Lady Elder Tree: Northern Animism and Witchcraft wooden wand and otherworldly communication

and otherworldly communication

the significance of being rooted in the present

creativity

and stories from people who have used community-based interventions

Lady Elder Tree: Northern Animism and Witchcraft wooden wand and otherworldly communicationby Joseph S. Hopkins & Rune Hjarn Rasmussen SECOND EDITION No other plant is more associated with witchcraft in parts of northern and western Europe than the elder tree (Sambucus nigra). An Old English Christian canon explicitly forbids its veneration while later tales strongly associate the elder with witches and witchcraft. Yet the plant is also personified as a goddess like figure who heals and punishes, the Elder Tree Lady. Appeals to the Elder