“I lingered beside the hawthorns — breathing in their invisible and unchanging odour, trying to fix it in my mind (which did not know what to do with it), losing it, recapturing it, absorbing myself in the rhythm which disposed the flowers here and there with a youthful light-heartedness… I turned away from them for a moment… And then I returned to the hawthorns, and stood before them as one stands before…masterpieces… Thus was wafted unto my ears the name Gilberte…unfolding beneath the arch of the pink hawthorn.”
Marcel Proust Swann’s Way
There are more than 280 diverse species in the Crataegus genus, which is in the rose family, Rosaceae. This small thorny tree is native to the northern temperate zone and is found growing along forest edges, in open woodland, and often as lone trees upon hillsides. It can grow very old and can survive in harsh places. Hawthorn is grown around the world as an ornamental tree and for its medicinal berries, leaves and flowers. It is deciduous with lobed or toothed leaves and clusters of white or pink flowers. These flowers produce trimethylamine, which attracts carrion insects for pollination, and to some people smells like decaying flesh or sexual fluids. The English poet Ted Hughes, (Sylvia Plath’s husband) wrote that the flowers have “a nauseous, sweet aniseed scent.” Others like Proust apparently, find the scent heady, sensual, and intensely floral. The berries, called haws, look like tiny apples and range in color from red to orange to black, and ripen in September and October, dropping to the ground when perfectly ripe. Birds spread the seeds, causing our little tree to be viewed as invasive in some place. Hawthorn provides nectar, food, and shelter to insects, birds, and small mammals. Some moths and butterflies feed exclusively on the nectar and leaves, and cedar waxwings and thrushes rely on the haws that drop late in the season for winter sustenance. Commercial farming has removed much of its natural habitat.
While the ploughman near at hand
Whistles o’ver the furrow’d land,
And the milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the mower whets his scythe,
And every shepherd tells his tale
Under the hawthorn in the dale.
John Milton
The name ‘hawthorn’ comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon ‘haegthorn or ‘hagedorn’, meaning ‘hedge thorn’, referring to its long use as a hedge shrub planted along field boundaries. These hedges would have been places full of medicinal and magical plants and from this we get the term ‘hedge witch.’ The word ‘hag’ shares the same etymology as the word ‘witch’, and witches were once believed to “ride along hedges which were a visible line between this realm and the next.” ‘Hag’ is also cognate with ‘haegtesse’ and ‘hagzusa’. (Here I’ll direct you to Haw and Thorn’s in-depth blog post that covers the subject nicely.) Hawthorn is sometimes called ‘whitethorn’, which refers to the pale color of its bark in contrast to the darker bark of blackthorn. May Tree is the most commonly used folk name; hawthorn’s blossoms appear early in May, just in time for Beltane, but we’ll come to that later. Other names are bread and cheese, Bara Caws (Welsh for bread and cheese), hagthorn, mayflower, quickthorn, pixie’s pears, cuckoo’s beads, lady’s meat, may bush, tree of chastity, quickset, and chucky cheeses.
Hawthorn is first written about as a medicinal plant during the Middle Ages, although we know it was used by early Europeans, Native Americans, and the Chinese both medicinally and as a food source before this time. and ancient Romans may have used it as a general health tonic. Today, herbalists know hawthorn as a powerful heart medicine, for both physical and emotional heart healing. Leaves, berries and flowers are all harvested for medicine, and they function as a troporestorative (a nutritive restorative that works with a specific organ or organ system), with long-term therapeutic benefit to the heart and circulatory systems when taken for long periods. Hawthorn is also used to regulate blood pressure by both stimulating the coronary arteries and the heart muscle, and dilating and relaxing blood vessels, gently stimulating the heart muscle, and increasing pulse rate, taking pressure off the heart muscle and improving its efficiency. This helps relieve symptoms of stress, angina, chest tightness, as well as regulating irregular heartbeat and palpitations. Susan Weed notes that “consistent, long-term use of hawthorn is especially recommended for aging hearts, weak hearts, damaged hearts and those with hypertension, angina, arrhythmia, heart valve disease, or Reynaud’s disease.” And scientific studies bear the evidence out: The German Commission E, the scientific advisory board that evaluates safety and efficacy of traditional, folk and herbal medicines recommends hawthorn tea and/or tincture for numerous heart ailments.
