{"id":1450,"date":"2009-10-11T08:26:25","date_gmt":"2009-10-11T12:26:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=1450"},"modified":"2013-02-09T18:08:13","modified_gmt":"2013-02-09T23:08:13","slug":"tree-medicine-magic-and-lore-flowering-almond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/?p=1450","title":{"rendered":"Tree Medicine, Magic, and Lore: Flowering Almond"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Ellen Evert Hopman<br \/>\nIllustration by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sirwilliamwesley.com\"target=\"_blank\">Will Hobbs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The ancient Jews were polytheistic Nature worshippers who saw their highest Goddess in the form of a tree, the Flowering Almond. Almond trees give of themselves in many ways, providing nourishment in their fruits and fragile pink blossoms to herald the early spring. In their delicate beauty the ancients saw the qualities of the Goddess, blessing Her people with sustenance and grace.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/09\/flowering-almond.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"256\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1451\" \/>At that time Yahweh was one of several male deities including Baal, El, and Hadad. The Goddess was known as Ashera, Anash or Qedesh. The Ashera (Goddess, Tree, Pillar) was also known as Elah, the feminine aspect of El. The Elah would be set up on a high place, an artificial platform or altar or on a hill if at all possible. In desert areas where trees would not grow a pillar was erected with a bust or face of the Goddess placed on top. So important was the flowering tree in the minds of the people that when the Yahwist High Temple religion took over, the memory of the Ashera was kept holy. Ancient Biblical scripture specified that the Menorah, the candelabrum of the time of the Winter Solstice and the darkest moon of the year, must look like a Flowering Almond tree with buds on its branches. A chief cult of the Temple of Yahweh lit its Menorah on all-important occasions. As it was forbidden to depict or even to name Yahweh in any physical form, so it was forbidden to depict the Menorah, symbol of the Deity in female aspect. Thus the earliest images come to us from Roman times when the conquering Latins carved a Menorah onto a triumphal arch. In modern times the Menorah is lit during the dark of the moon in the darkest season of winter.<\/p>\n<p><strong>about the author:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ellen Evert Hopman is a Druid Priestess, herbalist and  author of &#8220;Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey&#8221;, &#8220;A Druids Herbal &#8211; Of Sacred Tree Medicine&#8221;, &#8220;Walking the World in Wonder &#8211; A Children&#8217;s Herbal&#8221; and other volumes.  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.elleneverthopman.com\/\"target=\"_blank\">Visit her website for more!<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href='https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/11-05-08-druids_herbal1.jpg'><a href=\"http:\/\/www.celticheritage.co.uk\/EllenEvertHopman\/pagan_books.cfm\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/11-05-08-druids_herbal1.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"11-05-08-druids_herbal1\" width=\"140\" height=\"215\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-463\" \/><\/a><a href='https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/priestess-of-the-forest.jpg'><a href=\"http:\/\/www.celticheritage.co.uk\/EllenEvertHopman\/pagan_books.cfm\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/priestess_of_the_forest.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"priestess-of-the-forest\" width=\"140\" height=\"190\" class=\"alignnone size-thumbnail wp-image-462\" \/><\/a> <br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br><br \/><\/br><\/p>\n<p>Bibliography<br \/>\nAdams, Barbara Means, Prayers Of Smoke, Renewing Makaha Tribal Tradition; Celestial Arts, Berkeley, CA 1990<\/p>\n<p>Baker, Margaret, Discovering The Folklore Of Plants; Shire Publications Ltd., Aylesbury, Bucks, U.K. 1975<\/p>\n<p>Beith, Mary, Healing Threads, Traditional Medicines of the Highlands and Islands; Polygon, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1995<\/p>\n<p>Brunaux, Jean Louis, The Celtic Gauls: Gods, Rites and Sanctuaries; Seaby, London, 1988<\/p>\n<p>Calder, George (translator), Book of Ballymote: Auraicept Na nEces (The Scholars Primer); Edinburgh, 1917<\/p>\n<p>Carmichael, Alexander, Carmina Gadelica, Hymns and Incantations; Floris Books, Edinburgh 1992<\/p>\n<p>Cunliffe, Barry, The Celtic World; St. Martin&#8217;s Press, New York, New York, 1993<\/p>\n<p>Cunningham, Scott, Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs; Llewellyn Publications, St Paul, MN 1986<\/p>\n<p>Ellis, Peter Berresford, Celtic Women; Wm. 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Marian, The Silver Bough, Vol. One; William Maclellan, Glasgow, 1977<\/p>\n<p>Meyer, Kuno, Selections from Ancient Irish Poetry; Constable, London, 1959<\/p>\n<p>Moerman, Daniel E., Medicinal Plants Of Native America; University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology Technical Reports, Number 19, Ann Arbor, MI 1986<\/p>\n<p>Mooney, James, History, Myths and Sacred Formulas of the Cherokees; Bright Mountain Books, Ashville, NC 1992<\/p>\n<p>Naddair, Kaledon, Keltic Folk and Faerie Tales; Century Hutchinson Ltd., London, 1987<\/p>\n<p>O&#8217;Boyle, Sean, Ogam, the Poet&#8217;s Secret; Gilbert Dalton, Dublin, 1980<\/p>\n<p>Rees, Alwyn and Brinley, Celtic Heritage; Thames and Hudson, New York, 1989<\/p>\n<p>Ross, Anne, Pagan Celtic Britain; Columbia University Press, New York, NY 1967<\/p>\n<p>Saintine, X.B., The Myths Of The Rhine; Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland, VT 1967 (Reprint of the 1875 edition)<\/p>\n<p>Squire, Charles, Celtic Myth and Legend; Newcastle Publishing Co. Ltd., USA, 1975<\/p>\n<p>Stone, Merlin, Ancient Mirrors Of Womanhood; Beacon Press, Boston, MA 1984<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Author Ellen Evert Hopman discusses flowering almond lore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1450\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/themagicalbuffet.com\/blog1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}