APPLE
BOTANICAL NAME: Malus sylvestris ( Crab Apple ) Pyrus malus ( Cultivated Apple )
COMMON NAMES: Fruit of the Underworld, Scrab, Bittersgall, Gribble, Grindstone Apple, Scrogg, Sour Grapes, Wilding-Tree,
NATURAL HISTORY:
The native British apple is the crab apple. It can be found in many places from hedgerows to copses. It grows to a height of 30 ft, with a girth of up to 10 ft. It is often used as the rootstock on which garden varieties are grafted. The leaves are oval in shape with a round or wedge shaped base, pointed tip and toothed margins. They are bright green above and pale and downy beneath. Crab apple occurs on moist, fertile soils and needs plenty of light. It is a small tree with a broad crown. The buds are purplish and the fragrant flowers are white tinged with pink. The apples are small and bitter.
PRACTICAL USES: Malus sylvestris. Can be roasted or boiled to a mush and used to sweeten other wild foods. Pips contain traces of cyanide and are best discarded if large quantities are to be consumed. . Apples are eaten in the fresh state; serve as the chief ingredient of such desserts as baked apples; apple pie and apple strudel; and are processed into dried apples, canned sauce, slices, jelly, and pasteurized juice, cider, and vinegar. Applejack is a common American name for apple brandy. France is the leading producer of apple brandies
LORE :
The native home of the apple is not definitely known, but the tree originated probably between the Caspian and the Black seas. Charred remains of apples have been found in the prehistoric lake dwellings of Switzerland. Apples were a favorite fruit of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
The apple was introduced to America by early settlers, who brought apple seeds with them. Records of the Massachusetts Bay Co. indicate that apples were grown in New England as early as 1630. Seeds were carried westward by missionaries, traders, and Indians. One man alone, John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed), was responsible for extensive plantings of apple trees in the Middle West.
In Baltic lore the sun lives with her daughters in a castle at the far end of the sea, or perhaps beyond the hill of the sky. She rides across the sky in a chariot with copper wheels. At twilight she stops and washes her horses in the sea, then drives to her apple orchard in the west. The setting sun is a red apple that falls from the orchard.
The sun goddess is sometimes also described as a rosy apple. On midsummer eve people stayed up all night to see the sun dance as she came over the horizon, when she appeared dressed in apple blossom with a wreath of red fern blossom. The festival was called Ligo, which means swaying, since the sun seems to sway as it rises. It was a festival of sexual license and the festival of the marriage of the sun and the moon, both married and unmarried women decked themselves in oak wreaths, although normally only maidens wore them.
This tree, or iron post stands beyond the hill of the sky next to a grey stone. Two horses stand by the post. in Baltic lore when the axis is a tree, it usually oak or birch with silver leaves, copper branches and iron roots, note the white/red/black colour scheme. Alternatively, in Balkan lore, the World tree may be a linden or an apple. The sun goddess, Saule rests in it, hanging her belt up and sleeping in the crown. At dawn, when she rises, the belt turns red. The Balks considered the apple tree to be feminine and closely linked to Saule, who owns an apple orchard from which tumbles a red apple at sunset that is the red sun of twilight. Linden trees are also feminine in Baltic lore and according to some myths, it is in the linden that the sun Goddess Saule sleeps, hanging up her belt.
The Hesperides were three maidens who lived in the western paradise where the golden apples of immortality grew. Originally there were seven, but they were later reduced to three, Aegle which means ‘brightness’; Erythraea meaning ‘the red one’ and Hespera meaning ‘evening light.’ They seemed to have been nymphs of the setting sun or possibly a trio representing Dawn, Noon and Evening. When the Argonauts approached them for the apples, Hespera turned herself into a poplar, the tree of sun maidens.
The rowan berry, apple and red nut are described as food of the gods. There may have been a taboo against eating them or perhaps they were reserved for the Druidic priesthood.
The rowan berry, apple and red nut are described as food of the gods. There may have been a taboo against eating them or perhaps they were reserved for the Druidic priesthood
Avalon is derived from Avallen, meaning ‘apple tree’ and is possibly equivalent to the Irish Tir na Nog.
Possibly the Irish Avaloch [‘place of apples’] The old Irish name for the Isles of Arran was Eamain Abhlach [Holy Hill of the Apple Trees]
To the Celts the afterlife was lived in a permanent summer, a land of the ever young, an apple orchard where the trees were always in fruit.
At the beginning of November, the Romans celebrated the festival of Pomona, goddess of fruit and the customs associated with her festival were adopted by the Celts from the Romans, such as bobbing for apples at Halloween.
Nehallennia is the Frisian goddess of the sea and vegetation, an aspect of the earth mother depicted with a basket of apples and accompanied by a dog. She is a holy island goddess.
