The yew tree played an important role in the formation of human culture
and consciousness. It provided wood for shelter, tools and weapons, foliage
and bark for every medicine bag. Its greatest influence on culture, however,
was its myriad spiritual associations with the goddess, the grave, afterlife
and immortality. Although the yew tree was revered in nearly every culture
of the northern temperate zones, yew trees were destroyed for their utility.
Gone from Greece and Rome by the time of Christ, gone from Europe by the
17th century. Today, the remnants are threatened throughout the world because
yew bark and foliage provide taxol, the most promising new anti-cancer drug
in 30 years. In yew's modern dilemma there is a lesson for all of us to
consider as we contemplate our own earthly survival.
Name and Distribution
In the UK the yew is one of only three native conifers, along with juniper
and Scots pine. There are seven species of yews in the Northern Hemisphere.
The yew natural to the UK, with the Latin name of Taxus baccata, is native
to Europe including the Atlas Mountains and from Asia Minor to Iran. Several
varieties exist with different forms and/or colours of foliage. It is a
resilient tree that will tolerate a lot of shade and withstand smoke and
salty winds.
The leaves and seeds of yew contain alkaloids, which are very poisonous
to stock; even its dead foliage is dangerous. As an evergreen, yew is planted
for hedges within gardens but its poisonous nature makes it highly unsuitable
as hedging for field boundaries, and in enclosed fields the trees are cut
out. On open downs animals appear to avoid eating it and in the past
yew has been left for shelter on exposed downs.
Yews are a symbol of immortality. Ancient peoples were in the habit of
planting yew trees as acts of sanctification near to where they expected
to be buried. Over the centuries, it has been widely planted in churchyards,
and as an ornamental tree.
Longevity
The tree has a reputation for living longer than almost any other species,
which will grow in the United Kingdom; many are well over 1000 years old.
There is an old yew at Fortingall in Glen Lyon, Scotland, which might be
2000 years old. From measurements that have been taken in the UK the yew
grows, on average, about a foot in girth for every thirty years. This
will vary quite significantly according to the fertility of the soil but
is nevertheless a general guide. Thus a tree of 25 ft. girth might be 7-800
years old. They grow exceedingly slowly and are never planted as commercial
trees. Individual trees will grow up to about 20m (88 ft) tall.
Druids and Yews
Druids have always been associated with trees. The word druid comes from
an ancient Celtic word meaning oak. In essence, Druids are "oak people"
and have always felt a particular closeness to the oak tree. However, all
trees are sacred to Druids. Each one has its own spirit, personality, and
meaning. Trees of similar species share characteristics, though no two trees
are exactly alike.
Trees are an important part of every Druid's life. Since one of the tasks
of Druids is to keep their people in balance with Nature, it is necessary
to know all the trees in an area and be able to say which ones can be cut
down and what to replant in place of the felled tree. Druids know which
trees are best for housing, fires, tools, etc. On a magical level, trees
are a source of great information (both past and present knowledge). Druids
use trees to mark sacred areas, abandoned areas, and dangerous areas so
that others will know what the nearby area holds. Druids often gather in
groves, which are large circles of trees (usually oak trees). Groves vary
in size and are frequently situated atop ley lines or a nexus of power flows.
Druids use groves as meeting places. They often teach, share philosophies
and wisdom, or discuss important issues in the groves
The yew tree is held sacred by the Druids because of its symbolism of death
and rebirth. The yew tree's branches grow into the ground. Thus when the
central trunk dies, the tree lives on, as the branches become trees. It
symbolizes transformation, great age, and reincarnation. Yew wood is good
in any rituals that use the preceding symbolism. Yew holds and conducts
energy very well, and yew is a good shield for magical energies that directly
hit the wood is reflected.
The Yew, Taxus baccata, is an ancient tree species that
has survived since before the Ice Age and as such as been revered and used
by humankind throughout the ages. All races of the Northern Hemisphere,
especially the Celts, the Greeks, the Romans and the North American Indians,
have a right and powerful understanding of this unusual and remarkable tree.
