Haws...

According to Mother Goose (and who are we to argue?) "The fair maid who, the first of May, goes to the fields at break of day, and washes in dew from the hawthorn tree, will ever . . . after handsome be".

This may be a fine (if perhaps shallow) reason to celebrate hawthorn trees, but if you missed the 1st of May, or if everlasting handsomeness isn't what you're looking for from a non-timber forest product, not to worry, there's more.

The fruits (called haws) of hawthorn trees are edible and were eaten by regional First Nations, but not usually prized as they are fairly dry and mealy. Throughout the world, notably in Europe, China, and North America, people have come up with home and commercial products such as jellies (recipe below), drinks (hawthorn schnapps being one intriguing example that merited another recipe below), candy and vinegar. More well known is the use of hawthorn flowers and fruits for treating the heart; several species have been developed into pharmaceutical preparations for cardiac conditions. Traditionally hawthorn has been used not only for heart ailments but also kidney disease, blood purification, insomnia, weight loss, inflammation, diarrhea, menstrual discomfort, and dysentry. The very hard wood can make a nice walking stick, and thorns have been used by people as fish hooks and by predatory songbirds as stakes upon which to impale their prey.

Hawthorns grow around the world; the native black hawthorn (Crataegus douglasii) is a medium to large sized shrub with heavily armed branches bearing stout thorns. The bark of older wood is rough and scaly, somewhat like an apple tree. It has leaves that are more-or-less egg-shaped with teeth around the top part. The white flowers have 5 petals and grow in clusters. They develop into blackish-purple fruits (haws) that look like small apples and have many seeds. Many of the hawthorns that grow in this area are non-native species that have reddish haws. The native black hawthorn is found widely throughout the southern half of Vancouver Island, usually at low elevations in full to partial sunlight.

The haws are picked when dark and ripe; make sure to collect only a small amount from each tree to minimize the impact on haw-loving wildlife, and watch out for the thorns! They literally have been known to poke people's eyes out. Fruit can be frozen or dried for longer storage.

Recipe: Hawthorn schnapps
Fill a glass jar 2/3 full of clean haws and cover them with clear, unflavoured vodka - 40% alcohol content (80 proof). Close the lid tightly and let steep at room temperature for 5-6 weeks in the darkness. Shake it lightly and have a taste from time to time, then strain and filter into a clean glass bottle with a tight-fitting lid. Store it for a couple of months then serve at room temperature. Cheers!

Another recipe: hawthorn jelly
1.1 kg hawthorn berries (haws)
1.2 L water
sugar (quantity depends on berry juice produced)
juice of 1 lemon

Cover haws with water and cook them at a simmer for about an hour, until the berries are soft. Pour them and the cooking liquid through muslin cloth and allow to drain into a bowl overnight- if you'd like clear jelly then be sure not to squeeze the cloth in order to get as much as you can out of it. Discard the haws and add the liquid to a pan with 400 g sugar for every 500 ml of liquid. Heat this gently with the lemon juice until the sugar dissolves, then bring to a boil and cook until jelly begins to set. Pour the jelly into warm, sterilized jars to store, or, alternately, dig in right away as there's no need to let it sit!

Caution: Beware of eating too many haws, as nausea and diarrhea may follow, and due to its components which affect heart rate and blood pressure, people with any heart conditions should only consume under the guidance of a doctor. Children and women who are pregnant or nursing should avoid consuming them.

WyzWmn has left the building....

should be back around the 22nd
all things being equal and the river don't rise....

Oregon grape for food, wellness, beauty...

The forest edges are getting a little bluer these days as Oregon grape (Mahonia spp.) berries are starting to ripen. Oregon grape (both the tall and dull varieties) is . . . a classic example of a multi-purpose non-timber forest product (NTFP) and has been taken advantage of for food, medicine, dye, crafts, landscaping, and floral products (not to be too utilitarian about such matters- they certainly have integral value and ecological benefits as well!).

Oregon grape is an evergreen shrub that grows up to 2.5 m (tall variety) or 0.8 m (dull variety) high. The leaves contain 5-11 or 9-18 leaflets (for tall and dull respectively) and are thick, leathery, shiny, and have spiny teeth along the edges. The yellow flowers grow in clusters 3-8 cm long and develop into blue berries. Both species grow in dry forests of southern BC, with the dull grape concentrated closer to the coast, and growing in moist as well as dry forests.

