Category: Folk Herbalism
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Vervain: The Druid’s Heal All
Cover art by Cecilia Brendel “An ancient Irish prescription calls for seven balls of ground ivy, vervain, eye-bright, groundsel, foxglove, bark of elder tree, and young shoots of hawthorn well mixed together. These are made into a potion with bog water and salt and boiled in a vessel with a piece of money and an…
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Pine: Beacons of Hope and Divinity
“Down to as late as a century ago, the mountains of Cork and Kerry were covered with ancient forests of oak, ash, pine, alder, birch, hazel and yews of immense size, and afforded retreats to wolves, and numerous herds of red deer.” Owen Connellan, The Annals of Ireland, 1846
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Mistletoe: All Heal
“Au gui menez, ‘To the mistletoe go’, an old French phrase mummers proclaimed traveling door to door around Christmastime when they played tricks for small coins. The Gaelic words for mistletoe are Sú Darach, Uile-íce, Drualus which translate as Sap of the Druids, All Heal and Druid’s Herb respectively. Mistletoe is not native to Ireland…
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Holly: Midwinter Sacred Tree of the Druids
“Of all the trees that are in the wood,The Holly bears the crown.”` Seasonal Carol Decorating homes with holly at Midwinter has its origins in Pre-Christianity. It was in fact a pagan practice. Holly was considered a sacred plant by the Druids. While other plants wilted in winter weather, holly remained green and strong, its…
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Barley: Sacred Staple Crop
“I sat within a valley green, I sat there with my true love, My sad heart strove the two between, The old love and the new love, The old for her, the new that made me think of Ireland dearly, While soft the wind blew down the glade, And shook the golden barley… But blood…