Some interesting information about willows:
Willow Glossary
Barrel sorting - Cut willows are manually sorted into different lengths using a barrel sunk in the ground and a measuring stick
Bed - Field of planted willow about 16,000 plants to an acre. A bed lasts between 30-50 years
Bind - Length of willow soaked and twisted to tie a bundle
Boiler - Tank of water for boiling willow for stripping
Bolt or bundle - The circumference of the bottom of a bundle or bolt, used to be a standard 3’1” (94cms)
Bond Willow - bind to tie bundle, often with a traditional rose knot
Brake V - shaped metal fork used to peel willow rods one at a time, usually by women and children
Brown Willow - Dried harvested willow sold with their bark on for sculpture and hurdles
Buff - Harvested willows boiled and stripped. The tannin in the bark stains the inner wood the traditional reddish ‘buff’ colour
Elephant - Local name for mite which attacks willows
Green - Willow which is alive and used for living willow structures and for river bank ‘spiling’
Hook - Curved bladed tool for cutting willows by hand
Rose - Traditional knot made from twisted bind of willow to tie bundles
Sett - Green willow cuttings about 8’ long pushed into soil by hand to propagate new plants
Spiling - Weaving ‘green’ willow into river banks for erosion control
Steamed willow - Unstripped willow steamed in the boilers. The steaming releases the natural tannin which stains the bark black
Stripping - Stripping the willow of its outer bark, in hand-brakes or machines
Wad - Bundle tied in half for boiling
Wand - Rod of willow cut from the stump
White willow - Harvested willow stripped naturally in the spring to reveal the white inner wood, traditionally used for cribs and bread and laundry baskets
Willow stripple - Shredded bark stripped off the willows, once spread as herbage on meadows, renowned for producing monster marrows
Withy - Somerset term for willow
Names of Somerset Baskets
Pastry tray, bobbin basket, bottle basket, butter basket, bread tray, doctor’s basket, dress basket, hawker’s basket, ribbon basket, shoe basket, show basket, picnic basket, coke and coal skep, draining basket, plate basket, scuttle, butcher’s and baker’s basket, cradle and cot, fish basket, wine hamper, wool skep, herring washing basket, meat and pie hampers, dog basket, fishing basket, linen basket, letter basket, horn basket, homing pigeon basket, laundry hamper, shirt and sheet baskets, pheasant and rabbit hampers, grape basket, hop and potato picking baskets, sives, cherry picker, turnip skep, cheeses hamper, fire iron basket, wine hampers, pony saddle chair, cycle crate and bath chair. (from British Amalgamated union List 1916)
Willow in Water
Did you know coracles were probably one of the earliest boats? A large basket often made from willow because of its flexibility, durability and lightness.
Herodotus (5th Century BC) described how ‘they cut frames of willow then stretch hide over them for a cover – the boat is round like a shield’. He is describing a coracle. The lightness of coracles enabled fishermen to carry them over considerable distances between waterways.
Salmon traps (putchers) and eel traps (kypes) made from willow go back to our Mesolithic ancestors and were used until recently on rivers in Somerset. Sea fisherman still say their catch was better in willow lobster pots. Our last mud-horse fisherman on the Severn Estuary still steams and cools his shrimps in willow “reaps” woven in Bridgwater and until recently, all the “creels” in which river fishermen carried their kit were made from willow basketry.
Did you know that firemen still use a willow basketwork filter on the ends of their hoses when suctioning water from rivers?
Bearskins at the Palace
The Bearskin “caps” of the Guards go back to 1815 when they were made to commemorate Britain’s victory over Napolean at Waterloo. They are still constructed over a traditional woven Somerset willow frame.
Did you know they weigh around 11/2 pounds and are worn for ceremonial duties, to guard royal residences and the Tower of London?
A Greener Future
Did you know that 150 million plastic bags are used in the United Kingdom every week and that a plastic bag takes up to 500 years to decay? Using a willow basket for your shopping instead of plastic bags would help the environment.
Living willows are being woven for erosion control along riverbanks (‘spiling’). They have been considered as an alternative for papermaking and can play a part in sewage treatment. Experiments in growing willow for ‘bio-mass’ (green energy) are underway in Britain so one day they may replace oil as fuel.
