Belladonna (Atropa Belladonna), aka Deadly Nightshade, devil’s cherry)

Professor and plant researcher Henry G. Walters speculated in 1915 that plants were capable of love and that they also had memories, implying that they might also hold a grudge. The deadly nightshade, Atropa Belladonna, he believed, was filled with hatred.

Belladonna or Deadly Nightshade. Both names are so Goth the plants should have kohl-lined eyes and dance at night to loud trance music. The Atropa bit is in homage to Atropos one of the three Fates. Atropos was the one that cut the thread of life. Belladonna, from the Italian for beautiful lady, pays tribute to its use in cosmetics. Atropa Belladonna has always been the gothy siren of the apothecary which explains its presence in medicine, perfume, cosmetics, and folklore for over a millennium.  

Belladonna is an herbaceous perennial found across Europe, Asia and North America. It flourishes in damp, shady spots, growing to three feet tall with pointed, oval-shaped leaves and purplish brown tubular flowers. The flowers form berries in the fall, changing from green to red, and finally dark black. 

Ripe Belladonna berries: beautiful but deadly.

Medicinal Uses–Belladonna has been used for centuries in traditional medicine for ailments ranging from headaches, ulcers and menstrual problems to inflammation and cardiovascular disease. It has antispasmodic, sedative, and diuretic properties, and is most commonly known for its uses in ophthalmology for pupil dilation. The name "belladonna" means "beautiful lady," and belladonna berry juice was used historically in Italy to enlarge the pupils of women, giving them a striking appearance. (I, in fact, recently discovered a natural eye drop in my medicine cabinet that contains belladonna.) 

The Deadly Nightshade performs its dark magic with the help of an alkaloid called atropine, which causes rapid heartbeat, confusion, hallucinations, and seizures. The symptoms are so unpleasant that atropine has been added to potentially addictive painkillers to keep patients from getting hooked. Atropine has also been used as an antidote to poisoning from nerve gas and pesticide exposure.
Though widely regarded as unsafe, belladonna is taken by mouth as a sedative, to stop bronchial spasms in asthma and whooping cough, and as a cold and hay fever remedy. It is also used for Parkinson’s disease, colic, inflammatory bowel disease, and motion sickness.

Poison- Belladonna is part of the Solanaceae family, which includes Datura (last week’s entry), henbane, mandrake, and the spicy Habanera chili pepper. Poison effects include rapid heartbeat, confusion, feeling hot but not sweating, extreme thirst, hallucinations, spasms, mental problems, convulsions, and coma.

And the eerily attractive flowers have a mildly sweet smell. But don’t be tempted. A big whiff of belladonna’s flowers can cause an instant headache.

Each belladonna branch shoots to the opposite side of the stalk in an alternating pattern. At the end of each branch, the plant produces buds that become flowers that will bear fruits. The main stalk, rather than growing straight, bends back and forth. It’s crooked.

Viewed from above, the plant sends out branches in five equidistant directions, forming a five-pointed star. This shape is striking, but you have to look at the plant from above to see it. The same five-pointed star shape is made by the calyx around the berry. Belladonna calyces start out with their five fingers cupping the flower. They gradually fatten, toughen, and pull back into a star shape holding the fruit, gaining a blood-colored speckling in the process.

Magical Uses- Belladonna has a long association with women, witches, herb lore, and murder. It is another ingredient in the infamous Medieval witches’ flying ointment of folklore, which in some iterations contained Belladonna, Datura, Opium Poppies, Monkshood, Wolf’s Bane, and Hemlock.
Belladonna’s history in lore goes back much further, however. It was used in the worship of both Bellona (the Roman goddess of war) and Hecate (the Greek goddess of crossroads, magic, and poisonous plants) to invoke visions and prophecies.

The Deadly Nightshade’s magic is that of a Trickster. She recognizes that ambiguity is the essential nature of the witch, in a culture that craves certainty and imposes limits. She reminds us to accept the danger in life, and to keep an eye out for back-splatter in your magic, even if you strive to ‘harm none.’

Some people view Belladonna as the most problematic herb on the Poison Path that is part of the witch’s way. Even though Datura can be brutal, it does not arise out of meanness as much as from the plant’s ignorance of its own strength. The same cannot be said of belladonna. Not only does it have a lot higher alkaloid content than its weird sisters, it’s highly unpredictable. Material harvested from the same belladonna plant and used in the same quantity by the same person may not have the same effect. That makes it too dangerous to use in pharmacy. My opinion only. In fact, I’m still undecided whether I’ll include it in my garden, at least this first year. I’m posting the planting info for you below, so you can make your own decision.

In the Garden – Soak seeds for two weeks in cold water kelp “tea” in the fridge, changing the water daily. Then sow in typical planning medium, barely covering the seed. Seeds should germinate in 2-4 weeks once they’re in soil. Seeds planted at the same time can be expected to germinate sporadically over several months. Seems to germinate best in a cool environment. 

Pot the seedlings once they have formed true leaves. Then transplant to a shaded area in the spring, once danger of frost has passed. Belladonna like soil that is “sweet”—that is, chalky or calcareous, so you may add some gardening and add plenty of organic matter lime to your soil. Composed leaves are great. Set seedling 18” apart. And ALWAYS wear gloves!

Next week is the last of the three “Weird Sisters,” Henbane, Mandrake, and a few other interesting natural poisons. Then…time to celebrate Beltane!

Until then, be safe and continue to wear your mask as you begin to venture out this spring.

Happy planting!

If you’ve read my first novel, Song of the Ancients, you will recall in the book that Nicholas poisoned Samantha with Aconite, or wolfs bane.

Researching that book launched my interest in poison plants. Since my husband and I have both been gardeners all our lives, this year I’m finally going to take that interest a step further: Plant a poison garden at our forest cabin.
I’ve been thinking about how to decorate the garden. We were gifted a length of black wrought-iron fencing a friend for their dog and no longer needed, which is tall enough to keep out curious critters and pets. 

And I’m collecting beat-up books to bury in the garden plot: old mystery novels that use poison in their plot. 

My Hecate statue will now reside there, along with some mementos of the Goddess Aradia, who is known to poison her enemies.

I’m repurposing some of my apothecary bottles and an old stool, painting it with runes and witchcraft symbols. Wind chimes, of course, at each corner. 

I haven’t decided on what other creatures to have frequent the area, but I’m sure there will be gargoyles and a dragon or two. If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

In other words, creating a poison garden need not be morbid. I’m going to have fun with it.

I’m growing all my plants from seedlings or seeds, starting them indoors under a grow light, and studying them as they mature so I can recognize each plant in its stages of growth.

Please keep in mind that these plants are potentially dangerous. Don’t ever handle them without gloves, keep them away from pets, wildlife and children, and never take them internally.  

In truth, many plants are toxic, and the difference between a poison, a medicine, and a narcotic is often only one of dosage. Digitalis, for example, in proper doses, represents one of our most useful and widely prescribed cardiac medicines. Yet, in higher doses it is a deadly poison. But let’s leave all treatment to the medical professionals. Always treat toxic plants will full respect. 

Because there is so much information on these plants, such varied uses and lore, I’m only going to present one or two plants at a time. So, let’s start with one of the three Weird Sister plants: Datura.

Datura Solanaceae family  (devil’s trumpet, jimsonweed, thornapple)

Datura is a  gothic garden plant with a capital G, part of a trio of plants known as the Weird Sisters of the witch’s garden—Datura, Henbane, Belladonna, with a side of Mandrake. These plants all contain the tropane alkaloids, which is why I’ve grouped them together.

Datura is a lovely flowering plant with large trumpet-shaped blooms that open upwards toward the sun. Color ranges from white to pinkish purple, and more rarely, red or yellow. It is often confused with brugmansia, which is commonly called angel’s trumpet. However the trumpet-shaped blooms of brugmansia hang down, while Datura blooms face up.

Hardy in zones 7-12. Full sun. Herbaceous annual or perennial. Flourishes in disturbed soil and requires little water. The Sacred Datura (Datura wrightii) can sprawl up to 15 feet wide.

Datura is found throughout most of North America and is common in the Southwest. It grows to 2-3’ and in spring produces striking six inch long trumpet-shaped blooms that close at night. The flowers are sweetly fragrant. It uses its scent to attract night-time pollinators like sphinx or hawk moths.

A datura’s fruit is about the size of a small egg, pale green, and covered in thorns.  When they ripen in the fall, these pods turn brown and split open, releasing seeds. The pods can be harvested just before they split, or you can put pantyhose around the seed pod to catch ripe seeds when the pod splits. Seeds are then dried and stored in an envelope or paper bag in a cool dry location until spring planting.

Datura contains several alkaloids classified as tropanes. They can cause symptoms such as headache, vomiting, coma and death if ingested, and all parts of the plant can cause skin irritations at the least.

Wear gloves and use safety precautions at all times, especially when handling the seeds, which contain the highest concentration of alkaloids.

Medical – Although the plant is used in Ayurvedic plant-based medicine, I am recommending against trying this on your own.

Poisonous Effects – Dry mouth, intense thirst, increased heart rate, blurred vision, loss of motor coordination, coma, and death by respiratory failure. Prolonged and repeated psychosis after ingestion.

