Category: Folk Herbalism
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Holly: Midwinter Sacred Tree of the Druids
“Of all the trees that are in the wood,The Holly bears the crown.”` Seasonal Carol Decorating homes with holly at Midwinter has its origins in Pre-Christianity. It was in fact a pagan practice. Holly was considered a sacred plant by the Druids. While other plants wilted in winter weather, holly remained green and strong, its […]
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Mullein: The Hag’s Taper
“A decoction of the leaves with the flowers is good against the diseases of the lungs, such as coughs and spitting of blood. It is also good for colic pains. Applied externally, the leaves are useful against swellings, ulcers, inflammations of the eyes, burns and scalds… Country people say that carrying it about one preserves […]
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Ivy: Protector and Peaceful Binder of Energies
“Ivy… It is used as a protective for milk, milk products, flocks, and by lovers as an emblem of fidelity. An old man in Uist said that he used to swim to an islet in a lake in his neighbour- hood for ivy, woodbine, and mountain ash. These, sometimes separately and sometimes combined, he twined […]
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Elderberry: The Queen of Herbs
“It is said by the wise women and fairy doctors that the roots of the elder tree, and the roots of an apple tree that bears red apples, if boiled together and drunk fasting will expel any evil living thing or evil spirit that may have taken up its abode in the body of a […]
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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 […]