that it is not reliant on moisture held in the soil and can thus grow in sandy soils.
In early spring the pine tree produces two kinds of single-sexed flowers. The male flowers are soft yellow fluffy ‘knobs’, clustering around the base of the season’s new shoot of growth. The female flower is a tiny red budlike object by the tip of the new spring shoot. On pollenation, the scales of the female flowers thicken at their tips and join together, sealed by resin.
By next spring this little flower-cone is bigger and pendulous. Towards the end of its second summer, or even the spring after that, the cone scales crack open and little brown seeds are revealed. Pine cones open only when it is dry so the wind-borne seeds have a chance to scatter and not drop wet to the tree’s base. In autumn the empty cones fall from the branches, some two and a half years old. Three generations of cone can be found on a pine tree at any given time, sometimes all on a single branch, where new cones, fertilized and sealed cones, and empty cones stand one behind the other
CUSTOM & LEGEND
In Egypt, Osiris, the great god of Egyptian magic, was seen as a tree-spirit in his primitive character and was represented ceremonially by the cutting down and hollowing out of a pine tree. Then an image of Osiris was made with the excavated wood from the tree and inserted back into the hollow tree. This was kept for a year to watch over the vines, and was then burned and scattered on the earth in order to fructify it for the next season’s crop. His primitive character, felt to be embodied in a pine tree, also pointed to an alternative source of drink should the vines perish, for the resin of the Mediterranean pine itself is to this day a potent drink.
In Greek legend we are told how the pine became an evergreen. Rhea was the daughter of Uranus and Ge and the wife of Cronus. Under the name of Cybele she was loved by Atys, a Phrygian shepherd who vowed to be ever faithful to her. But he broke his vow and Cybele in anger changed him into a pine tree. Then, regretting her act, she wept beneath the branches. Zeus, her son, gave her comfort and promised that the pine would never lose its needles, and would stay green all through the year as a constant companion.
The pine is dedicated to Dionysus/Bacchus and in most representations of these gods a pine cone, phallic symbol of the god’s fecundity, tips their thyrsus or wand.
The Greek goddess associated with pine is Pitthea. The god is Pittheus. As well as attributing pine with specific royal associations, the ancient Greeks gave crowns of pine to winners in the Isthmian Games.
In Europe druids burned great fires of pine at the Winter Solstice to draw back the sun and this practice became the custom of burning the Yule log. In many traditions pines and firs are associated with birth. Storks have always chosen such trees for their breeding nests and throughout the world legends tell us that storks carry the newborn to its parents. Pine’s associations with birth and children does a lot to ease its somewhat dramatic reputation.
The Scot’s pine is prolific in Britain. It is unique in that it is the sole northern European pine to have survived the Ice Age. However our great pine forests of yesteryear are but a memory, for man has taken heavily for his needs.
HEALING
Pine has always been recognized as a powerful bronchial disinfectant. It is very effective when used as an inhalant to ease respirational problems, as it specifically soothes irritations of the mucous membranes.
Pine also has uses as an antiseptic, an expectorant, a stimulant and a tonic, and it aids in the treatment of bladder and kidney problems. It has also been used as a treatment for gout and as a preparation to cure skin diseases.
Pine cones and needles are used in decoction, and are added to bath water to ease breathlessness, rheumatics and skin diseases. They are picked when green and fresh. Pine needles boiled in vinegar were once reputed to relieve toothache when packed around the tooth or when the liquid was swilled around the mouth. They were also used to heal ‘green’ wounds.
MAGIC & INSPIRATION
The resin of the pine tree, collected from cuts in its trunk which ooze the gummy substance, can be used as an incense gum which when burnt clears a place of negative energies. It can also be used as a ‘counter-magic’ incense, for it repels evil or spells cast against us by returning them to source.
To clear ourselves of negativity, pine needles or oil of pine can be added to our bath water. As we soak, we can concentrate on allowing negativity to float out of us into the water. Each dark thought, each ache or tension, each pain or discontent can be mentally pushed to the surface of our body and can be seen to flow out from us into the water, and thus, when the plug is pulled, down the drain.
Pine cones were traditionally used to tip the god’s thyrsus in fertility rites. The fact that they are also phallic in appearance, especially when tipping a wand, gave added impetus to the fertility of the rite. Such wands are still used in Wiccan rites today.
As spring moves into early summer, pines shed clouds of pollen-dust into the air, often creating thick floating hazes on sunny days. In ancient days this dust was collected by druids for magical and theatrical purposes, as was yew pollen.
Pine pollen was also used in money spells, for its yellow colour was believed to attract gold. Sawdust of pine wood can be used as a base for any incenses used in money rituals.
Pine branches and sprays have always been used for protection, for when placed at doors and windows they were thought to keep out evil. When placed above a sick person’s bed, pine branches aid recovery.
A natural pine wood grows to Nature’s plan, forming where the wind and birds have carried the seeds. It is very different from a man-made plantation, and this is felt in the atmosphere of the place, the way the light expresses itself and the feelings given off by the trees.
The richness of pine’s colouring and its proud poise set it apart from any other tree, and it is always expressive, no matter how grey the day. The bark is a rich earthy red, giving the tree a glow of warmth, and it flakes off the tree like butterfly wings in hues of salmon pink and green. Pine needles are also provocative and to handle a resinous spray of pine intoxicates the senses.
PHYSICAL USES
Many products are collected from pine. Its resin was once used for sealing-wax and to improve violin bows by adding resonance to their sound. It was used to coat the insides of beer casks and was known as ‘brewer’s pitch’. Its oil or tar also forms the ‘pitch’ used medicinally by veterinarians as an antiseptic, and its resin was used as pitch to seal boats and was reckoned to give them magical protection. In the Mediterranean the resin of the sabina pine gives distinctive flavour to the popular retsina wines.
Pine trees have good trunks which produce quick-growing wood. When sawn, pine timber is yellowish in colour and is fairly soft and slightly resinous. In the past it was mainly used for pit props and rough building work, and in more modern times for railway sleepers and telegraph poles.
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