Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs - Scott Cunningham 1985

Hawthorn
The Herbs

(Crataegus oxacantha) DI* May interfere with digitalis medications

Folk Names: Bread and Cheese Tree, Gaxels, Hagthorn, Halves, Haw, Hazels, Huath, Ladies’ Meat, May, Mayblossom, May Bush, Mayflower, Quick, Thorn, Tree of Chastity

Gender: Masculine

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Deities: Cardea, Flora, Hymen

Powers: Fertility, Chastity, Fishing Magic, Happiness

Ritual Uses: Hawthorn was once used to decorate May poles. At one time Hawthorns were believed to be Witches who had transformed themselves into trees. Witches have long danced and performed their rites beneath the thorn.

Magical Uses: Hawthorn has long been used to increase fertility. Because of this power it is incorporated into weddings, especially those performed in the spring.

The leaves, curiously enough, are also used to enforce or maintain chastity or celibacy. The leaves are placed beneath the mattress or around the bedroom for this purpose.

Carried in a sachet on a fishing trip hawthorn ensures a good catch, and worn or carried it promotes happiness in the troubled, depressed, or sad.

Hawthorn protects against lightning, and in the house in which it resides, no evil ghosts may enter. It is also powerful for protecting against damage to the house from storms. The Romans placed hawthorn in cradles to guard the child from evil spells.

In the past most Witch’s gardens contained at least one hawthorn hedge.

The hawthorn is sacred to the fairies, and is part of the tree fairy triad of Britain: “Oak, Ash and Thorn,” and where all three trees grow together it is said that one may see fairies.