The Library of Obscure Wonders

I have a horrible cough right now which just doesn’t seem to go away. I read on the internet that finely powdered hazelnuts mixed with water and honey can get rid of a stubborn cough. So I give it a go, hand grinding the hazelnuts in my pestle and mortar. I’m not sure if I’ve ground them fine enough but it does make quite a nice drink. We’ll see what it does for the cough.

Hazel was the name of my best friend at primary school, she was very clever. She got to the posh grammar school for intelligent girls, I got sent to the units for special needs children in the roughest school in the area. I was a very slow developer and could barely read at the time. I didn’t want to be Hazel’s friend after that, I ignored her calls and avoided her in town. Pride eh? Very foolish of me!

The Hazel was the tree of wisdom, according to Irish mythology. In the otherworldly realm there is a well from which the rivers of Ireland flow. In this well there swims a salmon and around it are nine sacred Hazel trees. The hazelnuts from these trees fall into the pool and are eaten by the salmon everyday so they themselves become wise. These wise salmon swim from the pool to the sea and back. If you manage to catch and eat the salmon you too will become wise and able to tell the future. Fionn mac Cumhailfrom, the hero of many an Irish legend, was cooking this salmon for his Druid mentor, who had been seeking the fish for a long time. He accidentally burnt his finger and sucked it to make it better, but juices of the salmon are on his finger so sucking it means that he gets the wisdom. His poor mentor gives up then, seeing at once that Fionn now has The Knowledge. This links into the practice of Imbas Forosnai, a type of inspired, fortune-telling poetry once practiced in Ireland. I’ll write more about this in another blog.

Hazel comes under the planet Mercury, the colour orange, the element air, and of course the god Hermes/Mercury. Hermes has the caduceus, a winged staff with two snakes twirling round it, and this was made of hazel wood.

The tree has been regarded as playful, wise, and enchanting. It was frequently used for divination and to find water or buried treasure. When my parents first moved to Pembrokshire and needed to find a well on their land, the locals didn’t hesitate to recommend the local diviner who, I believe, used a forked hazel branch, and it worked. Hazel is also excellent for making magic wands and walking sticks. In Irish legend it is sacred to the god of love and eloquence Oengus mac Og.

To enlist help of faerie folk thread several hazelnuts together on a string and hang in your home. Hazelnut twigs on a windowsill are said to protect against storms. Hazelnut necklaces are thought to bring good luck into the home. Three hazelnuts clumped together are lucky. If you are looking for poetic inspiration and magical insight chew on a hazelnut to induce this.

Hazel is a deciduous tree, often growing underneath oak and birch. In managed woodland it is frequently coppiced which extends its life from 80years to several hundred. Both male and female flowers grow on the same tree, but hazel flowers must be pollinated by pollen from other hazel trees. It is mainly wind pollinated, bees find it difficult to carry hazel pollen as it is sticky and the grains repell each other. The male flower is a yellow catkin that comes out in February before the leaves. The female flower is small and bud like with red styles. Once pollinated the female flowers develop into round fruits that hang in groups. They mature into nuts with a woody shell surrounded by a leafy husk. Hazel leaves are hairy and soft to the touch, oval in shape they are toothed and pointed at the tip. Hazel leaves turn yellow before falling in winter. Many caterpillars live off the hazel, this is particularly good for The Hazel Dormouse for they can eat the caterpillars in the summer months and save hazelnuts for hibernation in the winter.

In the spring hazel branches are particularly bendy. Semi permanent structures can be made by bent hazel poles tied into dome shapes and stuck into the earth and covered with hides or waterproof tarpaulin.

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My cough seems a little better now than it was this morning. I also read that hazelnuts taste particularly good with Salmon, I decide to give this a go. Delicious! And maybe it might make me a little wiser.