Magical Uses – Shamanic. Visions, protection, breaking hexes, shape-shifting. Old-time flying ointment. The emptied fruit seed pod can be used as an imprisoning capsule for items related to the target of a binding spell, but stuffing it with hair or bits of thread from clothing.

 Datura is a strong hallucinogen than peyote, psilocybin, or LSD, but it’s also more toxic. What’s unique about the hallucinations caused by tropane alkaloids is that they often have ferocious and sinister content, featuring threatening creatures and frightening scenes, as well as feelings of doom and paranoia. It’s not unusual for people under their influence to believe they are being transformed into animals with claws and fur, which is interesting in the case of Datura, because it is utilized by wolf shamans.

Datura has long been connected to the worship of Shiva, the Indian goddess associated with the creative and destructive aspects of the universe. She is also a plant of Goddess Hecate and God Hades. The plant is often found in the Himalayas on altars to the gods of the mountains. It can also be used as a bridge for approaching some of the darker goddesses, Kali in particular.

It has been employed as a sacred hallucinogen in Mexico and the American Southwest, where it often grows wild on the roadside. The wolf shamans of the Huichol use either Peyote or Datura in their vision quests. Xolotl, the Aztec guide to the Underworld, is manifested as a black dog whose name is the Zapotec word for Datura. One of the symptoms to tropane alkaloids, the dilating of the pupils and subsequent ability to see better at night, is similar to the vision of wolves and coyotes. The Huichol wolf shamans use Datura only once, in a vision quest after a long five-year apprenticeship in shapeshifting to become a werewolf.

Datura is a sacred plant and should be treated as such. It is one of the substances used in traditional witchcraft and shamanic “Flying Ointments,” along with henbane, aconite and hemlock. It is believed that poisonous herbs like the above can sever the soul (the astral body) from the corporal body. Thus, it is able to fly into the astral world behind the world of external appearances.

Please do not buy these plants and concoct your own recipe without extensive study. Datura is incredibly powerful, magically speaking, and has a strong will. Some say she’s a plant that behaves exactly like a woman. She does what she wants when she wants. If you handle her with the utmost respect and care, and learn everything you can about her, she can become a powerful ally.

Next week I’ll introduce another of the three “Weird Sisters"—the beautiful Belladonna.

Until then, find a task you love and do it with vigor!
Blessed Be.

Under the blanket of Winter we were nestled, sleeping the sleep of the newborn, the sleep of the seed. All is contained within us—all future possibilities, all growth, all knowing. This is the time after the Great Dark, on the verge of the Bursting Forth.

Light grows. Shadows take form as the darkness recedes. Resting still in the cauldron of birth, we close two eyes and open our third. Our dream vision is active. We have enough light now to see.

Mother awakens! She sends forth shoots and leaves, whispering sweet desire, coaxing forth all who seek release from the bonds of our winter’s night. Like a bird in the eggshell, we’ve swelled to fill the space. Our old world grows tight, cramped. Time to peck our way out and claim the promise of spring.

How? First, notice and name what binds you. Name the prisons of circumstance, disillusionment, environmental crisis. Notice what feels stifled, blocked, and hopeless. Then circle together to turn it around.

Stirring in our seed sleep, we dream sweet dreams of who, what and how we will become. Think! What needs illumination within you? What desire needs only a bit more light to be seen clearly? What quality in you has dimmed and needs brightening?

Emerge from the broken shell of winter. Feel lightened, lifted, determined to leave the old world in shards behind you. Unbound, blessed and surging, retrieve the trust that comes with balance. Thrive in your new light!

Happy Ostara and Spring Equinox. 

I leave you with this poem, 
Words Unwritten

"No one else can speak the words on your lips.
Drench yourself in words unspoken.
Live your life with arms wife open.
Today is where your book begins.
The rest is still unwritten. "
​
  Natasha Bedingfield~

For the conclusion of my blogs on trees, let’s take a look at weird trees, trees that have unusual ways to help mankind, and of course, more of their witchy mythology.
​
Bay Laurel
The bay tree was sacred in Greek myth. The virginal nymph Daphne, pursued by the lustful god Apollo, chose virtue over pleasure and called to her father for help. Hearing her plea, he put her out of harm’s way by turning her into a laurel tree.

Frustrated Apollo decided that if Daphne couldn’t be his wife, he could at least possess the tree that she had become.

Laurel adorned his hair evermore, and since antiquity Apollo has been depicted with a laurel wreath. 

The tree is associated with purification, and returning Greek generals originally wore laurel to purify them of bloodshed. Over time their wreaths, and those of the Romans after them, became linked to victory and achievement. 

Cinchona (Quinine)
Now the national tree of Peru and Ecuador, Cinchona changed the course of world history. Its claim to fame is the effectiveness of its bark for treating malaria.

In the early seventeenth century, when Spanish colonists and Jesuit missionaries in Peru were first introduced to cinchona bark, there was no malaria in South America.

Historians suggest that cinchona was an indigenous medicine used to treat an unrelated fever, and that inspired desperate Europeans to make an incredibly lucky guess. In Europe, malaria was so rampant that it killed more than half of all Europeans who ventured into Africa and Asia. In the British settlement of Virginia, more people died from ’swamp fever’ than at the hands of the Native Americans. When they found that Cinchona bark could both cure and prevent the disease, its use spread quickly. 

The name ‘quinine’ came from the Quechaua language, quina-quina, the ‘bark of all barks.’ We now know that Cinchona bark contains a cocktail of alkaloid drugs that have the capability of making certain components of our blood poisonous to the malaria parasite. 

To disguise the bitter taste, gin, lemon and sugar were added to make it more palatable, resulting in the forerunner of today’s gin and tonic drink. Modern tonic water has more sugar and much less quinine—enough, though, to make it fluoresce pale blue under ultraviolet nightclub light.

Enough also for this author to drink tonic water for my foot and leg cramps.

Cypress
This tree is named after Cyparissus, a mythical figure whose father was friendly with the Greek god Apollo. Cyparissus accidently killed the god’s favorite stag.

Full of remorse, he begged that his grief would endure forever. Apollo transformed him into a cypress, its resinous sap representing his tears.

The cypress became the symbol of the immortal soul and eternal death, and an emblem of the underworld. Cypress is still widely planted in cemeteries. Garlands of cypress were placed about homes to indicate that those within were in mourning, and it was one of the woods traditionally used for funeral pyres and coffins. 

Dragon’s Blood
Endemic to the Yemeni island of Socotra, off the Horn of Africa, dragon’s blood trees have an eerie, prehistoric aspect. Their bizarre shape, like umbrellas blown inside-out, helps them to survive on the arid, thin soil that covers the island’s granite mountains.

Dracaena’s otherworldliness is heightened by the teardrops of translucent blood-red resin that ooze from its wounded limbs. Local residents encourage the flow by carefully incising the bark and returning a year later to collect droplets and small chunks of resin. Heated, dried and formed into small slabs, it has the creepy, powdery quality of dried blood.

The origin of the name came from a Hindu myth, repeated by Pliny the Elder, involving an elephant and a dragon, in which the dragon gulped the elephant’s blood before getting squished, spilling the blood of both animals. The scientific name Dracena derives from the Greek for female dragon, so the resin is called ‘dragon’s blood.’ 

  Pomegranate                        
Well known for her descent into the Underworld, Persephone eats a pomegranate that keeps her tied to Hades. Why does she happily stay and return every year?

Some tellers of the story of Persephone say that eating the pomegranate seeds damned her to be trapped below the Earth. Others say that she gained so much knowledge, that the Underworld was no longer seen as a scary place, but as a provider of balance.

Either way, pomegranates are deliciously magical.  Their fruit is filled with seeds, not just five or six or even ten or twenty, but 840 seeds. Because of this, pomegranate’s fertility magic is about diversity. Pomegranate teaches us to cast our seeds far and wide, to send out many branches, to find strength in a diverse or wide array of creative pursuits. 

And the pomegranate flowers are a sight to behold, bursting forth in spectacular shades of scarlet and crimson.

Pomegranates feature in writing from ancient Egypt and Greece, in the Old Testament and Talmud, and in the Qur’an. They also have many health benefits. Traditional uses for diarrhea, dysentery and intestinal parasites are long established, and the fruit contains antioxidants that are beneficial, including anti-cancer and anti-aging claims.

A fall-winter fruit, pomegranates begin to ripen in September, just in time to adorn High Holiday tables, providing both beautiful decoration and important symbolism. Perhaps this year, you will incorporate the meaningful blessing for magical pomegranates into your fall and winter celebrations.  

Redwood
Native to the foggy hills of the Pacific North West, the colossal coastal redwoods are the world’s highest trees, and among its oldest. Gazing upwards, one might wonder whether there’s any limit to high a tree can grow. Turns out, there is.

Historically, the world’s tallest individual redwoods all reached just a little more than 120 meters (394 feet). And the same is true of the very tallest specimens of other giant tree species. To understand why, we must understand water, and how it reaches a tree’s top.

As with any plant, most of the solid matter of a tree is constructed (synthesized) using two simple ingredients: carbon dioxide and water. It possibly the most important chemical reaction on Earth, and it’s powered by sunlight, hence its name, photosynthesis. Every leaf has hundreds of tiny pores, which allow carbon dioxide from the surrounding air to enter. The only way that trees can draw water up from the roots to the top of the tree is if some of that water evaporates through the leaf pores.

