outoftheshadows.myfreeforum.org

Alder
King of the waters

(This is the first tree i studied so its format is a little different)

Description:

The alder tree is deciduous and is part of the birch family or genus (flowering tree), there are counted to be around thirty different species of alder ranging from trees to shrubs around the world. Some of these are as follows:

Common or Black Alder, Europe
Red Alder, North America
Italian Alder, Italy
Green Alder, Europe, Asia
Andean Alder, Andes Mountains, South America
Formosan Alder
Grey Alder, Europe & Asia
Arizona Alder, North America
Speckled Alder, North America
Thin Leaf Alder, North America
Japanese Alder, Japan
Mexican Alder, Mexico & Guatemala
Oriental Alder, Southern Turkey, North West Syria, Cyprus.
White Alder, North America
Tag Alder or Smooth Alder, North America
Caucasian Alder, Caucasus, Iran.
Seaside Alder, North America
Nepalese Alder, East Himalaya, Southwest China.
Himalayan Alder, Western Himalaya.

This study itself will concentrate more on the local species of Alder, the Black Alder or Common Alder as it is usually more known.

Common or Black Alder
(Alnus Glutinosa)

Alder Leaf:

The branches on a black alder are usually by comparison to other trees, short and quite smooth and has buds going along the entire length of the branch to its tip. These buds are noted to be distinct as they develop in a spiral manner along the branch itself. These buds are the leaf buds which when they first grow are small and enclosed in a brownish yellow pair of ‘bud scales’ which when the first growth spurt begins peel back as the leaf begins to unfold. Only Alder and one or two other species in its family have buds set all along the short stalks from the beginning or bracket of the branch.

Alder leaves are quite unique in their design as when they develop from the branch they are held outward in a horizontal manner. When looking at the leaves at the end of a branch it can be noted that the leaves are set up almost like an upturned open hand with the leaves pointing slightly upward towards the end, this is because the tree requires as much light and heat as possible and this formation at the tips gives the best chance of catching both the light and the heat from it.

The leaves themselves are rounded and look like an inverted heart shape compared to the leaves of a poplar tree which are a standard heart shape design, the alder looks like its got its leaves backwards, some sources call this form the raquet shape. The shape of the leaf itself almost in all examples and species of alder goes from a narrow width at the base of the stem of the leaf and expand to its widest point at the tip of the leaf.

When the alder is a young tree the leaves are actually sticky, a substance grows on the upside of the leaves that is called a gum and is produced by the young tree to repel excess amounts of moisture. It is this little ability when young that gives the tree its name Alnus Glutinosa as in Glutin a base form of sugar.

The leaves follow the pattern of the buds along the branch first as a rich green (the origin of the colour racing green, although this is a myth) and when they grow and develop into their largest form the green deepens into a very dark green almost to the point of a purplish black colour. When fully developed the leaves of an alder become quite heavy and take on a leathery texture to the upper side of the leaf where as the under side loses its ‘fir’ from its youth and becomes smooth. The leaves on an alder usually are first seen at the beginning of april and don’t tend to die off till late autumn (middle of november).

Alder Bark:

The bark of the alder changes through its development, when an alder is young (zero to twenty years) its bark is quite smooth and shows very little in imperfections. But it is when it begins creating catkins (twenty years plus) that the bark begins to change. First it will develop vertical lines or crags looking like splits in the bark, this is noted to helped the alder again catch the warmth it requires as it means the surface area of the trunk is increased with this development.

Then as it get older and matures (around sixty years of age) the bark develops horizontal lines in variation of degree depending how close to a water source the tree is or how the hot the weather has been during its development. This pattern of crisscrossing gives the bark an appearance of having squares on its surface although all this is again is the bark expand slightly and cracking, giving the tree trunk a larger surface area. This factor also increases the strength of the trunk as the bark becomes thicker and also makes the bark hardier against the affects of weather against it.

Colour wise the alder trunk bark goes from a light whispy white grey when young turning to a dark sometimes brown or blackish grey colour when it reaches an age where it begins to reproduce.

