Often referred to as the "heart herb," hawthorn supports cardiovascular health.

Find hawthorn trees old and wizened in windswept fields and ancient hedgerows. It is grounding medicine. Able to bring your energy down from an over-active mind, made lively by emotional stress, to your heart centre.

Hawthorn is an amazing support when we are going through loss – either a death, or a breakup, or a life-changing shift, all require emotional processing and adjustment to a new world.  When we can quiet our mind and make room for the wisdom of our heart to be heard, it makes facing processing grief a little bit gentler.

If you have a tough decision to make that is "doing your head in", use hawthorn to help you feel an answer in your heart instead of thinking the answer through with your head. I use my heartfelt tonic regularly for this.

Make your own hawthorn flower brandy in May. Hawthorn is often known as May flower as it is traditionally associated with Beltane and May Day, marked on May 1^st.  In the UK, around May 1^st is usually when the blossoms begin, but with warmer climate, this is getting earlier, particularly in warmer places and cities, so keep your eyes peeled from mid-April.

 

How to Make Hawthorn Blossom Brandy

On a dry, sunny day, go and find a hawthorn tree in blossom. Take a jam jar with you and some brandy.

Harvest with gratitude and intention, take only what you need and give thanks. I like to greet the tree with my palms and a whisper of thanks and ask permission to take some flowers for medicine, it’s good to pause here since occasionally, you will feel that the  tree doesn’t want to gift you blossoms and this gives you time to receive this information and go find another tree.

Gather blossoms to fill your jar.

Focus on the flowers and buds, a few leaves in your tincture is fine, but woody stems can overload the tincture with tanins.

Once your jar is full, pour brandy over your flowers until they are covered.

Seal with the lid and store out of sunlight.

After 2 weeks, strain your tincture through a muslin or sieve.

 

2 -3weeks is a good time to strain a tincture made with flowers. When you strain your hawthorn blossom early like this, you’ll find it has a delicious, sweet, marzipan flavour.

Take a few drops of hawthorn brandy straight on the tongue each morning with a reminder to tune into your heart …

“ I return to my heart. It has always known the way.”

This is also a great medicine to pair with Ceremonial cacao, adding a few drops to your cup to welcome and amplify the opening of your heart.

If you miss out on making your own hawthorn tincture, don't worry, I made some for you to try.