To this, let’s add hawthorn’s ability to help heal emotionally. We know that heartbreak and grief do physically effect the heart, and herbalists have long known that hawthorn can subtly sooth and heal spiritually in tandem with physically strengthening the heart. In my own experience, hawthorn helps release blocked emotional energy, eases symptoms of stress, tempers anger, gently opens the heart , and promotes well-being. Hawthorn works slowly and deeply and with long-term positive effects with consistent use.
Across the shimmering meadows —
Ah, when he came to me!
In the spring-time,
In the night-time,
In the starlight,
Beneath the hawthorn tree.
Up from the misty marsh-land —
Ah, when he climbed to me!
To my white bower,
To my sweet rest,
To my warm breast,
Beneath the hawthorn tree.
Ask of me what the birds sang,
High in the hawthorn tree;
What the breeze tells,
What the rose smells,
What the stars shine—
Not what he said to me!
Willa Cather
Hawthorn is the “quintessential English tree, entwined with myth and folklore of Britain,” and no other tree is more associated with the Fae than it. Faeries, wood sprites, dryads, and elementals were believed to reside in the tree, particularly any hawthorn that happened to stand on a lonely hilltop. Perhaps because hawthorns were grown as hedges, i.e. boundaries, to separate fields, they were considered a liminal space, doors between this world and the Otherworld. In Ireland, if you fell asleep under a hawthorn tree, you’d be whisked away to the faery underworld, and in Manx lore, they thought that you’d be granted wishes once in the realm of faery.
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thought art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all to short a date.
William Shakespeare
Sonnet 18
Earlier I wrote that hawthorn’s most common nick name is May Tree, and it’s early May blossoms weave close ties with Beltane celebrations. Young people would visit the forest on Beltane Eve, to “bring home the May,” decorating the outside of their homes with the blossoms, and probably enjoying a night of revelry and love making outdoors. On Beltane, a May Queen and a Green Man were chosen to represent the Goddess and God, and were adorned with hawthorn blossoms and greenery. Wreaths and garlands would be made of hawthorn, and there would be drinking, dancing, games, and singing and those who didn’t join in would be cursed with poor crops and misfortune in the coming year. It’s been written that the Beltane Maypole was hawthorn, but because the tree grows crooked and craggy, this may just be modern invention. Besides, so much lore about hawthorn trees says it is bad luck to cut the tree and to do so will bring about the ire of the Fae. A bit of modern lore says that when John DeLorean was building his car manufacturing factory in Ireland, he bulldozed a hawthorn tree that construction workers refused to remove for fear of angering faeries that might reside there. Many Irish people believed that this was the reason for his later troubles and the failure of his car company.
Hawthorn appears in Native American lore in a Chippewa tale that explains why the porcupine has quills. According to the story, a porcupine is hunted by a bear and he places thorny hawthorn branches on his back to protect him from the bear’s attack. When the bear comes to eat him, he is stabbed by the thorns and goes away. Nanabozho, a trickster god, sees how the thorns protect the porcupine, and he puts clay on the porcupine’s back and presses the thorns into the clay to protect him from attackers.