The most distinguishing trademark of an Alder tree, when an alder is cut or felled the wood inside is a very light white colour, but very quickly due to contact with oxygen the wood turns from white to a reddish-pink and in certain conditions quite a vivid red. It’s from this reaction to the air that the alder is seen as a sacred tree to the indigeneous people of britain as it was seen that when cut the alder tree would bleed like humans.

It’s timber is looked upon as a commercial product for one reason and that is the long-standing emphasis on fast-growing non-native species, particularly Sitka Spruce and to a lesser extent Lodge Pole Pine both which can produce saleable timber in thirty to forty years, Alder is in this growth bracket. Alder wood becomes extremely hard and strong when wet but soft and light when dry. In the process of wetting and drying, the wood decays rapidly and therefore it has no real use in dry outdoor settings as it has no staying power.

Equally it does not retain strength when dry and is of little use for indoor structural applications. It is only where wood capable of taking great stresses when constantly wet that alder comes into its own. Many of the piles that Venice is built on are of alder, similar to structures in France and Holland. The Alder wood has been mostly used for bridge and pier piles, for canal sluice gates, and for making clogs: uses that are more specialised and today almost unneeded as they have been superseded.

What alder wood does have to offer is it’s colour, its fine grain, its softness and it’s ability to split easily, all of which make it ideal for turning and carving. Because it isn’t widely planted, the wood does not tend to become available very often and its characteristics are not generally appreciated by novice wood turning hobbyists and even some professionals. Beyond that, the only real commercial use seems to be for the production of wood pulp, a market in which it must compete with the faster-growing Sitka Spruce.

Alder Flower:

Alder grows catkins, these are its fruit or flower in its respect, it is also one of the few trees in Britain to produce both male and female catkins making it monoecious, in essence it does not need another tree to fertilize its seed.

These catkins actually form in the autumn before their flowering in the next year, they tend to remain dormant on the tree throughout the winter period and do not open till spring before the leaves begin to develop. A note here is that it is often seen that the previous years catkins and cones can been seen still on the tree along side the new years catkins and cones.

The long ‘pendulous’ make catkins grow to a size ranging between two to four inches (five to ten centimetres), they tend to go from a light yellowish colour when small to a purplish deep rich red or wine red when fully grown and remain this way throughout winter.

However the female ‘cones’ grow on the same tree but usually on lower branches, these cones hang in groups or clusters from which they can catch the pollen from the fully developed male catkins, the female cones when developing are green and water tight which due to its preferred locations tells us about how it would spread its seeds, by water flow.

When it has fully developed these air tight pockets made by its ‘scales’ help it float down stream or river to populate the banks further down, the furthest any recorded cone has travelled down one river source was forty eight miles. When the female cones are fertilized they grow larger and take on a deep reddish-brown colour as the future seeds develop within them.

Alder Root:

Alder’s roots are quite versitile and are well designed to fit its preferred surroundings. The roots tend to be many but small, some sources suggest almost weed like in appearance although far bigger in proportion.

The roots are a pinkish colour and spread wide and far from the base. Very often the roots of the tree when near water’s edges can be seen pointing out of the ground slightly and going into the water itself. It’s due to these roots that the Alder tree is so versitile in growing in many different surroundings. to the point of even growing out of a river, which most trees are not able to do.

General Statistics:

Black Alder or also known as Irish Fearnog is a rapdily growing tree (half a metre per year for the first thirty to forty years). As said before Alder matures at around sixty years old. It can however live up to an age of around one hundred and fifty years reaching a height of twenty metres plus. The largest type of alder is the red alder, which can grow up to a height of around thirty-five metres in length.

Alder is particularly noted for its important symbiotic relationship with a bacterium (Frankia alni), which forms nodules on the tree's roots. This nitrogen-fixing bacterium absorbs nitrogen from the air and makes it available to the tree, with the rate of fixation estimated at up to one hundred and twenty five kilograms of nitrogen per hectare per year.