“In Sweden small towns are heated by this method (willow bio-mass) and it is hoped that in time the same thing will happen here”. Flora Britanica, Richard Mabey
Willow pollards are traditionally planted along banks of rivers on the Somerset Levels. Their spreading roots stabilise the soil, and prevent erosion. Weaving living willow to reinforce riverbanks was an old country technique which has now been developed as a modern solution to river bank erosion. Known as ‘spiling’, live willow stakes are planted in winter and woven to form a living fence.
Did You Know?
Did you know that willow wood, because of its lightness and strength, was used for making artificial limbs and toys?
Did you know that willow was traditionally the wood of the gallows?
Did you know willow twigs were often set round the hearth to protect the people animals and crops and confirm good luck (Folklore of Plants)?
Ellum do grieve,
Oak he do hate,
Willow do walk
If you travels late
- Was a terrifying Somerset view of the character of certain trees (Folkore of Plants)
Alarmed travellers on Exmoor reported being followed by willow trees and hearing muttering (Folkore of Plants)
Did you know that willow bark contains a glucoside called salicin that forms salicylous acid in the body which is the active ingredient in aspirin?
Did you know “ That at every stage from growing to a finished basket, withies have a different and distinctive smell”? Eric Hembrow, Winter Harvest
Did you know that Mary Nash, a Somerset basketmaker, recently had to make a replica of a Porterloo - a loo in a basket which ladies once carried to church in case they were caught short in long sermons!
Did you know Leaves and bark were used in tanning of leather?
Did you know Wood used for clogs, artificial limbs and harps?
Folklore / Phrases
Go ask the vicar of Taunton Deane
And he’ll tell you the banns were askit
And a good fat capun he had for his pains
And he’s carrit it home in his baskit
R.G. Latham The English Language
“ There on the willow trees we hung our harps” Psalm 137
Being bitter to the taste, became associated with romantic sadness or mourning
Willow Talk - traditional willow sayings
“Go to the basket” = go to prison
“To bring to the basket” = reduce to poverty
“To pin the basket” = conclude the matter
“To leave in the basket” = leave in the lurch
“To put in the basket” = be rejected
“The pick of the basket” = best of the lot
“ I have returned to my old trade of basketmaking” = to return to your old trade whatever it was, basketmaking be recognised a one of the most ancient
Willow and Medicine
Willow bark has been used for centuries throughout the world as a medicine. In fact records as far back as 460-377 BC show willow bark and leaves were used as a pain relief treatment. In the First Century AD willow was used to treat gout, rheumatic pain and toothache. In the Middle Ages it was eaten or drunk as a tea – a country remedy for chills. In 1899 the active ingredient contained in the willow bark was isolated, which led to the production of modern aspirin. Today a tincture made from willow is still used in homeopathy.
Did you know that willow charcoal biscuits were eaten to treat flatulence, diarrhoea and dysentery?
Reproduced from: http://www.somerset.gov.uk/celebratingsomerset/willow/Pages/Facts.htm
by Glennie Kindred (Originally Published at Imbolc 1997)
The Willow is the tree most associated with the moon, water, the Goddess and all that is feminine. It is the tree of dreaming, intuition and deep emotions. Symbolically it belongs to the beginning of spring, when all of life is stirring in the depths and begins to shoot outwards once again. In the ogham alphabet, the willow is Saille which became anglicised to "sally" which means a sudden outburst of emotions, action or expression (to "sally forth"). The Old French "saille" also means to rush out suddenly and the Latin "salire" means to leap. This is the underlying energy of the willow, and the key to understanding the powerful spirit of this beautiful tree.
The early spring festival of Imbolc, Oimelc or Imolg is one of the two great female fire festivals among the yearly cycle of four. Imbolc is celebrated at the beginning of February and, like the willow, is sacred to Brigit, Brigantia, Bride, being the maiden aspect of the triple Goddess. It celebrates her re-emergence as a young virgin from the mountain fastness of her mother Cailleach - she who is of winter, the burial mounds and dark places. Cailleach, the crone aspect of the triple Goddess, drinks from the well of youth and is transformed into Bride/Brigit who is her other self. This is the Celtic version of the Demeter/Kore story, representing the mysteries of life, death and rebirth. Imbolc is sacred to women and the power of the feminine principles of inspiration, illumination and seership. In Ireland, Bride is the Goddess of healing and smithcraft. The church transformed this festival into Candlemass and kept much of the pagan symbolism. It is a time of initiation and of beginnings and celebrates the renewal of the potency of the Earth Mother and the union with the male principle of the returning light.
