name | absolutelynotnormal

A flame in the darkness

17 10 2025

“Come Fairies, take me out of this dull world, for I would ride with you upon the wind and dance upon the mountains like a flame!”

– William Butler Yeats

Few things shine brighter than a rowan leaf in the autumn gloom.

This tiny curl of a leaflet was illuminated by a stray beam of light, despite the tree it was a part of being nestled in a gloomy corner under a large Douglas fir.

The rowan (Sorbus aucuparia) has long been associated with protection; its common names, quickbeam, wicken tree, witchbane, and witchwood reflect this belief. This is probably because of the red berries it carries. Not only was red a powerful symbol of protection against witchcraft (although it was also seen as powerful against ghosts, spirits, or fairies), but the berries of the rowan tree have a tiny pentagram at their tip.

Rowan trees were widely planted across the British Isles to keep witches away, and people used to carry a piece of rowan wood as personal protection. Across Britain, people used to carry crosses made of rowan twigs, bound together with red thread. These crosses were sewn into the linings of coats, carried in pockets, or placed above openings in a house to prevent the witches from entering.

There are three of these crosses, donated in 1893, currently held in the collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. According to an article about them, there were a number of rules about how the rowan was collected. Firstly, it could only be cut on St Helen’s Day (that’s the 18th August to you and me), preferably with a kitchen knife. Then, the person who was cutting the wood must have never seen the specific tree, or even suspected its existence, before its harvest. Finally, the cutter must have returned home by a completely different path to the one they arrived on.

However, as well as being protection against them, rowan was also an element used by witches in their charms. Margaret Barclay was brought to trial for witchcraft in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1618, before being ‘gently’ tortured*, strangled and burned at the stake. The damning evidence found in her possession was a Rowan charm tied with red thread for protection. Maybe it didn’t work quite as well as it was intended to? Maybe it just didn’t work because she was a witch? Who knows ….

*in the words of the inquiry against her.

I’ve also just discovered that Caorunn, one of my favourite gins, is the Gaelic word for a rowan tree. It also uses rowan as one of its main botanical notes. Obviously, I’m not a witch!

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Tags: appreciation, autumn, connections, details, experience, exploring, knowledge, learning, life, light, little things, moments, nature, Norfolk, observation, rambling, ramblings, random, rowan, seasons, thought, thoughts, train-of-thought, tree, walking
Categories : appreciation, autumn, connections, details, knowledge, learning, moments, name, nature, Norfolk, observation, positivity, rowan, tree, walking

The simple sorcery of a name?

3 06 2025

“A name can’t begin to encompass the sum of all her parts. But that’s the magic of names, isn’t it? That the complex, contradictory individuals we are can be called up complete and whole in another mind through the simple sorcery of a name.”

– Charles de Lint, ‘Dreams Underfoot’

There are some names for things that would make you love the thing in question, even if it was awful, but when it turns out to be an amazing thing, the name makes it even better!!

This wee beastie is the Owly Sulphur or Libelloides coccajus. Or, at least, I think it is. There are quite a few species in the genus, and distinguishing them does seem to rely on them sitting still, allowing you to poke them, and answering a barrage of questions. Something which, from personal experience, they seem little inclined to do. But isn’t that just the best name for a thing?

As well as having an awesome name, they also look very cool. For want of a better way of describing them, they look like a giant (they’re about four centimetres long with a wingspan of five to six centimetres) cross between a dragonfly, a moth, and a lacewing. Their body is super furry, like a fuzzy, dark grey pipe cleaner. Their legs are yellow with ankle length black socks. They have two pairs of wings, splotched in pale, buttery sulphur yellow and black, but somehow and inexplicably, also lacy and transparent. When flying, the front pair of wings are held out from the body at right angles like those of a dragonfly wheareas the rear wings are held at an angle, like those of a moth. When you combine all of these things, the creature starts to look like it’s wearing a wing suit. Albeit a very snazzy one. Obviously, to make life more difficult for those who might have dastardly plans to photograph its magnificence, having landed, it flares its wings once and then folds them up to hide their glory. Happily, it can’t do anything to hide the glorious deely-boppers it’s using for antennae. Or the huge black eyes perched between them. All the better for sighting and catching its prey of other flying insects.

The species is supposedly (according to Wikipedia) rare, but we have seen them often in grassy areas of the garrigue in southern France.

These particular individuals were zooming about in an area of long grass bordering an olive orchard near Le Chabian. I tried very hard to capture a picture of them in flight, but they are way too quick for my reflexes (or my camera’s). I did get scratched to pieces by the grass though … which was fun 🙄.