The folklore and mythology of Willow trees caught my attention recently. I made Paul and myself a “Curmudgeon” flower essence formula to heal our tendency to skew negative about the evening news, local politics, and the housing market (these things ARE connected, especially locally). It has multiple ingredients in it—Explorer’s Gentian, Hornbeam, Mimulus, Impatiens, and Willow—but I think of Willow as the key ingredient for what we had in mind. “Oh me, oh my, nothing good will come of it.” We try to keep a more open-minded spiritual viewpoint but lately our inner Eeyore has been running the show. Willow helps Eeyore relax and feel less cranky. It’s the Bach Flower Remedy for resentment and misery and believing that nothing is going your way—a very negative frame of mind, indeed! And, interestingly, that is deeply connected to Willow’s reputation in ancient mythology as well.
Weeping Willow, the tree that weeps, is often found in old graveyards as it has a history of being associated with mourning and also with the underworld. In Greek mythology the tree was sacred to the goddesses associated with the underworld—Persephone, Hecate, Circe and Hera. This was also true in Celtic cultures. The dark goddesses Morgan le Fay, Cailleach and the Morrighan were associated with Willows and with death as well as the darker aspects of the psyche that come forward when bent by fear.
All this could lead a person to think Willow is also associated with bad luck—and in some cultures it IS thought to bring bad luck to have a willow planted in your yard. But it is also associated with good luck, rebirth and renewal, healing from negative influences and protection from evil spirits. This is not at all contradictory as ancient wisdom often recognizes the human affinity to both the negative aspect represented by a plant as well as the remedy for that state to be found in that plant. So, in the case of Willow, the plant represents weeping and misery AND the remedy for that state. On a physical level, Willow has been used in traditional medicine since at least 1934 BC in ancient Greece, Egypt and Sumeria. Hippocrates recommended it for pain relief as early as 400 BC and it is still used in China and Europe for these purposes. Salicin is found in White Willow bark and is the same ingredient used to develop aspirin.
On a side note and coincidentally, I mentioned Wicca briefly in my last blog post. In my research today, I found out that Willow also has a connection to Wicca! Willow is a very flexible tree that was bent and used to make baskets and wicker furniture. “Wicca” was used to describe people who followed the Old Ways and used magic to bend reality. It was a derogative term that was later reclaimed by modern practitioners of witchcraft.
There is SO much more that I could say about the folklore and mythology of Willow. It was sacred to the Druids, and some of our well-known expressions like “knock on wood” and wind in the willows” refer to spirits who lived in Willow trees and could either hear your prayers for protection or be the cause of those fears.
Suffice it to say, Willow has quite the reputation for transforming an extremely common and quite negative perspective on life and replacing it with more optimism and faith. And this is true of Willow flower essence as well. The person who needs Willow feels like a victim of life and is filled with self-pity. Willow flower essence helps a person see how their own mindset brings them more grief. It helps a person take more responsibility for their life and gain more mastery over it by focussing on the positive and allowing more guidance from their Higher Self instead of nay-saying it all away.