The willow has much to teach us in its associations with our feminine aspects. By spending time with willows, or using the wood to make a talisman or wand, by taking it herbally or as a Bach flower remedy, we can deepen this connection. Spending time with willow trees at the full moon can only increase the potency of the insights and understanding to be gained. Working with the willow in the early spring, when the willow energy and the Earth's energy are aligned, is also a particularly potent time to explore its aspects.
The willow has always been known as a tree of dreaming and enchantment, and it was associated in Celtic legend with poets and with spells of fascination and binding. This is the willow moon energy, which puts us in touch with our feelings and deep emotions, and it is the ability of the willow to help us to express these, let them out, own them and charge them in fantastical leaps of inspired eloquence and understanding. Our deep unconscious thoughts speak to us through our dreams. If you have lost touch with your dreams or wish to increase their potency, make yourself a willow wand and sleep with it under your pillow. You will find your dreams will immediately become more vivid and meaningful. Studying your dreams, writing them down, opening your intuition to interpreting them can lead to healing emotional problems and releasing tensions in your life.
This movement on the emotional level, of allowing the emotions to come through to the surface, is the power of the willow's essential energy. Deep emotional pain blocks the energy of the body and can cause many illnesses. The willow will allow the person to move through the many levels of sadness, express the pain though tears and grief, and, by moving through these emotions, facilitate healing. The Bach flower remedy Willow is to be taken by those who have suffered adversity or misfortune in life and remain embittered by it. Willow will help the movement out of this negative state to a greater interest and involvement in the present.
When you are either over-stimulated by your feelings or cut off from them, connecting with a tree with a water attunement will greatly help. If you are attracted to a particular tree, then follow this and reach out to the tree with an openness and a willingness to accept your intuitive responses. Physical contact with a tree will help balance your body's energy, and as you stand or sit with a tree you might receive some insights and inspirational thoughts. If you feel you have made a deep connection with a tree and want to end that communication, move slowly out of it and focus some love-light around the tree. It has been proven that the plant world is greatly enhanced by this. An attitude of thanks and gratitude for nature is also a sure way of opening up the channels of communication with trees and plants.
On a herbal level, willow bark has been used for its pain-relieving qualities for at least 2,000 years. The Salix alba (white willow, withe, withy) contains salicin, which is converted to salicylic acid in the body. Salicylic acid is closely related to aspirin, the synthetic drug that has displaced willow bark from popular use. Willow bark reduces fever and relieves rheumatism, a common ailment in these damp isles. A decoction can be used for gum and tonsil inflammations and as a footbath for sweaty feet. The bark is collected in the spring time, being careful not to ring the tree or it will die. The decoction is made by soaking 3 teaspoons (15ml) of the bark in a cup of cold water for 2 - 5 hours. Then bring to the boil. Strain and take a wineglassful each day, a mouthful at a time. The bark can be dried, powdered and stored in an airtight container.
Black willow (Salix nigra) is the pussy willow and has black bark as opposed to the light greens of the white willow. Its properties are much the same, but herbally it was used in the past as an aphrodisiac and sexual sedative.
Goat willow or sallow willow (Salix caprea) is used in very much the same way as the white willow, but sallow bark tea is recommended for indigestion, whooping cough and catarrh. It can also be used as an antiseptic and disinfectant.
Culpeper says in his Complete Herbal "The moon owns the willow" and it was known as the witches' tree and the tree of enchantment. Robert Graves suggests that witch, wicker and wicked are all derived from willow. Willow rods are certainly used for binding magical and sacred objects and the popular witches' broom is traditionally made with an ash handle and birch twigs bound with willow.
