Selenophile, Author at Elune Blue

The Magic of Apple

Apples have a deeply-rooted magical history and are a richly symbol-laden fruit. They are known as the “Fruit of the Gods” in Celtic Mythology, and the Irish revered “The Silver Branch,” a magical artifact said to be needed to enter the Underworld before one’s time.

The Fruit of the Underworld

Apple is also known as the “Fruit of the Underworld,” Some have believed it to be the fruit that binds Persephone to the Underworld during the Winter.

Magical Ways to Use Apple

Apple wands are perfect for love, fertility, and emotional magic. Apple candles made with infused melted pink wax are often used at hand-fastings as a symbol of eternal and immortal love. Moreover, apple blossoms are wonderfully fragrant and make good additions to love satchels, brews, and incense.

Celebration and Festivities Involving Apples

Apples are often involved in Mabon and Samhain celebrations. During Mabon, the mid-harvest festival, apples are left on altars overnight and placed into the ground as an offering to the Earth.

Apples and Samhain

“Apple-Bobbing,” is a Samhain tradition that symbolizes Apollo’s “Quest for the Golden Apple,” in which he sent Andrei across the water to retrieve his three golden apples from the beast there – Rinosark.

Samhain Divination with Apples

Samhain is also a powerful time for apple divination, a popular one being to peel an apple to see how long one’s life will be. The longer the unbroken peel, the longer life will be.

Red and green apples that appear to be for sale sitting in baskets.

Wassailing the Apple Tree

Wassailing ceremonies also involve apples. There is a century-old English wassailing custom of going out to the apple orchard, picking the largest apple tree, and “hailing” its branches and roots with cider. Cakes are also gifted to the tree as well. This is to wish you good health and a bountiful harvest in the coming year.

Apples in Lore and Mythology

Apples have an interesting vein throughout mythology. It was an apple that is said to have started the Trojan War. Eris, the Goddess of Discord, was displeased with not being invited to a wedding party that a host of other gods and goddesses were invited to. She crashed the party anyway and threw an apple amid the party gatherers, with words etched onto it that said: “For the fairest.”

Moistened red apples hanging from a tree at midday.

The Goddesses Fight Over the Apple

Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite were all in attendance, and upon seeing the apple, each goddess assumed that the apple was meant for her. A quarrel ensued, and Zeus sent the most handsome mortal on the planet – Paris, Prince of Troy – to settle the matter.

A Golden Apple “For the Fairest”

Zeus gave Hermes a golden apple to deliver to Paris, who was, in turn, to give the apple to whichever goddess he considered the fairest.

The Goddesses Promises

The goddess’ all made promises to Paris to try and gain his favor and receive the apple. Hera offered to make Paris King of all of Europe and Asia.

Paris Gives the Golden Apple to Aphrodite

Athena offered him wisdom and skill in battle, and Aphrodite offered to allow Paris to elope with the beautiful Helen of Troy. It was Aphrodite’s promise that won Paris over, and he gave the apple to her.

The Apple of Discord Leads to the Fall of Troy

This caused much discord between the goddesses, and Hera and Athena, in retaliation, assisted the Greeks in the Trojan War, resulting in the fall of Troy. As a result of this myth, the phrase “apple of discord” came into being.

The Healing Power of Apples

Apples have exceptional healing properties. They are high in fiber and can relieve constipation. Apple pectin has been known to help treat heart disease, and crushed apples are a remedy used to help prevent infection in fresh wounds.*

^{*(See Our FDA Disclaimer)}

Bags full of red and green apples at the supermarket.

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Everything is magic. Every day I am affirmed of this. There is a certain synergy that orders the entirety universe…and also my meager footsteps. There is magic in the glistening sunrise, and in the respite of sunset. There is magic in a child’s eye when they glow because she is happy, and also in an elder’s soul that comes from her wisdom.

Magic is everywhere. There’s magic in the flowers when they rise to greet the sun in the morning. The Moon uses her magic to control the tides of the massive ocean. The world is alive with magic and enchantment. Magic is the Mist. Magic is the Wind. Magic is in the pure white of winter snow.

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Magic is serendipity. It is the chance encounter that you happen upon that changes your life forever. Magic is there when two people meet; fall madly in love, and the sparks fly. The birth of a child is a magical miracle – the creation of new life. When our loved ones pass and we feel them from beyond…this is magic. It is unexplained. It is discovery. Everything is magic.

And yet, though magic is everywhere, and everything, it is intriguingly mysterious. It cannot be defined, despite humanity’s best efforts to pin it down…since the beginning of time. Spells, potions, rituals, and superstitions…all have tried to capture Magic in a bottle, only the have it slip effortlessly through the seams – never being contained, but ever-present.

I will admit in a past life, I too tried desperately to confine what Magic is. It was almost an obsession of sorts. I came from a staunchly religious tradition – church, prayers, God, Bibles… was the world I was born into. Sitting in the pews in my Sabbath’s best, I yearned for the preacher to somehow enliven the drab I felt inside of me. He never did. I would call to God in the Heavens to show me magic – show me the power by which his Son walked on water; those miracles that became legend. I wanted to see it. I wanted to know that Magic was real….

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…But got no answer.

However, that was a different phase of my life — a different time. I’ve since drifted from that world and now live and embrace the fact that…magic is everywhere. And that’s more than enough for me. Instead of calling for miracles to come down from Heaven, I know that all I need to do is look up at the Moon and see her beautiful glow…is magic.

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I’m on a journey, as we all are. I want to grow in the magic. I want to learn more about this force that holds my world together. Magic is no longer the old man sitting on a cloud somewhere in deep space controlling my life. She is the best friend that walks by my side as I enjoy the beautiful blossoms of spring. She is the extra ingredient that makes the cookies I bake soft, gooey, and chewy. Magic is the love in my husband’s eyes as we lay down to rest.

…And I’ve decided I want to learn her name.

Take this journey with me. I’d like to invite you in. Perhaps you are curious yourself about Magic. Come join me, and we’ll find out together. I want this blog to become a journal of that experience, and you get the key.

Explore Magic…with me.