Hazel and Hazelnut


Seeds
Represent potential, growth and in a very real sense embodied energy. Nuts and seeds are powerful signs of Nature's bounty, which is important to remember nowadays when we are increasingly being fed stories of scarcity.

The Hazelnut
Has been used as a symbol for the heart, and can indeed resemble a human heart. The fact that hazelnuts are nutritious and delicious isn't a bad reason either!

Hazel Wands
Wands or sticks of hazel have traditionally been of great value, particularly as a building material.

Magic
The hazel with its nourishing nuts and habit of growing near water, is a symbol of fertility, kingship, poetic inspiration and mystical knowledge.

The ancient Irish and British considered the hazel and its nuts to be effective against witchcraft. There are many tales of hazel logs being swapped for bodies and hazel wands being used as weapons against black magic.

Noble
Brehons classified the birch, elm and alder as commoners of the wood, and whitebeam and juniper among the lower divisions of the wood, but they elevated hazel to the ranks of nobility alongside the oak, the yew, the ash and the pine.

Value
Hazel was valued specifically because its nuts are a valuable source of food, and its straight and flexible wands can be shaped to many purposes.


'Irish Trees: Myths, Legends & Folklore' by Niall Mac Coitir