Willow wands are used for any ritual associated with the moon and as a protection on deep journeys into the underworld and the unconscious. The willow will always enhance inspired leaps of the imagination and is recommended to be used when seeking to assimilate the teachings of a wise woman or master, because understanding another person's enlightened place is made easier. Also when seeking to understand ancient ways, so that you can assimilate these past levels of information, and quickly move through the underlying emotions, to appreciate humankind's patterns and utilise this information for change.
By working with the moon and the cycles of the moon, we reconnect to the duality of the light (waxing) and the dark (waning) and the tides, the seas, water and the qualities of water which include flowing, surrender, harmonising and accepting. Moon magic puts us in touch with our emotions and unconscious, which balances out our solar rational conscious views. The moon represents the Goddess and everything which reflects and suggests the power of women.
Willow is used for charms of fascination and binding, and during the spring moon we have the power of the Spring Maiden who fascinates and binds the power of the young King. Aphrodite is associated with the spring and the bright half of the moon, courtship and the union which blesses the land with fertility. British and Irish mythology is also rich with legends of the beguiling, Willowy Spring Maiden who is called Olwen, Niwalen, Gwenhyver, Cordelia, Blodeuwedd and many others, who initiate the young King into a deeply sexual experience.
Tree magic generally falls into the class of sympathetic magic which operates through the doctrine of signatures. This states that a plant will act on that part of the body which it most resembles. This can be sub-divided into homeopathic magic (the Law of Similarity) and contagious magic (the Law of Contact, using a magically charged object).
Homeopathic magic words on the principle that "like begets like", and by using willow wood for a wand or talisman it will be charged with the properties of the willow. The flexibility of the willow's twigs inspires us to move with life, rather than resist what we are feeling, and can also help you to let go of conditioned responses to life's experiences and to move towards a greater acceptance of self and others.
Willow's weeping stance reflects its association with grief. By wearing a piece of willow (as in the popular song "All around my hat I will wear the green willow") a person will be able to access all the levels of grief connected with a loss, and be able to move through all these different levels, expressing the whole deep emotional experience, to gain healing and inner strength.
When one of the willow's branches or twigs becomes disconnected, it will easily grow into a new tree if it finds some soil and water, teaching us that contained within a loss, or a new direction, is the capacity for growth and healing. Willow is one of the best water-divining woods, along with hazel and birch.
Homeopathic magic and contagious magic can be combined in the making of wands, talismans and any other objects made for personal or ritual use. Making a wand from willow means that all the willow's qualities are naturally contained within the wood, although you may want to charge or empower certain aspects for specific use. Willow wands are used whenever there is a need to connect with intuition, dreams, seership, visions, poetic and inspired writing or images, and whenever there is either an emotional numbness or emotional excess, or where there are negative emotional feelings which need to be worked through. Use a piece of fresh willow, cut from the tree with appropriate reverence and ritual, or a newly fallen piece which the tree has recently shed. You may like to take the bark, or some of the bark, off and carve it with magical symbols or anything else you may wish to use to energise your wand. It is easier to carve fresh wood and then let it dry out. Small twigs will dry out quickly without cracking in a house, but it is better to let larger pieces of wood dry slowly in an outhouse or shed, or under a hedge. When it is dry, it may be polished with several layers of beeswax to protect the wood, or left natural.
Talismans may be made in the same way, perhaps using the natural shape of the wood to suggest and inspire a carving. Talismans may be worn round the neck or as a brooch, or carried within a pouch and kept close. They may be magically carved with symbols relevant to their use.
Symbolism is not fixed, there are no correct versions of anything, and the willow particularly stimulates our ability to follow our intuitions and find out own meanings behind the symbols. It is true there are traditional meanings associated with things, but traditions must evolve and include new insights and ways of working. We may evolve a new set of symbols, particularly relevant to ourselves, which others may adopt and integrate into a new system. What was meaningful to people in one part of our evolution or history may no longer apply. Interpretations may no longer speak to the conscious or the unconscious. The patterns which a seer can unfold need to be potent and meaningful to our present spiritual evolution. We have been taught to regard our intuition as unreliable but we know that this isn't true and we must use it more in order to develop our ability to use it to the full. The power of the willow can enhance this resolve.
Reproduced from: http://www.whitedragon.org.uk/articles/willow.htm