In the Celtic Ogham, the letter ‘H’ represents the hawthorn tree. Interpretations vary but druid author John Michael Greer says its upright meaning is “patience, reserve, retreat; a time of waiting and planning rather than action; obstacles and entanglements that can be overcome; success after a delay…” He gives the reversed letter Huath as “inappropriate action, rushing ahead when patience and planning are called for; a risk of failure…”
I’ll close out folklore with some bits I grabbed from various sources:
Mixed message of fertility and chastity due to church influence
Hawthorn trees frequently grow beside sacred springs and wells and are decorated with strips of fabric as gifts to the Fae or to ask for blessings
In Serbia and Croatia it was used to protect against vampires
In Ireland it was considered bad luck to bring it into the home
Underworld connections to Hekate and Samhain
In witchcraft, hawthorn is used for protection, longevity, working with the Fae, communicating with spirits and ancestors. The association with matters of the heart is particularly strong for me, so love and sex magick is how I most often use Hawthorn. I find it to be most effective in matters of healing grief and releasing emotional patterns that no longer serve.
Catherine Yronwode of the Lucky Mojo Curio Company writes “hawthorn berries are protective, especially to Hearth and Home. A tea brewed from them can be sprinkled around the home to shield the premises from evil, or it may be drunk for personal protection.” She also notes that hawthorn berries can be used to “keep a woman from stealing your husband…”, advising that sprinkling them in her path will prevent her from entering your home with the intent to steal your man.
Hawthorn’s thorns are frequently used in protective magick. They can be used when working with poppets, and in witch bottles, and make a handy tool for inscribing candles. The leaves, flowers and berries can be ground and used to make protective incense.
If you work with the Fae, leaving offerings beneath hawthorn trees is a fine way to stay in their good graces. Just be sure that whatever you leave won’t harm any animals that come along and stay away from inorganic materials like plastic. Tying strips of fabric or ribbons made of natural materials, like cotton or linen, is an old way to ask the Fae for a blessing or healing. And finally, according to traditional custom, before taking leaves, flowers, or haws from the tree, you should ask the tree for permission. Only harvest what you can reasonably use, leaving enough flowers to produce berries, and enough berries to provide food to the many animals who rely on the tree to survive.
Hawthorn is generally considered under the influence of Mar, but also with Saturn because of its association with hedges and thereby liminal spaces. It is masculine and it’s element is fire. Hawthorn corresponds to the heart chakra. Deities associated with hawthorn are Cardea (the White Goddess), Flora, the Green Man, Aine, Brighid, and the Faery Queen.
Here are a selection of hawthorn recipes. As with any herbal remedy, please consult your doctor before ingesting.
Hawthorn Berry decoction - Haws are very tough once dried and require a long simmering time to benefit from their medicine. Use 1 oz of berries to 1 quart of water, and simmer 20 minutes. Sip 1/2 cup up to three times a day.
Hawthorn tincture - Fill a pint jar with dried leaves, flowers, and berries and cover with vodka, rum, or brandy. Shake well and keep in a cool place away from direct sunlight. After 4-6 weeks, strain and fill grass dropper bottles. Dosage is 30-40 drops up to 3 times a day. Can be taken in juice or water if you dislike the taste of tinctures.
Hawthorn tea - Simply pour boiling water over 2 tablespoons of flowers and leaves and let steep for 5 minutes. Can be sweetened with honey. You can also add hawthorn to other tea blends. It’s especially nice with oat straw, cardamom, and rose petals.
I also came across a delicious sounding recipe from www.nittygritttylife.com for Spiced Hawthorn and Rose Hip Mead. You can find that recipe here.
Works Cited -
<Hughes, Ted (1977) Gaudete. Faber & Faber
<https://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/hawthorn.htm>.
<https://www.thehazeltree.co.uk/2015/04/25/hawthorn-bride-of-the-hedgerow/>.
<https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0506/1136776-hawthorn-tree-ireland-folklore/>.
<http://www.paghat.com/hawthornmyths.html>.
<https://sacredearth.com/2020/04/26/why-hawthorn-is-your-hearts-best-friend/>.
<http://www.gatheringground.nyc/new-blog-1/2017/10/13/hawthorn-fierce-gentle-protectress-of-the-heart>.
<http://wildfoodsandmedicines.com/hawthorn/>.
<http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/November08/healingwise.htm>.
<http://www.herbmagic.com/hawthorn-berries.html>. (From Catherine Yronwode)