As individual cells near the surface of the leaf dry out, they such water from the next wettest cell below, then the next and the next, until the pull reaches a vein in the leaf and sucks on the tiny tubes, perhaps just a thirtieth of a millimeter across, carrying water all the way of through the woody part of the tree.

The theoretical limit to the height that columns of water inside trees can be lifted is about 120 meters. Any taller and gravity would overpower the cohesion between water molecules and the top of the tree would dehydrate and die. Turns out, trees can’t grow any taller because of fundamental laws of physics.

Sugar Maple
The sugar maple is found in the Midwest states to Vermont and Quebec, Ontario. It’s known for its delectable pancake-smothering syrup; its timber, solid enough for baseball bats; and its gorgeous show of autumn color. With her smooth bark and evenly distributed branches, she makes a perfect tree for climbing. From the canopy above, I would hide in my grandmother’s maple tree overlooking the street, and watch the life flow by her house.

Those glorious orange and red colors are always there, but masked by the tree’s green chlorophyll. In autumn, when the trees begin to slow down, they recycle anything that could be useful the next year. As chlorophyll is broken down and reabsorbed, the leaves’ green coloring disappears, leaves the oranges, reds and yellows unobscured.

Unfortunately, sugar maples has been in decline due to logging. They are slow growing, and faster growing trees, like birch, will often grow in their places after a forest is logged.
As maple was one of the only sources of sugar for the American Native peoples, it was seen as a gift from the Creator. Her sap typically runs between Imbolc and spring equinox, and her leaves brighten between fall equinox and Samhain.

To keep the maples producing sap, the Native Americans held maple ceremonies to ensure a good harvest, with offerings of tobacco. When walking sticks are made of maple, it is said to represent gentleness. Ruled by Jupiter, the maple tree is used for love and wands. I think the fact that the two more prominent events of the Maple occur around the equinoxes is not coincidence, and I see the Maple as a tree of balance, a tree that sits between the worlds.

Fortingall Yew in Glen Lyon is thought to be 4,000 year old
​
Yew
At the approximate center of Scotland grows what is Scotland’s—and possibly Europe’s—oldest tree. Estimates suggest the Fortingall yew in Glen Lyon could be anything from 2,000-9,000 years old. A popular legend relates how Pontius Pilate was born under this tree or played as a child. This suggest that it was already a landmark over 2,000 years ago.

Rings cannot be counted and carbon dating is tough on most yews because their ancient hearts rot and disappear. One of the tree’s mystical qualities is its ability to regenerate, producing fresh shoots from apparently “dead” wood. Drooping branches of old yew trees can root and form new trunks where they touch the ground.

Thus the yew came to symbolize death and resurrection in Celtic culture. Themes of death and resurrection for the yew shows up throughout history. People buried yew shoots with the deceased, and used boughs of yew as “Palms” in church at Easter. Yew wood and branches are laid on graves as a reminder to the departed spirit that death is only a pause in life before rebirth.

In fact, very old specimens of yew trees are now rate outside of church grounds. No other type of ancient tree occurs so frequently around churches and cemeteries.

The Celts were surely familiar with the toxicity of the tree’s needles. And Shakespeare had Macbeth concoct a poisonous brew. The deadly rink included, “slips of yew, silvered in the moon’s eclipse.”

The hard, close-grained wood was used for medieval longbows. Archers used these to devastating effect during the Hundred Years War, as well as at the Scots’ battle at Bannockburn in 1314.

In interpretations of Norse cosmology, the tree Yggdrasil traditionally been interpreted as a giant ash tree. Some scholars now believe that the tree is most likely a European yew.
 
Next week we will discuss ‘baneful’ plants, and my own poison garden planting plans.

Until then, be safe and Blessed Be!

Trees are one of humanity’s most constant and most varied companions. Their stories are romantic, surprising and sometimes very strange indeed. As one who studies the religions of Nature, I’ve spent a lot of time studying and communing with trees.
​
I recently read a book titled “Around the World in 80 Trees” by Jonathan Drori. From seemingly familiar species like the elm and beech, to the sacred Bo and poisonous lacquer, this author opened my eyes to new trees worldwide. 

Because I have so much information to share, I’m starting with the 13 woods of the Ogham Celtic tree calendar.

According to author Robert Graves (The White Goddess), Ogham (OH-am) is an ancient alphabet used to write Old Irish and other Brythonic/Brittonic languages (such as Pictish and Welsh). Each letter is assigned a tree or plant name. Oghams were used by Neopagans as divination tools. The symbols were written on sticks and thrown on the ground, studying the symbolism of where they fell. 

The Wiccan Rede includes these lines:
“Nine woods in the cauldron go,
burn them quick a' burn them slow….”

Where do the nine types of wood come from? They are actually the first nine woods on the Ogham Celtic tree calendar, an ancient pagan calendar that has 13 lunar cycles to it.
So let's take a closer look at these sacred trees: Where they fall on the calendar and why are they important to witches?
​
Find your birth wood on the list and include a small amount of bark, fruit or flower in your incense, charm or healing magic. Keep a little close to you and carry it in time of significance, or add some to the decoration of your home. 

​When a forested area burns, birch is the first tree to grow back, and thus is associated with rebirth and regeneration, as well as healing and protection. Because birch often grows perfectly straight, it was often used as a Maypole at Beltane celebrations. If you happen to find birch bark lying on the forest floor, use it to write on in spellwork. You can also use birch branches to craft your own besom. It’s perfect to use in rituals related to renewal, purification, fresh starts and new beginnings. Birch is an incredibly useful tree—nearly every part of it is edible, and its sap was an important source of sugar to Native Americans. The inner bark provides a pain reliever, and the leaves are used to treat arthritis. Its bark was used from everything from paper to canoe hulls, and axe handles are made from birth.

Trees often develop symbiotic relationships with mycorrhizal fungi, which intermingle with their roots and extend beyond them in a huge web of minutely thin filaments. These networks are especially good at extracting nutrients from the soil, which they pass on in an easily digestible form. Individual tree species cooperate with particular fungi. The Birch’s life partner is Amanita muscaria, the fly agaric, whose fruiting bodies (the parts we see above ground) are scarlet with white sprinkles—the archetypal toadstools of every fairy tale. Fly agarics contain a cocktail of mind-bending hallucinogens around which all manner of shamanistic rituals have evolved, particularly among Siberian tribes and the Saami people of northern Finland and Sweden. The fly agaric’s psychoactive ingredients are not completely broken down in the body, but excreted. This offers possibility of intoxication by drinking the pre-drugged urine of others.
​
Birch is the first month in the Celtic tree calendar, following the Winter Solstice.

ROWAN (luis=l)
21 Jan-17 Feb
​
Rowan is a tree of power, causing life and magic to flower.” ~Wiccan Rede

The Rowan (also called Mountain Ash and ‘Witchwood’) is long known for aid and protection against enchantment. It is reputed to stop the dead from rising, and generally to protect the home. A protector against evil, its red berries are a deterrent from the devil, so it is often planted next to a house (the berries often have the shape of a tiny pentagram on them). 

Place rowan branches around your doors and windows to keep the Fae from intruding. Or craft a protective talisman by tying two rowan twigs together in the shape of an X, wrapping them together at the cross with red thread. This traditional Scottish charm was said to protect not only the person carrying it, but those around them as well.

The Rowan has another protection that could be considered magical. Its unripe berries contain acid, which has antifungal properties, while being harmless to people. Synthetic sorbic acid and its derivatives are widely used in the food industry as preservatives, guarding us from mold and infections.
Rowan is associated with the Celtic hearth goddess Brigid. Walking sticks of rowan as used to protect the user from spirits of the woods. It’s also associated with astral travel, personal power and success. 

In Norse lore, Odin hung from Yggdrasil, the World Tree, for nine days and nights so that he might be granted wisdom. Yggdrasil was an ash tree, and since the time of Odin’s ordeal, the ash has often been associated with divination and knowledge. In some Celtic legends, it is also seen as a tree sacred to the God Lugh, who is celebrated at Lughnasadh.

The Ash tree is surrounded by nine worlds, according to the Norse. It is said to connect the Underworld to Heaven with it branches and roots.

ALDER (fearn=f)
 18 March-14 April

On the surface, there is little to distinguish the alder. But looks are deceiving. Alder loves water and grows best along riverbanks and in sodden places. As timber, alder wood maintains its special relationship with water. In the 12th century.

The Alder, a shrub or tree of the birch family has special implications in Celtic tradition. Alders are especially associated with The Celtic God Bran. At Cat Goddeu, 'The Battle of the Trees', Gwydion guessed Bran's name from the alder twigs in his hand. The answer to an old Taliesin riddle 'Why is the alder purple?' is 'Because Bran wore purple'. Bran's alder may be a symbol of resurrection. 

In Ireland the alder was regarded with awe apparently because when cut the wood turns from white to red. At one time the felling of an alder was punishable, and it is still avoided. The alder was thought to have power of divination, especially in the diagnosing of diseases.
​ Alder might be used in the fé, a rod for measuring corpses and graves in pre-Christian Ireland. The letter F, third consonant in the ogham alphabet, was named after the alder. This wood is lumped together with Birch in the Wiccan Rede, but I separated them for clarification if you’re referencing the Ogham Tree Calendar as we go.