Uses: This plant is often used in Christmas decorations as “mock holly”. The berries are not sweet but can make a fine jelly (see recipe below) or wine. The flowers and young leaves can be munched on as well (personal observation- flowers get sweeter as the season progresses). The roots and leaves are thought to be medicinal for various purposes including digestive complaints, blood purification, uterus conditions and skin problems. The plant has antioxidant, antiseptic, and antibacterial properties. And if all that were not enough, the bark can be used as a yellow dye.

Harvest: Foliage can be collected with pruning shears from spring onwards but are often harvested in late fall or early winter for Christmas decorations. Commercial harvesters tend to focus on leaves with dark green foliage; these tend to be found in shady locations. Flowers and berries are harvested when ripe, usually in early and mid-summer respectively. Watch out for the spines, you may want to pack some gloves along! For medicinal purposes the roots are considered most potent in the fall and are collected from then until early spring. No matter what the purpose be sure not to overharvest!! Collect from no more than 25 per cent of the plants in an area, and if harvesting roots then replant any rhizomes (underground stems) with buds on them, and don't harvest in the same area for a couple years to allow for regeneration. It is best to harvest the plant after the berries have fallen or been eaten by wildlife to maximize regeneration potential and minimize impact on wildlife food sources.

Preparation: To clean debris from the berries you can pour the hardy fruits into a shallow box and give them a gentle shake. Then transfer them to another container and repeat the process until they are free of debris, and rinse. If using the roots wash them carefully with potable water and avoid removing root bark; a brush should not be used. Chop the root to desired size before drying as dried roots are difficult to process. While flowers and leaves are not commonly consumed, some will eat them raw, or will simmer young leaves until tender.

Recipe: Oregon grape jelly (courtesy Oregon State University Extension Service)

Select firm ripe Oregon grapes. Wash, leaving on stems. Place in large preserving kettle, covering with water. Boil 10 minutes, then mash and boil 5 minutes longer. Drain through jelly bag. Measure juice into large preserving kettle and boil 10 minutes. Add ¾ as much sugar as juice. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Boil rapidly until it sheets from a spoon. Remove from heat, skim at once, and pour into hot, sterilized jars. Adjust lids and process 5 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Cautions: Pregnant women should avoid this plant as it may stimulate the uterus. Consumption of high amounts can cause nosebleeds, skin, and eye irritation. Adults should not consumer Oregon grape for more than 7 consecutive days and children for no more than 3 days. Also best to avoid if taking antibiotics for diarrhea

Finding Home

courtesy of the Executive Pagan

Litha...midsummer solstice

Midsummer may simply refer to the period of time centered upon the summer solstice, but more often refers to specific European celebrations that accompany the actual solstice, or that take place around the 24th of June and the preceding evening. The exact dates vary between cultures.

Background

European midsummer-related holidays, traditions, and celebrations are pre-Christian in origin. They are particularly important in Northern Europe - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden - but are found also in Ireland, parts of Britain (CornwallFrance, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain, the Ukraine, other parts of Europe, and elsewhere - such as Canada, the United States, Puerto Rico, and also in the Southern Hemisphere (Brazil), where this imported European celebration would be more appropriately called Midwinter. especially),

Midsummer is also sometimes referred to by Neopagans and others as Litha, stemming from Bede's De temporum ratione in which he gave the Anglo-Saxon names for the months roughly corresponding to June and July as "se Ærra Liþa" and "se Æfterra Liþa" (the "early Litha month" and the "later Litha month") with an intercalary month of "Liþa" appearing after se Æfterra Liþa on leap years. The fire festival or Lith- Summer solstice is a tradition for many pagans

Solstice celebrations still center upon the first day of Summer according to the calendar. However, there are some who still choose to hold the rite on the 21st of June, although this is not always the longest day of the year.

As a Christian holiday, Midsummer day (June 24th) is the day of the nativity of John the Baptist. It is six months before Christmas because Luke 1:26 and Luke 1.36 imply that John the BaptistJesus. It is observed by both the Catholic, Orthodox and some Protestant churches. This even though it doesn't say in the bible that Jesus was born in December. ^[1]
was born six months earlier than

In Estonia and Latvia, the traditional Midsummer day, June 24th, is a public holiday. So it was formerly also in Sweden and Finland, but in these countries it was, in the 1950's, moved to the Saturday between June 20th and June 26th.