March 19th is sacred to the Nordic goddess, Iduna, who bears the magic apples of life that sustain the gods, and personifies the light half of the year between the spring and autumn equinoxes. On this day she reappears as a swallow.
The apple symbolises the sun, as it ripens to yellow it is the passage of the sun across he sky, as it turns red it is the dying or setting sun which will rise anew each morning, reborn. For this reason the apple represents immortality. The Norse Gods ate the apples of Iduna in order to preserve their youth and beauty, while in Greek myth Zeus and Hera were presented with a tree of golden apples by the Earth Goddess Titaea, which bestowed youth and beauty on those who ate the fruit.
These golden apples of the Greek Gods were placed under the guardianship of The Hesperides, Nymphs of the Evening and Daughters of the Night. Their garden was in the far west, or in other words, where the sun sets in the evening. They were the nymphs of the setting sun Aegle [brightness], Erythia [Scarlet] and Hesperarethusa [Sunset Glow].
Herakles was given the task of collecting the golden apples as part of his twelve labours [sun/ zodiac symbolism]. He learned that the only person who could obtain the apples for him was Atlas, who supported the sky on his shoulders. While Atlas went to get the three golden apples Herakles held the sky for him.
Legendary isles of apples are common, and always lie in the west, the place of the dying sun, from which it proceeds to enter the Underworld, or Land of Youth, travelling through the realms of death in preparation for its rebirth. The Sacred King was promised the same journey. In the story of King Arthur, after he is mortally wounded, he is taken on a magic barge to the Isle of Avalon, which means 'Isle of Apples', from the Welsh afal meaning 'apple'. The Elysian Fields of the ancient Greeks, the place of the afterlife, also translates as 'apple orchards'.
From its association with the Underworld, the apple is seen as a passport to it, or symbol of it. The Greeks believed that carrying an apple bough that bore flowers, buds and fruit at the same time would enable them to enter the Underworld. Bran, in Celtic myth, was summoned by the Goddess to enter the Land of Youth with a 'silver white blossomed branch from Emain, in which the bloom and branch were one'.
The sacred apple tree of immortality was often protected by a serpent or dragon. In Greek myth the tree of The Hesperides, sheltered in the garden of paradise, was protected by the serpent Ladon. Hercules slayed the serpent and stole the apples but they were later returned by Athene. In Judaic legend, the garden of Paradise had two trees, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. Eve, the first woman was tempted by the serpent to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and she in turn persuaded Adam to do the same. As they did they learned the nature of good and evil in the world. This is a very ancient story, pre-dating Judaism. Eve is the mother of All Living, in other words the Great Goddess, and initiates Adam into Her mysteries. However the Biblical Tree of Knowledge may not have been an apple tree at all, but a fig or date palm. It was only identified as an apple tree in the 2nd century AD., in a translation by Aquila of Pontus.
The apple represents immortality, the passage of time, the turning of the wheel and the mysteries of the Goddess. When cut in half it shows the pentacle at its heart, containing the seeds. This symbolises the Goddess and Her womb, the five senses, the five ages of man etc. As a symbol of fertility the apple usually belongs to the Goddess of Love; in Celtic myth, the Welsh Goddess Olwen, She of the White Track, and in Greek myth to Aphrodite. One day, when all the Gods were assembled, Eris tossed an apple into their midst. On it was written 'for the fairest', Hera, Athene and Aphrodite each claimed it. Pairs, Prince of Troy, was commanded to make the choice; Hera offered him wealth and power while Athene offered him fame and wisdom, but Aphrodite won by promising him the most beautiful woman alive, Helen. Helen's abduction from her husband by Paris caused the Trojan war. Thus the apple is thought to represent choice and beauty.
As the apple was considered a sacred tree of immortality the felling of one was considered very unlucky. The Celts and Romans both imposed very severe penalties on anyone who did so. A 7th century poem states, 'three unbreathing things paid for only with breathing things: an apple tree, a hazel bush, a sacred grove'.
Fertility- The women of Kirghizstan rolled under a single apple tree to conceive. In some parts of Europe an apple tree was planted at the birth of a male child, and if the tree grew well, so would the boy.
Great honour has been paid to apple trees down the centuries, and in some places still is. In parts of Britain apple trees are wassailed at Yuletide. The trees are visited and cakes or bread soaked in cider are placed in the branches, and cider poured over the roots as a libation. Occasionally roasted apples floating in cider are offered. Sometimes shots are fired to scare away evil spirits from the orchards. The health of the trees is toasted with cider and they are asked to continue to produce abundantly.
Here’s to thee, old apple tree,
Whence thou may’st bud, and whence thou may’st blow!
And whence thou may’st bear apples enow!
Hatsfull! Capsfull!
Bushel-bushel-sacksfull,
And my pockets full too! Huzza!
