Mt. of Olives vs. Mount Vernon(Mt. of Alders)
Perhaps more interesting to me, is the curious correlation to the name Washington, which implies a place of cleansing vs. a place where the sins of the world were cleansed. Also, the real Jerusalem has the Mount of Olives, where Jesus went to pray and sleep. Washington had his Mt. Vernon, which is likewise close by. It gets even more interesting when you study the origins of the word "Vernon," which means alder grove. So instead of Mount of Olives, you get Mount of Alders.
The Alder tree has an interesting mythological history. Here are a few curious things from
[The-Tree.org]PART ONE: ALDER FACTS
What's in a name?
Some say the Alder's name may have been derived from the old Anglo-Saxon root alor or aler or the old German elo or elawer, meaning reddish brown. Its bark and wood contains a lot of red colouring matter. The Saani people (formerly known as Laplanders, a name which they dislike) create their beautiful rich soft leather ware by chewing the bark and then using their saliva for dyeing the leather.
When the tree is cut, the pale wood takes on a reddish hue, which gave some old woodcutters the eerie feeling the tree was bleeding like a human being.This tree was certainly seen by some as our ancestor and relative.
Scandinavian mythology tells us the first woman was fashioned from an Alder trunk, whereas in Irish mythology the first man was said to be made from an Alder. So it may well be that this tree was simply considered as one of our elders or ‘alders’. Another possible origin of the name may be that the root-word Al is derived from the Scandinavian Alf, meaning Elf -for, as we shall see,
the Alder is known as the ‘King of the Fairies’.A tree that bleeds and is associated with the mythological "King of the Fairies?" Perfect if you're mocking God.PART TWO: ALDER TRADITIONS
The Phoenix of the wetlands
There is an ancient Welsh bardic poem called The Battle of the Trees, in which the author seems to describe the primordial history of Divine consciousness as it created the World as we know it.
“I have been in many shapes
before I attained a congenial form.
I have been a drop in the air.
I have been a shining star. I have journeyed as an eagle. I have been a boat in the sea”, etc. etc.
“There is nothing in which I have not been”. Much of the old Welsh poetry is, for modern minds, full of riddles. My understanding of the poem is that it describes the qualities of the various trees as they have helped to shape the world. It says about Alder: “The Alder trees in the first line, they made the commence-ment”. This statement reflects the great transforming influence, which generations of Alder trees must have had on our swampy, boggy, primordial landscape. Over thousands of years they have helped to create an environment, that was fit for us to live in.
Alder is associated in mythology with resurrection and the power of evaporation. After the floodgate of life has been opened, it is the tree of the healing of time that dries up the waters of the womb of life. The fluidity of the dreamtime changes into solid form. The word is made flesh once more. It resurrects the cycle once again. In Homer’s Odyssey Alder is named the first of the three trees of resurrection. The two other are White Poplar and Cypress.
The energy of the Alder has always been closely connected with the yearly journey of the Sun in our temperate climate. The Alder month contains the Spring Equinox, when the powers of the Sun is, once again, restored to us. The reverence in which Alder was held is also expressed by its close associations with the creative energies of some very ancient, senior deities.
For all these reasons Alder is the Phoenix, the firebird of resurrection, which rises out of the wet-lands. Its spirit possesses the transforming power of fire to free the earth from too much water.The tree calendar honours this by naming the fourth month (March 18-April 14) as the Alder month. Alder is also associated with the energy of Aries and Mars and the strengthening power of the Sun in the spring, its journey throughout the summer and then its waning power. Its red dye was traditionally used in Midsummer rituals to paint the faces of Sacred Kings.
Alder integrates the dark side
As time went by the old reverence for Alder was often forgotten and some said there was evil lurking in the tree.
The fact that Alder was grown commercially for the gunpowder industry at one time, the heavy shade given by the dark leaves in a damp Alder grove in the summer and the haunting appearance of its dark lively limbs reaching up to the winter sky,
its old associations with the Fairy King, the Raven and the Blacksmith, must all have contributed to the hunch that there is a dark, scary, heavy side to the Alder spirit. This feeling resonates to the dark boggy marshlands and stagnant emotions deep within ourselves, which we fear to face.
Alder and the Divine Blacksmith
Before the industrial revolution, the Black-smith was a very important figure in society. Even longer ago, his craft of melting iron ore and making tools, utensils and
weapons was considered sacred. In the Indian Rigveda,
the creator of the world was a blacksmith.
The Alder is associated with the Sun and the Otherworld
The bird associated with Alder is the Black Raven. Just like large white birds, such as the Stork, in folklore are said to bring babies,
so the beautiful black Raven carries the soul to the Otherworld and is the messenger of the great void of mystery, which is the home of all that is waiting to take on form. Winged creatures are poetic images of spiritualization and the Raven as soul-carrier comes from the idea that the soul flies away from the body after death. This connection with the Otherworld, or different dimensions, endows the Raven with psychic abilities. It is a bird of deep intuitive perception and magic. In the stories Raven can talk and has the gift of prophecy.
Many ancient Gods are portrayed with a raven as their constant companion. The Celtic Morrigan is a Raven Goddess. She is the deep secret side of the Lady of Avalon, the Apple island, the Celtic name for the Otherworld. Many fear her, but her name gives us a reassuring clue: She is not only the dark night, but she leads us safely into the morning, the dawn. Morrigan is the female portrayal of the Alder spirit of integration and resurrection. The misty island of the Otherworld is often described as being shielded by Alder groves.
Bran's singing head can also be connected to the tops of the Alder tree crown, which are said to sing more musically in the wind than any other tree.
One of the Alder's old names is 'whistlewood'.