#corrine boyer

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The Witch's Cabinet: Plant Lore, Sorcery and Folk Tradition by Corinne Boyer

Grimoire Silvanus Zine Issue 5

SATOR Square Design (available in multiple sizes as a button, magnet, hand mirror, or bottle opener key chain)

ABRACADABRA Design (available in multiple sizes as a button, magnet, hand mirror, or bottle opener key chain)

[lailoken]

“Magically, when working with the unseen, the elder spirit is exceptional for aid in seeing into the Other realms. When used for divination work, dream work, trance work or during ritual where spiritual aid is sought, elder wood as talisman or charm is revealing. She is a truth teller. Calling to the elder tree witch during night time walks or sits brings her wisdom into the present situation. Elder can be used for sorrow, a very comforting companion when trauma or loss arises. Grief is lifted and this old wise tree spirit lends her helping hand or maybe a bony shoulder to cry on. Seek out this tree for that purpose, drinking the flower tea and taking naps in the elder mother's shade to promote prophetic dreams.

Elder leaves and flowers, if they are still in bloom, can be gathered after dark on Midsummers Eve, with appropriate offerings made. These can be dried and used later for fumigations, amulets pouches or protective powers where wisdom and access to hidden realms is sought. Also, the earth from around the roots of an old elder tree can be 'harvested' with permission from the tree and intentions explained. This earth can be used in charms, powders or any magical preparation where the aid of the elder tree is needed. The berries can be burned in fumigation mixtures during the winter months when extra protection and information is sought.”

—

Under the Witching Tree:

A Folk Grimoire of Tree Lore and Practicum

‘The Black Earth Medicines of Autumn: Elder’

by Corrine Boyer

[lailoken]

“In the forgotten meadow, long stands the brittle bone elder tree, which graces the rustic country person's kettle with heavy blue and black fruit for healing syrups and wines. But what other magic comes from this tree that shimmers in the darkness, whose wood is ensouled by the witches of old? Old crone tree of the dark edges with her pungent perfume.... The elder tree, a spirit of the witch's realm, watches from her autumnal home, her roots in the swamps. Tales told of this shapeshifting spinster and magic maker are dark and strange. Marked by Saturn, the elder tree is connected to death and severe protection. She was both respected and feared by country people in times past.”

—

Under the Witching Tree:

A Folk Grimoire of Tree Lore and Practicun

‘The Black Earth Medicines of Autumn: Elder’

by Corinne Boyer

[lailoken]

“There are many examples of the elder tree being used in folk magic. Here is an old spell for using elder bark, for healing a skin infection called Erysipelas (an older name for this was St. Anthony's Fire), which causes acute fever, chills and raised red patches on the face, arms and legs: The blood of a bullfinch is put in a new vessel with scraped elder bark, then the whole is laid on a cloth, which is bound over the eyes overnight. The person suffering repeats this incantation: ‘I have two eyes, I bave two feet, Pain from my eyes go into my feet! Go from my feet, go into the earth! Go from the earth into death!’ Another elder remedy for the same ailment was to find a piece of elder wood onto which the sun never shone and cut it between two knots and wear it on necklace, as an amulet.

To make an enchanted walking stick that would never break and would bring protection to the one who used it, one could harvest elder wood on All Souls Day and hollow out the pithy branch to enclose these magical ingredients — seven vervain leaves, powdered wolves eye, a dog's heart and tongue, three green lizards, three swallows hearts and the fillings from ironstone. The stick was then capped with an iron ferrule.