Trees that are poor bearers of fruit are not honoured. Some suggest that wassailing of the apple at midwinter may be similar to the ancient Druidic custom of cutting the mistletoe, which grows more commonly on apple than oak. The pouring of cider on the roots might replace the more ancient practice of pouring blood on them as a ritual act of fertilisation. It was thought if the ceremony was neglected the tree would bear no apples. Wassailing was also observed in parts of America, notabl;y the apple growing regions around Yakima, Washington, introduced by those who had visted the English apple wasailling rites.
The small apples left on the trees were called the pixies harvest and children were allowed to scrump them even being encouraged with pennies or bread and cheese by the farmer’s wife to do so.
Flowers and fruit on the same tree is said to be a portent of death. In Devon apples for storing were picked after moon’s dark lest her harmful rays caused rot. Grafts were done at time of waxing.
It is said to be very lucky to dream of an apple with success in love and business and a long life ensured.
Apples were often used in love divination. To discover who she would marry a girl would peel an apple and throw the unbroken peel over her shoulder. If it formed a letter it was the initial of her future husband. In Austria it is believed that a girl can learn her future by cutting open an apple on St. Thomas' night and counting the seeds. If there is an even number then she will marry shortly. If she has been unfortunate enough to cut one of the seeds however, she will have a difficult life and end up a widow. If a girl has several suitors and cannot chose between them she should remove the pips from an apple and throw them onto the fire, reciting the name of lover with each one. If one of the seeds goes pop she should marry him.
German lore says that if a fruitful woman with several children eats the first apple from a young tree then it too will have many fruitful seasons.
To make two people fall in love cut an apple in half to reveal the two pentagrams at the core. Take a lock of hair from each person and place them on the two halves. Bring the two halves together, bind with red ribbon and bury the apple. The two shall then become lovers.
When taking power plants, apples, marked with a drop of your own blood, may be left in thanks. When trying to locate a particular herb mark the apple in a similar way, hold it up, call out the name of the herb thrice and then throw the apple. Search where it lands.
Bury thirteen leaves from the tree after the harvest to ensure a bountiful crop next year.
Idun, wife of Bragi, god of poetry, was the personification of spring or immortal youth. She had no birth and was never to know death. She kept apples in a casket and gave the gods a daily taste to give them immortal youth and loveliness. No matter how many were eaten, the number in the casket remained the same. Once she was kidnapped and the gods felt the onset of old age until her return. This symbolises the goddess of vegetation, carried away in the autumn, while the absence of Bragi symbolised that the singing of the birds had ceased. The cold wintery wind, Thiassi, detained her in the frozen north until she was rescued by Loki, the south wind, as a swallow, the harbinger of her return in spring. The power of the apples symbolises natures resurrection in the spring. Another myth tells how she fell from Yggdrasil to the underworld, symbolising the falling autumn leaves lying helpless on the ground. Bragi went to fetch her and wrapped her in a white wolfskin, symbolising the snow. The strings of Bragi’s harp were silent in the underworld, symbolising the silence of birds in winter.
Some say the Norns watched over the golden apple tree and only allowed Idun, to pick the fruit.
The mythical Norse king, Rerir, longed for a son and heir and prayed to Frigga who eventually sent her messanger, Gna, with a miraculous apple which she dropped into his lap. He recognised the goddess’ messanger and ran home with the apple to share it with his wife and the hero, Volsung was born.
In Sumerian legend, when Inanna returned to the upper world, the demons demanded a substitute and she found Dumuzi on a throne by the sacred apple tree in a temple. She fastened the eye of death on him and the demons beat him. He prayed to the sun god, Utu, for help and he was turned into a snake and escaped his persecutors. They caught up with him and he was turned into a gazelle and escaped once more. Eventually they caught him and took him to the Underworld. His sister, Geshtinanna and Inanna mourned him and sought him in the Underworld and it was agreed that he would spend six months in the underworld then his sister would take his place for six months.
In Worcestershire, Herfordshire and Gloucestershire twelfth night fires were lit in the wheat fields and a 13th larger fire was lit and the farmers and serbants gathered around it in the winter dark to drink a toast in cider to the next harvest.
In the west midland the farm women plaited a hawthorn globe as a fire and fertility charm. It was baked in the oven and hung in the kitchen until the following year. Then the men fired the old globe in the fields [burning the bush] and carried flaring over the first sown wheat singing ‘Old Cider’
The kissing bough was an old English Yule custom. A globe of evergreens lopped with ribbons and baubles and shining red apples with mistletoe beneath was hung from a hook while it was made, but never the same one from which it would eventually hang , as this was sacred to the finished bunch.
