According to Pagan Law the spirit of a tree is released when you cut it down. The elder spirit is mean, brings bad luck and I have been innocently chopping them back for years.
Does this explain things?. Phones and glasses disappearing hourly, beach trips ruined by high tide, chickens choosing to go through open gates and wander onto main roads, tents leaking even though they were fine in 2006, sandwiches going soggy after only a few hours left in a hot car and boiling stews turning forgotten saucepans black after a similar number of hours.
Probably not. Only blame spirits in the event of serious and unavoidable bad luck. Last summer I watched a baby pigeon take its first flight, wobbling 10 metres before landing in a cat’s mouth. There was a multiple fight. The cat was fighting the pigeon, somebody else was fighting the cat to save the pigeon and the owner of the cat was suggesting not beating the shit out of his cat. It did not end well for the pigeon. This was proper bad luck for him, not the sort where he should have known better. Maybe there were elder twigs in his nest?
Speaking of pigeons. The eggs outside my window have hatched!
And four days later they looked like this.
They are so sweet and I want them to be my friends. Perhaps one day they will gather at my feet for no reason like the chickens often do.
Digressing from Elderspirits and luck. We have a serious ‘Jesus Christ, we have to pickle and freeze the the hell out out of this lot’ tomato glut. So I discovered how to make Passata
Ingredients. Tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, sugar. Herbs and garlic are optional.
Cooking time. Bloody hours.
Method. Pick all the red tomatoes, boil them to a mush, sieve out the mush, throw away the 90% of everything because it won’t go through the sieve.
A bucket of tomatoes is transformed into a small jug of pale brown sludge. It is amazing.
Beyond the garden and what do do with the produce: Storms rage, Trump staggers on, Putin made up a vaccine, Lockdowns come and go, poor Beirut and so many people. It is often too much to think about so I sit and stare at the sea instead of the news.
I am lucky to have it nearby. Especially after chopping down all that elder.
I think this might be my favourite post so far.
We were pissing ourselves laughing all the way through. You are very witty! ❤️
This is glorious Jo! I love them and your deliciously dry wit! xxx
Lovely stuff Jo .
Maybe the state of the world at the moment has something to do with the treatment of the rainforests 🙁 I imagine there’s a lot of elder spirits around at the moment.
Lovely read though. X