Hawthorne as promised.  In bloom on Beltaine and still going strong. I went by the hawthorne tree that I befriended last autumn when I was parking my car in odd places.  As I was shooting a series of shots I heard someone say, “Look, she’s taking photos of my hawthorne.”  I turned and smiled and this nice gentleman with a cane said good evening to his neighbor and struck up a conversation with me.  “Would you like some clippings? I’m going to prune it soon.”  “Oh, yes, please let me know when and I’ll come by and get some.”  “I’ll get the clippers right now. The branches are so heavy from the blossoms that they hang too low. The berries weigh it too low in the fall.”  He asked what I would do with them and I said that I might make some rune sticks (the safest of my answers) and that the hawthorne is an important tree in Celtic lore and is a tree of protection.  He said good thing it’s on the corner and come look at the thorns on this bush next to it, went through my shoe once.   He cut them right there with me watching, in the right healthy places for a tree, nothing severe, with good sharp snicks.  He knew what he was doing. It is a glorious tree and the fae live there for certain.

I have a nice selection of hawthorne branches, one just right for a wand and some for other projects that remain to be seen. Thank you kind sir.  I will go by today with an offering to the tree.