A Pilgrimage to Herbs - The Magic of Hawthorn

A 'Dieta' is a pilgrimage to a plant, a contract between a student and a plant, an agreement to learn about each other, to meet in spirit, in the world of non-ordinary reality, between, beyond and betwixt the mist of the veil. Although we ingest the plant to commune with her, the communication is beyond the physical, it is an emotional, an intellectual, a sentient, an etheric telepathic all encompassing meeting.

Hawthorn is the plant we will meet in this series, she will help us step beyond the veil and meet with the spirits of nature especially the fairies and the nature spirits that reside below her.

The hawthorn is most often a lonely bush, with farmers and land owners redirecting roads and fences around them due to folklore legends of their power. This Fairy thorn is the tree most likely to be inhabited or protected by the fairy folk as they are known to meet beneath her branches. Hawthorn should not be damaged or cut or we risk incurring the wrath of supernatural ‘bad luck’ of those who protect them. Sleeping under the hawthorn can cause the fairies to drag you into the lower world where they play their tricks.

Hawthorn comes to life in the landscape when she blossoms during May as such she has many associations with May Day festivities. People used the blossoms for garlands; branches were set in the ground outside houses and were decorated with local wildflowers. Bringing hawthorn inside the house was seen as bad luck and could lead to serious illness. Whereas bathing in the morning dew collected from hawthorn on May 1st was believed to grant lasting health, wealth and beauty.

The scent of hawthorn (trimethylamine) is said to smell like rotting flesh and so she is often associated with death and dying…

from a shamanic perspective a time of great transition.

Working with plant spirits as allies or as medicines is not for the faint hearted, it is for the brave seekers who wish to move beyond the realms of ordinary physical life and into the unfamiliar and the unknowns. Once you have communed effectively with the spirit of a plant, your relationship with natural world we inhabit will never be the same.

1. Opening - Friday 26th Feb
2. Friday 5th, 12th, 19th, 26th March
3. Closing - Friday 2nd April6.30pm - 8.30pm

To get the most out of this experience, you will be asked to commit to all of the above dates, to abstain from addictive substances, such as caffeine, alcohol, recreational drugs, sugar, sex etc. You will keep a dream diary and commit to the support of your group for the duration, we will share our experiences and our dreams, inspire and support, love and embolden each other to go beyond.