Tree of the Week

Sorry there has been no tree of the week for a while, but I am back now, and  enjoying this wonderful time of the year.

We do love to complain in this country, don’t we, about the weather most of all? But when the English countryside gives us a show there is nothing to beat it. Nothing brash or showy, just a gentle, elegant unfurling of delicate blossoms of bluebells, pink campions, daisies, buttercups and cow parsley (a general heading as there are several similar plants).

Tree of the week just has to be Hawthorn. I was fretting whilst in Japan to think I must have missed all these delights, but thanks to the unusually cold weather here it seemed as if Mother Nature was waiting for me to come home! An egotistical idea, but it added to the thrill of seeing the Hawthorn blossom so deliciously prevalent everywhere.

When leaving Heathrow a blackbird welcomed me with his wistful, unmistakable song, and on driving home my heart was singing with joy at the colours in the fields and at the roadsides. Especially the white Hawthorn blossom, the tree of Maytime and the festival of Beltaine. A fire and fertility festival to welcome the fullness of the Wheel of the Year.  The time of maturity, adulthood, the responsibility of guardianship, the honouring of beauty and love, and creativity. The Hawthorn is a tree of the Faery folk, which is why you may see them decorated with ribbons and gifts at this time.

The Ogham symbol for Hawthorn is Huathe.

When we receive this symbol into our energy field it expands our connection to Nature. Nature Spirits can communicate more easily with us, and can help us with any desires we may have, in particular to attract  the right partner, to help end a relationship that no longer serves us, or to help with fertility problems.

The maypole which traditionally we dance around at Beltaine, or Mayday as it is now called is symbolic of the union between the Earth Goddess and the Lord of the Greenwood. Their partnership gives birth to the responsibility of guardianship of the land. The maypole represents this by the pole seen as masculine, and the round hoop at the top as feminine. In days not so long past maidens would run through the woods at midnight on Beltaine eve, where their lovers – or optimistic village lads would be hiding, ready to jump out and claim any girl as their prize, if she was lucky, or unlucky enough to be caught.

This late Spring and early Summertime reminds us of the beauty of fertility and birth – the natural attraction and union of the feminine and masculine. The continuous dance of the seasons which echo our own, if only we were more in tune with the rest of Nature. Who could fail to feel even a little hint of the deep connection we have with her at this time of year? Expand on this feeling, and it will feed your heart, mind and spirit.