Alder, in turn, provides the bacterium with carbon, which it produces through photosynthesis. As a result of this mutually beneficial relationship, alder improves the fertility of the soils where it grows, and as a pioneer species, it helps provide additional nutrients for a succession of species of tree.

A mature alder supports a variety of moss and lichen species on its bark and branches. Because it grows by rivers and streams, where there is often a higher humidity in the air due to spray, moisture-loving lichens such as tree lungwort (Lobaria pulmonaria) are relatively common on alder. At least one lichen species (Stenocybe pullatula) only occurs on alder, while another (Menegazzia terebrata) is more common on alder than on any other tree species.

Forty seven species of ‘mycorrhizal’ fungi have been recorded as growing with alder, and in the symbiotic relationships formed by these fungi and the tree, both the partners benefit through an exchange of nutrients, which each organism cannot access directly itself. Notable species forming this relationship with alder include a rare Russula (Russula pumila), two species of milk caps (Lactarius obscuratus and L. cyathula) and the brown roll-rim (Paxillus filamentosus), all of which are restricted to alder, and several species in the genus family, which are mainly restricted to alder.

The fruits of the brown cup fungus (Ciboria amentacea) appear in spring, on alder catkins after they have fallen to the ground. In recent years, a rare fungus (Taphrina amentorum), which produces curved, tongue-like galls on alder cones, has been discovered in Britain.

Previously known only from mainland Europe, this species grows in the flowers and seeds of young alder catkins, before producing the galls, which harden as the cones ripen.

Galls can also be induced on the leaves of alder by a form of mite (Eriophyes laevis inangulis). These take the form of raised pustules on the upper surface of the leaves. The galls vary in colour from pale yellow-green to deep red, and the mite itself lives on sap, which it sucks from the cell tissue of the tree.

Over 140 phytophagous (ie plant eating) insects have been recorded on alder. These include the striped alder sawfly (Hemichroa crocea) and another sawfly (Cimbex connatus), although the latter is rare in the UK. In Scotland by comparison to birches, there are relatively few moths which feed exclusively on alder, but the May high flyer (Hydriomena impluviata) is specific to alder, and its larva lives in a shelter which is formed by two leaves that have been sewn together by silk.

Another moth whose larva is a specialist feeder on alder is the dingy shell (Euchoeca nebulata), while four species of micro moths in the genus Phyllonorycter make something called blister mines on alder leaves. In England a wider range of moths are associated with alder, including the alder kitten moth (Furcula bicuspis).

As with most tree species in Scotland, alder is browsed upon by red deer, and this prevents the natural regeneration of the tree in many parts of the Highlands, while domestic sheep have a similar effect throughout the country. However, other potentially more serious threats to the survival of alder have recently been noted in the UK.

One is a fungus (Phytophthora sp.), which grows upwards from the bottom of the tree, killing the roots and bark. This has become a widespread problem in England and Wales; where over 10% of alders are either dead or infected with the fungus.

The other problem-affecting alder is crown dieback, which results in the tree dying from the top downwards. This condition was first noted in the northwest of Scotland in the 1980s and has subsequently spread throughout the Highlands: in some areas of Glen Affric, most of the alders are affected. The cause of crown dieback is still unknown, and research into the problem is ongoing.

Because it is the most common tree in riparian (areas of marshy or boggy land) woodlands, which often form the ecological linkages between different forest patches, alder is an important species in the Caledonian Forest, and its survival and expansion is essential to the health of the land and rivers alike.

Location:

Alder is found throughout Europe and especially Britain, it is seen as one of the oldest native trees in the British Isles as examples are found in Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. The trees are found growing by the waterside of rivers and streams and even ponds. Often seen is the trunk of the alder bending towards the water, hanging over it.

Alder woods, or ‘carrs’, can even be found in the extreme north of Scotland, but only where the ground is water-logged. Alder woodland was more abundant when large tracts of Britain’s primeval forest comprised of undrained swamp especially in the mild, wet conditions that existed 10,000 years ago.