Canada (Quebec)

In Quebec, Canada, the celebration of June 24 was brought to New France by the first French colonists. Great fires were lit at night. According to the Jesuit Relations, the first celebrations of St John's day in New France took place around 1638. In 1834, Ludger Duvernay, printer and editor of La Minerve took the leadership of an effort to make June 24 the national holiday of the Canadiens (French Canadians). In 1908, Pope Pius X designated John the Baptist as the patron saint of the French-Canadians. In 1925, June 24 became a legal holiday in Quebec and in 1977, it became the secular National Holiday of Quebec. It still is the tradition to light great fires on the night of the 24th of June.

United Kingdom

See also: A Midsummer Night's Dream

In Great Britain from the 13th century, Midsummer was celebrated on Midsummer Eve (St. John's Eve, June 23rd) and St. Peter's Eve (June 28th) with the lighting of bonfires, feasting and merrymaking.

In late fifteenth-century England, John Mirk of Lilleshall Abbey, Shropshire, gives the following description: "At first, men and women came to church with candles and other lights and prayed all night long. In the process of time, however, men left such devotion and used songs and dances and fell into lechery and gluttony turning the good, holy devotion into sin." The church fathers decided to put a stop to these practices and ordained that people should fast on the evening before, and thus turned waking into fasting (Festial 182).

Mirk adds that at the time of his writing, "...in worship of St John the Baptist, men stay up at night and make three kinds of fires: one is of clean bones and no wood and is called a "bonnefyre" [bonfire]; another is of clean wood and no bones, and is called a wakefyre, because men stay awake by it all night; and the third is made of both bones and wood and is called, "St. John's fire" (Festial 182)." These traditions largely ended after the Reformation, but persisted in rural areas up until the nineteenth century before petering out.

Other Midsummer festivities had uneasy relations with the Reformed establishment. The Chester Midsummer Watch Parade, begun in 1498, was held at every Summer Solstice in years when the Chester Mystery Plays were not performed. Despite the cancellation of the plays in 1575, the parade continued; in 1599, however, the Lord Mayor ordered that the parades be banned and the costumes destroyed. The parade was permanently banned in 1675. Many people state that fairies dance at midnight on midsummer's eve. You just may see one if you stay up and watch for them.

Traditional Midsummer bonfires are still lit on some high hills in Cornwall (see Carn Brea and Castle an Dinas, St. Columb Major). This tradition was revived by the Old Cornwall Society in the mid 20th century. Another Cornish midsummer celebration is Golowan, which takes place at Penzance, Cornwall which normally starts on the Friday nearest St John's Day. Golowan lasts several days and culminates in Mazey Day. This is a revival of the Feast of St John (Gol-Jowan) with fireworks and bonfires.

Midsummer festivals are celebrated throughout Scotland, notably in the Scottish Borders where Peebles holds its Beltane Week. The Eve of St. John has special magical significance and was used by Sir Walter Scott as the title, and theme, for a pseudo-ballad poem. He invented a legend in which the lady of Smailholm Tower, near Kelso, keeps vigil by the midnight fires three nights in a row (see above) and is visited by her lover; but when her husband returns from battle, she learns he slew that lover on the first night, and she has been entertained by a very physical ghost.

June 24th, Midsummer Day, the feast of St. John the Baptist, is one of the quarter days in England. In recent years on the Summer Solstice, English Heritage has run a "Managed Open Access" to Stonehenge for the Summer Solstice celebrations.

USA

Solstice fire in Montana

Midsummer celebrations are held throughout the US. The NYC Swedish MidsummerBattery Park, New York City, attracts some 3,000-5,000 people annually, which makes it one of the largest celebrations after the ones held in Leksand and at the Skansen ParkStockholm. Sweden Day, a Midsummer celebration which also honors Swedish heritage and history which has been held annually on the sound in Throgs Neck, in New York City since 1941. Swedish Midsummer is also celebrated in other places with large Swedish and Scandinavian populations, such as Chicago, Minneapolis, and Lindsborg, Kansas. The Swedish "language village" (summer camp) Sjölunden, run by Concordia College in Minnesota, also celebrates Midsummer. celebrations in in

Geneva, Illinois, hosts a Swedish Day (Swedish:Svenskarnas Dag) festival on the third Sunday of June. The event, featuring maypole-raising, dancing, and presentation of an authentic Viking ship, dates back to 1911.

