A little more detail…

The Hazel tree – a source of creativity

Hazel leaf jewellery made from reused silver, copper and bronze coins.

The Hazel tree is very much a potent symbol of knowledge and wisdom.  Irish mythology give the physical origins, and etymological source of several bodies of water – in these myth poems the sources of rivers and lakes is sometimes given as being from magical wells into which Hazel nuts fall spreading wisdom and thus the phrase “in a nutshell”.

Connla’s Well is one of a number of wells in the Irish “Celtic Otherworld”. It is also termed “The Well of Wisdom”, or “The Well of Knowledge”, and is the mythical source of the River Shannon. The epithet Connla’s Well is known from the Dindsenchas.  Another well is described in the dindsenchas about Boann, in the text as (“Secret Well”) mythologically given as the origin of the River Boyne. This well has also been referred to as Nechtan’s Well, or the Well of Segais.

Connla’s well, loud was its sound,
was beneath the blue-skirted ocean:
six streams, unequal in fame,
rise from it, the seventh was Sinann.

The nine hazels of Crimall the sage
drop their fruits yonder under the well:
they stand by the power of magic spells
under a darksome mist of wizardry.

(Gwynn 1913, Sinann II, pp.292-293)

Hazel trees are one of the magical trees part of the Celtic Ogham tree alphabet, its Ogham name being Coll.

Size : 22 mm * 13 mm

*** Other charms in the pictures are to illustrate the various looks and combinations. They are available separately within the collection. ***