🌸 Introduction: Meet the Tree Who Stands at the Gate

Mysterious, magical, and medicinal — Elder, or Sambucus nigra, is no ordinary tree.

She is the Queen of Witches, the Crone of the Hedgerow, and the Guardian of Thresholds between life and death, spirit and matter.

In folklore and herbal medicine alike, Elder is revered for her ability to cleanse the body, banish illness and evil, and protect the soul.

With delicate, starry-white flowers in spring and rich purple berries in autumn, Elder offers her medicine through the turning of the seasons — warming, cooling, soothing, and fiercely defending.

She is not only a healer of the body but a midwife of the soul, guiding us to release ancestral burdens, stand in our truth, and breathe more fully into life.

In this monograph, we explore Elder’s rich herbal wisdom, deep spiritual gifts, and folklore legacy as a cleansing protector and wise initiator.

You’re also warmly invited to experience her presence directly through a Shamanic Gong Journey, premiering this July on YouTube.

🌿 Botanical Profile of Elder (Sambucus nigra)

Latin name: Sambucus nigra
Parts used: Flowers and berries

Collection:

🌼 Flowers: Gather in late spring/early summer and dry quickly in shade.
🍇 Berries: Harvest in late summer (August–September).

Cultivation: Often found in hedgerows and wild places. Though sometimes seen as a weed, ornamental varieties with golden or deep purple foliage make striking garden additions.

🧪 Constituents & Herbal Actions

Flowers contain flavonoids (rutin), tannins, and volatile oils.
Berries contain vitamin C, iron, and anthocyanins.

Actions:

Anti-inflammatory
Anticatarrhal
Diaphoretic (promotes sweating)
Laxative (berries)
Diuretic
Urinary antiseptic

⚠️ Safety Note: Elder’s Dual Nature – Healer and Threshold Guardian

While Elder is a powerful ally, she must be approached with respect and knowledge.

The leaves, bark, stems, and unripe berries contain cyanogenic glycosides, which release cyanide in the body and can cause nausea, vomiting, or more serious effects in high doses.

❌ Do not consume elder bark, leaves, or raw unripe berries.
✅ Only use ripe, cooked berries and flowers — and always remove the stalks before preparation.

💀🌱 Perhaps it is this very quality — the power to harm or heal — that makes Elder such a potent symbol of death and rebirth. She is both poison and cure, shadow and light. As with many powerful plant spirits, how you approach her determines what she offers you.

🩺 Traditional Uses

🌬️ Respiratory Support

Elderflowers help ease hay fever, sinus congestion, and summer colds.
Elderberries support the immune system and warm the body during winter flu.

💡 Elder is both cooling and warming — adapting to your body’s seasonal needs.
✅ Use 5ml of elderberry syrup/tincture daily through winter to prevent colds and flu.

💧 Urinary Health

As a mild diuretic and urinary antiseptic, elderflower supports the kidneys and can relieve mild cases of cystitis when blended with demulcent herbs.

🍵 Preparations & Dosage

Infusion (tea):
Use 2 tsp dried flowers or berries. Steep for 15 mins.
Drink every 2 hours for acute symptoms, or 2–3x daily as maintenance
Tincture:
1:5 in 45% alcohol. Take 2–4 ml in water 3x daily. May be taken every 2 hours during illness.

🌿 Herbal Combinations

Hay Fever: Elderflower + Eyebright, Nettle, Chamomile
Sinusitis: Elderflower + Plantain, Peppermint
Winter Flu: Elderberry + Thyme, Echinacea, Marshmallow leaf

🚫 Contraindications: None known — when prepared properly (see safety note above).

🧚‍♀️ Elder in Folklore & Tradition

🧙‍♀️ The Elder Mother (Hylde Moer / Frau Holle)

Elder was once believed to house a guardian spirit — the Elder Mother — and harvesting was only done after asking her permission.
✨ “Lady Ellhorn, give me of thy wood, and I will give thee of mine when I grow into a tree.”

To harm or burn Elder without consent was thought to bring misfortune or illness.

🛡️ Protective Powers

Elder was planted near homes and barns to ward off lightning, evil spirits, and black magic.
Leaves and branches were used as amulets or charms.

🌘 Tree of Death and Rebirth

Elder’s dual nature — toxic bark and healing flowers — made her a symbol of transformation. She featured in funerary rites and was known to guard the passage between worlds.

🧚 Gateway to the Otherworld

On Midsummer’s Eve, it was said that sitting under an Elder tree could reveal the Fairy King and Queen. Elder was a portal tree, standing between worlds.

🔥 Sacred Taboo

Burning Elder wood was said to summon spirits or offend the Elder Mother. The tree demands respect, and in return offers deep spiritual guidance and protection.

🌬️ Spiritual Essence: Elder as Plant Spirit Ally

Elder is a cleansing, protective spirit who helps us move through fear, grief, and shadow into a deeper relationship with life and spirit.

🌟 Energetic & Spiritual Benefits

Connects Kidneys & Ancestral Qi: Helps release inherited trauma and karmic residue.
Supports Breath & Lungs: Opens the airways and lymph, reminding us to breathe fully and live freely.
Clears Stagnation: Reduces mucus, supports detox via sweat and skin, and helps let go of what no longer serves.
Awakens Immunity: Stimulates white blood cells and fine-tunes the body's inner thermostat.
Connects Us to Nature Spirits: Especially powerful at Solstice, inviting contact with elemental beings.

Elder invites us to:

Heal ancestral patterns
Embrace resilience and sovereignty
Remember our place in nature
Release fear of death or spiritual matters

She reminds us: We are nature — breathing in and out with the plant world, held in the rhythm of life.

✨ Closing Words

Elder is not only a plant but a threshold keeper, a cleanser of burdens, and a guardian of wisdom. She is the midwife of endings and beginnings, of breath and spirit, of shadow and light.

Whether you seek physical healing, ancestral clarity, or deeper connection with the unseen, Elder stands ready — rooted, wise, and waiting.

🌿 Join the journey this July, and let Elder awaken the part of you that already knows the way home.

🔔 A Shamanic Invitation

📽️ Coming July — Experience the spirit of Elder directly in a Shamanic Gong Journey on YouTube.

This sound-based guided meditation will support you in:

Meeting Elder’s spirit
Receiving her healing and protection
Exploring ancestral release
Breathing more fully into your body and truth

🌕 Elder doesn’t just heal — she transforms. Let her meet you where you are and guide you to where you are becoming.

Book your free place now

🍵 Ritual Recipes: Preparing the Body for Elder’s Spirit

Before entering the Shamanic Gong Journey, you may wish to sip a warm infusion of Elderflower to open the breath, calm the mind, and begin aligning with her energetic field.

But if tea is not your thing, I have included several other Elder-inused treats that may seduce you into exploring the magic and medicine of Elder in physical form. Here are some simple recipes using dried Elderflower, perfect for this midsummer season when her blossoms be fading from the hedgerows but remain potent in dried form.