Since then, extensive drainage and clearance have reduced the carrs to their present fragmented state, often on the edge of fen or marsh common. If the presence of Alder is seen on dry ground, it is more often than not a sign of recent drainage or re-planting.

Not only does alder thrive in waterlogged sites like the edges of lakes and fens, but it will also grow on coastal dunes and even abandoned industrial sites such as quarries.

It is, to put it simply, a pioneer species. This ability to make use of otherwise marginal or unusable sites has been taken advantage of in recovery of opencast mines and quarry sites in North America and continental Europe.
This ability makes alder special, for it not only makes use of marginal sites but it improves them; as stated before the bacteria it co-exists with helps it nitrate the soil properly.

The real difference is that planting alder inserts the nitrates into the soil itself, rather than splashing them across the soil surface, it is a slow, organic process rather than an annual blitz approach, which requires purchase of fertiliser and use of equipment, and the trees themselves look good and ultimately produce good timber.

Traditional and Magical Uses:

From a magical point of view it is unwise to attempt to fit the alder into any of the archetypal grouping popular with modern pagan belief. With the alder tree’s habitat being streams and riverbanks in can be viewed as being sacred to Elemental water, although with its various associations, it seems to embrace all four elements.

With its pale, flesh coloured timber turning blood-red when cut, the alder can also be seen in the symbolic terms of the Sacrificial God and embodying Elemental spirit and, with its Faerie Folk associations, the gateway to the Other World. Primarily, however, the alder is the tree of fire, using the power of fire to free the earth from water and a symbol of resurrection, as its blooms heralds the drying up of the winter floods by the spring sun.

The indigenous people would have used the ‘natural’ calendar to calculate the re-emergence of the sun and so alder is ideal to use as an integral part of the celebrations for Spring Equinox. Just as the tree itself can be seen as the embodiment of all the elements, so its use can bestow both negative and positive outcomes to any magical working.

Great care needs to be taken when working with alder since there is an unpredictability surrounding it, as one would expect with anything associated with the Faere Folk. When collecting catkins, cones, leaves or wood it is advisable to leave something in exchange for what you take.
Used as incense, alder can be used to disperse other powers and dissolve malevolent forces. On the other hand, when burnt it can also cause dissention between even the closest of relationships and the felling of a sacred alder will be revenged by fire in the home.

Some sources suggest hanging a sprig in your home, the alder will bring you and yours under the protection of powerful forces, which will both, attract good fortune and banish negative powers. This should be collected before the Autumnal Equinox when both cones and catkins are fully developed. The dried cones can also make suitable decorations to add to Yuletide gifts.

It’s possible that the alder’s unpredictability is what makes modern pagans shy away from working with its power since the tree is neither benign nor malevolent. For serious magical practitioners, however, the uncertainty of working with the alder is part of its irresistible challenge.

A staff or wand cut from the alder should be obtained with great care. Since this is a tree that is said to be under the protection of the Faere Folk, an offering of milk or fruit, and the offering of a small silver coin would be appropriate. It is not wise to underestimate the power of the alder as the combination of all the elemental symbols makes it a formidable wand or staff to wield.

One source suggests that once you have found your tree and agreed a ‘price’ make sure you take it with a swift, clean cut. Root and Branch suggests that you should prepare the wood in the ‘normal way’ but do not allow others to handle it, particularly if used as a staff or stang.

The wood of the Alder has many uses. When young it is brittle and very easily worked but the more mature of its wood is tinted and veined. The roots and knots of the Alder furnished good material for cabinet-makers. These were used for making the clogs of old Lancashire mill-towns, however demand exceeded supply and Birch had to be used in its stead.

It was also used for making carts and spinning wheels, bowls, spoons, wooden heels and herring-barrel staves etc. On the Continent it was largely used for cigar-boxes for which its reddish Cedar-like wood was well suited.
After lying in a bog, the wood of the Alder has the colour but not the hardness of Ebony. In the Highlands of Scotland this 'bog Alder' was used for making chairs from which it became known as 'Scottish Mahogany'. The wood of the Alder made good charcoal and was a valuable commodity for making gunpowder. Dyers, tanners and leather dressers used its bark commercially and fishermen use it for making nets.

