Elder
The keeper of the threshold
Nature of the plant
The elder likes to grow close to the house, along hedges, barns and waysides. In early summer it bears creamy white flower umbels with a sweet scent, in autumn heavy clusters of black berries. In old tradition Mother Holle lives in it, and it is said: «Before the elder, one should take off one’s hat.» It is regarded as a shrub at the threshold between the house and the world outside, between the visible and the hidden.
Inner attitude
The elder is near and familiar. It grows as if by itself and always returns. It guards the house without putting itself in the foreground.
The essential qualities
- protective
- nourishing
- familiar
- steadfast
- connecting
It stands at the door and holds it open.
Meaning
The elder calls when you stand at a threshold – between old and new, between farewell and beginning. It teaches you to honour transitions and to trust the cycle of blossoming, ripening and passing away.
Voice of the plant
«Pause for a moment at the threshold. Then go on, protected.»
Encounter & working together
You meet it by the garden fence, near the farm and at the forest edge. In June, smell its blossoms, close your eyes and feel what in you wants to say goodbye and what wants to begin.
Pay attention to
- where you stand at a threshold
- where your home needs protection
- where something old wants to be honoured
The elder works when you are ready to walk through your transitions consciously.
Essence
I cross every threshold of my life protected.