Because of its longevity and its unique way of growing new trunks from within
the original root bole, it has now been estimated that some English Yews
are as much as 4000 years old, their presence spanning ages of time and
history. No wonder the yew is associated with immortality, renewal, regeneration,
everlasting life, rebirth, transformation and access to the Otherworld and
our ancestors.
The Yew in the Past
There are about 10 different species of Yew in the northern temperate zones
of Asia, Asia Minor, India, Europe, North Africa and North America. They
are all thought to have descended from Paleotaxus rediviva, which was found
imprinted on a Triassic era fossils laid down more than 200,000,000 years
ago. Recently, more fossils of the Yew have been found from the Jurassic
era, 140,000,000 years ago. So the Yew has managed to survive the great
climatic changes of our planet, adapting and finding ways to live longer
than most species alive today. According to pollen counts taken from peat
bogs of Europe, the Yew trees grew in greater abundance at the time of the
Ice Age than they do now. As the glaciers receded northwards, the great
forests of Europe contained up to 80% of Yew trees, and since these times
have been in continuous decline.
Ancient Yew wood tools and implements can be found in museums throughout
Europe. Because it is a slow-growing tree, it has a tight-grained wood,
tough and resilient, used in the past for spears, spikes, dagger handles,
staves, and its elasticity made it excellent for small hunting bows and
eventually the famous longbows of the Middle Ages. The arrows were tipped
with poison made from the Yew. The entire tree is poisonous - wood, bark,
needles and seed. The only part, which isn't is the fleshy part of the seed.
Be aware of the dangerous aspects of the Yew if you handle the tree or work
with the wood. It is one of the reasons why it is known as the death tree.
The Yew and Churchyards
The Yew is sacred to the goddess Hecate, and the Crone aspect of the Triple
Goddess; both are guardians of the Underworld, death and the afterlife.
A lot of our ancient Yews are found in churchyards but there is no doubt
that they were there before the churches were built. Many churches and churchyards
once stood in a circle of Yews, which were probably a legacy of the Druids'
sacred groves. At Amesbury in Wiltshire, there are 14 Yews in a churchyard
and 18 at Bradford-on-Avon. All are growing on blind springs. The 99 Yews
in a churchyard at Painswick in Gloucestershire were also found to be on
nodes or springs. It seems likely that the Yews were planted with the intention
of marking and protecting these powerful spots. A new system of dating Yews
suggests that some of our most ancient and protected Yews are 4000 years
old and not 1500 years old as previously thought.
Shamanism and Magic
The Yew is considered to be the most potent tree for protection against
evil, a means of connecting to your ancestors, a bringer of dreams and Otherworld
journeys and a symbol of the old magic. In hot weather it gives off a resinous
vapour, which shamans inhaled to gain visions. Yew wood was regarded as
especially magical to the Celts, due to its connection with the dead and
the ancestors, which were deeply respected. Archaeologists have recently
found well-preserved Yew woodcarvings at ancient sites of springs and wells
that were probably votive offerings. Yew would have been idea for this purpose,
as it was already magically associated with the Goddess and the Gods. It
was the most durable wood of the European forest, and more practically it
is said to sink, as it is a dense and heavy wood. It is fairly easy to carve
and the most beautiful of our native woods, a deep golden orange, with a
deep red core which polishes up well. It was used in the past for making
wheels and cogs, spoons, handles, bowls and any turned items, and the body
of the lute, but it is a perfect wood to use for sacred carvings. It should
be noted, though, that even the dust produced from sanding Yew wood is poisonous,
and great care should be taken where you work and how you work.
The Yew and Tree Ogham
The Yew tree is the last of the 20 trees in the Tree Ogham, a Celtic system
in which the Druids encoded their wisdom. Each spiritual insight is represented
by a tree, the first letter of which creates an alphabet system. Each letter
is written as a line on, or crossing, a central stem line. These symbols
can be found on the edges of some standing stones in Ireland and Wales,
but they were probably, for magical and communication purposes, carved on
staves of Yew. It was used as a silent communication system by the Druids,
and is recorded in some medieval manuscripts. The place of Yew, or Ioho,
I, was at the base of the Mercury finger (the little finger) at the line
which separates it from the palm. The connection of the Mercury finger with
the Yew is made by Mercury's conducting of souls to the place presided over
by the death Goddess, Hecate, alias Maia, this mother, to who the Yew was
sacred. The Ogham symbol could also be communicated silently by using the
shinbone as the central stem line and laying five fingers horizontally across
it.