The Alder was sacred to the god 'Bran' who carried a branch of it with him during the 'Battle of the Trees' saga, an old Celtic legend. Bran’s totem animal was the Raven, which also became associated with the Alder, his story will be gone into in more depth.

A Taliesin riddle once asked the question: “Why is the Alder purple?”, the answer is because Bran wore purple into battle. In the Ogham alphabet, the Druids allocated the letter “F” the third consonant to the Alder.

Italian witches used to mix the sap from the Alder tree with that of the madder plant, a Eurasian plant to produce red dyes. These were then used to colour ribbons, cords and sashes for use in magick and ritual. Ritual bags made of wool and dyed red have been highly prized by Italian witches since classical times. Also in Italy the wood of the Alder was used to light the fires for the spring festival.

In dyeing, the Alder’s bark is used as a foundation for blacks with the addition of copperas. Alone it dyes woollens a reddish colour (Aldine Red). The Laplanders chew it and dye leathern garments with their saliva. The young shoots of the Alder dye yellow and with a little copper a yellowish-grey useful in the half-tints and shadows of flesh in tapestry.

The shoots cut in March will dye cinnamon, and if dried and powdered produce a tawny shade. The fresh wood yields a pinkish-fawn dye and the catkins a green. The leaves can be used in tanning leather.

The bark and young shoots contain from sixteen to twenty per cent of tannic acid but not much colouring matter that they are not very useful for tanning. This tannin differs from that of galls and oak-bark and does not yield glucose when acted upon by sulphuric acid, instead it resolves it into the Aldine red and sugar.

Alder acts as both a tonic and a stringent and has diuretic qualities. Alder leaves were collected in the morning with the dew still upon them making them sticky and gummy, these were then carried around the home attracting fleas and trapping the pests. Horses, cows, sheep and goats are said to eat Alder leaves but some say it is bad for horses as it turns their tongues black, where as pigs refuse to eat it.

The Alder can be used to attract the powers needed for: Protection of self, Divination, Oracles, Healing and pretty much anything to do with the element Water. Astrologically Alder people (those who were born in the month of February) are said to be like the Phoenix rebuilding itself after each defeat or set back.

They have tendencies to be oracles being psychically aware, but also have to be careful not to abuse their gifts. They can be brutal in their frankness yet they are also kind. They might sometimes be in need of protection spiritually because others will envy what they have and try to use it or take it from them.

Healing Properties:

Alder has the ability to dissolve puffiness and the swellings of surface inflammation. Through its links with the element of water, it also has the capacity to heal our emotions. It was said that ‘By bridging’ the waters of the emotions through meditation, alder allows us to rise above the situation and become objective.

The book ‘Tree Wisdom’ states that ‘through this we become strong and centred, able to find a firm foundation upon which to stand’. Above all else alder provides foundation. Its ruling planet Venus is reflected in the healing it can give, which particularly focuses on healing through the heart.

Uses for Bark:

Bathing in a decoction of alder bark can ease the pains of burns and inflammations, and muslin soaked in the same decoction can be bound around the neck to ease inflammations of the throat. Alder bark gives much the same relief as alder leaves and is a good substitute during winter months when the tree is bare.

Uses for Leaves:

In the past our ancestors when walking great distances used alder leaves to refresh their weary feet, putting them onto their bare soles. Huge beds of dry alder leaves were renowned for giving relief from rheumatism to those who slept in them. Today, when not all would be happy with a bedroom full of leaves (not to mention your partner’s reaction), we can gain similar relief by loosely filling duvets or cushions with alder leaves, which can then be slept in or held on specifically painful areas for certain periods of time.

Magical Properties:

Because of its ability to produce strongly coloured dyes the alder tree is closely associated with the skills of dyers, spinners and weavers, wherein magical intent can be ‘woven’ into cloth and clothing. Such tasks were held in high esteem for according to what was ‘imbued in the garment at it’s making, so ran the protection and power of the wearer’.