WILLOW  (saille=s) 
15 April-12 May

“Willows at the waterside stand
Ready to help us to the Summerland.” ~Wiccan Rede

A Willow planted near your home will help ward away danger, particularly the type that stems from natural disaster such as flooding or storms. But be careful of your underground pipes, they are extremely invasive growers.

They offer protection, and are often found planted near cemeteries. Baskets and even beehives were constructed with this bendable, flexible wood. Willow is associated with moon magic, enchantment, love and peace. It indicates cycles, rhythms and the ebb and flow of life. The tree bark contains Salicin, which is used in the treatment of rheumatic fever and various damp diseases.

Willow groves are considered so magical that priests, priestesses and all types of artisans sat among these trees to gain inspiration, eloquence and prophecies. For a wish to be granted, as permission of the willow by explaining your desire. Select a pliable shoot and tie a loose knot in it while saying your wish. When the wish is fulfilled, return and untie the knot. Remember to thank the willow and leave a gift.

HAWTHORN (huath=h)
 13 May-9 June

“Hawthorn is burned to purify,
And to draw faerie to your eye.”
~Wiccan Rede

Traditionally, no one cuts the lone Hawthorn tree as this is the meeting place of fairies. Indeed, roads have been diverted to avoid cutting one down. Hawthorn is associated with magic related to masculine power, business decisions, and making professional connections.

This prickly-thorned tree is also associated with fertility and sexuality. Place a thorn under your mattress if you’d like to conceive a child. Or tie a thorn with a red ribbon and use it as a protective amulet under a baby’s crib.

Hawthorn wood provides the hottest fire known and wands with the greatest power. 

OAK (duir=d)
10 June -7 July

“Oak in the forest towers with might,
In the fire it brings the God's insight.” ~Wiccan Rede

The might oak is strong and often towers over its neighbors. The Oak King rules over the summer months. Oak is one of the tree trees sacred to the Druids (Oak, Ash and Thorn). Where all three trees grow together, it is said that fairies live. 

The Celts called this month Duir, which some scholars believe to mean “door,” the root work of “Druid.” In fact, oak has been considered sacred by just about every culture that has encountered the tree, but it was held in particular esteem by the Norse and Celts because of its size, longevity, and nutritious acorns. The tree is associated with Gods of thunder and lightning, probably because this tall tree is often hit by lightning during storms. 

HOLLY (tinne=t)
8 June-4 Aug

There’s something deeply magical and cheerful about the glistening green holly leaves, so perfect for showing off the bright red berries. By the way, holly is dioecious and only the female plant has berries, and both male and female need to be nearby for cross-pollination. To find out the sex of a holly plant you have to wait until the plant begins to flower, around 4-12 years.

Holly’s hard, close-grained wood was used to make chess pieces and tool handle. Folklore suggested that the wood had an affinity for control, especially of horses, and whips for ploughmen and horse-drawn coaches were made from Holly. It was also once one of the traditional woods for Great Highland bagpipes.

The richest traditions are holly’s use in Yule wreaths and decorations. Adopted as a symbol of Christ’s crown of thorns, the crimson berries became a symbol of his blood and the evergreen a metaphor for life after death. In pre-Victorian times, Christmas trees meant holly bushes, and even the original yule log was holly. But the use of holly goes back much further than Christianity. Pagan Druids believed that leaves of holly were sacred and wore it in their hair for protection.

In Celtic mythology, the Holly King was said to rule over half of the year from summer to the Winter Solstice. Then the Oak King defeated the Holly King to rule until the Summer Solstice again.

Holly is known for protection from lightning strikes and so were planted near houses. In European mythology, holly is associated with thunder gods Thor and Taranis. We now know that the spines on holly leaves can act as miniature lightning conductors, protecting the tree and nearby objects. Modern science has caught up with superstitious lore!

HAZEL (coll=c)
 5 Aug-1 Sept

“Hazel - the tree of wisdom and learning
Adds its strength to the bright fire burning.” ~Wiccan Rede

Hazel, the Tree of Immortal Wisdom helps with magic of manifestation, spirit contact, divination, dreams, and inspiration. In Celtic tradition, the Salmon of Knowledge is said to eat the 9 nuts of poetic wisdom dropped into its sacred pool from the hazel tree growing beside it.

In Europe and North America, Hazel is commonly used for ‘water-witching’—the art of dowsing for water using a forked stick. Wands made from this wood symbolize white magic and healing. This tree is a sign that you need to look for your own path, despite the stress, time and energy required. 

Next week, I’ll continue with some other witchy and weird trees around the world, including many more from Drori’s book. 

​I’ve been putting together a Supernatural-based playlist for my walks this winter and spring. 

​It includes all the songs I liked from the show, plus any favorites that Dean Winchester mentioned, but that weren’t included in the actual Supernatural soundtrack. Groups with royalties beyond the show’s budget, for example. Or, in the case of Led Zeppelin, that refused to grant rights. I also included songs that were titles of episodes, and even a few that just remind me of a particular character (those are noted in the list. Finally, I included some titles that Jensen and his band have released.

And because it’s my list and I can do whatever I want, I threw in a couple dozen of my own personal favorites at the end. 

For fun, the list is broken out by Supernatural seasons.

Which season gave us the most music? Seasons 1 and
2 by far, with 30+ songs each season. It dropped off drastically after those first two, and by Season 6 they were only averaging 10-12 songs.  

The unofficial anthem, “Carry On My Wayward Son” showed up in the latter part of Season 1 and then repeated regularly throughout the series.

Since Sam teased Dean about playing the same “mullet rock” cassette tapes constantly, I expected most of the music to come from the 1980s, but that’s not true. The majority of the music played in Supernatural was recorded in the 60’s and 70’s. No wonder I love it! 

Just for fun, I included the release year of each song on the list. Yeah, I had some time on my hands during this pandemic.

The whole list follows. It will be up on Spotify as “Sandy’s Supernatural Playlist.”

Enjoy! And when you listen, think of the boys.

Highway to Hell-AC/DC (1x1) (1979)
Back in Black – AC/DC (1x1) (1980)
Boulevard of Broken Dreams- Green Day (1x1) (2004)
La Grange – ZZ Top (1x1) (1973)
Hot Blooded – Foreigner (1x2) (1978)
Down South Jukin’-Lynyrd Skynyrd (1x2) (1973)
She Ain’t Lonesome – Steve Fister Band (1x2) (2006)
Out of My Hands–Dave Matthews Band (1x2) (2007)
What a Way to Go – Jesse Turnbow and Black Toast (1x3) (1992)
Movin’ On – Bad Company (1x3) (1982)
Paranoid –Black Sabbath (1x4) (1970)
Laughed I Nearly Died – Rolling Stones (1x5) (2005)

Inna Gadda Da Vida – Iron Butterfly (1x6) (1968)
All Right Now – Free Band (1x6) (1970)
Poison Whiskey – Lynyrd Skynyrd (1-6) (1973)
Peace of Mind – Boston (1x7) (1976)
I Can’t Stand It – Eric Clapton (1x8)(1981)
No One Like You – Scorpions (1x8) (1982)
Hey You – Bachman Turner (1x10) (1979)
Bad Company – Bad Company (1x10) (1974)
Lodi – Creedence Clearwater Revival (1x11) (1969)

Don’t Fear the Reaper– Blue Oyster Cult (1x12) (1976)
She Brings Me Love – Bad Company (1x13) (1979)
Walk Away – James Gang (1x13) (1979)
Can’t Find My Way Home- Blind Faith (1x13) (1969)
Rocky Mountain Way – Joe Walsh (1x15) (1973)
Burnin’ For You – Blue Oyster Cult (1x17) (1981)
Fire of Unknown Origin–Blue Oyster Cult (1x17) (1981)
Road to Nowhere – Ozzy Osborne (1x18) (1991)
Night Time – Steve Carlson (1x19) (2004)
Bad Time to be in Love – Grand Funk Railroad (1x19) (1974)
The House is Rockin’ –Stevie Ray Vaughan (1x20) (1989)
Carry On My Wayward Son– Kansas (1x21) (1976)
Bad Moon Rising – Creedence (1x22) (1969)
Turn to Stone –Joe Walsh (1x22) (1977)

Supernatural Season 2
In My Time of Dying – Led Zeppelin (2x1) (1975)
Time Has Come Today – The Chambers Brothers (2x02) (1967)
Shambala – Three Dog Night (2x02) (1973)

Wheel in the Sky – Journey (2x03) (1978)
Fell on Black Days – Soundgarden (2x03) (1994)
Stonehenge – Spinal Tap (2x05) (1984)
Surrender – Cheap Trick (2x06) (1978)
Cold As Ice - Foreigner (2x06) (1977)
Key to the Highway – Little Walter (2x08) (1958)
Crossroads Blues- Robert Johnson (2x08) (1936)
Crossroads– Cream (Because it belongs here) (1968)
White Rabbit – Jefferson Airplane (2x10) (1967)
Renegade – Styx (2x12) (1978)

​Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door- Bob Dylan
(2x13) (1987)
Down on Love – Jamie Dunlap (2x13) (1983)
House of the Rising Sun – Animals (2x16) (1983)
Ashes to Ashes – Tarbox Ramblers (2x14) (2004)
The Crystal Ship – The Doors (2x14) (1967)
Back on the Road Again –REO Speedwagon
2x14) (1979) 

