely linked.

A popular English fairy tale tells of a giant?s daughter who fled with a prince, with the giant in pursuit. She felt her father?s breath on her back and said to the prince: ?Put your hand quickly into the ear of the grey filly and throw behind you what you find there.? It was the point of a thorn and as he threw it a forest of blackthorns twenty miles long sprang up, so dense that scarcely a weasel could slip through and the giant had to give up the pursuit.

In the tale of Sleeping Beauty, a hedge of blackthorns sprang up around the castle but opened to allow the prince to pass. In another story, a wandering princess aided by a magic wand opened a path through an impenetrable blackthorn hedge. The evil man following her thought to pass through in his turn, but the hedge closed in on him.

In the tale of Rapunzel, the witch who had imprisoned her threw her suitor from the high tower. He fell onto a blackthorn and was blinded. He wandered for two years until Rapunzel, who had by that time escaped from the tower, found him. Finding him blind she wept, but when her tears fell onto his eyes he was instantly cured.

November 11th is recognised in Ireland as the day of the blackthorn sprites, the Lunantishees, otherworldly beings who guard the sacred blackthorn from any human foolhardy enough to profane the sacred tree by cutting the wood at this time.

Blackberry [Rubus fructicosus] The bramble was a sacred plant of the Celts; in Scotland the bramble, along with the rowan and the yew, constituted the sacred fire.

A taboo on eating blackberries exists in Celtic countries. In Brittany and Cornwall the reason given is that the blackberry belongs to the fairy folk. In France some people still will not eat them, as they are associated with the devil who enters into them after November 11th [Old Samhain].

Apple [Malus sp.] The apple was one of the most sacred trees of the ancient Europeans; under Celtic law, to fell one was punishable by death.

In European mythology legendary fairy isles of apples are common, and always lie in the west, the place of the dying sun, from which it proceeds to enter the underworld, or Land of Youth, travelling through the realms of death in preparation for its rebirth at dawn. All Neolithic and Bronze Age paradises were orchards; ?paradise? means ?orchard?.

In British tradition the legendary Isle in the West was Avalon, which translates as the 'Isle of Apples', from the Welsh afal meaning 'apple'. King Arthur- who was originally a Celtic sun god- was taken there as he lay dying by Morgana [?Of the Sea?], the island spirit who guarded the apples of the Otherworld. To the Celts the afterlife was lived in a permanent summer, a land of the ever young, an apple orchard where the trees were always in fruit. The Greeks believed that the good spent their afterlife in Elysium, which means 'apple-land' or 'apple orchards'. It was a happy land of perpetual day and the inhabitants could choose to be reborn on earth wherever they elected.

Eating a fairy apple confers eternal youth, immortality or rebirth. However, gaining the fruit is fraught with danger. The tree is always guarded, usually by a snake or dragon. Once the fruit has been eaten, the hero can never return to being what he was before. The fairy queen warned Thomas the Rhymer about eating the apples in her garden. She said that to partake of the food of the dead is to know no return to the land of the living.

In the west of England the small apples left on the trees are called ?the pixies? harvest? and children used to be allowed to scrump them, even being encouraged with pennies or bread and cheese by the farmer?s wife to do so.

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