Great trust was placed upon garment makers, for if wrong intent were put into the process, the wearer’s life (and possibly soul) would be at risk. In Britain the goddess who ruled the spindle and loom was Brigid where as in the Norse tales it was Odin’s wife and mother to the Esir Frigga.

Meditation with alder during the first month of spring helps to ground the person, not only energy wise but also mentally from floating off. This also is said to help give insight into what the year ahead holds for the land.

It also had benefits at Beltane as the red of the dye made from the tree put on in certain patterns were said to help the fertility aspect of the celebration.

Because of its associations with water and that element being in the west it has also a benefit during autumn around Samhain. There it can be used in herb incenses and decorations to ward off ill thoughts and encourage clarity in the mind (this is also a link as to its balance between life and death ‘light and dark’ and the cycle of one following the other).

To make the magical pipes associated with the air element, you need to take several shoots of alder bound together side by side with one end stopped with plugs of clay or sealing compound. The shoots can then be trimmed to make the desired notes, hence why the tree is often linked with Pan.

The method for preparing alder shoots in the past goes as follows:

‘Take green alder branches from the shrub alder species (tag alder for example) and loosen the bark from the wood inside by tapping the shoots or branches with willow wood. As the shoots dry, the inner-wood shrinks and can be removed, leaving the outer intact’.

It can also be used for a personal protection when you know you are heading for an unavoidable confrontation, carry a piece of alder with you. In Brehon law, the alder was classed as a peasant tree, an indication of the alder being a tree of the people.

The alder was revered as a ‘finger tip’ tree used in certain forms of divination, by handling its cones with the fingertips its texture sensitises the fingertips, allowing them to feel much more distinctly the essence, construction and energy of whatever is touched.

Like the blind use Braille, it is similar with psychometrics, who have the ability to divine the properties and history of objects just by touch.

If you are going on a long sea voyage it is said you can call on Manannan Mac Lír while holding a small alder twig and ask protection during your journey. Nechtan will protect you in fresh-water areas and the Cailleach will help you face the physical effects of old age/debility bravely.

Traditionally in Ireland the Alder wand was used to measure the dead and was marked with protective oghams for this purpose only a druid could handle it without penalty. This survived into folkloric belief and it was considered unlucky to handle alder wood up to the early twentieth century in parts of Ireland. The Alder measuring wand was called a Fe. (The Aspen wand was also used for funereal measuring and has similar superstitions surrounding it). It was used for cursing one's enemies and it was believed that it could bring death upon them.

Legends and History:

The ‘indigenous’ tribes of Britain regarded the tree as sacred, believing it to possess ‘human’ qualities when they first witnessed the white wood turning a vivid reddish-orange- the colour of blood. This caused the alder to be revered as a sentinel, guarding the realms of Other World. The tree was also sacred to incoming deities such as Eostre and Bran.

Originally it was one of the seven Celtic Cheiftain trees but was displaced by the ash following the Battle of the Trees, this shows it was sacred long before the Celts came to Britain. It is described as ‘the very battle-witch of all woods, the tree that is hottest in the fight’ which suggests it may have been a military standard or clan totem belonging to the native people on their battles with the invading Celts.

The alder also has its association with the Faere folk, which some sources suggest or believe to be the native people of the British Isles. The alder being used for its dyes, the green dye being linked in British folklore with the green clothes of the Faere Folk.

Left to its own devices, thickets formed by the alder, usually together with a tangle of matted bramble and nettles, quickly become impenetrable to humans, yet provide an ideal habitat for the flora and fauna of the water margin. This demonstration of the alder’s determination is seen as its continuing battle to reclaim what was lost, by the lands native ancestors, this making it an obvious candidate for the ‘very prince of sacred trees’. Unfortunately, in modern Wicca and many areas of traditional craft, the alder is sadly missing from their tree-lore.

