🌳 1Tree 🇸🇪

Ireland's native Rowan trees are at the peak of their beauty bedecked in countless red berries awaiting the arrival of flock upon flock of migrating birds who will strip the trees on days as they seek to refuel 🪶🍒 But this is just one of many of the Rowan trees gifts to wildlife and, indeed, ourselves. For the arrival of the great flocks of birds coincides with the darkening of days and the thinning of the veil between world and The Other 🌙 Not only does the red of the Rowans berries deter all forms of evil magic but they also stop a vampire in its tracks. For as Sesame Street taught us as children a Vampire stalking our homes at night is compelled to count 🦇 Confronted by a Rowan planted outside a home the creature of the night finds itself rooted to the spot counting the thousands and thousands of berries until, finally, the rising sun forces them to retreat keeping us safe and the blood untouched within our veins ⚰️

A 13th century Scottish bard named Thomas the Rhymer is said to have fallen asleep beneath the fabled Eildon Tree, at the foot of the Eildon Hills in the Scottish Borders 🌳 When he awoke, he was met by the sight of the Fairy Queen herself riding upon a magnificent white horse 👑🪄 Captivated by her beauty and ethereal majesty Thomas agreed to follow her beneath the hills and into her enchanted world. Beneath the hills in her Otherworld Kingdom, time did not move as it does for us, and although Thomas believed that he had been away for no more than a few days or weeks, when he returned seven full years had passed ⌛ Yet Thomas did not return unchanged and having pleased the Queen of Elfland she gifted him the power of prophecy and truth. The identity of the Eildon Tree has long been debated with some believing it to have been a hawthorn or elder, as both are deeply entwined with fairy folklore and magic. But others suggest that only an Oak could have spread its canopy wide enough for the Fairy Queen to ride beneath on her horse 🌳🌰

Ireland is a land of liminal places and the rivers, hedgerows, hills and boundaries are were much of the magic happens 🪄 They are also some of the last refuges for the trees and wildlife of this once neverending forest. And it is the wind and wildlife that deliver the seeds of our native trees to these sanctuaries and not so long ago a bird passed this way...leaving behind this young, but beautiful, Rowan tree 🪶 🍒 It will live for maybe 200 years and, right now, it is waiting for the masses of migratory birds that will come here from Scandinavia to feast upon the flaming red berries that it patiently holds for them. On this particular threshold between cattle pastures the little rowan not only supports wildlife but inhibits the movement of the fairies and witches who would seek to steal or bewitch the cattle that live within....for neither can abide this tree 🧙🏻✨ Pieces of rowan were once left in fields to deter the fairy folk whilst sticks of it's magical wood were burned outside doorways to homes at the time of the ancient quarterly festivals of Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh 🎃 🔥