Blackthorn (prunus spinosa) is of the rosaceae family, which includes rose, apple, strawberry, raspberry, cherry, almond, plum, rowan and many others.
Small tree, staple of hedgerows, scrub, copses, and open woodland throughout Britain, thriving in full sunlight and in moist, well-drained soil. The Blackthorn is often called a shrub and usually grows as a bush, but it can become a tree reaching up to 30 feet in height and living for up to 100 years. Where hedgerows are neglected or rewilded, blackthorn puts out patches of sucker growth into the fields. When cut back, these patches can leave pointy stubs sharp enough to puncture a tyre.
Blackthorn forms dense thickets of unyielding thorny branches, impenetrable to people and cattle. Blackthorn lined the ramparts and ditches of ancient hillforts, rivalling in toughness 20th century barbed wire. It is said that blackthorn provided the last line of defence between the Romans and the Druids on Ynys Môn – The Isle of Anglesey.
Deep hedgerow species rich, splendid habitat for bugs and beetles, birds and badgers, whose hard-trodden paths form arches in the lower blackthorn storey.
The beautiful, delicate, white flowers – which are hermaphrodite – bloom early in the spring, before the blackthorn leaves have budded, before its neighbour hawthorn has blossomed, creating an ethereal magical contrast of white against the black bark, abuzz with pollinating insects.
The flowers are edible, useful for digestion and stomach upsets, for stimulating appetite and removing toxins.
Rich blue sloes appear in autumn, hard and bitter and mouth-drying, although late sun-blasted and frost-improved sloes can be as sweet as damsons, and can even be mistaken for damsons. Sloe berries contain vitamins C and E, tannins, organic acids, antioxidants, phenols, and flavonoids. Dried fruit used to treat bladder, kidney and stomach disorders. Sloe gin is a powerful winter tonic. Sloes can also be made into jam, chutney, and added to fruit pies.
Blackthorn has ancient magical properties, associated with Druidry, hedge-witchcraft, and Faery, used for wands, staffs, divining rods, amulets, protective bracelets and pendants.
Often associated with the Crone – the third aspect of the Triple Goddess – bony and wise, ancient and experienced, bitter (but not resentful) and resistant, embattled and hardy, steadfast, unwavering and resolute. These are the qualities that Blackthorn teaches.
Blackthorn is a tough magical ally, teaching through ordeal, blocking the way, snagging the coat, catching the jumper, scratching the hand.
Entrance to Otherworlds and Underworlds, dark spaces of battles and death and spiritual development through strife.
On the Ogham alphabet, Blackthorn is known by its ancient Irish name Straif. This is though to be the origin of strife. Straif means sulphur, long associated in Christian mythology with the underworld Hell and the Devil.
Rods or wands carried by witches are said to have been of blackthorn. These are called ‘black rods’, used for ‘binding and blasting.’ Bundles of blackthorn wood was thrown onto the pyres when women accused of witchcraft were murdered by the witchfinders. Blackthorn has thus long been feared by those who fear wise women.
Bad juju to burn blackthorn. Bad juju to chop it down, though trimming hedgerows sympathetically is not a problem. Beware the long thorns.
Sleeping Beauty is surrounded by blackthorn, hawthorn and wild rose (all Rosaceae). Only the pure of heart can penetrate. Rapunzel is locked away in a tall tower. When her suitor is thrown down by the nasty crone, he lands in a blackthorn and is blinded.
Blackthorn wood is strong, hard and dense, hardwearing and tough. The timber is light yellow with a brown heartwood and takes a fine polish. The hard wood is used for tool handles. It has long been used for weaponry.
The shillelagh, which are both walking stick and cudgel, are made of knotted blackthorn. Shillelagh were wielded by the ancient Irish giants. Irish regiments in the British Armed Forces have traditionally carried blackthorn staffs.
Black Rod, who controls access to the House of Lords, hammers on the door of the House of Commons with the rod of Blackthorn.
Upon taking office, the incoming Mayor of Sandwich, Kent, is presented with a Blackthorn staff, a custom dating back at least 700 years. It is said that the staffs were originally used to ward off evil spells. Three such sticks are on display in The Sandwich Guildhall Museum.
Blackthorn is tree of power, hedge-bound, dense and tangled, of the wild margins and the liminal spaces between fields of crop and fields of thought. Tree of cunning men and cunning women. Tree of knowledge. Tree of strife. Hail Blackthorn!