Blackberrys the Fruit of the Fairy World
Originally shared by Jon “the chef” Hole
Blackberries abundantly in Season (U.K.) The berries themselves are feminine in nature and ruled by the element of earth.
They represent an abundant harvest and can be used in spells and magical cooking for prosperity.
Blackberries were considered protective against earthbound spirits and vampires.
If planted near a home, a vampire couldn't enter because he would obsessively count the berries and forget what he was about.
When mature, the berries are eaten and their seeds dispersed by several mammals, such as the red fox and the Eurasian badger, as well as by small birds.
Blackberry fruit are red before they are ripe, leading to an old expression that "blackberries are red when they're green".
Not to be eaten after Samhain because the Púca spits on them and they become inedible (in some parts of Ireland they believe that the Púca urinates on them).
The Púca is an Irish spirit (one of the fairy folk).
An arch of bramble which had rooted at both ends was believed to have special powers and if you wished to invoke evil spirits you could do so by crawling through the arch at Samhain while making your wish.
Could also be used to cure, for example, a child with whooping cough could be cured by passing it under the arch three times before breakfast for nine consecutive days while saying “in bramble, out cough, here I leave the whooping cough.
In Ireland if you found a piece of bramble attached to a cows tail at Beltainne it was considered suspicious as it meant someone was trying to put a spell on the milk.
Medical uses include using the leaves in a cure for diarrhoea in both cattle and people; it could cure dropsy and was considered to have fantastic curative powers for coughs and colds.
It was also used for a variety of skin complaints such as scalds, burns,
boils, shingles and spots.
#Blackberry #FolkLore