Born Under a Bad Sign – Cream (2x14) (1967)
Smoking Gun – Kip Winger (2x17) (2008)
Silent Lucidity – Queensryche (2x17) (1990)
Look at You - Screaming Trees (2x17) (1996)
Green Onions-Booker T & the MG’s (2x19) (1962)
Saturday Night Special–Lynyrd Skynyrd
​(2x20) (1975)
What is and What Should Never Be–
Led Zeppelin (2x20) (1969)
Foreplay/Long Time – Boston (2x21) (1976)
Wrapped Around Your Finger – The Police (2x21) (1983)

Supernatural Season 3
Mean Little Town – Howling Diablos (3x1) (2005)
Run Through the Jungle – Creedence Clearwater (3x04) (1970)
Crazy Circles – Bad Company (3x07) (1979)
I Put a Spell on You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins (3x09) (1956)
Every Rose Has Its Thorn – Poison (3x09) (1988)
Long Train Runnin’ – Doobie Brothers (3x10) (1973)
Dream a Little Dream of Me – Mama Cass Elliot (3x10) (1968)
Back in Time -Huey Lewis and the News (3x11) (1985)
We’re An American Band – Grand Funk Railroad (3x13) (1973)
Hocus Pocus – Focus (3x13) (1970)
Time Is On My Side – Rolling Stones (3x15) (1964)

​*Wanted Dead or Alive– Bon Jovi (3x16) (1986)

​Supernatural Season 4
You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC (4x01) (1980)
Lonely Is the Night – Billy Squier (4x02) (1981)
Ramblin’ Man-Allman Bros (4-3) (1973)

Eye of the Tiger – Survivor (4x06) (1982)
Ready for Love – Bad Company (4x10) (1974)
Long, Long Way From Home – Foreigner
(4x13) 1980
Travelling Riverside Blues–Led Zeppelin
4x18) 1969
Animal -Van Halen (4x?) 2017
Ramble On – Led Zepplin (4x18) 1969


Supernatural Season 5
Layla – Derek & Dominos (5x?) (1970)
Thunderstruck – AC/DC (5x01) 1990
Sympathy for the Devil – Rolling Stones (5x01) 2016
Simple Man – Leonard Skynard (5x03) 1973
Do You Love Me? – The Contours (5x04) 1988

​Superstition – Jeff Beck (5x05) 1972
Move You – Anya Marina (5x8) 2008
Oye Como Va – Santana (5x10) 1970
Hotel California –Eagles (5x11) 1976
Rock and Roll Never Forgets – Bob Seger
5x12) 1976

​Cherry Pie – Warrant (5x13) 1990
Life’s Been Good So Far – Joe Walsh (5x13) 1978
Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd (5x16) 1973
Salmon Dean in the Heartland–Jay Gruska (5x16) 2010
Point of Know Return – Kansas (5x18) 1977
Oh Death – Jen Titus (5x21) 2010
Rock of Ages – Def Leppard (5x22) 1983
Back in the Saddle – Aerosmith (5x22) 1976

Supernatural Season 6

Beautiful Loser – Bob Seger (6x01) 1975
Smoke on the Water – Deep Purple (6x02) 2006
City Blues – Black Mustang (6x08) 2008
Dust in the Wind – Kansas (6x11) 1977
A New Day Yesterday – Jethro Tull (6x12) 1969
Love Hurts –Nazareth (6x14) 1974
Miracles – Jefferson Starship (6x19) 1975
Play With Fire – Rolling Stones (6x22) 2019

Supernatural Season 7

Slow Ride – Foghat (7x1) 1975
Black Water – Doobie Bros (7x2) 1974
Ridin’ the Storm Out–REO Speedwagon
7x11) 1973
Dear Mr. Fantasy – Traffic (7x11) 1967
You Shook Me All Night Long – AC/DC
(7x13) 1980
Turn Into Earth – The Yardbirds (7-17) 1966
Given Up–Phillipwhitemusic on Soundcloud (7x17) (release date unknown)
Walking on Sunshine – Katrina & the Waves (7x20) 1996
Born to be Wild – Steppenwolf (7x23) 1969

Supernatural Season 8

Locomotive Breath – Jethro Tull (8x01) 1971
Man in the Wilderness – Styx (8x01) 1977
It Took a Long Time – Koko Taylor
8x04) 1981
We Gotta Get Out of this Place–
The Animals (8x07) 1965
Fortunate Son – Creedence Clearwater – (Because it belongs here) 1969
Katmandu – Bob Seger (8x10) 1975
China Grove – Doobie Bros (8x11) 1973
Dean’s Dirty Organ – Christopher Lennertz (8x14) 2005
Americana – Jay Gruska (8x16) 2005
*Goodbye Stranger – Supertramp (8x17) 1979
Iron Man – Black Sabbath (8x20) 1970
Changes – David Bowie (8x23) 1971

Supernatural Season 9

Lola – The Kinks (9x?) (1970) 1970
Who Do You Love? – George Thorogood
9x01) 1978
Rockin’ Down the Highway –Doobie Bros (9x02) 1972
Mo’ Guitar Grit full version–Jay Gruska (9x02) 2010
Heroin – Velvet Underground (9x16) 1967
You’re No Good – Linda Ronstadt (9x17) 1974

​The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore Frankie Valli (9x18) 1966
If You Wanna Get to Heaven – Ozark Mountain Daredevils (9x19) 1973

Supernatural Season 10

Season of the Witch – Donovan (for Rowena) 1966
Black Magic Woman – Santana (for Rowena) 1970
Imaginary Lover – Atlanta Rhythm Section (10x01) 1972
Sundown – Gordon Lightfoot (10x05) 1974
Travelin’ Man – Bob Seger (10x6) 1975
Quiet Village – Martin Denny (10x09) 1959
Ashes the Rain and I – James Gang (10x12) 1970
Only a Matter of Time – Headwater (10x12) 2008
Take Me to Church – Hozier (10x13) 2013
​The Boys are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy (10x18) 1976
Behind Blue Eyes -The Who (10x18) 2003

Supernatural Season 11

Sounds of Silence – Disturbed (11x?) 2015
Night Moves – Bob Seger (11x04) 1976
Midnight Rider – Allman Brothers Band (11x16) 1970
Things Have Changed – Anson Funderburgh & the Rockets (11x19) 1999
Good Vibrations – Brian Wilson (11x20) 1967
Gimme Shelter – Rolling Stones (11x20) (1969)

Supernatural Season 12
​
Solitude – Black Sabbath (12x01) 1971
Lost Angel – Heart (12x02) 2004
Roll on Down the Highway–Bachman Turner Overdrive (12x06) 1974
Stuck in the Middle With You–
Stealers Wheel (12x12) 1972
Save Me Tonight – Sonny Ellis (12x14) 2011
Make Me Wanna Die – The Pretty Reckless (12x16) 2010

I’d Be Lost If It Wasn’t for You – Elijah Honey (12x16) 2013
In Peaceful Dreams    - Seasick Steve (12x20) 2015

Supernatural Season 13

Nothing Else Matters –Metallica
(13x01) 1991
Aquarius Apocalyptic– Stop Light Observations (13x01) 2016
It’s Never Too Late - Steppenwolf
(13-05) 1969
I am the Fire-Halestorm (13x10) 2015
Cat’s in the Cradle – Harry Chapin
(13-21) 1974

​Supernatural Season 14

Let It Ride – Backman Turner Overdrive (14x07) 1974
Please Call Home – Allman Brothers (14x8)
Monsters and Saints – Extreme Music (14x11) 2016
Til It Shines – Bob Seger (14x13)
The Devil You Know – Blues Saraceno (14x16) 2018

​Supernatural Season 15

Sounds of Someday – Radio Company (Jensen Ackles) (15x04) 2019
Drowning – Radio Company (Extra) 2019
Let Me Be Be – Radio Company (Extra) 2019
Cannonball (Radio Company) (Extra) 2019

Ol Boys – Jensen Ackles & Christian Kane (15x07) 2019
Get Together – The Youngbloods (15x19) 1967
Running on Empty – Jackson Browne (15x19) - 1977
Brothers in Arms – Dire Straits (15x special) 1985
Carry On Wayward Son – NEONI (15 special) 1976
Ordinary Life – Van Morrison (15 Carry On) 1991

Other Favorites
​
Ain’t No Sunshine – Bill Withers (1971)
Damn Girl – Justin Timberlake (2006)
For What It’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield (1966)
Hey You – Pink Floyd
Hey, Soul Sister – Train (2018)

​Hurdy Gurdy Man – Donovan
Hush – Deep Purple
Long Cool Woman – The Hollies (1971)
Low Rider – WAR (1975)
The Locomotion  - Grand Funk Railroad (1974)
Monsters – Shinedown (2019)
People are Strange – Doors
Riders on the Storm (Doors) (1971)
Spill the Wine – Eric Burdon and WAR (1970)
Smooth – Santana (2011)
Somebody That I Used to Know – Pentatonix (2012)

Somebody to Love – Jefferson Airplane
Stuck Like Glue – Sugarland (2010)
Sunshine of Your Love – Cream (1967)
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin (1971)
Time of the Season – Zombies (1968)
You Can’t Always Get What You Want – Rolling Stones 1969

​Whether you celebrate Christmas or Yule, one of my favorite traditions of the season is decorating the tree.

