HYLDEMOR // ELDER MOTHER
a commissioned piece for the amazing publishing house Hyldyr
(@_hyldyr_ and www.hyldyr.com).
Elder mother is a Scandinavian folkloric, animist, spirit of the elder tree.
Excerpt from Hyldyr's webiste:
'Among a wide variety of other beliefs surrounding it, the elder tree is personified as a goddess-like entity in the folklore of Scandinavia, England, and northern Germany. (Ibid.) In a late 17th century text from antiquarian and Lutheran pastor Troels (Trogillus) Arnkiel, Arnkiel records a charm about the Elder Lady (Frau Ellhorn) from the southern Denmark/northern Germany area that was to be recited on one’s knees with a bare head and folded hands before cutting wood from the plant:
Lady Elder,
give me some of your wood,
then I will give you some of mine,
when it grows in the forest. (Hopkins 2023).'
give me some of your wood,
then I will give you some of mine,
when it grows in the forest. (Hopkins 2023).'
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