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A germination, a seed, the moment of germination, a spark, engaging energy, connection, transformation, fire, lighting the fire, the moment between striking the match and the flame rising, "go", trigger, ignition, set things in motion, contact, moment, first activity, initiation, first step in a chain of events, primordial spark, Big Bang, impulse, activation, brilliance(color).
Summary: the moment between stillness and action. The moment of engagement towards change. Energize.1
Sorbus aucuparia
Common names: Rowan, Mountain Ash, Quicken-tree
Description and Habitat:
It is a small tree rarely exceeding a height of 20 feet or a trunk of a diameter of more than 1 foot. It is a distinctly Northern species preferring to grow along borders of cold swamps and bogs or on rocky mountain ridges. The leaves are alternate from 6 to 10 inches long and are pinnately compound with from 11 to 17 leaflets, all but the terminal one being sessile. The leaflets are from 2 to 3 inches long and from ½ to ¾ of an inch broad. They are lanced shaped with tapering points, rounded bases and finely and sharply toothed margins. The upper surfaces are a dark yellowish-green and smooth; they are paler and smooth underneath. The twigs are stout, smooth, grayish to reddish-brown; the trunk is a light grayish-brown in color, usually smooth, but somewhat roughened on the older trees. From May to June it produces large flat-topped clusters of white flowers and reddish-orange fruit in the fall.
 - In Northern Europe the berries were dried and ground for use as flour, this was also fermented into a strong spirit. An ale of Rowan berries was brewed by the Welsh. They can be made into a beautiful red jelly.
All parts of the tree as astringent and can be used in tanning. The wood was used for poles and barrel hoops and was used dyeing to get a black color.
 - The feast of Feabhra, considered by some to mark the quickening of the year, falls within this month of the Quicken tree.
Morann Mac Main's Ogham in the Book of Ballymote gives the name for Rowan as Delight of the Eye, Luisiu; flame. That word is not listen in Dinneens, however the word luis also refers to a branch and a hand, if you add an e to the end of the word as in luise the word means a flash, a gleam, brilliance. Luisne is a; a flame, blaze, flash, sheen, blush.
"The Mystic Tree whose scarlet berries are the ambrosial food of the Tuatha de Danann" was often found growing near the sites of cairns, and stone circles. In the Irish romance of Fraoth, the berries, guarded by a dragon are said to have the sustaining virtue of nine meals, they also healed the wounded and added a year to a man's life.Perhaps as a way of imparting this virtue, Festival cakes were baked over a fire of rowan wood.
An old Scots word for the cross-beam in the chimney is rantree a form of rowan tree of which, as a lucky wood, it was made. And a coffin or bier if made of the wood was regarded with special reverence. As late as 1860 Rowan trees were trained to grow in the form of an arch over the byre door and in some case over the gate of the farm-yard as a means of protecting the cows. Even into the last century, Munster wives secured better butter for themselves by making sure to fasten a hoop of the wood around their churns. Dairy-maids prudently drove their cattle along with rowan branches.
Scottish Highland women twisted red-silk thread around their fingers and wore necklaces of rowan berries as a protective charm.
Another use of the Rowan was to prevent mishap to bearing animals:
A black mare a kicking,
Among the rocks,
A black mare a kicking,
And she a running,
A handful of rowan berries,
To safeguard her,
And she a running.
In the Finnian cycle there is one tale called The Fairy Palace of the Quicken Tree in which Finn is held in that tree by enchantment, a recurring theme in his stories.
Ciothruadh, 'druid' to King Cormac of Cashel, sought information concerning a foe, to do this he made a magickal fire of Rowan. He was beaten in his enchantments by Mogh Ruith, 'druid' to the King of Munster who also by means of a Rowan wood fire and a chant transformed the three wise men of Cashel into stones.
A mat of Rowan wattles, possibly covered by the hide of a freshly killed bull may have been used by the Draoi to acquire vital information in extreme situations.
Another name for Rowan is the 'witch' or "witch-wand' formerly used for metal divining or dowsing.
 - Parts used: bark and fruit
The bark and fruit have medicinal properties because of their astringency.
A decoction of the bark can be used for diarrhea and as a douche for vaginal leucorrhea.
An infusion or the juice of the ripe berries can be used as gargle for sore throat and inflamed tonsils. Because of their anti-scorbutic properties, they were used to treat scurvy. Their astringency also made them useful in treating hemorrhoids and piles.
Note:
This meditation is purely my own experience. I included it here for inspiration not emulation. Because our hearts and spirits hold different visions, each individual will have their own unique experience. --Willow Ragan
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