 I celebrate both holidays, and always strive to have my tree trimmed before Yule, so I can sit vigil by its light through the long night of the Winter Solstice. Dawn means that the coming days will lengthen, and our time of deepest darkness is over. This ritual of vigilance is particularly important to me this year, as I’m sure it is for many others. It’s been one hellish year, and I find it uplifting to think that our country’s darkness has turned a corner back to light.

I feel like the Christmas/Yule I celebrate this year is bigger than its Christian or secular meanings. Bigger even, than its roots twined in the pagan practices of the solstice. And I need its magic more this year than I’ve ever needed it before. It’s the time of the year when I can look strangers in the eye and dream of peace on earth and goodwill to all men. That has been a long damn time coming. Frankly, two months ago I wasn’t sure we’d ever feel that way about each other again.
​
That dream is important. I plan to use our peaceful energy of the season to project positive thoughts, to energize my heart and get past the sadness of loved ones who are no longer with me, or cannot be nearby to celebrate. It would be all too easy to become overwhelmed with missing them and not care about the holidays. 

When I lived in the Midwest, my family would visit the local Christmas Tree Farm.
We would walk together through the trees until we found just the right tree, the one that called to come home with us. The workers chopped our tree down and we all carried it back to the workshop.

While we sipped hot cocoa, the workers squared the trunk so it would sit straight in its stand, trimmed the lowest-hanging branches, and ran the tree through an efficient “bagging net” machine. Then we loaded our bagged tree onto the roof of our car and tied it on securely. The whole house smelled deliciously of pine when we put the tree up in the house.

These days, however, we have a beautiful, but artificial Christmas tree. Live tree farms are a luxury of the past, and the cut trees on the Christmas tree lots in Arizona dry out immediately and become fire hazards.
​
I still love the family day of decorating the tree, even if often now it’s just me saying, “Hey, Goggle, play some holiday music” and digging in by myself.

I unwrap the ornaments from their boxes and spread them out on the sofa and harvest table. It’s a living collage of several generations.  

  Pipe cleaner angels with tinfoil wings, yarn hair and wooden faces that my mom, the artist, painted.

A tin man with jointed legs and arms from my grandpa.

We still have a half-dozen pink frosted balls from a collection my husband’s second wife bought when they were newlyweds. (I’m wife #3). For 29 years, I’ve been planning to throw them out, but it hasn’t happened.

Then there are the fragile, blown-glass ornaments I bought for my mother as a girl: A bell, a sailing ship. Those go near the top of the tree, away from little hands. Displayed more prominently than he’d like are all the ornaments our son Ian made in grade school (I’ll bet a lot of you have little hands traced in felt).

​The children’s show-themed ornaments Paul and I bought through the years are clustered on low branches, so our grandson can take them off and play with them: Toy Story, Tramp and Lady, Dalmatians, Thomas the Tank Engine, 

​Harry Potter and his white owl, Buzz Lightyear, Olaf and Sven. 

​Scattered throughout are my own pagan-themed items, such as crystals, woodland creatures, fairies, pine cones, ravens and stars and moon, several pentagrams, and crystal icicles. 

I remember my loved ones as I put each special ornament on our tree.

Mom’s quiet love of her own tree, and her hugs when I came out to breakfast, sleepy-eyed, on Christmas morning. In later years, her joy when my own family came to visit on Christmas Eve, laden with packages. She and Dad were so happy to have Paul join our little family. (I think they were getting worried. I married at 40).

I have many happy memories of my friend Lisa and her mother Lily spending Christmas Eve at my parents, and, more recently, at our Arizona home. Another fond memory (now at least) was Ian’s first Christmas, belly down across his grandma’s knees (he was a colicky baby). And later, playing on the living room floor in front of the tree, ankle deep in Lego pieces. Shooting off his new rocket in Red Bridge Park, running around like 9-year-olds do, and yelling, “Come on, Mom. Hurry!”

Now Ian will soon be teaching his own son to love rockets. Maybe not yet, he’s five, and even more impetuous than his dad. But soon, along with all those Lego sets he has meticulously stored away.

Putting up the Yule tree has turned into a moving meditation as I work my way backwards, through this year’s sadness and into the joy of every happy memory I have built into the foundation of my own holiday spirit. 

Each ornament has a story. Each one has a face behind it. Each one reminds me of lives that have touched mine, and the love they have left for me and my little family.

As I hang the ornaments on the tree, I call those memories into my finger tips and place them on their spot on the tree with purpose.

I remind myself that in the dark days of winter, in the worst year in memory, the light is coming. My tree becomes not just a living memory, but an invocation of hope. The weaving of memories and love becomes a spell to lift my heart.
We think the spell, we touch the love, and the power unlocks.

Merry Christmas all, and Happy Yule.
Blessed Be.

It’s been more than a week, and fans are still ugly crying over the season and series finales of Supernatural. Some felt the story ended as it should. Others hated it. And many wanted to see Castiel reunited with Dean in Heaven, joined, much later, by Brother Sam.

Regardless of how you felt about the ending of the series, one aspect of this show has never disappointed me: the music. This show had more kick-ass music than any other TV series of its kind. And the music has been integral to Supernatural, whether it’s the classic rock or the scary scoring.

As creator and original showrunner Eric Kripke explains, “This music isn’t disposable. It’s like nothing on any show on this network. That was something that was really important to me, coming into the Pilot. I’m from a small town in Ohio and this is the music I listen to. I was a huge Zeppelin fan. So when it came time to write and produce the Pilot, it was important not to have the normal network music. I even wrote in the script, 'Cue music. And you can take your anemic alternative pop and shove it up your ass.'”
​
“There’s a real energy in the Midwest,” he says, “to miles and miles of flat farmland and two-lane blacktops that stretch into infinity, and you’re jamming classic rock as loud as it can go. There’s something so mythic, so American about that.”

 the Pilot, Sam and Dean have the following exchange:

Sam: I swear man, you gotta update your cassette tape collection.

Dean: Why?

Sam: Well, for one they are cassette tapes, and two…(pulls out a few cassette tapes). Black Sabbath? Motorhead? Metallica? It’s the greatest hits of mullet rock.

Dean: Grabs a cassette from Sam and pop it in the player. House rules, Sammy. Driver picks the music. Shotgun shuts his cake hole.

And so it’s been from the first episode. Kripke sees himself as a sort of School of Rock missionary, although, sadly, not all gospel is featured. Zeppelin, for instance, won’t be preached. “I’d like to use Traveling Riverside Blues” or “Ramble On,” Kripke said, “But Zeppelin will not sell their songs to anybody but Cameron Crowe because he traveled with them when they were on tour, and they’re also a billion dollars a song, rough estimate.”

The cost of the music has always been an issue for the show. From Season three onwards, as other budget demands didn’t leave room for it, fans noticed a marked decrease in the amount of classic rock used on the show. They complained, loudly. At a Supernatural convention in 2011, Jensen Ackles sat the complaint had been heeded, and efforts were made to bring more rock back into the soundtrack. 

Kripke managed to procure an incredible collection of classic tunes that have become anthems for Supernatural’s fans. 

The most recognizable is the 1976 hit “Carry On Wayward Son” by Kansas. It’s the closest thing Supernatural has to a theme song. The song was first used over the montage at the beginning of the second episode, Salvation, and it has subsequently been used at the beginning of the final episode every season except the last. In the series finale, the song doesn’t play at the beginning, but rather over the Impala’s radio as Dean drives through heaven.

It’s obvious the writers gave a lot of thought to the music selection and editing. For example, in Season 2, when Dean has repaired the Impala and takes her back on the road again, AC/DC’s “Back in Black” is the fitting accompaniment. 

Then in Season 2, Episode 12 (“Nightshifter”), Sam and Dean end up on the inside of a bank holdup. Since Dean is already a wanted criminal, they’re automatically implicated.

When they do manage to get away, and make their way back to where they’ve parked the Impala, the a capella vocals of Styx’s “Renegade” announce, “Oh, mama, I’m in fear for my life from the long arm of the law.” The song’s timing allows the music engineers to extend the heartbeat-like bass drum interlude that intersperses the next few vocal lines, until Dean looks at Sam as they leave and says, “We are so screwed,” and the song echoes with “The jig is up, the news is out, they’ve finally found me.”  What fun! By the way, this is, according to convention panels, one of Jensen Ackles’ favorite musical cues. It’s mine, too.

Another of my musical interweavings occurs in Episode 21 (“Two Minutes to Midnight). This is the introduction of the Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death. The montage, to the Jen Titus song, “Oh Death,” introduces the wonderful actor Julian Richings in slow motion, with dry leaves blowing in slow motion as Death takes down a businessman who has bumped into him on the street.

The stark arrangement of the Appalachian dirge “Oh Death” reinforces the chilling effect, and the lyrics are perfect. “My name is Death and the end is here.”
​
Just as important as the rock soundtrack is the incidental score, the music composed specifically for the show.

Often, the musical scoring goes completely unnoticed by the viewer, but without it the effect of the show would be completely different and have less impact.

