Herbs ~ Apple
by Amethyst
"White are the flowers of apple tree that brings us fruits of fertility." (Wiccan Rede)
Latin Name: Pyrus malus
Planet: Venus, Jupiter
Ogham: Quert
Zodiac: Taurus
Element: Water
Gender: Feminine
Chinese Gender: Yin (cool)
Deity: Aillin, Abellia, Aphrodite, Apollo, Athena, Badb, Bosu, Cailleach, Chango, Diana, Demeter, Dionysus, Flora, Freya, Froh, Gaia, Hera, Heracles, Idun, King Arthur, Moingfhion, Odin, Olwen, Pomona, Thiassi, Uttu, Venus, Zeus.
Stone: Emerald, Rose Quartz
Animals: Unicorn
Birds: Grosbeak
Colour: Yellow-Green, Pink.
Magickal: Herbe of Immortality, Religious Herbe, Visionary Herbe & Fertility Herbe
Folk Names: Fruit of the Gods, Fruit of the Underworld, Silver Branch, The Silver Bough, Tree of Love
Parts Used: Blossoms, Fruit, Juice, Seeds, Wood
Few of our Mother's gifts are so celebrated in lore as the apple and there are so many deities are associated with apples.
When you cut the apple fruit breadth-wise you see the five-pointed star made from the placement of the seed casings. This symbol, the pentagram, is the traditional symbol of knowledge. That the five-pointed star, pentagram, is surrounded by the circular shape of the halved apple, the symbol becomes a pentacle. This is a symbol of protection, the protection of sacred knowledge.
LORE
Among the Celts, the fruit of the apple tree symbolized knowledge, magick, and prophesy. To the Gaul's, the apple tree was as sacred as the oak tree.
As the apple is a symbol of immortality. A branch of the apple which bore buds, flowers and fully-ripened fruit (sometimes known as the silver Bough), was a kind of magickal charm which enabled its possessor to enter in the land of the Gods, the Underworld, in Celtic mythology.
Biblically, the apple is sometimes believed to be the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is believed by many to be the fruit Eve gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden, although the exact fruit given is often hotly debated by biblical scholars.
In ancient Greek mythology, one of Heracles tasks was to get an apple from the tree given to Hera by the Earth goddess Gaia on her marriage to Zeus. It was a Herculean task because the tree was in the garden of the Hesperides and guarded by a dragon, Ladon.
In Norse mythology, the apple is the symbol of love, wisdom and longevity, as Idun kept apples in a box to give to the gods so that when they ate them they could renew their youth.
The branches and twigs that are pruned from the apple tree are often used for making magickal items such as wands, beads, wreaths, pentagrams for the walls, and even stick birdhouses. With a wood burner and a carving knife, runes and rune sticks can also be made from the branches that have been pruned off of the apple tree.
In some Wiccan traditions, the apple is a symbol of the soul, and so they are buried on Samhain so that those who will be reborn in the spring will have food during the cold winter months.
USAGE
You can incorporate apples into any ritual in which you desire to give honour to a god or goddess of fertility. Apple is a great wood for a magickal wand, especially suited to emotional magick, as well as love rites. Apples can be fashioned into poppets or magickal figures for use in spells, or images can be carved from the wood itself. The wood can be made into charms for longevity and apple cider can be used in place of blood where it is called for in old recipes.
Eating an apple opens the gateway into other realms, most often fairyland. It provides illumination and the gaining of knowledge. Dreaming of apples symbolizes prosperity and the good life.
At Samhain, winning the game of bobbing for apples meant that you would be blessed by the Goddess for a year.
Since apples were symbols of Avalon, capturing one from the water represented crossing to the holy isle. The apple is also considered one of the foods of the dead, so they are often piled high on Samhain altars, for Samhain is sometimes known as the "Feast of Apples."
Unicorns are supposed to live beneath apples trees (as well as those of the ash), and so if you know of an apple orchard, quietly go there on a misty day. You may see a single horn upraised and a horselike animal quietly munching sweet, magickal apples.
MISCELLANEOUS
Toxic to animals: Apple cores should never be fed to cats or dogs.
The bark of the crab apple tree used in a decoction has been used as a treatment for intermittent fever with vomiting, and the astringent juice of a crab apple is good to stop diarrhoea. Cooked apples, or their pulp, can be placed on eyes to reduce inflammation, and if you have a sore throat and a fever, eat the pulp to relieve the soreness in the throat. The stewed apples have laxative properties, but not raw ones. This is true of all apples. Crab apples neutralize acids produced from gout and indigestion.
Reference:
http://everythingakasha.homestead.com/files/SamhainHerbs.htm
http://www.sacredspiral.com/articles/ab/apple.htm
http://www.teenwitch.com/plants/rosaceae/apple.html
http://herbs-treatandtaste.blogspot.com/2010/09/crab-apple-pyrus-malus-history-and.html
http://www.thegoddesstree.com/trees/Apple.htm
a compendium of Herbal Magickk by Paul Beyerl
Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs
Images
http://www.eco-planet.com/herbalextracts/Pyrus%20malus.htm
http://caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/thome/band3/tafel_105.html
http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Pyrus+malus&guide=Leaves
