The Hawthorne is an interesting tree. Its leaves are also called "bread and butter" as they were considered edible and often nibbled on by the poor. The berries are pulpy and rather bland, but can make a fine jam or sauce in a pinch, and of course all parts, the leaf, flower and berry are an amazing heart tonic, safely and gently healing heart conditions.
It came as no surprise to me then, when I discovered the Hawthorne tree is also known for healing a broken heart. My 4-5 daily visits a week to this particular park were calming, uplifting and healing to my heart. I know, because before I realized what the Hawthorne could do, and before the circumstances had changed that had caused my heartache, I knew my heart had been mended.
This can tend to pose a problem for those of us who hold to a Christian faith. When I start to look into plant medicine being used in this way, I only run into Shamanism and other pagan type practices, not something a monotheist like me would want to participate in. Yet somehow I can't shake the thought that belief in an intelligent God would actually support this healing from nature. How ready so many are to be cut and "chemicalled" through the conventional medical systems, and yet we question the ability of a plant to heal by its mere presence when we know we exchange the very air we breathe.
Then again, I also know from experience the Lord doesn't need a Hawthorne tree to mend my broken heart. He specializes in such things... "I have come to bind up the broken-hearted." ...and yet, through His beautiful creation could He be teaching me some wonderful lessons?
I am cautious.. I stood by the tree today and asked the Lord to speak to me. It's such a symbolic tree, both spiritually and physically. Physically it points to heart and blood, the red, red berries, the bare twigs formed like capillary endings. Spiritually there are a number of things; the thorns which are sharp, but nor abundant enough to keep birds and people from accessing the fruit; the "bread' leaves, the red berries, the white flowers, the way strange moss and lichens can feed and thrive off this tree. It made me think. As a herbalist I believe healing should be whole or holistic. We try not to treat a symptom only, but look at the underlying cause, whether emotional, physical or spiritual and deal with that first, and then the symptom will be alleviated.
Just as our bodies need to be treated holistically, my faith is also holistic. It is not simply the Hawthorne berry that heals a broken heart, but the Hawthorne berry which was visited by the herbalist, who loved the Creator who led her to the Hawthorne berry which helped to heal her heart.
At the bottom of all of Nature, I believe, an intelligent Love exists, wrapping all things together, both horrors and joys, in an embrace of wholeness. Dark and light.
"Where can I go from Your Spirit?" said King David the Psalmist,
"Or where can I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.
If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,”
Even the night shall be light about me;
Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You,
But the night shines as the day;
The darkness and the light are both alike to You."