#eastern red cedar

[alleghenyfeverdreams]

Cupressaceae, anyone? Here are three representatives of the cypress family to adorn your Winter decor: eastern red cedar, common juniper, incense cedar. You might recognize some of them from wreaths, gin, roadside limestone outcrops, or the slagheap.

[los-plantalones]

juniperus virginiana || eastern red juniper

[arulia108]

Series for school about native plants in my area

[prairiefirewitch]

Eastern Red Cedar (Essential Herbs for Witches)

*Notes from the Hekate ritual kits that were released October 23'.

Latin name: Juniperus virginiana

Planet: Sun, Saturn

Element: Fire

Parts used: foliage, wood, essential oil

Astrological Association: Leo

Energy: Masculine

Magical properties: Longevity, protection, preservation, strength, wisdom, perseverance, renewal, transformation, balance, connection to the divine through nature, return of stolen goods, defense.

Healing properties: Fever, cough, skin conditions, respiratory issues

Eastern Red Cedar is not actually a true cedar, it’s a juniper, as its latin name, Juniperus virginiana, indicates. Naturalized in Europe, Asia, and North America, Eastern Red Cedar is present in all temperate regions of the northern hemisphere and stretches into parts of the southern hemisphere. This hardy tree has deep roots and tolerates poor rocky soil, salt, heat, and wind, and is drought tolerant. 

Medicinally juniper has been used in bathing, sometimes as a scourge, to alleviate rheumatoid arthritis and to relieve depression symptoms and exhaustion. It’s also been used to heal open wounds. Juniper is warming and pungent and affects the liver and kidneys. Its bitter action stimulates the gallbladder and liver and it aids in digestion. Juniper is also used for respiratory issues, urinary tract infections, and skin ailments like psoriasis and eczema. The warming effect of juniper makes it helpful in breaking fevers. Eastern red cedar is an abortifacient and should not be used by pregnant women. 

Juniper berries have been used to flavor food, beer, and notably gin, and in Ireland the unripe berries are tinctured with whiskey and used as a general health tonic. 

As for juniper’s use in folklore and witchcraft, around the Mediterranean and Aegean seas, it was planted to protect a home from evil spirits and malicious men. It was sometimes built into a new house as a structural beam or to fill cracks between stone to drive away illness and evil spirits. Branches were hung above doors to repel witches. 

Because it is an evergreen, it’s also used in fertility rites and the berries are sometimes used as an aphrodisiac. 

Shamans in Siberia burned and inhaled the smoke of juniper to induce trance, and because of its high thujone contain, it can indeed induce altered states. Thujone does build in the liver over time so care should be taken to limit smoke inhalation to occasional use. 

Burning juniper as a smudge was common in Native American rituals for purification and to cleanse sacred ritual space. Cherokee natives believed that the wood of this cedar held the spirits of their ancestors. In other native ritual practices, it was believed that messages were sent to the Creator when it was burnt ceremonially. 

In Scottish folk magic, juniper is used to ‘sain’ livestock and homes during Beltaine and Samhain. Saining is done by lighting bonfires and driving cattle between them.  These fires would be lit from sacred Neid fires and extinguished home fires would be relit with this fire.  People also hopped over these fires to rid themselves of negative spirits. Juniper (lubhar beinne) was used, and to a lesser extent, mountain ash or rowan (caorran).  The cattle byre was sained, and the lintel over the byre was anointed with wine or human urine. Homes were also sained with burning juniper and “in such quantities to fill the whole house with smoke.”  Juniper would have also hung at windows to ward off witches and evil spirits and to rid the house of pests and diseases.

According to Scottish folklore, juniper needed to be harvested in a particular way, like all magical plants.  It was pulled by the roots, taking 4 branches between 5 fingers while an incantation was repeated.  Today we should probably refrain from yanking bushes from the ground and taking a branch or some berries after asking permission should suffice.  The branches can be dried and burned or the berries can be burned on a charcoal disc, or dip the branch into sea salted water and sprinkle a bit on yourself and your magical working space. 

While we generally think of juniper as a plant of the Sun, it does have older Saturnian associations perhaps because they are very long lived, but maybe also because of their often gnarled wood and spiky foliage, giving them a dark, ominous aspect. Like both yew and cypress trees, Easter red cedar is common in older cemeteries in the southern united states. This may be because its evergreen leaves have come to symbolize ‘eternal life’, but through the ancient Greeks, we have an association with juniper as a plant of Hekate, perhaps because she led the procession of the dead. Through Hekate, it is also associated with Medea, a Hekatean priestess. 

