The Goddess Tree Grows
Fruit of Love
Tenth month of the Celtic Tree calendar, September 2nd - September 29
Tenth consonant of the Ogham alphabet - Quert
Planet: Venus
Element: Water
Symbolism: Love & Trust, Health, Garden Magick
Stone: Emerald, Rose Quartz
Birds: Grosbeak
Color: Yellow-Green, Pink
Deity: Demeter, Hera, Pomona, Frigga, Freya
Folk Names: Fruit of the Gods, Fruit of the Underworld,
Medicinal properties:
"An apple a day keeps the doctor away"
Use a crabapple, or a cultivated apple if you don't have crabapples available. If possible, use one that you have hand picked. Carve the initials of the one you love and desire, and your own initials, in a ring around the apple. Bury it in the ground, or commit it to a body of water.
adapted from Whispers from the Woods, by Sandra Kynes
Do not look for love because love will find you, just as Adam and Eve found love under the Apple tree in the Garden of Eden. Someone you are about to meet, and perhaps already know, will have a great influence in your life if you cultivate him or her. You have done a great deal of good by helping others to find their own good fortune, and prosperity. Whether the fruits of love and indulgence of your desires bring utter despair or heartfelt happiness depends upon your view. Your thirst for knowledge nourishes your earthly desires that increase your pure spirituality. For this, your sweet nature will be rewarded. Like an apple that is round, events are cyclic.
The apple teaches the lesson of love and faith, generosity and gratitude. Love not just between man and woman but as the driving force behind our existence and the relationships that we share with others; faith both in ourselves and in others; and generosity and trust in the understanding that a heart that is open to give and receive is both the gateway to personal happiness and fulfillment and the key that unlocks the secrets of the Otherworld. The generous apple satisfies body, mind, and spirit, and warns against miserliness, for like attracts like. What we give will be the measure of all we receive.
I would still plant my apple tree."
- Martin Luther (1483-1546)
Pomona
(in the month of the apple tree)
by Scott B. Stewart
we will gather under the apple tree
as Autumn dawns upon the earth
to pray under the apple tree
so dear to Pomona's heart.
in the sacred month of your apple tree
to bring forth your fertility.
Fill our minds with creativity,
our hearts with love and compassion
as you bless your dear apple tree
with her harvest's sweet fruition.
attracting many friendly bees
which pollinate her flower.
With your divine grace and joy,
you reward them with your nectar.
Let it be to you as nectar
this prayer to you that we offer
in praise and supplication
with our purest love and great affection.
as the Autumn nights get cooler.
This apple tree we gather under
will display your loving nature:
red, orange, gold
and mixtures thereof.
With reverence and with love
we honor you, our Lady Pomona
this apple tree month...
and adoringly forever.
Legend says that you will see your true love reflected there.
A Victorian Halloween card states the following verse:
On Halloween look in the glass,
Your future husband's face shall pass.
The new charm will help you to recognize a future or potential love.
Slice the apple crosswise to expose the star-shaped arrangement of seeds inside.
Light a tea-light candle and place the apple slices and the candle before the mirror.
At midnight, say the following charm three times:
As this Samhain night rushes past,
Reveal to me a love that shall last.
May I know them when next we meet
May our love be both strong and sweet.
as an offering to the nature spirits. Pay attention and see who you "meet" within the next thirty days.
from "Garden Witchery" by Ellen Dugan
Monday September 15, 2008 - Full Moon in Pisces
Sunday September 21, 2008 - Waning Half Moon in Gemini
Monday September 29, 2008 - New Moon in Libra
Vines traditionally carry fruit, the most famous of which is the grape, used to make wine, that magical elixir that's known for its ability to dissolve the boundaries between us, allow us to mingle more easily, and relax with others. You, the, are a born socializer, with keen abilities to restore balance to unhappy or unfair situations. Your instinct makes you amazingly perceptive with regard to the motives of others, and your charm is irresistible. Trust this instinct, and form relationships that will last. Don't be afraid to spend some time alone occasionally - sometimes our own company is the best.
Written by Kim Rogers-Gallagher, and Llewellyn's Witches' Datebook 2000
"A seed hidden in the heart of an apple is an orchard invisible."
- A Welsh proverb
Permission to share freely, please in its entirety, with links and credits
Feel free to contact me: gwendolyn@thegoddesstree.com
Climb up into her arms, and stay for a spell.
Feel her roots, her bark, her branches, her leaves.
She is shade, shelter, a home, a hide-away.
She is an escape.
She rocks you to sleep in your hammock.
She holds up your birdfeeder, your wind chimes, and your decorations.
She embraces anyone who loves to climb.
In the spring she offers life, and in the fall she gives her own.
She does not judge.
She just is.
thegoddesstree.com
The Goddess Tree Grows *Apple, Sept 2 - 29
Friday, September 5, 2008, 05:03 PM [General]
From Roots to Leaves, Branches to Bark
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APPLE
Pyrus Malus
Silver Branch, The Silver Bough, Tree of Love
Eat peeled and grated unripe apples only for one or two days to help relieve illnesses involving diarrhea. Eat some apples whole for a laxative. Apple wine was an ancient cure-all second century A.D. and make sure the wine is at least two years old. Apples are an excellent source of potassium, iron, vitamins A and E, which are found more abundant in the peel than in the flesh of the apple. They help the body detox, they are beneficial to the brain, liver, and bowls. They are used to treat headaches, gout, rheumatism, high blood pressure. Apple with honey has been a remedy for heart problems since ancient times.
Magickal properties:
Apple is a great wood for a magickal wand. It is a favorite witch tree. The fruit is used at Mabon and Samhain, and for love spells. Eating an apple opens the gateway into other realms, most often faeryland. 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."
In 19th Century Lower-Saxon Germany, the first bath water used by a newborn baby was poured over the roots of an apple tree to ensure that the child would have red cheeks, and if it was a girl, large breasts!
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A secret way to let someone know you are a witch
is to cut an apple crosswise to show the formation of the seeds in a star shape.
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Spell for Love
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Tree Magick - by Gillian Kemp
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LESSON OF THE Apple - from The Wisdom of Trees by Jane Gifford
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"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces,
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The Great Goddess
"Adoration for Pomona"
This month, this season
Dear and wise Pomona, we invoke thee
She profusely blooms white in Spring,
You shall clothe her leaves in colors
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There is an old Scottish custom of eating an apple on Samhain night while looking into the mirror.
A modern adaptation of this charm could include standing before the mirror at midnight on Samhain.
Allow the candle to burn out, and the next morning leave the apple pieces outside
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Sunday September 7, 2008 - Waxing Half Moon in Sagittarius
Celtic Moon Sign for Vine Moon
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Join our community: http://thegoddesstree.ning.com
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Pray Peace
This letter is a labor of love, from Gwendolyn
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from Moon Bee Acres
There is a branch for you to sit upon with a beautiful view.
Gwendolyn
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