I have been thinking for over a week now about my natural medicine story. Trying to remember the first time I turned to natural medicine to heal me. I could not seem to pin point when it actually became such a huge part of my life, that was until it dawned on me that it always has been. I have written on here, time and time again about how nature has always been my biggest healer.

As a child, it was to the trees that I would turn to, whenever I felt alone or unwanted. In the field next to where I grew up there are numerous Hawthorn trees and one there is one in particular that I would burrow into. Dodging the thorns and thin branches to get to her main trunk where I would sit for hours looking out on the world, feeling held and supported by this tree that kept others away.

Why?

Because the hawthorn, is the tree of the heart, it represents love and protection and it helps us to release blocked energy so that we can process what is happening in our lives and move forward.

When we are younger I really believe that we are born knowing our connection to nature . When I was younger, I went to the Hawthorn, because I could feel her healing energy. There is no doubt in my mind, that I knew what I was doing, I did not need to be told of the healing power of trees, I just felt it. This is something I have carried with me throughout my life.

This amazing tree has so much folklore connected to it. The fallen twigs where hung next to beds, especially beds where babies would sleep , to help protect them after they were born. The fallen twigs, were also traditionally woven into circles to wear around your neck to provide the wearer with protection. The Hawthorn is also know as the gateway into the faerie realm, and there are tales in Ireland of people being taken by the faeries when they sat under a hawthorn tree between Beltain and Summer Solstice.

This tree really allows us to connect with our inner self, allowing us to become more open hearted, to act from our heart whilst healing the hurts of many generations.

There are no hawthorn trees around me where I now live, but there are others that I sit with. However, recently a very old friend of mine came to visit me, she wanted to come and offer me some support and she brought me a spoon that she had carved from a fallen piece of Hawthorn. She told me that the wood spoke to her and that she knew that this piece was for me. Those of you who know me, know that I have had a very difficult year, that my heart has been broken, indeed it felt like it had smashed into a million pieces at times. And here was my dear friend, coming to see me with some hawthorn. Coming with a piece of this magical tree, that is all about healing the heart.

Since I have left my family home, two hawthorn trees have grown in the back garden. They were not planted, they grew from the red berries that blew in, perhaps from the tree I sat with, or perhaps another tree. Every time that I have returned there they have called to me, asking me to make peace with my past, to allow my heart to be mended, to accept what I have gone through, whilst drawing strength from them both.