The Hawthorn

The Hawthorn is the sixth month on the Celtic Tree Calendar.The hawthorn means cleansing, enforced chastity, male potency, hindrance, protection, and the moon of restraint. The hawthorn also symbolizes fertility, peace, prosperity and binding. This tree is associated with sexuality and destruction. It was thought that sleeping in a house with hawthorn blossoms would cause great misfortune. Although on May Day the blossoms were placed at the base of the MayPole. The custom of gathering Hawthorn blossoms was known has "goin a maying". The hawthorn is a pagan fertility symbol. It is also the tree used at marriages for it reflects the union of the forces of nature. Hawthorn blossoms have potently erotic perfume and were thought to enrich fertility. In Celtic times most divorces took place at Beltaine, the beginning of light half of the year when the hawthorn is a mass of blossoms and new leaves. In many cultures, the month of the Hawthorn (May) is a month of bad luck for marriages. The Greeks and Romans saw the hawthorn as symbolic of hope and marriage. The Hawthorn blossom, for many men, has the strong scent of female sexuality and was used by the Turks as an erotic symbol. The monks of Glastonbury perpetuated it and sanctified it with an approving tale that the staff of Joseph and the Crown of thorns were made of Hawthorn. . It is a generally unlucky tree and its name, translated from the Irish Brehon Laws, had the meaning "harm". The hawthorn is associated with the Goddess Cardea and the legends of Cu Chulainn.

Hawthorn is also known as the Maythorn and May Witch. The hawthorn is usually grown as a hedge to keep livestock penned. It is a deciduous tree dense leafed and thorny with short trunk. It has a light colored, hard apple like wood. New shoots and leaves are reddish. It has a distinctive white blossom with strong scent in May and red berries (haws) later in the season. Height 10 - 15 m. It is long lived - 250 years. The wood from the Hawthorn provides the hottest fire known. Tea can be made of her blossoms to aid with anxiety, appetite loss and poor circulation.

Hawthorn people are stubborn but loving people with those who can take their "thorns". They tend to be very beautiful in youth. They bring out the worst in their friends but as a way of helping them to root out bad habits and attitudes. They are protective of all they consider to be family. They can be tough to work with because they demand total business attitudes and so do not joke around but attend only to the business at hand. They can be shrewd business people. They are very dependable and stable.

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