Sunday 30 March 2014

Messages from nature

It's been such a long time since I wrote anything in my blog, but then I've never been big on journalling anything.

I was out in my garden yesterday, just pottering around as you do when I noticed this tiny, yellow flower growing in the grass.  
I certainly hadn't planted it there and didn't really know what it was other than it was really quite striking for such a tiny flower.

I felt I had to look up what it was and what was it's meaning and the flower turned out to be celandine.  It's quite a common plant in the UK and seems to be a daytime plant as its petals do not open much before 9am and tend to close again after 5pm.  They also close when it is about to rain.  

What a clever little plant.  Here is some more information I found out about it.

Flowering months:  February to April
Habitat:  Hillsides, moist fields, shady areas under trees, damp hedgerows, open woodland, bare ground meadows, ditches and banks, sometime forming dense clumps or patches.
Folk Names:  Small Celandine, Figwort, Smallwort, Pilewort, brighteye, butter and cheese.
Effects: Natural power, war, rage, destruction, force, action
Planet:  Sun
Element: Fire
Associated Deities:  Bast, Eostre, Kwan Yin, Sunna, Artemis, Belinos, Diana, Hecate
Magic: Psychic Abilities, protection

What was this little flowers message to me? The sun it out and its your time to shine :-)

"There is a flower, the lesser celandine,
That shrinks like many more from cold and rain,
And the first moment that the sun may shine,
Bright as the sun himself, 'tis out again!"
Extract from The Small Celandine by William Wordsworth (Publishd 1888)

Sources - TheWhiteGoddess.co.uk