Today I spent time near the Elder tree. The wood of the cross on which Christ was crucified and the tree on which Judas hung himself was the Elder. The name comes from the Anglo Saxon aeld meaning fire as the hollow stems were used as bellows to blow on the flames. Burning Elder brings death or raises the devil. Witche’s wands are made of elder. In Harry Potter a wand was made of sambucus an elder. The elder is an important tree for feeding birds moths and butterflies. And the dead wood is favoured by the mushroom Judas ear fungus. The tree lives around sixty years and is full of folklore from around Europe.

Michael.