Black Willow

I hate seeing trees cut down for no reason. Unfortunately, we need to take one down today that has grown as much as it will and is now becoming a risk.

This was a photo taken a couple of months after we moved in. As you can see, we were having a little bit of flooding from the stream. While that tree at the very end of the peninsula doesn’t look like much here, it’s actually a 60 – 80 foot black willow. We originally thought it was an ash tree, but a friend of the family’s, who going to help us drop it, is a logger and said that it’s actually a black willow that’s native to Maine.  The head of the tree can form from 60 tp 120 feet in width. The base of this one is close to five feet in circumference; I’m planning on taking measurements before we cut it down.

While the wood itself is a very soft wood and normally not good for burning, we’re going to save every bit of it that we can to use in the outdoor boiler that we will hopefully have next year.We will also be leaving the stump to continue the growth over there as a willow bush.

On the magical side of things, there are many giver attributes to willow. According to Sandra Kynes’ Whispers from the Woods: The Lore and Magic of Trees, these are some of the suggested:

• Powers/Attributes: birth, connections, enhancement, fertility, flexibility, healing, intuition, knowledge, protection, relationships, wishes
• Elements: fire, water
• Celtic Calendar: April 15 – May 12
• Other name for Tree: Tree of Enchantment
• Energy: feminine
• Sabbats: Beltane, Samhain

These are not all of what is listed, but the ones that I feel are the most important to my magic workings. I will say that I will be sad to see the poor gentle giant go, but after noticing hollows up at the top and seeing how easily some of the ones across the stream have lost pieces over our one year here, it is a necessity to drop him in order to keep my family safe.