The Witch in my Woods
witch hazel, that is
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In July, my gardens have a lot of activity and color. Bees, butterflies, and all manner of pollinators have found their way to my bee balm, coreopsis, St. John's Wort, purple coneflower, black-eyed Susan, and a wide variety of lesser-known native plants. Of course, the young bunnies have nibbled some away; I'm happy to share because they will recover and bloom later in the season.
Summer has truly arrived, and the heat and humidity are peaking. Archetypically speaking, this is a time of full-on masculine solar energy fueling the rapid and vigorous growth of the entire plant kingdom. The recent super moon underscores the overwhelming power of the Sun to energize and flood the greenwood with vitalizing power and life force.
There is buzz and hum, and delicate wings flutter across the gardens. The bluebird pair are raising their second brood. They routinely scold me for sitting in front of their house. I'm happy to oblige and move to sit in another spot.
The masculine Sun lights up everything, and the colors in the garden pop and shimmer with vital life force. They are beacons for the bees and hummingbirds.
The summer solstice is extreme, with the Fire Dragon of the South ruling the season. The mellowing won't begin until the next turn on the Wheel of the Year at Lammas/Lughnasadh on August first. As with all extremes, something else is happening at the margins, in the shadowy edges where the dark hangs and the light can't entirely penetrate. The counterbalance to all this light lurks at the woodland edge.
On the edge, the liminal space between weeded and well-kept garden and wild woods, I encounter the Witch. She is helpful, friendly, and familiar. Soon she'll don her pointed black hat, and then at Samhain, she will startle you with a burst of color as you ramble in the leafless woods.
Meet Witch Hazel, a very beloved native tree in Connecticut. Witch Hazel is a genuinely magical tree. She will bloom in October and November with delicate star-like flowers and twisted petals. Her gnarly and turning trunks and branches light up the woods with yellow stars when all other plants have gone to seed or dropped their fruit. She provides some of the last food for bees and pollinators before they travel on or tuck into winter quarters in hollow flower stalks or crevices of bark.
Witch Hazel blooms when no other trees and plants are in bloom. It's always a startling sight in November when most of the leaves have fallen from the trees, and the woods are a sea of bare tree trunks and branches to see bright yellow flowers festooning the witch hazel.
One theory for how witch hazel got its name is that it derives from using witch hazel's branches for dowsing, also called "water witching." That phrase may, in turn, derive from the Middle English word wicke, meaning "lively," which describes how the stems become alive and move when water is detected below.
Witch Hazel also often have galls on their leaves caused by an aphid, which look exactly like a witch's hat.
Witch Hazel is "one of the few products that's both FDA-approved and endorsed by real witches" ~ John-Manual Andriote
In A Natural History of Trees, Donald Peattie relates that people would use witch hazel branches that were naturally forked; they looked for branches "whose points grew east and west so that they had the influence of the Sun at its rising and setting, as you carried it with a point in each hand, the stem pointing forward. The flow of hidden waters caused a downward tug of the branch.
Later, after learning of its many uses from the Native Tribes, British settlers began distilling the plant and used the extract as an astringent for skin ailments such as poison ivy rash, burns, eczema, sunburn, and insect bites.
Ritually, it has been used to keep away evil and heal broken hearts. It is also known as a wound healer.
In 1866, Baptist minister Thomas Newton Dickinson formed the E.E. Dickinson company. For 100 years, Witch Hazel was distilled and bottled from his factory in Connecticut.
When I sit in the shade at the edge of my gardens, Witch Hazel is always by my side. Right now, in July, it is producing fruit capsules. When they mature, they will burst open and eject the seeds an impressive 30 feet away.
By spending quite a lot of time with Witch Hazel, I've been able to tap into her remarkable, if somewhat hidden, wisdom. I've first learned to discover the timing that works for me.
