Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon, my Darlings. For today’s blog post, I have decided to discuss some of my favorite flowers and how they can be used as offerings to Faery Queen Goddesses who embody the Flower Bride energy, and also how they can aid us in tapping into our own inner Flower Brides! In particular, I have chosen flowers that are very much beginning to bloom and hold a Springtime energy, which is why flowers like Sunflowers or Mums are not included here (as they are more late Summer and early Fall flowers).
ROSE (Rosa spp.)
~You knew this one would be the first on this list. Of course, Roses are my favorite flower, especially White Roses, which comes as no surprise to my regular readers, I am sure. Besides being an iconic flower of love and romance, the Rose is also a bloom very associated with beauty. Her energy is ideal to use in rituals for self-love and beauty, but also to create bath products. Rose water is an excellent facial toner, Rose oil infusion is my favorite anointing oil, and you will see Rose listed on the ingredients of many of your favorite beauty products!
HAWTHORN (Crataegus monogyna)
~We are nearly in May, and Hawthorn is the May Tree! She is such a gorgeous tree full of five-petaled White Flowers when she comes into bloom in Spring. Deeply tied to love and sexuality (with some people even saying Hawthorn flowers smell like female sexual fluids). Of course, these beautiful blooms had to make this list of favorite flowers. Hawthorn flowers are beautiful to weave into Flower Crowns, and also to weave into your hair for Beltane Rituals! You can also place them directly on your Faery Queen altars as offerings (which is true of all of these flowers, but Hawthorn is so deeply tied to Beltane that there is a certain seasonal punch). Another amazing way to use Hawthorn flowers is in Rituals for love and especially for healing heartbreak (even more potent when combined with Rose, as both aid in healing grief)! Finally, you can also use Hawthorn to aid in spells having to do with setting boundaries, as Hawthorn is a liminal tree, often seen as a portal to the Otherworld, which may be why she is often planted in hedgerows to this day (maybe a memory of a long distant past belief). It is also this liminal energy that can aid in protection and setting clear boundaries. I want to finish this section by noting that there is a traditional folkloric superstition stating that you should never cut the branch of a flowering Hawthorn (and even that bringing the flowers inside could be an ill omen). If you want to abide by these superstitions and still work with Hawthorn flowers, you can just use the flowers that fall naturally to the ground to weave in your hair and into flower crowns to be worn outside during Rituals!
ELDERFLOWER (Sambucus nigra)
~Elder is another of my favorite flowers and trees. Elderflowers are obviously the blooms of this tree of Faery Enchantment, which is also true of Hawthorn and Apple (more on Apple below). Elder is interesting as being both a tree that is seen as a Portal to the Otherworld and also one to protect from malevolent Fae, making this tree one that is both a protection from Fae and a Faery Portal. It adds to the interesting and beautifully liminal energy to Elder, making her all the more Faery! Elderflower is an excellent Herbal Ally for protection and is often used to help ease hayfever. I love to drink Elderflower tea, often blending it with Rose and either Elderberry or Hawthorn Berry, which is a great blend to drink to commune with the Faery Queens, as all of these herbs are so powerfully aligned with the Fae, Faery Queens, and especially the Celtic Venus. Drinking any form of Elderflower tea (with Honey to sweeten and more deeply align with the Celtic Venusian energy) in a Tea Ritual definitely aids in my communion with Avalon and Faery Queens!
APPLE BLOSSOM (Malus spp.)
~Of course, I just had to discuss Apple Blossoms, as Apple Trees are so important to my spiritual practice, as they are the namesake Tree of Avalon. In the Springtime, Apple Blossoms are beginning to be in full bloom, the five-petaled White and Pink Blossoms emitting a lovely aroma! While the Apple Blossoms are on the tree, it is the ideal time to work with the Springtime energy of Avalonian Faery Queens. You can use Apple Blossoms to decorate your altars and leave them as offerings to all of the Avalonian Faery Queens, including Morgan le Fay, Blodeuwedd, Guinevere, Rhiannon, and Melusine. Apple Blossoms are flowers I deeply associate with Guinevere in particular, as she is so often described as ‘going a-Maying’, which means that she is picking flowers out in the Woodland to celebrate Beltane. In artwork, she is often shown with Apple Blossoms and Hawthorn Flowers, making both of these trees and their flowers especially sacred to her! This is why I think entwining Apple and Hawthorn Flowers in offering bowls or using them during Ritual is a great way to commune with Guinevere, in particular.
CHERRY BLOSSOM (Prunus serrulata)
~Finally, last but not least, I had to include Cherry Blossoms! Cherry Blossoms are another gorgeous floral tree in full bloom at the end of April and the beginning of May. My local park has many Cherry Blossom trees, even holding an annual Cherry Blossom Festival, which is one of my favorite events of the year! Growing up, going to this Cherry Blossom Festival was a great way to celebrate Beltane, before I ever knew the deeper significance of Beltane. I still do go each year with my husband, as I adore spending time walking through the park with Cherry Blossom petals falling onto the ground, and often into my hair! Sadly, there has been a decline in this Festival in the last couple of years (but more on that in tomorrow’s blog post). So, for me, Cherry Blossoms are magickal just to be around, without the need to do anything special. Walking in parks, or other areas, where Cherry Blossoms are in full bloom, always makes me feel the energy of the Faery Queens very profoundly!
~I hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the flowers that make up Flower Bride energy. What blooms make up the bouquet of your own Flower Bride energy? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is the illustration Queen Guinevere Goes A-Maying by Louis Rhead. I found the artwork on https://www.posterazzi.com/queen-guinevere-1923-nqueen-guinevere-goes-a-maying-illustration-by-louis-rhead-1857-1926-for-the-story-of-king-arthur-and-his-knights-by-sir-james-thomas-knowles-1923-poster-print-by-granger-collection-item-vargrc0041149/.
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries
Further Reading
- Magical Faery Plants by Sandra Kynes
- Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magickal Herbs by Scott Cunningham
- The Mabinogion translated by Sioned Davies
- Arthurian Romances by Chretien de Troyes
- Le Morte d’ Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
- Once and Future Queen by Nicole Evelina