The month of the hawthorn

The hedges go white in May, and the white is hawthorn. The country people called it the May tree and cut it for the door, and the physicians, a little later, found that the flower, the leaf and the red berry all strengthen a tired heart without hurrying it. This tonic sets hawthorn at the centre and gives it three companions. Motherwort steadies the heart that races when the mind is anxious, the way a hand on a shoulder does. Linden flower, which will bloom next month, softens the vessels and the temper together. Ginkgo brings the blood out to the fingertips and up to the head. It is a formula for the long haul, months rather than days, and gentle enough for that. Light it and see how the four stars stand: not a line but a small square, each holding a corner.