Apple 2024

By S.F. Skyheart - June 13, 2024

According to the Celtic Tree Calendar, the period from June 13 - July 10 is associated with two trees, Apple and Hazel.

The Apple tree belongs to the rose family, and can grow quite large. It flowers with beautiful white-pink blossoms in the spring, and its fruit appears in the late summer and autumn. The apple tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor still grows today. It is believed to have spread from Asia to Europe along the Silk Road. Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Europe and Asia, but they are not native to North America--they were introduced by European colonists. Today, there are over 7500 cultivars of apples worldwide. Having grown up in Michigan, which has countless orchards, I am well-acquainted with which apples are best for eating, cooking and baking pies, making applesauce or apple butter, and milling into cider. Some of my fondest memories are going to a local cider mill for apple-picking, fresh cider, and warm donuts.

Apples have extensive, worldwide religious and mythological significance, most often connected to fertility, abundance, secret knowledge, and immortality.

In Norse mythology, the goddess Iðunn gave apples to the gods for eternal youth. In one saga, Freyr (a Vanir god) sent a messenger, Skirnir, to give eleven golden apples to the beautiful Gerðr, as a symbol of fertility. In another, King Rerir prays to Odin for a child, so the goddess Frigg sends a crow to drop an apple in his lap, which he gives to his wife to eat, resulting in a six-year pregnancy (YIKES) and birth of their son Völsung, who later becomes a hero.

In Greek mythology, Paris gave Aphrodite an apple to honor her as most beautiful of all the goddesses. Many ancient deities (Greek, Roman, Celtic, Hindu, etc) are depicted with apples, or in stories in which apples are gifts of fertility or for sacred passage of the dead. Apples have been found in numerous archeological sites, such as the ancient Oseberg ship burial site in Norway, as well as in the early gravesites of Germanic peoples across Europe. It is also believed by many Judeo-Christian scholars that the infamous fruit in the story of Adam and Eve was likely an apple, from the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil."

In Celtic mythology, the apple is revered as a magickal tree, symbolic of wish fulfillment and fruitful bounty. Ancient Druids also regarded the apple tree as sacred, because it often hosted mistletoe, and grew near oak groves, both of which were important to their beliefs.

In my book, THE RECOLLECTION OF TREES, Iona learns through her Grandma Lily that apples contain a star (or pentagram) when sliced horizontally, rather than vertically the way most people cut them. I included apple in her story because it also represents making an important choice, which is Iona's transformational journey--facing the choice between her two families and their two belief systems, and ultimately, choosing to accept herself and her new gifts.

The idea that apples can cure just about everything carried through to the modern era, often given to teachers in bygone days as a wish for good health, and in the expression "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Apples offer us perspective on the blessings in our life, and remind us to take care of our health, especially through connection with nature. May we remember, it's all in how we slice it--one direction gives us moon-shaped slices, and the other shows us the stars.

Do what lights you up,
Sadie

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About the author

S.F. Skyheart

Author of The Recollection of Trees book series. Fifth generation intuitive. Kitchen witch. she/her.

My blog is meant for inspirational and entertainment purposes only.

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