Carrying an elder wood amulet was used to prevent rheumatism and silently sticking a piece of elder wood in the ground was done to rid of fever, by way of transference. A Danish remedy for toothache: Take a stick of elder wood and put it in your mouth. Then stick it in the wall while reciting the words: Depart thou evil spirit. Nine pieces of elder wood were strung onto a necklace and worn was a cure for epilepsy, as long as the necklace never touched the ground. A charm to cure convulsions in children was to find a magical elder that had been seeded by birds on the top of a pollarded willow. The father of the child must then, on a full moon, gather the twigs and make a necklace for the child. A wart could be cured with elder by pricking until a drop of blood came forth. This was dropped onto an elder leaf and the leaf was then buried, a simple transference charm. It was known in some parts that leaves gathered on the auspicious May Eve were used for wound healing specifically. Interestingly, horse people would sometimes catry an elder twig as an amulet against saddle sores.

Elder wood was historically used for protection, exorcising illness and for spirit conjuration. It is a tree that falls under Saturn's dominion. Whistles made from elder wood were used to summon spirits, magical pipes that they are. Elder was also used for darker magic, the leaves and bark were included in hex powders. The flowers and berries were used in protective mixtures. A very intense counter curse included making a 'frog' out of grave dust, powdered black spiders and elder sap. This poppet was to be baptized in the victim's name and pricked daily with pins for nine days to make them very ill.

Elder was thought to protect the home and farm as well. It was used as a charm against lightning, wreaths of branches were hung up in Germany after sunset to protect the farm. On the Isle of Man, elder wood was fixed above windows and doors to protect the house. An elder tree planted next to a cottage was supposed to protect a home from witchcraft, lightning and flies. Peasants would make wreaths of elder to put up on the infamous Walpurgis night in Germany so that they could see witches riding on brooms, dragons or goats. One protective rite using elder came from Styria, Austria. On Bertha Night (January 6th), the Devil was known to have great powers. If a magical circle was made, one could stand in the center of it with elder berries that were gathered on St. Johns Night, thus being protected against his influences. It is likely that these berries were green and under ripe, however their powers were for magical rather than medicinal use.

Elder was used in different ways to find malefic witches. A German belief was that an elder stick burned on Christmas Eve would somehow reveal who the witches were in the nearby neighborhood. A Colonial American belief was that if a piece of elder pith was dipped in oil, lit and floated on water, that it would point to any witch present. Another interesting belief was that anyone who was baptized and anointed with the juice of green elder bark around the eyes could see witches.”

—

Under the Witching Tree:

A Folk Grimoire of Tree Lore and Practicun

‘The Black Earth Medicines of Autumn: Elder’

by Corinne Boyer

[lailoken]

“The belief that a spirit inhabits this tree has survived even into relatively modern times. Specifically, a witch spirit was thought to inhabit the tree. There are numerous references to the belief that a witch lived in the elder tree and could shape shift back and forth from human to tree. An old name for this nature spirit was 'Hyldemoer,’ which means 'Elder Mother' in Danish. It was considered unlucky to cut the wood down for fire wood or building material in different parts of Europe. In England, it was said that burning elder wood would bring the devil into the house or that the person burning the wood would become bewitched. If you wanted to cut down the tree, you ask permission to escape possible ill fate. The appropriate way to ask was to say something like ‘Lady elder, give me some of thy wood, Then I will give thee some of mine, when I become a tree.' Another way to say it: 'Lady Ellhorn, give me of thy wood, and I will give thee of mine when it shall grow in the forest'. A Danish custom was to spit thrice before cutting or trimming an elder tree, to drive away evil beings. Hedge cutters would refuse to trim an elder tree for fear of being followed by bad luck. Spirits were believed to dwell in these hollow trees, specifically in the joints. This wood had a will of its own - if it was placed on a burning fire, it would cause it to go out; if it was used for furniture, it would bend and warp; if skewers were made from elder for roasting, it would turn the food bitter.

