The Magic of Trees: A Guide to Their Sacred Wisdom & Metaphysical Properties - Tess Whitehurst 2017

Hazel
The Trees

Extremely sacred in a number of cultures, the verdant hazel (Corylus) is often found growing alongside holy wells in England. In addition to being aligned with the gods in a number of ancient pantheons, the hazel’s delicious, protein-rich nuts have been a treasured food for millennia.

Magical Uses

Communication

The Greek god of communication, Mercury, received a caduceus of hazel as a gift from the god of harmony. It’s said that he used it to bestow blessings of peace and communication upon humankind.

To facilitate harmonious communication or to counteract the challenges associated with Mercury retrograde periods, lovingly gather a hazel branch. Use it to bless a room or a building by sweeping the air around the perimeter of the space while moving in a clockwise direction. For the same purposes, lightly tap communication devices (like phones and computers) with a hazel wand.

Immortality

With delicate blossoms in late winter or very early spring, German tradition aligns the hazel tree with immortality. Sacred to the god Thor, the wisdom of the hazel reminds us of our true eternal nature and divine spark of infinite light. To align with this wisdom, spend time in quiet contemplation with a hazel tree.

Dowsing

Hazel branches are a traditional choice for “Y rods,” which are used to dowse for underground water and buried treasure. It’s said that they’re most powerful when cut from the tree between sunset and sunrise while facing east. It’s also said that cutting the rod the day before Midsummer makes it particularly potent.

Magic

Very much like the Magician card in the tarot deck, hazel is like a lightning rod with the ability to draw magic from the heavenly invisible realm and bring it into the earthly realm of physical manifestation. Indeed, according to tradition, Jewish magicians wielded wands of hazel.

Hazel also teaches about the balance of duality: of yin and yang, masculine and feminine, light and dark, and about consciously employing this duality in order to create positive change. This is an important key to both Eastern and Western magical traditions.

To receive magical wisdom and power from a hazel, hug a hazel tree or sit with your spine resting against the tree. Feel the tree’s energy moving your own energy from the crown of your head to your feet and vice versa. In addition to empowering you with the unique magic of hazel, this will align and activate your chakras and subtly balance your energy field.

Wisdom

For the Celts, hazelnuts were powerful symbols and receptacles of wisdom. In fact, the Salmon of Knowledge, a fish who could live despite being eaten, was a regular mortal salmon until he ate nine hazelnuts from the trees that grew around the Well of Wisdom that was his home. After eating these hazelnuts, the salmon possessed all the wisdom of the world. Later, when a servant boy named Fionn mac Cumhaill (pronounced Finn McCool) was asked by his master to cook the fish, he checked with his thumb to see if it was cooked, burned his thumb, and then licked it. At that moment he was imbued with all the wisdom of the world too, and he grew up to be a legendary hero.

HAZELNUT WISDOM SPELL

To magically summon more wisdom, roast exactly nine hazelnuts by cooking them at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for thirteen minutes. Cool completely. Hold them in your right hand and charge them in bright sunlight as you say:

Wisdom deep and wisdom wide

Be my rudder, be my guide.

Fill me with a knowledge vast

And understanding that shall last.

Then, one by one, eat them.

Magical Correspondences

Element: Spirit

Gender: Feminine and masculine

Planet: Mercury