Wassail bowls were made of wood and bound in iron bands, decorated with mistletoe and evergreens and ribbons. They were carried in procession filled with lamb’s wool [hot ale, roasted crab apples, toast, nutmeg, sugar and eggs] offering the bowl to all they met, singing:
Wassail, wassail! All over the town
Our toast is white, our ale it is brown
Our bowl it is made of the good maplin tree
We be good fellows, I drink to thee
Apple gifts, mounted on tripods, were trimmed with nuts and yew, representing sweetness, fertility and immortality were offered in the Forest of Dean, Glouc. On New Year’s Day.
In Wales the wassail making took place on 12th night. Cakes and baked apples were layered with sugar in a special wassail bowl with 12 handles, then warm, spiced beer was poured over them. It was passed around the company then the wassail [the cakes and apples] were shared out. A wassail was taken to newly wed couples or people who had recently moved house by the young men and women of the neighbourhood with sung verses outside the door including:
We have a remarkable bier, with wrens under a sheet, and a fine orchard of apples in couples above it.
The wassailing ceremony in Carmarthenshire included an object called a ‘perllan’ a small rectangular board with a circle marked upon it and four ribs of wood running out to the four corners with an apple fixed in each corner. In the circle was a miniature tree with a bird on it. It was taken around on New Year’s Day, while another carried the wassail bowl:
And with us we have a perllan with a little wren flying in it; he is the ruler of all birds’
Some wassail bowls are in the Welsh Folk Museum and are decorated with birds, berries and oak leaves.
MAGICAL USES :
THE TURNING OF THE YEAR
The apple is a symbol associated with the Goddess in many of her aspects. When cut in half cross ways it shows a five pointed star in the centre, the pentacle, emblem of immortality. Five is a number sacred to the Goddess. The Moon Goddess' sacred numbers are thirteen and fifteen, thirteen being the number of lunar months in a solar year and the full moon falls on the fifteenth day of a lunar cycle. Fifteen is also a multiple of five and three, three being the faces of the Goddess; Maiden, Mother and Crone, and five being the number of stations in her year; birth, initiation, consummation, repose and death. The apple tree may also be seen as having five stations in the year; the blossom in spring, ripe fruit at Lughnasa, as a symbol of the setting sun in the west at the point of the autumn equinox, at Samhain the journey through the Underworld, contact with the other worlds, divination and intuition, and the bare tree being wassailed at midwinter, the time of the sun's rebirth and the promise of the waxing year to come.
The apple blossom represents the return of the Summer Goddess at Beltane, The invoking priestess should be crowned with the flowers and they can also be added to the incenses or ritual bath at this time. The wand used may be an apple love wand. The lusty Beltane Goddess is the Goddess of Love and this is the propitious time for love magic, using apple blossom incense and apple wands.
The apple harvest begins at Lughnasa, the time of strength and fruitfulness, when the God prepares Himself for His decline and death at Herfest. He is honoured with Lamb's wool or Lammas wool ( from the Gaelic La Mas Nbhal or 'feast of the apple gathering' ), a hot spiced drink of cider and ale, with toast or pieces of apple floating in it. Each person takes out a piece and wishes good luck to everyone, before eating it and passing the cup on.
The western point of the circle marks the festival of Herfest, the setting of the sun at the autumn equinox, when the Lord dies and the dark days of winter begin. Apples can be buried to represent the seed in the womb of the earth and the promise of the God's return.
Apples and cider are used at Samhain in place of the cakes and wine. A libation of cider is made before the closing of the circle. Leave a couple of apples on the ground to keep wandering spirits happy.
Wassailing the apple trees may be introduced to play a part in the Yule rite. At this point the apple represents the turning of wheel towards the lighter days of the waxing year. Offerings of cider and bread may be placed in the branches, and the tree toasted with cider.
INITIATION
Several traditions have a myth connecting the Tree of Knowledge with the fall of man from the innocence of the primordial state into the dualistic world and self consciousness. On the other hand eating the fruit of the Tree of Life can confer immortality ( through the cycle of death and rebirth ), and restore man to the lost paradise of wholeness and connection through initiation into the mysteries of the Goddess.
Initiation is a rite of passage, through death to rebirth. The candidate should be given a branch of apples to carry him / her through contact with the underworld, as he enters the incubation chamber. The eating of an apple during the rite may also symbolise the assimilation of the knowledge gained.
MEDICINAL:
'An apple a day keeps the doctor away!'. Rich in nutrients, apples have been recommended for rheumatism, constipation and high cholesterol. A raw apple a day may be eaten for indigestion and diarrhoea.
The cultivated apple makes a good herb tea for fevers; wash, peel and boil gently until soft, strain and add some honey or brown sugar. Baked apples can be used as a poultice for sore throats, fevers and inflammations. Stewed apples clean the bowels and combat candida if left out
overnight. Apples can be used to neutralise toxins in the blood, benefit the gums and reduce cavities in the teeth by clearing away plaque deposits. Dried apple peel can also be used to make a tea which eases rheumatic conditions. Apple peel eaten in small amounts can ease heartburn.