Vine Month

The Vine is a symbol of both happiness and wrath — passionate emotions, both of them. Do magical workings this month connected to the Autumn Equinox, or Mabon, and celebrate garden magic, joy and exhilaration, wrath and rage, and the darker aspect of the mother goddess. Use the leaves of the Vines to enhance your own ambition and goals. during this month. The month of Vine is also a good time to get balanced, as there are equal hours of darkness and light.

This is the time of great abundance. Spells concerning happiness and great passion are best done at this time. This is the perfect time for your ambitions, goals, and dreams.

• Dates: September 2 – September 29
• Celtic Name: Muin
• Language of Flowers (Bramble): Lowliness, Remorse, Envy,
• Qualities (Bramble): Flexibility, Tenacity, Fierceness, Beauty Reward for Hard Work,
• Themes: Harvest, Reward, Tenacity, Vigor, Health and Healing.

The Autumn Equinox, when night and day are equal length, occurs during the month of the Vine and will help you to realign your energy to prepare for the dark half of the year.

This is a time to value input from others because collaborative work brings insights and networks that are made in the time of the Vine may prove useful in the forthcoming months.

Focus on energy that resolves, cast peace to end an argument or use prosperity energy to help you settle bills and pay off existing debts. Energy must be balanced with action now, so use nature’s last burst of energy, visible in the vibrant autumn colors, to inspire you to complete projects begun earlier in the year.

Invest in your health by eating foods packed with vitamin C to stave off colds as the weather declines. Boost your energy levels with herbal drinks.

Use your energy during the month of the Vine to restore peace to troubled relationship and to bring prosperity and fertility into your life.

Note:

The Celtic word for Blackberry, taken from the ogham tree letters is ‘muin’. Sometimes, people will interpret ‘muin’ as ‘vine’ – but a vine as we now know it (a grapevine) was not a native plant in Celtic Britain and Ireland where the ogham evidence we have derives from – and so it is now more commonly thought that ‘muin’ refers to the Blackberry. Both fruits (grape and Blackberry) are used in money energy and are linked to fairies.

Vine the Equalizer

The Vine is another shapeshifter of the Celtic astrology. This is due to the fact that people born under this sign are born within the autumnal equinox. This makes them unpredictable, contradictive, and often indecisive. They can see the good and bad in each story, which makes it hard for them to pick a side. However, they are always sure when it comes to their taste in food, wine, music and art – they have a soft spot for guilty pleasures. Vines have a thing for luxury and refinement. Willow and Hazel can suit their classic style.

They are quiet, discreet, they never draw attention on them, they do not raise their voice and very often you do not notice when they are around. Nevertheless, the saying “Still waters run deep” describes them well. Hazel people are usually very intelligent, they have great memory, good intuition and the ability to learn quickly. They come across as plain but potent people. Exactly this type of people used to be considered a saint or blamed for witchcraft a few centuries ago.

Hazel people usually achieve their goals easily because they are able to take advantage of all their abilities. In relation to others, they tend to be friendly, helpful and easy-going. They can be very patient, understanding and selfless, and they are very generous to their friends. They always start everything with love and goodness because they believe that is the easiest way to achieve things.

Thanks to their foresight and high intelligence they often come up with unusual ideas and solutions that they have thought through to the smallest details.

Although Hazel people tend to be successful in life, they do not like to be spoiled by luxury. They are perfectly adaptable and even little things can make them happy. Fluctuations in their mood are seldom caused by external conditions. So there are moments in their lives when it is better to get out of their way. The same is true about their love life; most of the time they are loving partners, but sometimes they become very grumpy. Still, life with Hazel people is interesting and pleasant, albeit full of change. They are usually reliable and faithful partners in marriage.

Magick and Lore of the Bramble

Our Celtic ancestors valued the Bramble (or Blackberry) as a symbol of spiritual wisdom, emotions, and initiation.

The Bramble shows us flexibility, tenacity, and vigor – and also the importance of connection as the Bramble branches reach out and connect all the other trees and bushes in their thorny embrace. Blackberry is health-giving and healing – a nourishment for our body and soul.

Blackberry is about good preparation (gathering for winter), a healthy reward for hard work and risks taken (blackberrying at risk of prickles), and the importance of being ready to act at the right time (picking brambles when they are ripe, but before they are taken by the witches’ or fairies’ poison).

It was often advised to pick blackberries only in the waxing moon, to gain protection from ill-will.
Many traditions over the correct timing of Blackberry picking have arisen, most focusing on the specific date after which blackberries should never be picked – variously advising dates from the end of August, Michaelmas Day (29 September), or the end of September, or Halloween (31st October) as the blackberries will have been poisoned, spat on, or peed on by fairies, witches, or even the Devil.

It’s likely that the varying dates relate to how far north or south the blackberries grow, so relating to the change in weather – as the late crop of blackberries taste sour in any case and you could certainly believe that they’d been poisoned by witches (or worse, peed on by fairies) were you to taste one.

Elsewhere, blackberries were never eaten – especially in France and Majorca where they believed brambles were made into Christ’s crown of thorns – while in Brittany, it was because they were the food of the fairy folk.

Magick and Lore of the Vine

The Vine month is a time of great harvest — from the grapes of the Mediterranean to the fruits of the northern regions, the Vine produces fruits we can use to make that most wondrous concoction called wine.

The Vine is fast-growing, prolific, and none like each other. They are all unique and adapt with things growing around them. The most valued vine was the grape vine, as it was the source for wine.

The vine is the only plant in the Celtic Tree Calendar that is not native to Britain, although it features in much Bronze Age art. It was cultivated by migrants from Southern Europe.

The name vine comes from the word ‘viere’, meaning ‘to twist’. This refers to the Druidic concept of spiritual development.

A Spell For Peace

Use your energy to bring peace to a troubled relationship or to help heal any conflict or dispute. You will need:

• A white candle
• A white ribbon
• Pen and paper

Hold the candle and say, “I dedicate this candle to peace.”

Write a list of grievances that caused the conflict. Light the candle and focus on sending love to the other party. Burn the list in the flame saying, “For the sake of peace, I let it go.”

Light the candle for a few moments each night and focus on peace. Tie the ribbon to a Bramble or grapevine. When the leaves have all fallen, peace will be restored.

Sources:

• Learn Religions
• Wicca Daily
• The Gypsy Thread
• Lotti Brown Designs
• Sarah Wayt
• AstroSeek