Sacred Thorn Tree Day

Sacred Thorn Tree Day and the Hawthorn Moon Month begins annually each year on this date, It goes from May 13 – June 9. This is a great time for magic concerning peace, prosperity, protection, fertility and marriage.

The Hawthorn is a prickly sort of plant with beautiful blossoms. Called Huath by the ancient Celts, and pronounced Hoh-uh, the Hawthorn month is a time of fertility, masculine energy, and fire. Coming right on the heels of Beltane, this month is a time when male potency is high — if you’re hoping to conceive a child, get busy this month! The Hawthorn has a raw, phallic sort of energy about it — use it for magic related to masculine power, business decisions, making professional connections.

The druids were said to use it’s leaves and flowers to make medicinal teas. And the wood from the Hawthorn was known to provide the hottest fire. The Greeks and Romans saw the Hawthorn as a symbol of marriage. Although in Medieval Europe, the Hawthorn was associated with witchcraft, and was therefore seen as unlucky.

This magical little tree is also associated with the faeries. When the Hawthorn grows in tandem with an Ash and Oak, it is said to attract the Fae. It is also said that a Hawthorn growing on a hill near a sacred well is a marker for the faery realm.

In Ireland, Hawthorns covered in “clootie” prayer strips guard sacred wells. These are little strips of cloth blessed in the well, and then tied to the tree with a prayer. It was also the custom to hang old clothes on hawthorn bushes all month beginning on this day to avert poverty.

To celebrate the Hawthorn tree, pray to the Goddess Cardea, for the Hawthorn was her sacred tree. She is known as the Goddess who protects the home, put a piece of Hawthorn over any windows or doors in your home for protection from this Hawthorn Goddess.

Collected from various sources including: Paganwiccan and Love of the Goddess