The Yew tree, or Yew wood, the Tree ogham Ioho, is the link to spiritual
guidance through your ancestors, guides and guardians in the Otherworld.
The Yew is here to remind us that there are other levels of existence beyond
this material plane. By understanding the illusionary nature of the life
we have created for ourselves, we can live our lives more consciously. Often
death is fraught with a sense of loss, but the Yew can teach us to see death
as a form of transformation and that it is never final.
The Yew, Death and Rebirth
The knowledge we gain from the Yew makes it an extremely important tree
for healing. It can help us overcome our fear of our own death and, by freeing
us from this fear, bring us a greater stillness in our lives. Death heralds
the ending of something. It may be a physical death, or the death of our
old selves, an old way of life or an old way of looking at things. Each
end, each death, is a new beginning, hope, future and transformation. Sometimes
things need to end or die before the new can begin, and understanding rebirth
always requires seeing beyond our limitations.
The Yew can be used to assist Otherworld journeys and to increase openness
of communication with the Otherworld, through an increased ability to understand
and receive the messages, which are being given to us by our guides and
helpers. By opening ourselves to intuitively interpreting these messages,
and trusting our intuitions to act on what we receive, we can make some
real progress as the wheel turns and the death of one situation heralds
the birth of another.
Magically the Yew is used for summoning spirits and any Otherworld communication.
It is linked to Samhain, when entry to the Otherworld is easiest, dreams
are most potent and access to the ancestors is most possible. The Yew is
linked to the runes yr and eolh, both ruled by Jupiter and the positive
benefits of transformation. According to a modern encyclopaedia of magical
herbs, the Yew is feminine, its element is water and its planet is Saturn.
However it seems to me that Pluto would be a much more appropriate planet
as it is the planet of death and change, transformation and rebirth. The
Yew also connects through Samhain and the water element, to Scorpio, ruled
by Pluto.
Remedies and Dowsing
Because the Yew is poisonous, there are no herbal remedies, although it
was sometimes called the forbidden tree as it was used to stimulate abortions.
In the north, the Yew was used for dowsing to find lost property (enlisting
the help of the ancestors?). The seeker held a Yew branch in front of him
or her, which led them to the goods, and turned his hand when he was near
them. A strange belief in the north of Scotland concerning the Yew was that
a person, when grasping a branch of Yew in the left hand, may speak to anyone
he pleases without that person being able to hear, even though everyone
else present can. This may have been useful if someone wished to prejudice
the clan against a chief without receiving punishment for his insults.
Funerary Customs and Folklore
Yew has long been part of funerary customs, which may vary from country
to country and district to district. They mainly involve carrying sprigs
of Yew, which are either thrown in the grave under the body or of being
thrown in on top of the coffin. In Suffolk it was considered unlucky if
some Yew came into the house with the Christmas Eve decorations and a sure
sign that someone in the family would die before the year was out. In Derbyshire,
however, care was taken to include the Yew in the evergreens brought into
the house at Christmas, although it was on no account to be taken from the
churchyard, and to be used specifically as part of the decorations around
the window. Yew is also put around the well-dressing pictures, a tradition
of making pictures from petals and placing these by the old wells and springs,
which is still practised in Derbyshire today.
With so much of our folklore there seems to be many layers of beliefs,
superstitions and fears, which are usually the result of Christian overlay.
The Yew, with its ability to span the ages, seems to have sustained its
intrinsic meaning of death and rebirth from the time of early man, though
Celtic and Druidic teachings and the Christian church, to the Aquarian age.
Perhaps it is because it has stood in the same spot, on the same sacred
power point, for generations of human lives.
