A Witch's Garden: Hawthorn

Disclaimer

This is NOT a page about Wiccans or neo-pagans, and I do not advocate the belief that Wiccans are Satan-worshippers and/or baby-killers. I am well aware that they are not. This is a starting point for historical research into the great witch craze of 1100-1700 AD. And please, don't ask me for spells.

Hawthorn

Hawthorn was also known as "Whitethorn, Hazels, Gazels, Halves, Quickset, Bread-and-Cheese Tree, Albespyne, L'Epine Noble. The buds are called Ladies' Meat; the blossoms are known as May Flowers. The fruit are known as haws" (Miller - Hawthorn). In Somerset, England, and in Celtic folklore, it was believed that if the flower of a hawthorn was brought into the house, a member of the household would soon die (Elworthy 95).

The flowers are fertilized by carrion insects, and it is said that those with keen smell can detect the odour of the grave on the blossoms. The shadows of the moon were thought to represent a man laden with a bundle of hawthorn thorns in punishment for theft. If three thorn trees are found (sic) growing closely together it's considered wise to make a wide berth of them (Miller - Hawthorn).

Hawthorn was also considered dear to faeries. If a plant was harmed, the faeries would bring retribution, usually in the form of sickness (Britannica Online - Fairy).

Thorn apples, the fruit of the hawthorn, were believed to have poisonous properties. The juice was said to have been applied to a mother's nipples to kill an unwanted baby (mAlice). However, another plant, unrelated to the Hawthorn, also went by the name of Thornapple. This thornapple is of the Datura family, and was "first introduced into Europe in modern times." It "immediately gained notoriety as a witches' plant. While it was allegedly used as an ingredient in Witches' Ointments, it was also utilized to thwart the schemes of witches, harmful magic, and the hordes of the devil" (Rätsch 148).

As a Ward

In the proper plaxe, hawthorn was believed to be "a lightning protector, a holy and healing tree" (Huxley 2203).

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A Witch's Garden is copyright 1997-present to Shantell Powell.
The preceding botanic illustration is from The Virtual Garden Search Engine, part of the Time Life Electronic Encyclopedia.