Category: Folk Herbalism & Plant Healing
-
Foxglove: The Good Folk’s Gloves
“Where fairy men and fairy women dwell, And Time is nothing, Loveliness is all, A damsel stood beside the spring, who made, The splendour of the sunlight seem as shadow. In her one person she had caught the grace, And beauty of the land and sea, the foxglove blown in early spring upon the mountain […]
-
Hawthorn – Crann na Síoga.
Hawthorn is the infamous ”fairy tree” or tree of the Sídhe. A medicine of the Heart and a guardian of the otherworld, it is without a doubt one of the most widely revered trees in Ireland and the Gaelic tradition…
-
The Oak: King of the Forest
“I will be a giant oak in every ford and in every pass you will cross and the mark of my axe will remain in every oak forever.” – Dagda, Cath Maige Tuired: The Second Battle of Mag Tuired, 9th century
-
Marigold, the Shrub of Bealtaine
“No fear have I of Mother Earth; no dread, Of roots; the hidden sources of the seed. Those beauteous blossoms ranged in a bed, Of that damp underworld have primal need. Upon its chilly moist and dew they’re fed. Till in due season on their stalks they speed, Upwards with many a variegated head, Of […]
-
Yarrow of the Seven Cures
“Herbs gathered on May Eve have a mystical and strong virtue for curing disease; and powerful potions are made then by the skilful herb women and fairy doctors, which no sickness can resist, chiefly of the yarrow, called in Irish “the herb of seven needs” or cures, from its many and great virtues. Divination is […]