I choose to substitute Eastern red cedar for the yews, cypress, and cedar we traditionally see aligned with Hekate because ERC happens to grow in abundance in my bioregion and has a long history of use in sacred rites across the world. Eastern red cedar is a plant of protection and is excellent for banishing, inspiring courage and strength, purification and release.

[florenrune]

Plant Appreciation Post! (These lovelies were all photographed in Ohio by me on Monday)

[pigeon-feet]

btw baby progression.

april 2023 - sept 2023

[cygnetbrown]

There's a Medicine Cabinet in My Backyard

And I didn’t even know it! This past week I went to a workshop put on by a friend of mine about medicinal remedies found in our area. The first thing she did was remind us that she was not a doctor and that what worked for her would not necessarily work for everyone and that what she shared was not meant to be a replacement for professional medical care. Of the medicinal herbs that she…

[alcnfr]

An Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) around the lot today...

[siravalon]

More Bird Photos

🪶🌾

Eastern Kingbird

Eastern Phoebe

Common Nighthawk

Red-tailed Hawk

Cedar Waxwing

[way-out-there]

Some birds... just chilling in the trees🪶

[alleghenyfeverdreams]

Eastern red cedar ornament, 2023

[los-plantalones]

we have 3 types of trees in the NJ pine barrens that are referred to as “cedars”

exactly 0 of them are true cedars and it makes me insane

[balconybirds]

It’s a holiday here, so I had the day off!  Time to go birding again!

Not a bird, but a turt basking in the sun:

Some cedar waxwings!  This is the second time I’ve seen them.  I was able to get a picture of two sitting on a wire:

Here is a close up I was able to get of one:

I just thought this picture looked funny, lol:

I saw the cool bug again!  I know what it’s called!  It’s a snowberry clearwing:

Look at this cardinal!  He’s posing for me!

A red-shouldered hawk!  The first picture I’ve been able to get of one:

A tree swallow!  A few of these guys were harassing the hawk, lol:

I gasped when I saw some of these pictures!  I found a group of juvenile blue birds, and they were nice enough to pose for me:

Another neat bug!  Some kind of butterfly, I think:

I think this guy is a wood peewee.  Such a cute name:

There’s been some chipmunks coming to the bird feeders at the arboretum and I finally got some good pictures of them:

An indigo bunting!  There were a few of these guys around the feeders:

Tufted titmouse!

They got a snack:

FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT (I’m rooting for the bunting):

THAT’S RIGHT, YOU BETTER TURN AROUND:

Last, but not least, a carolina wren!  I love their calls:

Also, some pretty flowers:

Hope everyone has a good day!

[prairiefirewitch]

When I started thinking about all the things I could put into the Hekate kits, I knew I wanted to focus on eastern red cedar, as it’s the plant at the heart of my own hekatean practice. Typically cypress is more closely associated with Hekate, but in my bioregion, working with red cedar makes more sense. It’s abundant here so I don’t worry that I’m harming ecosystems when I forage it, and it’s similar enough to cypress that makes a very good substitution. It’s intensely fragrant, with lots of varying shades of green, and female trees produce beautiful berry-like cones that feed many species of birds. Those cones are juniper berries and are used to flavor gin, and I use them to infuse my own gin occasionally. They’re also covered with wild yeast and I’ve used them to make a wild starter for mugwort ale which I used as a ritual offering to Hekate. So I’m using it as sort of a backbone plant in the kits; dressing candles, using it as the base for incense, scenting soap with it. It’s a nice way to connect all of the items. Maybe I’ll have enough to make some hydrosol too.

[pmg227]

Birds of November '23

American Robin in cedar tree Ruby-Crowned Kinglet Wood Duck (young) Hairy Woodpecker Cedar Waxwing Four Cedar Waxwings Killdeer (and his reflection) Hermit Thrush Red-tailed Hawk (and his kill) Northern Flicker (male) Double-crested Cormorants (Another) Ruby-crowned Kinglet Goldfinch (seems to be talking to himself) Eastern Phoebe American Robins and Cedar Waxwings talking it…

[pigeon-feet]

this tree is going to break my heart i can already tell