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Blossoms

The blossom or flowers from any tree or plant can be popped into a vase to dress up your altar or dried or pressed to use in magical workings, incense blends and crafts.  Dried petals and flowers can also be pressed onto candles quite effectively or steeped in oil to create anointing oils and perfumes.

Early spring brings the blossom – blackthorn, cherry, and other fruit trees. Suddenly, hedges and gardens erupt with scent and blossom, and it’s a sure sign that winter is behind and sunnier days are coming.

One of the great joys of seeing wild fruit trees in bloom is the promise of wild fruit later in the year. What you can see in the photos, are wild plum flowers. The photos in this blog are mine – I’ve recently become acquainted with a camera, so these are very much ‘learner shots’ but enough to give the idea... The flowers are on a wild plum tree that grows beside a cycle path. The cycle path in question used to be a railway line so I wonder if the plum trees (there are three) started life as stones thrown from a train.

Consider the common marigold.

New World native, bearer of mythic names, flower of the dead.

In the 18^th century, Swedish botanist Karl Linne named the genus Tagetes, for Tagus, the Divine Child of Etruscan mythology, who sprang from a plowed furrow one day and gave law to the Etruscan people.

The common English name means “Mary's gold.” Mary, of course, is the de facto goddess of Christianity, but since Robert Graves' day certain witches have known their goddess as Mari as well.

Well, these flowers are her living gold.

“We may need to be cured by flowers. 

We may need to strip naked and let the petals fall on our shoulders, down our bellies, against our thighs. We may need to lie naked in fields of wildflowers. We may need to walk naked through beauty. We may need to walk naked through color. We may need to walk naked through scent. We may need to walk naked through sex and death. We may need to feel beauty on our skin. We may need to walk the pollen path, among the flowers that are everywhere. 

Why do we give flowers to the dead?

Well, I think I know.

I used to work with a woman named Annie: tiny, nearing retirement but undiminished.

Croatian, born in the then-Yugoslavia, Annie fell in love with, and married, an American GI. Her family disowned her for it. Annie gave up much for love and America.

Not long after they married, her husband asked when her birthday was. She told him, surprised that he should want to know. In Croatia, no one celebrates birthdays. The day to celebrate is your Name Day, the feast day of the saint that you were named for.

So when, a few days before Samhain, her husband burst through the door with an armful of chrysanthemums and Happy Birthday on his lips, she was both dumbfounded and horrified.

Nine fruits and nine flavors to preserve my soul
in peace this day...

— Caitlín Matthews

I'm enjoying Joanna Powell Colbert's 30 Days of Harvest ecourse. This week, one of the photo prompts was about savoring autumn fruits. While thoughts of apples were also on my mind, I took the prompt metaphorically and went for  a walk with my baby to identify nine “flavors” of autumn in my own back yard.

Persimmon for patience,
raspberry for reflection,
dogwood for dreams,
rose for enchantment,
aster for starshine,
polk for color,
oak for mystery,
and cucumber for salad.

Happy Leo new moon! This three card reading (using images from my forthcoming Magic of Flowers Oracle) provides guidance for what to focus on for spiritual growth and positive personal unfolding during the brand new moon cycle ahead.

Card 1: Devotee of Beauty (Tulip)