The Seattle, Washington neighborhood of Fremont puts on a large Summer Solstice Parade & Pageant, which for many years has controversially included painted naked cyclists. In St. Edwards Park in Kenmore, Washington, the Skandia Folkdance Society hosts Midsommarfest, which includes a Scandinavian solstice pole.

A solstitial celebration is held on Casper Mountain in Wyoming at Crimson Dawn park. Crimson Dawn is known in the area for the great stories of mythical creatures and people that live on Casper Mountain. The celebration is attended by many people from the community, and from around the country. A large bonfire is held and all are invited to throw a handful of red dirt into the fire in hopes that they get their wish granted.^[5]

Neo-Pagansim

As forms of Neopaganism can be quite different and have very different origins, these representations can vary considerably, despite the shared name. Some celebrate in a manner as close as possible to how they believe the Ancient Germanic Pagans observed the tradition, while others observe the holiday with rituals culled from numerous other unrelated sources, Germanic culture being only one of the sources used. In Neo-druidism, the term Alban Hefin is used for the summer solstice. The name was invented by the late-18th century Welsh Romantic author and prolific literary forgerer Iolo Morganwg.^[6]

How To Annoy Wiccans

from the Baron

How To Annoy Wiccans

---

1. Preach to them about the "True Religion". 2. Borrow their eyeliner and then don't give it back. 3. Snicker when the fat ones go skyclad. 4. Be considerate. Arrange their Altar so it looks neater. 5. Clean their "tools." 6. Untie the knots in their cords. 7. If they mention Magick, ask them to explain... you never understood that dumb card game... 8. Step into that drawn circle and ask them what their doing. 9. Sharpen that dull knife of theirs. 10. Claim to be a non-Wiccan witch. 11. Ask if they can wriggle their nose like in Bewitched. 12. Put on your best Judy Garland voice and ask "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?" 13. Throw water on them and expect them to melt. 14. Explain how adding "an it harm none" completely misses the point of Thelema. Then explain what Thelema is. 15. Lend them a copy of Liber OZ. 16. Take them to a Catholic mass or, better yet, a fundamentalist revival meeting. 17. Turn their pentagrams upside down. 18. Recite good poetry during ritual -- backwards. 19. Cast that circle counter-clockwise. 20. Tell the goddess to put up or shut up during the invocation. 21. Ask if they can do those things like in that movie...what was it?... oh yeah, "The Craft!" 22. When they start talking about "the Goddess" start chanting things in Ouranian barbaric or Enochian. Explain later that you have a subconsciously wired bullshit-cut-off switch. 23. See if they know any Hebrew attributions for, say, Tarot. Then ask them why they know. 24. Ask them who Gerald Gardner was. Ask them which degree rites they've been through. Ask them why they haven't, if it's part of the authentic Celtic tradition. Duck, and remind them about the "an' it harm none" bit. 25. Talk to their cat. Tell them the cat says it wants human sacrifices. 26. Scream "KALI YUGA!" when they invoke the Goddess. 27. Ask them who you have to sleep with in order to get initiated to the 3rd Degree. 28. Ask why so many Wiccan rituals bare a striking similarity to Golden Dawn rituals. 29. Half way through a ritual, ask the high priestess to wake you when the sex starts... 30. Edit their book of shadows, inserting material from one of the assorted Necronomicons or the Satanic Bible. 31. Ask them to recommend a good book on the subject of Wicca. When they respond, repeat that you wanted a good book on Wicca. 32. When one tells you that s/he is a Witch, tell them not to be so hard on themselves. 33. Explain the difference between 'skyclad' and 'houseclad'; 34. Remind them the moon has four phases, not three; 35. Men - wear amber and jet. 36. Wear a white rob and hood to the summer solstice. Say your swastika is just a rune. 37. Worship the devil and call yourself a 'real witch'. 38. Tell them that the green ray only appeals to people that like having their brain shut down. 39. Tell them the story about how Gardner coined the phrase 'Blessed be' after he 'hired' a West Country priestess from a local brothel who gasped it during the five fold kiss. 40. Point out that you can't meaningfully be a Kabbalist unless you're Jewish. No, wait, that's for annoying Hermeticists... 41. Ask "You're not going to turn me into a frog are you?" 42. Put fire wood around the maypole. 43. When they tell you they're a Wiccan, nod and say, "Oh, ok, so you worship Satan, right?" When they get upset and try to explain that they're not Satanists, they're Wiccans, say, "Did Satan tell you to say that?" As they get more upset, ask them if they're going to sic their Satanist friends on you. 44. When they paint their nails, ask if them if they are tuning Goth. When they say no, ask them if their goddess likes them to be pretty. 45. Hide their Athame, and then when they ask you, tell them that "Santa, the Dyslexic Demon" told you to steal it. Later Explain that "Santa, the Dyslexic Demon" is really Satan. 46. During ritual stand up and scream, "The Devil, I see the devil! You brought him here!!" Then start laughing as they look around. 47. Ask if they fly on their brooms. If they say no, accuse them of not being "true" witchs. 48. Ask them to do anything you've seen on "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch." 49. Tell them to "Be gone, before somebody drops a house on you." 50. When asked how you enter the circle answer "With perfect love and perfect lust." 51. Carry a copy of LaVey's book The Satanic Witch around with you and watch the fun happen! 52. Ask them to do a love spell for you. 53. Ask them if you can borrow their book of shadows for new material for your stand-up comedy act. 54. Ask if they could tell you what really happened to Elvis. 55. Ask them if Wicca will save their souls and go to heaven. 56. Ask them if they like it hot cause they are going to hell and it's HOT down there! 57. Ask a difficult-to-know question and, when they cannot answer, say "I thought you witches were psychic or something!" 58. Tell them that the Horned God is really Satan. 59. If they are wearing a pentagram, start asking about what it's like to be Jewish

