Guide to Magical Herbs: Elder, Sambucus

https://asolitarypaganwitchesgrimoire.com/herbal-magick/guide-to-magical-herbs-elder-sambucus/
Elder grows on every continent but Antartica, and has been lovingly used by disparate cultures for many of the same ailments. Every culture with documented use of Elder agrees on this too—it’s exceptionally magic. In many European pagan traditions, Elder magic was regarded as that of the “Guardian of the Gateway” between the magical and the mundane, between life and death, light and darkness—a place where opposites meet. Its branches were often hung at the doorways of dwellings for protection; likewise, a hedgerow of Elder along a perimeter of land will not let invasive weeds past it. It is one of the first blooms of the season, in early Spring, with beautiful, cloud-like white flowers; it’s one of the last to fruit, too, in autumn when it produces copious deep, dark purple berries. The branches of the Elder are pliable, and the cork-like center can be pushed out easily, thus making it ideal wood for flutes and wind instruments as well as wands.

The most powerful wand in the world, according to legend and not just the Harry Potter series, is a wand made of Elder. There are claims based on Biblical writings that Judas Iscariot hung himself on an Elder and that the crucifix Jesus hung on was made of Elder. Little people and faeries are thought to dwell in the Elder and an old woman, sometimes called the Elder Mother, is thought to be the spirit of the tree. Like Mugwort, Elder is considered feminine in nature and said to induce lucid dreams, often of the faery world. Medicinally, both Elderberry and Elderflower are potent antivirals used as remedies for influenza and respiratory illness.