Yew – Transition

Change can be a series of slow, subtle adjustments like the sapling to the tree, other changes can involve a complete metamorphosis like the caterpillar to the butterfly. It is, however, a constant and we need it to live and grow. The pre-Christian concept of death is slightly different to the modern one. Life is a perpetual cycle of Rebirth, Life and Death. This can obviously happen on a mortal level, but it can also happen upon a spiritual level. To make this transition in any area of world we have to let something go.

The Yews wood is legendary as the choice for the longbow. The berries are poisinous and work by paralysing the nervous system, the zombie effect. It is now being used in the treatment for some cancers.

The Yew is evocative of two things; the first is the graveyard image. This immediately connects it with death in a all its sobriety. The second image is of the pagan portal to another world, which why many of them are in the grave yard in the first place. The Yew is also evocative of a third thing: that of a constant faith. It is a sign that people have had a belief and trust in something more powerful than themselves for thousands of years. Our natural growth and progress is part of the whole.