The European rowan has a long tradition in European mythology and folklore. It was thought to be a magical tree and protection against malevolent beings.
The density of the rowan wood makes it very usable for walking sticks and magician's staves. This is why druid staffs, for example, have traditionally been made out of rowan wood, and its branches were often used in dowsing rods and magic wands.
Rowan was carried on vessels to avoid storms, kept in houses to guard against lightning, and even planted on graves to keep the deceased from haunting. It was also used to protect one from witches.
I saw many rowan trees while hiking in the White Mountains. They are also known as mountain ash because of the ashy green of the leaves. They are no relation to the ash tree. The clusters of red berries are distinctive.
My mother planted a mountain ash in front of our hilltop house in Canada. Since ancient times, she told me, these trees were planted in front of houses as a house blessing. Rowans have many protective and magical powers. My mother was very proud of her little tree which thrived despite long cold winters and relentless wind on the hilltop.
Maybe she was also cultivating it for magic wands and walking sticks. I wouldn't put it past her.
6 comments:
Interesting! I have a student named Rowan and he is very connected to the earth and sky. He is a birder and added 150 birds to his life list in Costa Rica last spring.
I loved hearing about the Mountain Ash and I'm sure Mom had her reasons for planting it. Perhaps it works well for dousing. Mom was a member of the American Dousing Society based in Putney, VT. I wonder if they know about rowans.
Thanks, Barb! I appreciate my rowan more than I did an hour ago!
Yes Mom knew all about the dowsing power of Rowans. A friend recently showed me a drawing of a Rowan branch that Mom designed for the cover of the program for Liza Meyer's memorial service. Liza was very interested in dowsing.
Those two were mild mannered middle aged women on the outside but connected to something deep and spiritual I suspect. They also were involved in the ancient ritual of getting the sap out of maple trees every spring.
Dowsing: the ancient ritual of finding water or "anything invisible" underground using a dowsing stick, or forked branch.
Of course we used to make fun of her for it, dowsing was right up there with fiddleheads.
Mom reveled in being an outlier....as we all do in our separate ways.
Speanking of which, who has her copy of "Hunting the Wild Asparagas".
She left all her books at Potton when she sold it.
Furniture, the works.
John met the person living there now and he is systematically working his way through her library.
He was in the middle of "Letters from a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke.
Her legacy living on in the life of a stranger.
A lesson in impermanence for all of us!
Stalking. The book by Euell Gibbons was "Stalking the Wild Asparagas"
Ahh, stalking. Much better word.
Fungus in deep, dark rain soaked woods comes to mind. Eager faces, peering out of slick parkas, looking behind huge stumps and under the fallen in Hemlock forests. And then back to the fire.
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