Pagan Eye: Elderflowers in Bloom in my Garden

The elderflowers are just coming into bloom in my garden and here is a photo of the first sprig I noticed. Each elderflower has five petals, five yellow stamens and five sepals, which form a star shape - and they are beautiful, if tiny.

Everything about the elder tree has a magical association and the flowers can be used in spells for joy, recovery from illness or depression, general good health, protection and also faerie magic.

Elderflowers can be used to make tea, cordial, wine and also skin tonic. Here is a recipe for elderflower water from Rachel Patterson's book A Kitchen Witch’s World of Magical Plants and Herbs:

Elderflower Water
You can use this as a skin tonic, but it also works very well as a sacred or blessed water to sprinkle around your property for protection, during purification rituals, to cleanse tools or to use for anointing when working with your intuition or the faerie world.

Ingredients
2 pints (5 cups) elderflowers (fresh, just snip the stalks short)
½ pint (1 cup) boiling water

Use open blossoms and pop them into a large bowl or jug then pour over the boiling water. Leave to infuse for about 3 hours then strain and pour into bottles. Keep in the fridge and it will last about 2 weeks or so.

Elderflowers normally start to bloom in my London garden in May and are over by mid-June but, according to folklore, if you do see any flowers remaining on an elder tree at midsummer they are particularly potent for magical purposes. Sit under them on Midsummer Eve and you might just get a glimpse of faerie folk, who the elder tree is strongly associated with.

My Pagan Eye posts show photos that I find interesting - seasonal images, pagan sites, events, or just pretty pictures. If you want to send me a photo for a Pagan Eye post, please email it to badwitch1234@gmail.com Let me know what the photo shows and whether you want your name mentioned or not. For copyright reasons, the photo must be one you have taken yourself.

Links and previous related posts
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/09/review-kitchen-witchs-magical-herbs-and.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2013/05/plant-magic-solomons-seal-for.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2014/05/pagan-eye-pink-rose-from-my-garden.html
http://www.badwitch.co.uk/2015/07/pagan-eye-echinacea-flowers-in-bloom.html
http://www.thehedgewitchcooks.co.uk/herbs/elderflower/