Plants and mythology/superstitions

I am in the process of replanting the front garden and I have been taking an interest in plants and what our ancestors thought of them. I was reading the book tree wisdom with great interest.

So far I've concluded that I will be planting a mountain ash tree in the bed and this was considered quite a sacred tree by the druids. I'm hoping to plant some other shrubs which are of good omen and will look good in the winter too.

One of the plants I've been toying with planting is Hawthorn but have heard all sorts of negative things about this tree/shrub. I was wondering if anyone had had and bad luck with their Hawthorn.

Holly is another plant I wish to plant and the druids say this was lucky. So my question to other members is have any of you who have a holly tree won the lottery lately?

Can anyone else think of any other plants I should not plant on superstitious grounds?

 

I have a holly tree but have never won the lottery.
Hawthorns are very unlucky if you get one of their big, nasty thorns stuck in your anatomy.
My favourite magical tree is elder.

http://www.druidry.org/library/trees/tree-lore-elder

Have you considered mandrake?
If you like druids surely an oak is a must, preferably a grove of them.
Yew and witch hazel would also be very nice.

 

When I lived in Eire I was told I must have a sprig of Holly indoors over the festive period for "Good Luck"

 

Rowan is a good one, it's meant to ward off black witches etc. House leeks, while not trees or shrubs, are supposed to prevent lightning strikes

 

Had a few hangovers from Elderberry, but not from Hawthorn

 

But it must be burnt when it leaves the house on the twelfth night.... i don't know why but my Dad says so

 

Mistletoes got a lot going for it fokelore wise

http://www.thewhitegoddess.co.uk/articles/mythology_folklore/mistletoe.asp

I've got some already

 

Ah, that's where I'm going wrong.

 

I think it's to burn away any bad luck it's captured?

 

Evening JJ, I wonder if the tree wisdom book you are reading is the same one as I have. I can't remember the title or author off the top of my head, but it divides the trees up according to the ogham calender.

In old celtic folklore, the hawthorn was held as one of the three sacred trees of the triple goddess, Morgan (aka Morrigan), "The maiden, the mother and the crone". Hawthorn represents the maiden part I think. It was also, supposedly, that if you found a lone hawthorn tree you should be sure not to harm it, as it was considered to be where those who shall not be named would hang out, so if you damaged it, all your cattle would mysteriously die. Do you have cattle?

I don't know of any plants that should not be grown for superstitious reasons, because if you believe all that sort of thing (I sort of do), you'll realise that there is no good and bad as such, just equal opposites. There are plants that I definitely would and do grow partly for superstitious reasons but also because they are nice. I always make sure that I have at least one thriving sage bush wherever I live, because sage wards off evil and attracts wealth. I'm very far away from being rich at the moment, but I'm pleased to say that so far (touch wood) I always seem to managed to pay the bills and put food on the table. I have apple trees because they are divine. They condense sunshine into the most delicious and versatile fruit (or they will do when they've grown a bit more ).

 

Poor old Loki. He wasn't evil. He was a cheeky little git though. He was the 'trickster'. Much the same as a certain cheeky horny bloke from a certain mainstream religion.

 

He is the one to start Ragnarok off though...

 

But again, the horny fella was only made a bad guy by a church who plagiarised the goat-legged Pagan god, Pan

 

Is Ragnorak the ice age? The story I know is that after he pointed out the loophole in the law leading to that girl god's son being killed, the goddess was so enraged that she 'cast the world into an eternal winter', which lasted about 20,000 years until a treaty was agreed and she lifted the spell.

 

I bet you say that to all the Girls.