Legend tells us how alder and willow became trees of the waterways, the rivers, the streams, ponds and lakes, which give life to the land. At a great feast held for the fertility deities when all the life forms of the natural world celebrated together, the alder and willow stood apart from the others, gazing longingly into the waters of a flood. The mighty gods were angered by their lack of acknowledgment and declared that as they had shown their preference, there they should remain, binding them to gaze forever into the waters.

However by such actions the gods gave a great gift to the land, for as king and queen of the waters the alder and willow reigns supreme, enhancing the vital process of water movement, which ensures that the life of the land is sustained.

The water-loving alder was especially revered by ancient man for, as already mentioned, it appeared to bleed when cut, its sap turning quickly red when exposed to the air. Through this quality it was sacred and was seen to represent the generosity of the gods and the health of the land. And yet with all its kingly qualities, alder is essentially a tree of the people. It is approachable and can offer a safe haven in a time of need. This is shown by the abundance of life that grows beneath its branches and the variety of life that it co-exists with.

In ancient Greece, Cronus was represented by an alder tree. One of his epithets was Fearinus, which has been translated as meaning ‘of the dawn of the year’, i.e., the spring, when the sun, wind and rain bring on the growth of plant lift. It is interesting to note that the Irish/Gaelic ogham name for alder is fearn.

In Italian tradition alder is also associated with the spring fire festivals and in the Norse legends March was known as ‘the lengthening month of the waking alder’. In Norse countries this specific time was called lenct, and was a period of enforced fasting as the last of the winter’s provisions ran low. When adopted by the church and used for religious ideals, this time of fasting became Lent.

In Irish Legend the first human male was created from Alder, as the first female was created from Rowan. Alder was anciently regarded as a ‘faerie tree’ able to grant access to faerie realms. It was also a tree, which showed strong associations with the elements of life (water, fire, air and earth), almost as thought it were an axis round which they flowed and formed.

Alder’s associations with the element of fire are dramatic. In Ireland the felling of a sacred alder was said to result in the burning down of your home, in similar fashion to the burning of buildings built upon faerie paths.
Alder’s burning qualities have always been prized amongst metalworkers and smiths, for it was known for its hot charcoal, used to forge ritual weapons.

As a tree which ‘bleeds’, alder is bound up in the legends of the Rollright Stones on Oxfordshire, where the King Stone, which stands alone and some way apart from the other stones, was once reputedly associated with a grove of alder trees. According to sources, rituals were performed within this grove in which the sacred alders were cut to make them ‘bleed profusely’. When this happened, the King Stone apparently ‘moved’ in sympathy.

Alder also provides a fiery-red dye which was called roeim, a term which means, according to Cormac’s tenth century glossary of obsolete terms, ‘that which reddens the face’. In the White Goddess, Robert Graves connects this term to the ‘crimson-stained heroes’ of battles past, recorded n the Welsh Triads as ‘sacred kings and warriors of the alder cult’. If such a connection is valid, it can be seen that alder dye was used in much the same way as the Celts and Picts used woad, to paint and stain their faces and bodies before going into battle, both as a protective measure and to put fear in the enemy.

As stated before alder was renowned as the best wood to use for whistles and pipes, and this gave it great affinity to the element of air. Such was reputed harmony of the music played on alder pipes that the topmost branch of the alder tree became known as the ‘oracular singing head’ of the raven-god Bran.

The alder was regarded as the sacred totem tree of Bran and figures in many ancient legends of the west. Bran was a pagan god, said to have been of such great stature that ‘no house could accommodate him’. From this description we can see that in his original form he was possibly one of the race of guardian giants of ancient Britain, who in the minds of the people became gods.

He is especially associated with the Welsh tradition. The Mabinogion speaks of him as the ‘Crowned King’, and celebrates his immense size.

Legend relates that Bran was sitting on the rocky shore of Harlech, when he viewed a fleet of thirteen ships sailing from the direction of southern Ireland. The boatmen gave signs of peace and disclosed their purpose, asking Bran for the hand in marriage of his beautiful sister Branwen to the powerful Irish Lord Mattholoch. This Bran gave, forming an alliance between Wales and Ireland.

