"Fructus Mortis"

Oil and acrylic on panel

12"x12"x2"

Signed

"There is hardly a more enchanting tree than the hawthorn. Growing up to 40 feet high, the hawthorn is in the rose family and has sharp thorns and deeply-lobed leaves, with a profusion of small white blossoms that appear in early summer. These five-petaled, rose-like flowers form in clusters and mature into bright red berries, called “haws,” in late summer. Also known as May, Quickthorn, Motherdie, Whitethorn, May-tree, Thornapple, and Haw, the hawthorn can grow up to 400 years old and exudes a holy, ethereal radiance. Whether it’s growing in thick and tangled groves, planted as hedgerows, or standing alone in a woodland meadow, the elegant long limbs of the May tree command attention and respect. 

The hawthorn was an entrance to the Underworld in Gaelic folklore, and the Irish know the hawthorn as “the fairy tree.” Whitethorn is one of the trees suggested to be the source of the crown of thorns, and these trees are often found growing near holy wells where people decorate them with ribbons and offerings. The sanctified nature of hawthorn, and its association with faeries, has led to a general belief that it is unlucky to cut or uproot. In Medieval times the mayflowers were said to smell just like the Great Plague. It was later discovered that hawthorn flowers produce the chemical trimethylamine, which is also produced in decaying flesh. This explains why bringing the flowers into the house was thought to invite death and illness. 

If the hawthorn is the gateway to the Underworld, then the owl is the gatekeeper, and the red haws are the fruit of death (Fructus mortis). Both considered to be unlucky, the owl and the hawthorn carry death’s signatures and help us to let go, while also providing the medicine to heal from the process. This bird of the night flies in to tear us away from false securities, those ways in which we avoid our own shadows. The owl is the symbolic messenger of our preparedness to transform our consciousness, working as a guide into the Underworld. The owl is the sacred bird of Athena and representative of wisdom, the Moon, and psychic vision. As a messenger of death, it flies into our lives to help us transition as we learn to accept the impermanence inherent in material reality. 

The inspiration for this painting was a surreal experience involving an owl perched in a hawthorn tree, that dove down to catch a snake right in front of my feet, and then returned to the tree to eat it. As I have personally experienced, the owl in its wisdom flies into my life as a harbinger of heartbreak and death, with an undeniable consistency. I have witnessed the owl as a clear messenger of great change and upheaval, which is terrifying, but ultimately liberating. Both the serpent and the owl are powerful symbols of transformation. 

Mother May is the nurse of a heart that has lost its rhythm, offering her ripe haws as sacred vessels of the Philosopher’s Stone, reminding us that the object of our desire is already within us. She readies us for the alchemical marriage that results in our own journey into the Underworld, our rebirth, and a return to wholeness. Hawthorn works on the emotional level for broken hearts and energetically it helps to cleanse the heart and the blood of unhealthy attachments. Just like the hedgerows of Hawthorn that were planted in the European countryside to demarcate property lines, Hawthorn acts to protect the Heart Chakra while supporting healthy emotional boundaries. As a Mars plant, Hawthorn is associated with fire and the metal Iron, which is incidentally a crucial mineral in the production of hemoglobin, the compound that carries oxygen through the blood—not a surprising correspondence considering the tree’s beneficial effects on oxygenating the blood and improving blood flow. As oxygen carries prana (life energy), the life force is strengthened by Hawthorn, as is the heart." - Marlene Seven Bremner

Marlene Seven Bremner is a self-taught oil painter, working in a surrealist and allegorical style. Her work explores esoteric themes arising from her study and practice of Hermeticism, alchemy, magic, astrology, and mythology. She is the author of Hermetic Philosophy and Creative Alchemy: The Emerald Tablet, the Corpus Hermeticum, and the Journey Through the Seven Spheres (Inner Traditions, 2022), and The Hermetic Marriage of Art and Alchemy: Imagination, Creativity, and the Great Work (Inner Traditions, 2023).