The old earth Gods of Prussia were believed to live had to under the elder tree and if offerings were made to it, little men would come, bringing grain and doing housework. If one stood under the elder tree on Midsummer's Eve, the Faerie king and his fellow faeries could be seen riding by. This mysterious tree was never touched after dark in the Fens in England. In Denmark, elder trees were believed to move around at night and could be found peering into windows of those sleeping. It was also said that faeties in the form of ancestors lived in the tree. If a cradle was made of elder wood, the baby sleeping in it would be either stolen by faeries or the Elder Mother. Or the baby would be pinched blacked and blue by the faeries. Elder was a tree associated with witchcraft from early times, from around 900 AD or before. In Ireland instead of an ash broomstick, witches rode on broomsticks made from elder wood. Country folks would sometimes refer to it as 'witch wood'. A name for the berries was 'Holda's Berries', which refers to the trees connection with Mother Holda or Hulda, an ancient winter death spirit from old Germanic culture.

There were other associations with elder and death. If an elder stick was planted over a grave and it grew, it was a sign that the deceased was happy in the afterlife. The old Jewish Cemetery in Prague was planted with elders. It was considered dangerous to sleep under an elder tree because the leaves apparently let out a fragrance that if inhaled, resulted in death. The flowers were known to attract snakes and it was reported that adder snakes slept in the dry roots of the clder tree. Polish people were known to bury their sorrows and sins under elder trees, so that chey passed into the underworld to where they belonged. Some sort of incantation was used to pass the energy into the elder tree, into the earth, then into the realms of the dead. An old saying goes: ‘Hawthorn blooms and elder flowers fill the house with evil powers.’ This is a connection to not only the white flowers of both plants, which in times past were highly unlucky to bring indoors as they were often used for funeral rites, but also to the supernatural energy associated with both trees.”

—

Under the Witching Tree:

A Folk Grimoire of Tree Lore and Practicum

‘The Black Earth Medicines of Autumn: Elder’

by Corrine Boyer

[lailoken]

Plants of the Devil

Words by Corrine Boyer

Images by Marzena Ablewska

[lailoken]

Plants of the Devil

Words by Corrine Boyer

Images by Marzena Ablewska

[barberwitch]

Hey! I wanna make the hawthorn elixir from Corinne Boyer’s Under the Witching Tree, and it calls for bourbon, but don’t know if I have any. Do you think I can use Irish whiskey without a drastic difference?

To be honest I can’t remember the recipe off the top of my head, but you should be fine.

One thing I always try and remember is what details are core, and what are personal. One benefit of bourbon vs Irish whiskey is the actual ingredients. Irish whiskey means it was aged in Ireland, but can be pretty much any base of grains, fermented with yeast in a way to preserve the aroma and flavor of the grains. This includes the use of cereal grains. Aside from that, it’s pretty free wheeling and can be pretty much any whiskey as long as it’s aged in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland for at least 3 years.

Bourbon on the other hand, you at least know part of what makes it up, as to be qualified as bourbon, it needs a grain mash if at least 51% corn. To be classified as bourbon, it has to be made in the United States.

The other thing to remember is Corinne Boyer lives in the United States (Pacific NW if I remember correctly.) Thus making it a spirit (alcohol) of the land you (she) live on.

It could just be a preference in the recipe. It could have to do with the associations and lore surrounding corn. It could be like the Roman cement recipe: they just said water, but it took centuries to figure out that they meant sea water and they didn’t write that down because it’s obvious. (Meaning, she may use a specific type of bourbon for the elixir, but just wrote bourbon because she only has J.P. Trodden Snall Batch Bourbon).

What I’m saying is, the chemical difference of using whiskey vs bourbon shouldn’t be an issue, but decide if you have a particular connection to one vs the other. Maybe it would serve you better if it was a wiskey or bourbon from a local distillery, or maybe she wrote bourbon because that’s all she had on hand.

That’s the issue when it comes to reading spells and recipes from other witches, because we all do it. We include the base of ingredients and components so we can track, but we don’t necessarily spell out every detail because we know what it means and it’s so obvious we may leave a core detail out that others have to figure out 🤷‍♂️

Pick your poison.

🦇Cheers, Barberwitch