Apple Lore

If you eat an apple on Samhain right before you go to bed, you won't have any illnesses during the next twelve months. Eat a slice from each of three apples on Samhain night and you'll have a year of good luck.

Bury an apple in your witch's garden, beneath the light of the moon on Samhain night, and it will feed the souls of those restless spirits wandering through the realm of the living that night. Living in the northeast, I wouldn't even attempt to dig into my cold hard earth at the end of October, but I do leave an offering of cakes out on the sundial in my garden to nourish the ghostly travelers who are out and about on Samhain night. It's far less back-breaking!

Photo courtesy of Aviana2 on Flickr.

My Future Besom (Again)

Well, I've finally gotten around to choosing a handle for my soon-to-be besom (see "My Future Besom" August 13, 2009) and ironically enough, I didn't even need to leave my yard! I never quite found the time this summer to take a hike through the local woods to find an old oak branch and I'd been getting antsy about it. Then yesterday afternoon while out beneath my more than a century old apple tree, I happened to glance up through the branches and there it was: the perfect handle. As I said before, I've gathered all my birch twigs for the brush end of the besom over the last few seasons only from twigs my trees have dropped and I was planning on doing the same for the handle as I would never harm a tree for my own personal use. My apple tree had three good-sized sucker branches high up in a neat little row that were going to need to be removed before winter anyways and the middle of the three was exactly the right length and diameter for my besom. The ever-helpful Griffin got out a ladder and climbed up with a hand saw and moments later my handle was right there in my hands. I spent the next couple of hours cutting all the little branches off, pruning down the nubby bits and then peeling all the bark from the branch, exposing the lovely apple wood. It's now sitting in my kitchen beginning to dry out and when it's dry enough, I'll be able to make my besom. It's about four and half feet long, with a gentle curve as it thickens towards what will be the handle end. I haven't yet decided whether to sand the crap out of it when it dries or to leave just as they are all the bumpy bits from its former little branches for a more rustic look. Hopefully, despite my inability to make a firm decision on anything, I'll have decided by then which look I prefer for my handle.

Trees 101: The Apple/Crabapple

Apples are an ancient fruit and have long been used in magick. The apple, as everyone knows, was represented in the story of Adam and Eve and is also associated with the Great Mother Goddess. In the folk tales of many cultures, eating an apple opened the gateway to another realm for the lucky person consuming the fruit. Apples symbolize illumination and knowledge and apple wood is believed to make a very powerful wand.

Apple is one of the nine sacred woods of the sabbat fire in which it symbolizes love. Apples are a common ingredient in Pagan ritual and spellwork. Slice an apple in half across its middle and what will you find? The seeds laid out in the shape of the pentagram. Apples are given as offerings to the dead at Samhain to aid them in the process of rebirth. And the game of bobbing for apples at Halloween was first played in ancient times: if you were lucky enough to win, it meant that you would be blessed by the Goddess for a full year.

Apples bring prosperity and the good life and are believed to be good for the digestion.

The apple tree is ruled by Venus and the goddess and its energy is feminine. Apple vibrates to the elements of both air and water. Besides being used for prosperity and a healthy tummy, apples can be used to attract a lover, to cross over into the faery realm and to foster strength and protection.