This medicine plant is sacred to the Druids and Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island but often seen as a 'weed' to conventional farmers and monoculture gardeners. Let us explore her many gifts.
Gavin, just wanted you to know I’ve shared part of your fantastic article on my blog, giving you credit of course! Not trying to piggyback on your work (um, yes I am!) but what’s the point of re-inventing the wheel?! Hehe, too good not to share. Thanks!! 🙏 here’s the link if you want to verify 😊
Mar 15, 2023·edited Mar 15, 2023Liked by Gavin Mounsey
In reading Anacalypsis by Godfrey Higgins, he writes about the old Irish alphabet and its associations, so the letter Ruis is associated with the Elder tree, like you wrote. Our elders are wise, like Rishis. Ruis correlates with the Hebrew Resh. Rishi backwards would correlate with sir, like an elevated knight. El of course means god, like Allah, Hallelujah, elohim, etc (el and elohim begin with aleph). So alder trees, alderman, etc. are also related. The Spanish Ruiz means red, like rosy, so this part is confusing to me, since red is associated with the lower base chakras. Ras, rasta, raschid/Rashad mean wise chief/head. Berashit, which begins the Torah, in its esoteric sense really means, 'by the active principle', or wisdom. Later I was listening to Michael Tsarion's Astrotheology book/pdf, and he has the same info on Irish letters.
Just planted a bunch of Adams and York varieties everywhere, fingers crossed.
Another fantastic article! Queen of the Fairy! :) Of course our beloved Celtic ancestors would call her that! :) Such a wealth of information you've shared here, Gavin. When I was in Scotland I was blown away by all the Elderberry hedgerows. Since I moved to New Hampshire I've been searching for this plant to no avail. I bought two plants at a local nursery but they mistakenly got mowed down by my landlord at the end of the season before I could mark where they were planted. I'll be looking for them again in the spring. Also, some farmer friends I made at the farmer's market told me I could come gather some from their land. 💚
I used to make and sell Elderberry syrup but now I just mostly gift it to people. I've only ever been able to used the dried berries. I perked up when you said it was good for nerve damage - going to start drinking more of it for the carpal tunnel syndrome I'm dealing with. I usually add Astragalus, Cloves, Ginger, Rosehips, Cinnamon. I like the idea of adding White Pine! Going to do that in the next batch.
And, oh! Those flutes are magical!
Isn't Nature amazing? Looking forward to buying your book when it comes out!
One more wonderful thing about elderberry… there are certain native bee species that will nest inside the dead hollow stems. Joe-pye weed (Eupatorum purpureum) is good for the same reason, and seems to like the same kind of places.
On Tuesday of this week, I spent a couple hours plowing out my driveways, then came in for a lunch break and spent some time inside. Mid-afternoon, I went out to return the tractor to its shed on another part of the property and walked home. When I came back in and sat down at the table, I realized I was suddenly all stuffed up, nose dripping and running. Something had come on very suddenly. That usually doesn’t happen to me in the late afternoon. It seems usually if I’m sick, it’s evident when I wake up in the morning.
Just a few days before, I had finally made a batch of elderberry syrup with some elderberry juice a cousin gave me back in early November. Usually I tend to under-dose when I take herbal supplements. I suppose it is my natural and inherited frugality, not wanting to waste things or use them up, but this time, I had plenty of freshly-made elderberry syrup so I got about half a cup and sipped it throughout the evening (in between blowing my nose). ;) I had also made a couple gallons of echinacea vinegar a while back. I had a large harvest of echinacea in 2021 and besides some tincture, I made lots of echinacea vinegar (I will mostly use it as salad dressing). So, every so often, I would take a swig of that - maybe 3-4 unmeasured “swigs” that evening. I have learned (thanks to Patrick Jones, veterinarian, naturopath, and herbalist) that to be effective, echinacea needs to be taken often and in sufficient doses. I went to bed still stuffed up and blowing my nose.
The next morning, I was still congested and blowing my nose. I sipped another half cup of elderberry syrup and took another 3-4 swigs of echinacea vinegar, and by mid-morning, I was completely clear. No more congestion. No more runny nose.
I have never had such a significant, quick, or obvious response to taking something. As I told my cousin, it COULD have just been a short episode, but in my experience, that is not a likely explanation.