Great feasting took place at the wedding of Branwen and Mattholoch, but unbeknown to Bran, his half-brother Evnissien, because of his jealousy at not being asked about Branwen’s hand, cruelly maimed the horses of the Irish and by doing so put the political alliance in a very awkward position. Bran offered his apologies to the Irish, which he backed with gifts of ‘an honour-bound staff of solid silver as tall as Mattholoch and a gold plate the circumference of his face’. Even so the Irish still weren’t entirely satisfied, so Bran was forced to appease them with his greatest possession, his magic cauldron in which men killed in battle were revived overnight.

Branwen went to Ireland with Mattholoch and the Irish people loved her as their queen. But after a few years the councillors of the land remembered the insult delivered to Mattholoch in the maiming of his horses and forced him to relegate Branwen to the kitchen as a maid. While there to take her mind of the humiliation, Branwen befriended a starling which she taught words and how to run small errands for her.

One day she fastened a letter to the bird and let it fly away, and by good fortune it found its way to Wales and was taken to the court of Bran. On reading Branwen’s letter, which described the harsh treatment and humiliation, Bran decided on a war of revenge against Ireland.

In his anger he waded the seas from Wales to Ireland, his armies following in ships. From the Irish shore it is said that onlookers witnessed an extraordinary sight as the giant crossed the seas, for he created the illusion of a moving landscape containing a mountain, forest and lakes. Looking like the very land of Wales was marching to war. Since this was coming from the direction of Wales, Branwen was asked what it could be.

She explained that the forest illusion was made from the masts of ships and the lakes were created by the eyes of her brother Bran, who was himself the mountain moving through the water, since no ship had ever been built which could contain him.

The Irish retreated at such a sight and to stop the Welshmen from following them, they destroyed the bridge across the River Shannon. At this Bran declared ‘The man who would lead his people must first become a bridge,’ and he stretched himself across the river so his armies could cross over him. By doing such he not only helped his people, but also showed the principal quality of the alder tree, for its resistance to rotting in water as stated already has been utilized since ancient days in the construction of bridges.

The confrontation between Bran and Mattholoch raged over southern Ireland until Branwen was reunited with her brother. But again Evnissien buggered things by throwing Branwen’s son by Mattholoch into a huge fire, causing fresh battle over the loss of the heir to the throne of Ireland. In this terrible fight great losses of men occurred on both sides, but the Irish made use of Bran’s regenerative cauldron and brought their men to life again, vastly outnumbering the Welsh.

On seeing how the balance was shifting, the enraged Envissien threw himself into the cauldron amongst the Irish dead and stretched his giant body in four directions until he split the cauldron, and himself, into four pieces. As a result the Welsh won the battle, but only seven men escaped alive with Bran, who was grievously wounded in the foot by a poisoned dart.

On his deathbed Bran gave his last instructions to his men: to cut off his head and carry it to London, spending seven years with it at Harlech and eighty years in Pembroke en route. On re-entering Wales Branwen looked back over the sea and her heart broke in grief. The carriers of Bran’s head, which remained vital and uncorrupted so it could advise them in song, followed his instructions and eventually buried the head in the White Hill of London. Facing France, from which direction they were warned the next invasion, would come. It is said that their journeys took place in the realms of faerie.

Bran’s shamanistic birds were ravens, which acted as his scouts and messengers. When his head was buried in the White Hill, his ravens stayed with him to carry out his desires and guard him and the land. The present day ravens at the Tower of London are possibly evidence of this legend, for it is said that Britain will fall if they ever desert the Tower.

Bran was a beneficial god who ruled his people well, just as alder is a beneficial tree to the land, its livestock and people. The colour of alder’s leaf-buds is especially associated with Bran, and is called ‘royal purple’. In pagan Britain, such was the deep strength of feeling for Bran that the Christian church had to acknowledge him, eventually sainting him into St Brons or Bran the Blessed.


BiNkY

---