Willow

What this is

Willow (Salix alba). The waterside tree that weeps its branches toward the stream and bends where others break, bound to the moon and the moving water. The tree of grief and of intuition, its wood worked into wands for moon-magic, its branch worn in mourning.

What it governs

Willow answers to Moon and the element of Water, with a second hand from Saturn. Its seat in the zodiac is Cancer, and its day is Monday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with waning moon and the full moon. In the old practice its office is plain: A willow wand for lunar magic. Bark decoction is aspirin's mother.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning willow is cold and dry, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the bark. Its working colour follows Moon, silver and pale blue; its metal is silver, its stones are moonstone, pearl, its number 9, and on the Tree of Life it threads up to Yesod. It carries well on the body, kept in a pocket or a small sachet and it is gentle, safe to use as the practice describes.

Where else it appears

One flowing grief in many hands: the Greeks made the willow sacred to Hecate and Persephone and sent Orpheus into the underworld carrying its boughs; the psalmist hung his harp on the willows by the rivers of Babylon and wept; the Chinese gave willow at parting and laid it on graves. Each meets the one truth, that grief, like water, must flow if it is ever to pass.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Willow on Today's Herb, Angelic Herb, Moon's Companion, Today's Gathering, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its office: A willow wand for lunar magic. Bark decoction is aspirin's mother. As the Angelic Herb it stands under Gabriel; read its rising as that intelligence laying a hand on your day, with the Moon's tides, dream and instinct. As the Moon's Companion it walks with the night, marking a dream, a tide of feeling, or a thing best done by moonlight. As Today's Gathering it marks a plant to take up now, while waning and full moon and the day are with it.

Why it matters

Willow lets grief flow and follows the moon's intuition. It teaches that sorrow is a tide, not a stone, and that the bending which looks like weakness is what lets the living survive the storm. It asks you to let your grief move and your intuition guide, and to bend rather than break.

Correspondences

planet

Moon

element

Water

zodiac

Cancer

number

9

sephirah

Yesod

day

Monday

colour

silver, pale blue

metal

silver

stone

moonstone, pearl

tarot

The Moon