Little Jar Of Blackthorns

Five thorns, gathered from the hedge.
Long before the first witch-hunts, the blackthorn was known as the dark tree of the hedgerow. It flowers white on bare black branches before a single leaf appears, and its thorns are long, hard and quick to draw blood. The old stories say it grows where the hedge meets the otherworld, and that the Good Folk keep a particular fondness (and a particular watchfulness) for its stands. It was never a tree to be cut lightly.

In English and Irish folk magic, blackthorn thorns were the witch’s pin. They were used to pierce poppets and wax hearts, to fix a curse in place, and, in the other direction, to pin down a spell and keep it from slipping. Cunning folk stuck them into candles, and some say a thorn driven into a door kept unwelcome visitors out.

In this jar you will find five natural blackthorn thorns, each one sharp and dark and shaped by the hedge it grew in. Keep them on your altar, place them in a window or by the threshold, use them in binding and protection work, or simply keep the jar nearby as a small, spiky reminder that some boundaries are meant to be held.

Handle with care: the thorns are genuinely sharp.