Yew as a Sacred Place Marker
So many of the ancient Yew trees we have in our country are protected by
the churchyard, and reports of their great girths, and therefore great ages,
are documented throughout historical texts. In the past they were used as
landmarks, because of their size and longevity, and their dark branches
would make them stand out in the landscape. Yew groves planted by the Druids
were common by ancient ways, on sacred sites, hilltops, ridge ways and burial
grounds. Tribal leaders were buried beneath Yew trees, in the sure belief
that their knowledge and wisdom would be joined with the Dryad of the Yew
and therefore still is accessible to the tribe for generations to come.
So many of these ancient documented trees have gone now, but in recent
years there has been an upsurge of interest in the Yew, and there are several
books available now which are still with us. It is possible to make a pilgrimage
to visit these magnificent trees and touch the awesome connection to ages
long gone.
Propagation
A friend of mine's personal "crusade" is Yew trees, and planting
as many as possible along the great Michael and Mary leylines which run
from St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, up through Glastonbury, Avebury, Bury
St Edmunds and ending at Hopton on the Norfolk coast. Yew trees can be propagated
through cuttings, seed, graftings or layering. It is also possible to find
small trees growing near bigger trees, which transplant well. They prefer
a moist, fertile, sandy loam soil, but will grow well in most soils except
waterlogged ground or sticky wet clay. They also grow well on chalk. They
resist pollution and can flourish in the shade of taller trees, but little
will grow in the shade they themselves cast.
Yew has been found to be beneficial in propagating other species. Cuttings
soaked in an infusion of crushed Yew and water produce quicker and healthier
root growth, though I have not tried it myself. Cuttings of Yew taken from
lateral branches generally produce shrub-like plants, while those from erect
topward branches are more likely to produce a tree.
Taxol the Cancer Drug
In recent years it has been found that taxol, a chemical found in the bark
of the Yew, inhibits cell growth and cell division, and may have some promise
in the fight against cancer. The biggest problem is that such a huge amount
of bark is needed to produce even small amounts of taxol.
The Pacific Yew of North America has been found to have the most taxol
in its bark, but the bark is only 1/8th of an inch thick. A 200-year old
tree with a diameter of 10 inches will yield 6lbs of bark, which in turn
will produce 1/5th of a gram of taxol. The average amount to treat one patient
is 2 grams, so clearly the problem of supply would be impossible and could
result in the Yew becoming extinct. Although they have tried, scientists
have not been able to make a synthetic version of taxol. Now researchers
are trying to find ways of extracting the taxol from the twigs and needles.
Yew tree forests as a sustainable resource could be planted. Branch trimming
would probably stimulate growth of foliage and a continuous and potentially
increasing supply of raw material. Experiments are being made with varieties,
which grow faster and may produce higher levels of taxol. A sustainable
solution has to be found in order for this potential to become a reality.
Already scientists in America have destroyed thousands of Yew trees in their
research programme, and now the English Yew is being used for this valuable
research.
The Present and Future
In Britain, interest in the Yew tree over the last 10 years has raised
awareness of these wonderful trees. We have about 250 ancient Yews, which
live very closely to humankind in our churchyards, and hopefully this contact
with the ancient wise Dryads will help to protect the Yews worldwide, as
they have offered their protection to us. Communication with trees is a
very real phenomenon to those who are open to receive. A huge Yew planting
programme began in Britain in 1996 led by David Bellamy, encouraging the
churches and villages to replant the Yew trees again.
Our ancestors revered the Yew above all other trees. It has always been
held sacred and understood as a link with death and rebirth. It was used
by early man for making weapons, tools of death, and now thousands of years
later it is providing a possibility of averting death for cancer patients.
It is a powerful reconnection to humankind for this tree when you consider
that each person with cancer has to face their own death, whether they are
cured or not. One of the most valuable abilities of the Yew is to provide
the opportunity for people to turn and face death, to progress beyond fear
to a communication with what is beyond our reality, which will bring understanding,
clear insight, enriched by a deeper experience of life.