I am a Pagan

I am a Pagan.
I am a part of the whole of Nature.
The rocks, the animals, the plants, the elements are my relatives.
Other humans are my sisters and brothers, whatever their races, colors, ages, nationalities, creeds, or sexual preferences.
The earth is my Mother and the sky is my Father.
The sun and moon are my Grandparents, and the stars my ancestors.
I am part of this large family of Nature, not the master of it.
I have my own special part to play and I seek to play that part to the best of my ability.
I seek to live in harmony with others in the family of Nature, treating others with respect, not abuse...

I am a Pagan.
I pay attention to the seasons within myself - of beginnings, growth, fruition, harvest, endings, rest, and beginnings again.
Life is a Circle with many cycles...

I am a Pagan.
I acknowledge that the Divine is everywhere in the energy of life.
I am Animistic. I sense the life force in the oak tree on the hill, in the herbs in the garden, in the birds singing at my window, in the boulders on the hill, in myself, and yes, even in "things" such as my car and computer.
I understand that everything has its physical and non-physical aspects. The physical and spiritual are deeply intertwined, not separate, and one is not better than the other.

I am a Pagan.
My worship is one of communion, not groveling.
I share my views with others when I sense it is right, but I do not proselytize - there are many ways, not one way, of spiritual growth.
My holy places are under the open sky … in the ..Stone Circle in the oak grove on the top of the mound ... on the Vision Rock on the high cliff … in the Garden in the fields … in the Sweat lodge by the stream … by the clear pool of the Sacred Spring … in the Rainbow Cave in the valley.

Yet my worship can be anywhere … my magick circle is portable.
I can call to the four quarters, to the earth and sky, and to the central spirit point wherever I may be.

I am a Pagan.
I journey to the Otherworld in my dreams, my meditations... I fly with my consciousness through time and space.
I return with insights.
I go between the worlds for healing, growth, and transformation.
Psychic perception is a natural, not supernatural, part of my daily life.

I am a Pagan.
I attune myself to the four elements of Nature - Earth, Air, Fire, Water - and to the fifth element, Spirit, which is the force that connects all.
I see these elements as parts of my self - my physical body is my earth, my intellect my air, my will my fire, my emotions my water, and my inner self is my spirit.
I endeavor to keep myself healthy and in balance in all these parts of Self.

I am a Pagan.
I hear the cries of Mother Earth.
I see the pollution of the air, the soil, and the waters.
I see the games being played by nations with the fire of nuclear weapons.
I see spiritual pollution, too - selfishness, hatred, greed for money and power, despair.
I sense these things, but I sense, too, a cleansing, healing energy manifesting on the planet at this time.
I know that I can help bring the planet into greater balance by seeking balance in my own life.
I know that my attitudes and my way of living can make a difference.
I endeavor to be a channel for healing and balance.

Author Unknown (borrowed from Danae Dunning's FB page)