Hawthorn - the mother of dreams
Medicine for the heart, the mother of dreams and doorway to the wilds
In times not so far back, it was one of the sacred plants of the hedges, the outskirts of the settlements. Planted to protect and mark the transition into another world, where behind the hedge the wild animals and spirits are living. Our ancestors believed in its healing properties for the heart - a tree so mighty as to even heal a broken heart.
It was known as a protector against evil spells and its elixir drunken to ease into sleep (to enter the dream world). It was seen as a door to the fairy kingdom and therefore a bad omen to cut down especially the wild grown, solitude trees. Like every rose it was as symbol and therefore medicine of showing the beauty of the flower (the heart), while being protected by the thorns.
Hawthorn has many names: bird’s berries and May flowers, holy thorn and sacred goddess. A medicine tree for body, mind, soul and most of all the heart.
Hawthorn - a medicinal tree
Not many of the old plant medicines and remedies survived through the times and are seen in the allopathic (modern) medicine in the same way beneficial – but hawthorn made it and became one of the exceptions. Due to its measurable abilities to open the cardiovascular vanes (the small blood vessels surrounding the heart) it is prescribed as a heart medicine.
As shamanic practitioners we integrate / reconnect to the spiritual aspects of the plant – and see next to its physical properties also the emotional as well as the opening into the dream world and her spiritual medicine. As a plant grows and are physical in the world so the aspects mirrors into the spiritual and emotional healing and teaching properties. As Hawthorn affects and supports the physical heart so also does it’s spiritual aspects touch the heart and all that is connected with the heart or that which blocks the heart e.g. grief, sorrow and anger.
We believe strongly in how each of our individual meetings with a specific plant can be different from each other, show a different aspect or color, so to speak. Therefore we invite you to see what we write here as inspiration for you to explore this plant in your very own way, to create your own relationship and connection.
Gentle medicine for the heart - on all levels
After living from spring to winter under our beloved Hawthorn trees in our little garden, we see her as the mother of dreams – a true & powerful plant medicine. When drinking hawthorn extract in ceremony or before entering sleep we feel the effect very clearly in our bodies. An experience similar to ceremonial Cacao, but of cause different since it is a different plant medicine. It helps to enter the dream space, to open the heart and to ease into other states of consciousness. It won’t ‘kick in the door’ and force you into anything – by drinking the extract it appears more like an invitation, an opening we can decide to go into and by accepting the invitation we can journey deeper into the medicine and into ourselves.
For us, Hawthorn is a very gentle medicine. She invites us to open our hearts and to become vulnerable. At the same time she covers us with protection, so we can feel safe. Like a good mother she is able to tuck us in the duvet, speaking loving, heartwarming words before we go into the land of dreams.
A Hawthorn ceremony can go deep and present itself in all layers of our experience where the body, mind, emotions and spirit are intermingle and nondestinctionable. It can be a journey into the senses and into the physical body, physical heart and being with whatever is present, stuck or flowing in your body and energy system.
In our experience, it often is a land of emotions and emotional healing. The land where grief, sorrow, hatred, anger, annoyance, frustration can be held and brought into the embrace of love, of compassion and soft acceptance of the past. It can be a space where regrets from the past and worries of the future fades away into the soft dreamland of medicine. It can be a spiritual journey into other realms and so much more. It is a journey where the spirit of hawthorn and your spirit meet and together explore. It is a journey into yourself, your inner landscape, inner nature and dreamworld - as well as the outer nature, the greater dreamworld and spirit realms.
Three faces of a goddess
As many of the plants - especially the flowering trees and shrubs - Hawthorn has three faces, three different ropes she is wearing throughout the year. Like a goddess in India is painted with many arms to show all of her aspects, we can see these three appearances to understand her better.
During the winter she appears black, shows her thorns clearly and reminds us to protect. So is her medicine - like the smaller birds love to make a nest in her branches, we can take refugee as well. She shows us some distance between her strong thorns - like an invitation for the small and vulnerable parts of us to enter and jet at the same time quite capable to hold of the bigger threads.
When the first green appears we can see her vital aspects becoming awake as she makes (like many plants) the transition from hibernation / living in the roots into the active life. In the midst of spring she is wearing her white, flowery rope. As a goddess of spring in ceremonial white, her fragrance opens the world to dancing spirits and fairies. Her medicine can lift us up from misery and bring us into love.
From white flower to red berry she matures through the summer and help us to manifest our dreams. Until late in the winter she offers her fruits to the birds as if she wants to show us the direction of her uplifting medicine and nurture us through harder & more disconnected times.
Hawthorn in ceremony
In a hawthorn ceremony we drink the extract made of hawthorn and welcome her into our bodies and beyond.
Through guided meditation and a soft landscape of sounds, shamanic drumming and singing we will guide you into the hawthorn medicine. It can be seen as a whole healing concert for you to relax and to be carried into the land of the dreams, maybe even behind the outskirts of your known world. Together with the plant medicine, your inner journey and our shamanic work, we create a space for you to realign to yourself and nature, to relax and heal your heart.
Sometimes we will combine Hawthorn with ceremonial cacao letting the two plant medicines build on each other.
As the hawthorn shows different faces throughout the year so does the ceremonies change with the wheel of the seasons. A ceremony in spring under a blooming hawthorn tree shows a different perspective to a ceremony indoors in the depth of the dark winter.