Supernatural has a wonderful original score with many recurring motifs that fans instantly associate with a broment, or the Impala, or a gory death. Like the show itself, the score expands to cover many genres, rock, folk big band or a tribute to old monster movie.

Jay Gruska, along with Christopher Lennertz, are the composers who have been responsible or Supernatural’ original scores from the beginning, and they have won numerous awards for their work on the show. Jay has create some of Supernatural’s most instantly recognizable music, such as “Americana” which most memorably accompanies Chuck’s narration in Swan Song, which also contains the motif popularly known in fandom as the Winchester Family theme. 

“From the beginning,” Lennertz says, “Eric’s orders were to make a compelling and scary horror film every week. We all met and began to throw out ideas of how to do this musically, and came up with a palette that had roots in classic orchestral horror and twentieth century atonal music but with added production elements of the current day.

Then we added a bit of rock guitar on occasion due to Dean’s musical taste. On top of that base, we add elements of local color or inspiration from a certain time or place, depending on the setting of individual episodes. Jay and I have also explored the addition of unusual organic instruments of Americana, such as dulcimers and acoustic guitars, but played in an unconventional way. Considering the boys’ journey across America, it seemed to fit perfectly.”

After researching the Supernatural' music, I've decided to dive back into the series one more time, specifically to listen to it.

I’m also going to put together my own personal play list of favorite songs from the show. I’ll share that list with you here next week.  

I hope you had an enjoyable Thanksgiving. See you here next week with Writer Sandy’s Supernatural playlist.

Supernatural is the little horror show that beat the odds.
​
Fifteen years ago a vaguely titled show about two brothers hunting monsters debuted on the WB. The actors playing Sam and Dean Winchester—Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki—weren’t household names. The show’s creator, Eric Kripke, had been unsuccessfully shopping his idea about paranormal crime fighters for a decade.

hen Supernatural first aired on Sept. 13, 2005, everyone’s expectations were modest. Critics said it was “kinda like Buffy, only with boys.” Padalecki can still remember the exact pitch for the first season: “Route 66 meets X-Files, brothers on the back roads of America hunting things that go bump in the night.”

Still, encouraged by promising early ratings, WB executives stuck by the scrappy, relatively low-budget original show even as the network itself went through the upheaval of evolving into the CW.

Kripke set up his weekly horror flick pilot with a flashback to the fiery death of Sam and Dean’s mother, Mary (Samantha Smith), at the hands of the yellow-eyed demon Azazel (Frederick Lehne). Flashing forward 22 years later, and the widowed John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his older son, Dean, spend their time hunting, yes, demons. 

When Azazel strikes again, ordering the slaughter of younger son Sam’s girlfriend (Adrianne Palicki), Sam opts to drop out of college, skip law school and join the family business as well.

Padalecki says he became interested in the role because he like horror series, but he was even more excited to become “the reluctant hero.” In his eyes, “Sam is something like The Matrix’s Neo or Luke Skywalker of Star Wars.” Tragic circumstances force Sam to make the big choices that shape his life.

Throughout the first several seasons, Supernatural delivered on its original premise of scares, gore and tears—and plenty of cliff-hangers—as research-minded Sam and his gruff, cheeseburger-loving older brother, Dean, battled every variety of monster and demon. Finding their father, who disappeared in the first episode (“Dad’s on a hunting trip and he hasn’t been home for a few days.”) was the boys’ goal in season 1, although that ended up being as difficult as getting John to stick around once he was finally discovered.

As a paranormal writer myself, I had great fun researching creatures and spells along with the Winchester brothers. I was impressed that the lore the writers referenced was accurate. In fact, writer Eric Kripke used to say, “Is it a Google-able monster?” In the first season, we learned how to kill demons, vampires and ghosts along with the brothers.

The show’s formula during that year was simple: Include at least on scene set in the brothers’ 1967 Impala, weave a plotline about a growing threat, and plant plenty of callbacks to the deep mythology developed in previous episodes.

​Oh, Baby!

​Baby, the Impala, was Sam and Dean’s only home for many years, along with cheap motel rooms they often paid for with forged, stolen or found credit cards. The iconic car (nine different vehicles were used in the series, one of which squealed and creaked horribly every time they opened a door. 

Baby meant so much to the stars, in fact, that they both now have ’67 Impalas parked at their Texas homes, part of their final contract.

“Having a car that was like the third lead of the show was important to me,” Kripke says. “When I told my neighbor in Venice (California), who was a mechanic, that I wanted a badass car and was thinking of a ’65 Mustang, he said, “Yeah, a Mustang is the perfect car if you’re p**sy.” And without missing a beat, he said, “You want a ’67 Impala because you can put a body in that trunk.”
​
Dean had an extremely limited musical library of 8-tracks in the car. He played those songs a LOT, much to Sam’s dismay. In one scene Sam described them as the “greatest hits of the mullet rock era.” But the music has become a huge part of the series’ appeal: Carry On My Wayward Son (1976 Kansas jam) is basically the show’s theme song.

And Ackles’ extra reel 
​of Dean lip syncing and playing air guitar on Baby to “Eye of the Tiger” (Survivor) in Season 4 is a gem fans enjoy watching again and again. 

The Winchester family reunion was short-lived: Season 1 closed with a car crash and the fates of all three men up in the air. When the story picks up, John Winchester makes a deal with the demon Azazel, trading his life for Dean’s.

“Everything up to that point was about finding Dad,” Jensen Ackles said.

“I think that was the first time we saw a major character die and come back. It was a total leap of faith,” Padalecki continued. 

But they weren’t surprised. Right after the show moved to Vancouver to film, Kripke had pulled the two actors aside and said, “I could write monsters or days, but this show begins and ends with family, and the relationship these brothers have.”

“So, after our dad’s sacrifice,” Padalecki said, “we told the story of Reapers and the veil, and what happens to your soul. And we got into afterlife. The introduction of Hell and making deals with demons was a big shift in what Supernatural could do.”

Ackles added, “Which is funny, because when you think about it now, Eric (Kripke) must’ve always known because Mom made a deal with the yellow-eyed demon too.”

Angel Castiel
As the show evolved, so did the monsters, and in season 4, the introduction of angels changed everything once again. “I was concerned that would be a bridge too far,” Padalecki says of the angelic decision. “I wondered, ’Are we going to turn off a lot of the people that came here to watch a scary movie?”

Show creator Kripke himself had fought the idea for years, until he had an epiphany while he was washing his face. “I realized the supernatural world was unbalanced,” he said. “There was only evil. So I walked in the writers’ room on day one of season 4 and said, ‘Okay, there’s going to be angels…but they’re dicks!’” As Kripke puts it, “Angels completed the mythology.” They also added Misha Collins (brilliant move!) to the cast as Castiel, the first angel of the lord and the closest thing to a third Winchester brother.
​
“And now, amazingly, 11 years later,” Collins says, “so much of the show has been hung on biblical lore and mythology that is actually drawn from the Bible. Along the way, we’ve talked with priests and pastors and ministers, even nuns, who love the show.”

Season 5 brought another of my favorite characters, the wily crossroads demon Crowley (Mark A. Sheppard), later the King of Hell. He served as the Winchesters’ frenemy in more than 70 episodes over eight years.

When fans were asked to vote for the “baddie you most love to hate,” who was surprised? After all, Crowley was the only villain who had a hellhound as a pet.

The Witch We Love

​A few years after, in Season 8, another of my favorite characters was introduced, Rowena (Ruth Connell), Crowley’s mother, a powerful and equally amoral witch.
 
Rowena was initially antagonistic toward the Winchesters as she saw Crowley’s relationship with them as diminishing his power. Over time, she became an ally, particularly with Sam, although she was destined to die by his hand, when she chose to sacrifice herself and save the world by using her own body to imprison all the souls and demons and cast them back into Hell. Her soul then took up the empty position of Queen of Hell. To me, that was one area of mythology that the show should have mined more deeply, but didn’t.

Despite Supernatural’s deft ability to keep monster stories fresh while still delivering a record-breaking run as the longest running sci-fi genre series in the history of broadcast television, it wasn’t always a “sure thing” when it came to renewals. “I would honestly say every year up until season 6 or 7 (we were worried),” Ackles says.

What has saved the show is its fans. Supernatural has a very vocal fan base that attends ComiCon-like conventions all over the world. Because of the fans, the show has persevered through three network presidents, five showrunners, a writers’ strike, and six different time slots. Turns out the Winchesters really can survive anything, from the apocalypse to a Friday night time slot. 

By its 12th season it had become the network’s longest-running series. It kept the same two leads, who basically grew up grew up on the show (Padalecki was 23 when he started on the show; Ackles was 27). 

All-Time Favorite Moments
Trying to narrow down their 15-season run to one favorite moment on or off screen was not easy for either actor. 

But Jared Padaleck has a great default answer: Meeting his wife, Genevieve (who recurred as the demon Ruby), in Season 4.
“That season was magical all around. I loved Sam’s storyline that season. The weather was better than normal. But that entire year is colored by my memory of falling in love.”

Then he adds, “But I will say, knowing what I know now, the series finale is my favorite single episode of all time.”

Ackles also pointed to the last episode, and one moment in particular that might take “the number one spot of all time.” For offscreen, he named their final appearance at ComicCon. “There’s something special about that room and that crowd, the grandeur of it all.”

