The Willow, or Osier, is dedicated to the Goddess
in Her death aspect, as represented by Hecate, Circe, Persephone, and
others in Greece, and by Ceridwen, Morgana/Morgan/Morrigan and others
in British mythology.
Corresponds to the letter S or "Saille"
(sal-yeh) in Ogham.
The willow is traditionally associated with witchcraft
-- so strongly, in fact, that the words wicker (meaning willow
reed or osier), wicked, and witch are all etymologically
related.
Called helice in Greek,
it gave its name to Helicon, the abode of the Muses. Helygenn
is Cornish for willow, and the Goidelic [Irish/Scots/Manx languages]
saille is related to the Latin name Salix.
The alleged Druidic sacrifices, as described by
Strabo and Caesar, were supposed to have imprisoned their victims in
a huge figure made of wickerwork ("the wicker man").
Traditional British folklore, as in the well-known
song "All around my hat, I will wear the green willow," commemorates
the Willow's ancient significance as a symbol of the rejected or disappointed
lover-- it was originally intended as a charm and invocation to the
Goddess. Willow leaves and bark yield salicin, a principal component
of aspirin --infusions of willow leaves or willow bark were reportedly
used to relieve cramps (esp. menstrual cramps).
----
The bark of the willow tree has been mentioned in ancient texts from
Assyria, Sumeria and Egypt as a remedy for aches and fever, and the
Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about its medicinal properties in
the 5th century BC. Native Americans across the American continent relied
on it as a staple of their medical treatments.
The active extract of the bark, called salicin,
was isolated to its crystalline form in 1828 by Henri Leroux, a French
pharmacist, and Raffaele Piria, an Italian chemist, who then succeeded
in separating out the acid in its pure state. Salicin is acidic when
in a saturated solution in water (pH = 2.4), and is called salicylic
acid for that reason.
In 1897 Felix Hoffmann created a synthetically altered version of salicin
(in his case derived from the Spiraea plant), which caused less digestive
upset than pure salicylic acid. The new drug, formally Acetylsalicylic
acid, was named aspirin by Hoffmann's employer
Bayer AG. This gave rise to the hugely important class of drugs known
as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