Botanists have long suspected that the northern witch hazel evolved to bloom in late fall to avoid competition with other southern varieties of Witch Hazel that bloom in the late winter and early spring. It's essential in life to find your perfect pace and timing. When will you bloom and let your starry flowers shine? What season of the year, or season of life, is the one that will best suit you and your gifts, dreams, visions, and needs? It's OK to bloom long past when most other people's lives bloom. That may feel out of sync with the norm but totally align with your inner rhythm. Late blooming may surprise or shock others but highlight your unique journey through life, setting you apart as someone with individuality and a keen sense of who you are.
The second witchy and wonderful insight I've gleaned from Witch Hazel is the power and reality of divination. Forked Witch Hazel branches are the preferred choice for water-witching or dowsing, as it is sometimes called.
Sometimes known as 'water witching' (in the US) or radiesthesia, its practice is ancient.
An image of a water diviner was discovered in the Tassili nAjjer caves in the Sahara, which was dated to approximately 6000 BCE.
Evidence, too, indicates that this method of detection was utilized by the Ancient Egyptians, and Chinese Emperor Kuang Yu (202 BCE) is depicted holding forked sticks.
It has been hypothesized that the staff of Moses was, in fact, a dowsing instrument: 'Take the rod and speak ye unto the rock and it shall give forth water' (Num: 20: 9-11).
Greek historical records noted that dowsing was widely practiced in Crete as early as 400 BCE and that the Oracle at Delphi used some form of pendulum.
In Europe, however, from the C11th, despite numerous mentions of rods, water or mineral divining was rarely recorded and used until the middle ages to detect 'criminals.'
In Germany, by the C15th, the practice of 'virgula divina' was used to detect metals and ore; from this method, contemporary dowsing originates.
For many decades it was forbidden by the RC church, and in 1632, a papal bull was issued against the "use of a ring to obtain answers in the manner of the devil" by Pope John XXII."
~ Many thanks to Kate @thegreenwoodslaugh on Instagram for this info.
From this aspect of Witch Hazel, I have come to understand that uncanny sensitivities to elements and energies are possible and common in the natural world. Just as the water-loving and seeking Witch Hazel can detect hidden water and animals know of an impending earthquake long before humans, we all have inner radar, receivers, or tuning forks that resonate with emotional, spiritual, and physical frequencies. We're all human dowsing rods. Our inner sense of people, situations, and events that feel off or our internal tug towards the right opportunity, person, or situation mirrors the workings of the Witch Hazel.
When we develop this sense, our abilities broaden and deepen. I've discovered this through both my Tarot practice and my coaching services. An invisible frequency or multiple frequencies communicate knowledge, understanding, and recognition moves in us but skirts around rationality and gets to us in another way. Meditation on Witch Hazel's dowsing gift has helped me know and understand this with greater clarity.
Trees teach us many things. What have you learned from a tree? Have any of my herbalist readers ever distilled their own witch hazel? Who has had an experience with dowsing?
Have you bloomed yet? Have you found the perfect time to shine your starry flowers? When your seeds of intention are mature and ready, will you shoot them far and wide like Witch Hazel?
Comments and conversation are always appreciated and enjoyed, so feel free to let your voice be heard. I read them all and try to respond to each one.
Thank you for reading Hedge Mystic and participating in this vibrant and growing community of creative, spiritual humans. You are always welcome here, appreciated, and loved.
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Discussion is encouraged. Leave your reactions and insights in the comments.
Thank you for sharing this with us! It reminds me of a song that I recently heard. A verse that goes something like this, A rose blooms when she’s ready and not a moment before. I feel as if I’m still growing. Definitely a late bloomer but it’s nice to realize that it’s perfectly fine. Witch Hazel has so much to teach us!
Hi Jan, I so appreciate your description of Witch Hazel and it’s magnificent properties!! What stands out most for me in this entry is that it’s okay to bloom long past when most other people’s lives bloom (just like Witch Hazel). This describes me exactly and I’m grateful for this encouragement!! Thank you!! 🩵