Misha Collins pointed to the “bookends” scenes for angel Castiel. “His introduction on the show was epic,” he said, using similar words to describe his final “Goodbye, I love you,” scene with Dean, ending with a bloody handprint on Dean’s shoulder, just like the one Castiel left when he pulled Dean out of hell back in season four.

One episode of Supernatural remains (a 2-hour special and series finale this Thursday, November 19). It’s titled “Carry On” but neither the synopsis, which reads, “Baby, it’s the final ride for saving people and hunting things,” nor the promo photos reveal much, other than a shot of Dean enjoying some pie.

The original series creator, Eric Kripke weighed in with a message. “The good that has come out of Supernatural is the thing I am most proud of. I know that the Supernatural family will always be there, so I know this isn’t goodbye.”

But for the stars of Supernatural, any further reunions will have to wait a while.

Jensen Ackles is staying on with the CW station, joining the show The Boys for Season 3 as Soldier Boy, the original superhero. The Boys portrays a world in which superheroes exist, but they’re quite dangerous to non-supers, and cause a lot of collateral damage.

The Boys will reunite Ackles with Supernatural creator Eric Kripke, who’s the showrunner on the Amazon series. 

It looks like Ackles’ playlist will also change with this role. Since Soldier Boy was introduced in the World War II era, he’ll be listening to ‘40s big band and swing to get into the part.  

Jensen and his wife, actress and philanthropist Danneel Ackles, have also announced a big joint project, launching their own production company, called Chaos Machine Productions, in conjunction with Warner Bros. Television.

Jensen already owns and runs a brewery, Family Business Beer Company, in Texas.

Jared Padalecki also has his next gig lined up. 

Jared Padalecki also has his next gig lined up. He’s going to star in CW’s re-imagining of Chuck Norris’ classic series, Walker, Texas Ranger.

The new series, simply titled Walker, will feature Padalecki as Cordell Walker, a widower and father who returns to his home in Austin, TX, after two years undercover, He must reconnect with his children, navigate clashes with his family, and find common ground with his new partner, while growing increasingly suspicious of his wife’s death.  

Padelicki will be joined onscreen by fellow Supernatural alum Mitch Pileggi, who will be playing Padalecki’s father. The series is scheduled to premiere on January 21, 2021. 

See you this Thursday for what I’m sure will be a sad, maybe even tearful, but most excellent farewell!

Saturday morning, the majority of major news organizations called the election for Joe Biden, the president-elect of the United States.

Although Donald Trump has not yet conceded the race, the announcement has effectively brought an end to the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, a race that will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the most tumultuous in the nation’s history.
Biden won the White House because of who he is and who he isn’t. He campaigned consistently for racial equality and common decency to save “the soul of the nation.” According to political experts, the election became a referendum on Trump, an up and down vote on his four years, rather than a choice between him and Biden. About two-thirds of voters said their opinion of Trump, either for or against, drove their choice, according to voting polls.

One of the most pivotal figures who supported Biden’s election bid, Rep. James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, said the candidate still had to offer voters something to believe in.

“I’ve said he’s not the perfect candidate. We’re not comparing him to the Almighty. We’re comparing him to the alternative,” Clyburn told USA TODAY. “We needed somebody who was basically center-left, we need somebody who has a good solid reputation, a person who can bring people together. And we need a real contrast to the bombastic incumbent.”

Clyburn, the third-ranking member of the House and the most powerful Black lawmaker in Congress, gave his endorsement and helped Biden consolidate support. Ultimately, three out of 5 black voters supported Biden.

The coronavirus pandemic changed the nature of the campaign completely. Both parties held conventions largely remotely. Door-to-door canvassing became tougher. Voting was a challenge, so many citizens chose to mail in their ballots in record numbers, despite Trump’s unfounded assertion that mail-in voting was corrupt.

The response to the health crisis became one of the defining contrasts between the two presidential campaigns. Biden remained mostly secluded at his Delaware home and appeared at speeches or rallies where participants wore masks and social distanced. Trump resumed and escalated rallies with large crowds packed closely together, few wearing masks. After Trump and several of his family and cabinet members tested positive, these rallies began to be known as “super spreaders.”

About two-thirds of likely voters approved of Biden’s more cautious approach, according to a USA TODAY poll. But Trump’s super-spreader rallies continued. The man even mocked the few attendees who did mask.

Honestly, the last ten days before the election felt a month long. There were times I felt we were experiencing what it was like to live in a communist country. The propaganda claims, espoused by our country’s leader as unquestionable truth, with no evidence or justification. The threats to any Republican Party member who even hinted disagreement. (Those threats are continuing still, by the way.) I cringed and hunkered down, hiding from the bombardment of vile tweets, political ads and other media. Just get through the election. Just get though the election. Just get through it…

But now, finally, we can collectively breathe a sigh of relief. 

“We must restore the soul of America,”  President-elect Biden told the country at his acceptance speech on Sunday night. “Our nation is shaped by the constant battle between our better angels and our darkest impulses. And what presidents say in this battle matters. It’s time for our better angels to prevail. Tonight, the whole world is watching America. I believe, at our best, America is a beacon for the globe. We will lead not only by the example of our power, but by the power of our example.”

Biden needs to unite a country fractured by the pandemic, economic upheaval, racial tensions and climate challenges. He must rebuild broken relationships and alliances around the glove. He also may need to convince a portion of the country that he actually has won.

Instead of concession, Trump and his most ardent supporters are spoiling for a fight. They’ve collected outside the building here in Phoenix where election workers were counting votes, yelling “Trump won,” and chanting to have votes counted.

They floated non-truths about Sharpie pens ruining ballots, and a whole other carnival of conspiracies, only some of which even related to the election at hand.
Saturday’s projections provided some finality and a break to the tensions.  Like steel bands around my chest popping loose. I could breathe. Easily and fully.

Finally, we know he’ll be out of power, and we can begin to undo the damage. 

One blogger put it this way: “If you’ve ever lived with an abuser, you know that one thing they do is absorb ALL of your attention. They control you by keeping you on pins and needles even when they’re NOT being abusive. You’re not even aware of it until it stops. Until you can wake up in the morning not thinking about how you must try to keep things on an even keel. At some point, you realize what a burden you’ve been living with all this time.”

If the elections of 2020 have demonstrated anything, it is that effective representation and governance requires that every single citizen participate in the process. It requires that we pay attention to policies being put forth, and voice our support or opposition in ways that are legal, concise and thoughtful.

Democracy is a lot like gardening; it requires constant and faithful tending. The neglect and abuse of our system over the past few years is going to require some serious assessment, and then a solid plan on how to move forward.
We can certainly celebrate electing a biracial woman, Kamala Harris, to the nation’s second-highest office for the first time in U.S. History. This is a victory for the principles of inclusiveness and equality.
 
Today we celebrate. Tomorrow? That is up to each of us, and how we choose to participate in the process. Whether or not we hold onto this progress, and continue to build on it.

Despite the temptation to think we have entered a brave new post-Trump world, we are more likely to shuffle back to the position we were in during Barack Obama’s second term as president. A divided Congress is likely to prevent any major legislation from being passed. As with Obama, Mitch McConnell will have every incentive to block Biden’s legislative agenda, thinking that inaction and gridlock will bring rewards to the COP in 2022.

I hope I will have to eat my words on this—the Georgia runoffs for Senate could change everything. But barring those wins, Joe Biden is going to enter the presidency in the midst of the worst recession since the Great Depression; a pandemic that has claimed nearly 240 thousand American lives; an ongoing national reckoning on racism and sexism; and four years of catastrophic negligence on climate change. And that’s not even factoring in the 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, a problem Obama didn’t have.

But it’s not all bad: Biden can do a lot to handle the COVID-19 pandemic more effectively, even without legislative support, While another stimulus bill will be necessary to alleviate the coronavirus’s effect on our economy, much of the work of containing and eventually stopping the virus can be accomplished just through embracing international cooperation again, as opposed to the Trump administration’s reckless abandonment of agencies like the World Health Organization.

And when one looks at how often the Trump administration abandoned global collaboration on pressing issues—most notably, again, climate change—there’s comfort in the prospect of simply repairing those relationships. As the French Prime Minister said this week when Biden’s victory was announced, “Welcome back.”

There were many important stories within the story of this election: the powerful rise of the Black women and Black Lives Matter as a political force, the demonstrated strength of our growing Latino community.  Most of all, the amazement that a nation, inundated by a resurging pandemic, still voted in historic numbers.

These results did not convincingly repudiate some troubling divisions in our country. We are still, as a nation, precariously flirting with white supremacy, conspiracy theories, and “alternative facts.” I am still concerned about how culture, and specifically faith, may be weaponized. Many communities, including my pagan organization, remain marginal and easily targeted. There are hopeful signs, yes, but we must remain watchful.

To my personal surprise, the biggest think I feel hopeful about is President-elect Biden himself. He stepped up to this challenge. He’s real. Honest. Not manipulative or narcissistic. He cares—really cares—about us. About ME.

So I’m going to breathe another sigh of relief. Put the dark impulses of the past years aside, and look toward our better angels. I know they’re out there, we just have to coax them out of hiding.

Congratulations Senator Mark Kelly! We turned Arizona blue for you. 

Welcome President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. We look forward to working with you.