The usual recommended doses for elderberry syrup seem to be in teaspoons, but it is just fruit juice and people drink other kinds of fruit juice all the time. I don’t see any reason not to take more, and it seems to have worked for me. So, that’s my “anecdotal experience.” :)
🙏
Gavin, just wanted you to know I’ve shared part of your fantastic article on my blog, giving you credit of course! Not trying to piggyback on your work (um, yes I am!) but what’s the point of re-inventing the wheel?! Hehe, too good not to share. Thanks!! 🙏 here’s the link if you want to verify 😊
https://kenshohomestead.org/2024/03/04/herbal-explorations-elderberry/
In reading Anacalypsis by Godfrey Higgins, he writes about the old Irish alphabet and its associations, so the letter Ruis is associated with the Elder tree, like you wrote. Our elders are wise, like Rishis. Ruis correlates with the Hebrew Resh. Rishi backwards would correlate with sir, like an elevated knight. El of course means god, like Allah, Hallelujah, elohim, etc (el and elohim begin with aleph). So alder trees, alderman, etc. are also related. The Spanish Ruiz means red, like rosy, so this part is confusing to me, since red is associated with the lower base chakras. Ras, rasta, raschid/Rashad mean wise chief/head. Berashit, which begins the Torah, in its esoteric sense really means, 'by the active principle', or wisdom. Later I was listening to Michael Tsarion's Astrotheology book/pdf, and he has the same info on Irish letters.
Just planted a bunch of Adams and York varieties everywhere, fingers crossed.
Another fantastic article! Queen of the Fairy! :) Of course our beloved Celtic ancestors would call her that! :) Such a wealth of information you've shared here, Gavin. When I was in Scotland I was blown away by all the Elderberry hedgerows. Since I moved to New Hampshire I've been searching for this plant to no avail. I bought two plants at a local nursery but they mistakenly got mowed down by my landlord at the end of the season before I could mark where they were planted. I'll be looking for them again in the spring. Also, some farmer friends I made at the farmer's market told me I could come gather some from their land. 💚
I used to make and sell Elderberry syrup but now I just mostly gift it to people. I've only ever been able to used the dried berries. I perked up when you said it was good for nerve damage - going to start drinking more of it for the carpal tunnel syndrome I'm dealing with. I usually add Astragalus, Cloves, Ginger, Rosehips, Cinnamon. I like the idea of adding White Pine! Going to do that in the next batch.
And, oh! Those flutes are magical!
Isn't Nature amazing? Looking forward to buying your book when it comes out!
One more wonderful thing about elderberry… there are certain native bee species that will nest inside the dead hollow stems. Joe-pye weed (Eupatorum purpureum) is good for the same reason, and seems to like the same kind of places.
On Tuesday of this week, I spent a couple hours plowing out my driveways, then came in for a lunch break and spent some time inside. Mid-afternoon, I went out to return the tractor to its shed on another part of the property and walked home. When I came back in and sat down at the table, I realized I was suddenly all stuffed up, nose dripping and running. Something had come on very suddenly. That usually doesn’t happen to me in the late afternoon. It seems usually if I’m sick, it’s evident when I wake up in the morning.
Just a few days before, I had finally made a batch of elderberry syrup with some elderberry juice a cousin gave me back in early November. Usually I tend to under-dose when I take herbal supplements. I suppose it is my natural and inherited frugality, not wanting to waste things or use them up, but this time, I had plenty of freshly-made elderberry syrup so I got about half a cup and sipped it throughout the evening (in between blowing my nose). ;) I had also made a couple gallons of echinacea vinegar a while back. I had a large harvest of echinacea in 2021 and besides some tincture, I made lots of echinacea vinegar (I will mostly use it as salad dressing). So, every so often, I would take a swig of that - maybe 3-4 unmeasured “swigs” that evening. I have learned (thanks to Patrick Jones, veterinarian, naturopath, and herbalist) that to be effective, echinacea needs to be taken often and in sufficient doses. I went to bed still stuffed up and blowing my nose.
The next morning, I was still congested and blowing my nose. I sipped another half cup of elderberry syrup and took another 3-4 swigs of echinacea vinegar, and by mid-morning, I was completely clear. No more congestion. No more runny nose.
I have never had such a significant, quick, or obvious response to taking something. As I told my cousin, it COULD have just been a short episode, but in my experience, that is not a likely explanation.
The usual recommended doses for elderberry syrup seem to be in teaspoons, but it is just fruit juice and people drink other kinds of fruit juice all the time. I don’t see any reason not to take more, and it seems to have worked for me. So, that’s my “anecdotal experience.” :)