Apples are a fruit and the tree that they comes from.

• botanical information
• history
• nutritional information
• selection
• storage
• juicing
• astrological correspondences
• magick correspondences and uses
• magick incense
• ritual uses
• ancient myths and beliefs
• Goddesses and deities
• Chinese herbology
• cautions and contraindications

botanical information:

    Botanical name: Pyrus spp. (especially Pyrus malus) or Malus Sylvestris

    Common name: apple

    Use the botanical name when ordering seeds (bulbs, etc.) or when looking up information in the library. Common names vary by nation, culture, and region, and sometimes the same common name is applied to different plants.

history:

    History: Christmas ornaments are derived from an early Christian practice of hanging apples on the Yule tree to convert the use of a tree at Yule from a Germanic Pagan practice into a Christian practice. The apples were from the Jewish Garden of Eden myth.

    In 1900, there were more than 7,000 different varieties of apple grown in the U.S. By 2000, 86.2 percent of those varieties were extinct and only two varieties of apples accounted for more than half of the U.S. apple crop.

nutritional information:

    Apples help keep the liver clean and healthy.

    The large quantity of pectin in apples makes them an excellent source of dietary fibre.

    Apples are a food that increases sexual energy and enhances fertility.

    “Oh, my fellow men, do not defile your bodies with sinful foods. We have corn, we have apples bending down the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines. There are sweet-flavored herbs, and vegetables which can be cooked and softened over the fire, nor are you denied milk or thyme-scented honey. The earth affords a lavish supply of riches, of innocent foods, and offers you banquets that involve no bloodshed or slaughter; only beasts satisfy their hunger with flesh, and not even all of those, because horses, cattle, and sheep live on grass.”, Pythagoras (Greek mathematician).

    See also Chinese herbalism below for Chinese gender and Chinese flavor.

selection:

    Reason to choose organic:
    Apples have the number two (2) highest pesticide load of 45 common fruits and vegetables studied in 2006 by the Environmental Working Group and is therefore a prime candidate for switching to organic. The EWA explains, “While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.”
    According to USDA and FDA tests on commercially grown foods collected between 2000 and 2005, apple has a 93.6% (percentage) of samples tested with detectable pesticides, a 82.3 (percentage) of samples with two or more pesticides, a 2.8 average number of pesticides found in a sample, an average of 0.894 parts per million of all pesticides found, and 50 different pesticides found in use growing apples. These toxic pesticides don’t apply to organic foods.

storage:

    Storage: Apples can be safely stored for more than a week.

    Juicing: Apple juice has the highest amounts of polyphenols in the fruits studied by Cornell University in 2008. Polyphenols help prevent damage to brain cells, helping prevent mental decline.

astrological correspondences:

    Astrological planet: Venus

magickal correspondences and uses:

    Perfumes: Apple blossom perfume corresponds with friday and is a good incense to burn on fridays.

    Incense: Apple (wood or blossom) incense or wood or blossom is appropriate for burning in love spells, such as the Aphrodite New Moon love spell, Hecate black candle love spell, or Isis Full Moon love spell.

    Gender: feminine (traditional western European magickal gender)

    Western element: water

    Magickal uses of apples: love, health

    Magickal uses of apples: attracting unicorns

    Magickal uses of apples: Share an apple with the one you love.

    Magickal uses of apple blossoms: Venus spells (see below)

    Love spells: Apple blossoms are appropriate for use in love spells, such as the Aphrodite New Moon love spell.

    Magickal uses of apple juice: discernment, health, inner vision, love, and prudence

    Magick food for love spells: Apple (as well as apple juice and apple cider) is an appropriate food for love spells, such as the Aphrodite New Moon love spell, Hecate black candle love spell, or Isis Full Moon love spell. See the article on foods for more information on using food magick in spells.

    Venus spells: Apple blossom (as an herb) may be used in as an ingredient or substitute for magick spells and formulas related to Venus matters (beauty, compassion, fidelity, friendship, happiness, interchanges, joy, love, luck, meditation, pleasure, reconciliation, and youth). Be careful about substitutions for preparations that will be ingested or come in contact with the skin. These substitutions do not apply to medical uses. See the article on Venus for a list of herbal substitutes for apple blossom.

    Magickal substitutions: Rosemary usually may be safely substituted for any herb in magick spells and rituals. Roses may safely be substituted for any flower.

Magical Uses Love, Healing, Garden Magic, Immortality information courtesy of

ritual uses:

    Ritual uses of apples: Bury an apple in the garden on Samhain as food for departed spirits.

    Nine Woods: Apple is one of the nine woods traditionally placed in the traditional Wiccan balefire

ancient myths and beliefs:

from “The Handbook of Norse Mythology”:
by Karl Mortensen, 1898 (“Nordisk mythologi”), original Danish
translated into English 1913 by A. Clinton Crowell

    10. BRAGI is god of the scaldic art, and he is married to ITHUN, who guards the apples which the gods eat when they grow old. Afterwards they grow young again, and so it will continue until Ragnarok.

deities associated with apple:

• Aphrodite (Greek Goddess)
• Apollo (Greek God)
• Athena (Greek Goddess)
• Bes (Egyptian God)
• Hera (Greek Goddess)
• Induna (Norse Goddess)
• Ithun (Norse Goddess)
• Odin (Norse God)
• Venus (Roman Goddess)
• Woden (Anglo-Saxon God)
• Zeus (Greek God)

Chinese herbalism:

    Chinese gender: yin (cool)

    Chinese flavor: sweet and slightly sour

cautions and contraindications:

    Toxic to animals: Apple cores should never be fed to cats or dogs.

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