Apples are a fruit and the tree that they comes from.
- botanical information
- origin
- history
- nutritional information
- selection
- storage
- juicing
- astrological correspondences
- magick correspondences and uses
- ritual uses
- ancient myths and beliefs
- Goddesses and deities
- Chinese herbology
- Ayurvedic herbalism
- cautions and contraindications
botanical information:
Botanical name: Malus domestica , Malus sylvestris, or Pyrus spp. (especially Pyrus malus)
Common name: apple
Use the botanical name when ordering seeds (bulbs, etc.) or when looking up information in the library. Common names vary by nation, culture, and region, and sometimes the same common name is applied to different plants.
Family: Rosaceae (rose)
Height: 3-12 meters or 10-40 feet
origin:
Origin: central Asia
history:
History: Christmas ornaments are derived from an early Christian practice of hanging apples on the Yule tree to convert the use of a tree at Yule from a Germanic Pagan practice into a Christian practice. The apples were from the Jewish Garden of Eden myth.
In 1900, there were more than 7,000 different varieties of apple grown in the U.S. By 2000, 86.2 percent of those varieties were extinct and only two varieties of apples accounted for more than half of the U.S. apple crop.
nutritional information:
Eat at least one apple per month, taking in account the season and local availability. For more information on healthy diet, see Goddess Diet Plan.
Apples are an alkaline-producing food (measured by the ash content resulting from laboratory titration.
Apples help keep the liver clean and healthy.
The large quantity of pectin in apples makes them an excellent source of dietary fibre.
Apples are a food that increases sexual energy and enhances fertility.
“Oh, my fellow men, do not defile your bodies with sinful foods. We have corn, we have apples bending down the branches with their weight, and grapes swelling on the vines. There are sweet-flavored herbs, and vegetables which can be cooked and softened over the fire, nor are you denied milk or thyme-scented honey. The earth affords a lavish supply of riches, of innocent foods, and offers you banquets that involve no bloodshed or slaughter; only beasts satisfy their hunger with flesh, and not even all of those, because horses, cattle, and sheep live on grass.”, Pythagoras (Greek mathematician).
See also Chinese herbalism below for Chinese gender and Chinese flavor.
apple cider vinegar:
Eat up to two (2) teaspoons of apple cider vinegar a day.
Some possible ways to get your two (2) teaspoons of apple cider vinegar a day:
- Mix a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a tall glass of water.
- If you eat fish, soak the fish in a mixture of apple cider vinegar and water before cooking. This will give the fish a sweeter taste and make the fish more tender.
- If you eat meat, tenderize the meat overnight in a mixture of apple cider vinegar, herbs, adn spices.
- Use the apple cider vinegar to make a salad dressing (preferably with hemp seed oil, flax seed oil, or extra virgin cold pressed olive oil.
- Use in other recipes.
Check the label. Only purchase apple cider vinegar that is certified organic, unfiltered, and unpasteurized. Avoid any apple cider vinegar that has additives or preservatives. Avoid anything that is apple cider “flavored” vinegar. The apple cider vinegar should have a rich brown color and have visible sediment. Cobweb strands floating in the apple cider vinegar are very good.
Store apple cider vinegar in a dark cabinet or cupboard.
See also Chinese herbalism below for Chinese gender and Chinese flavor.
selection:
Reason to choose organic:
Apples have the number two (2) highest pesticide load of 45 common fruits and vegetables studied in 2006 by the Environmental Working Group and is therefore a prime candidate for switching to organic. The EWA explains, “While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.”
According to USDA and FDA tests on commercially grown foods collected between 2000 and 2005, apple has a 93.6% (percentage) of samples tested with detectable pesticides, a 82.3 (percentage) of samples with two or more pesticides, a 2.8 average number of pesticides found in a sample, an average of 0.894 parts per million of all pesticides found, and 50 different pesticides found in use growing apples. These toxic pesticides don’t apply to organic foods.
storage:
Storage: Apples can be safely stored for more than a week.
Juicing: Apple juice has the highest amounts of polyphenols in the fruits studied by Cornell University in 2008. Polyphenols help prevent damage to brain cells, helping prevent mental decline.
astrological correspondences:
Astrological planet: Venus 
magickal correspondences and uses:
Perfumes: Apple blossom perfume corresponds with friday and is a good incense to burn on fridays.
Incense: Apple (wood or blossom) incense or wood or blossom is appropriate for burning in love spells, such as the Aphrodite New Moon love spell, Hecate black candle love spell, or Isis Full Moon love spell.
Gender: feminine (traditional western European magickal gender)
Western element: water
Magickal uses of apples: love, health
Magickal uses of apples: attracting unicorns
Magickal uses of apples: Share an apple with the one you love.
Magickal uses of apple blossoms: Venus spells (see below)
Love spells: Apple blossoms are appropriate for use in love spells, such as the Aphrodite New Moon love spell.
Magickal uses of apple juice: discernment, health, inner vision, love, and prudence
Magick food for love spells: Apple (as well as apple juice and apple cider) is an appropriate food for love spells, such as the Aphrodite New Moon love spell, Hecate black candle love spell, or Isis Full Moon love spell. See the article on foods for more information on using food magick in spells.
Venus spells: Apple blossom (as an herb) may be used in as an ingredient or substitute for magick spells and formulas related to Venus matters (beauty, compassion, fidelity, friendship, happiness, interchanges, joy, love, luck, meditation, pleasure, reconciliation, and youth). Be careful about substitutions for preparations that will be ingested or come in contact with the skin. These substitutions do not apply to medical uses. See the article on Venus for a list of herbal substitutes for apple blossom.
Magickal substitutions: Rosemary usually may be safely substituted for any herb in magick spells and rituals. Roses may safely be substituted for any flower.
Magical Uses  Love, Healing, Garden Magic, Immortality
information courtesy of 
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ritual uses:
Ritual uses of apples: Bury an apple in the garden on Samhain as food for departed spirits.
Nine Woods: Apple is one of the nine woods traditionally placed in the traditional Celtic Druid balefire.
Nine Woods: Apple is one of the nine woods traditionally placed in the traditional Wiccan Witchcraft balefire. From one version of the Wiccan Rede: “White are the flowers of Apple tree; That brings us fruits of fertility.”
ancient myths and beliefs:
from “The Handbook of Norse Mythology”:
by Karl Mortensen, 1898 (“Nordisk mythologi”), original Danish
translated into English 1913 by A. Clinton Crowell10. BRAGI is god of the scaldic art, and he is married to ITHUN, who guards the apples which the gods eat when they grow old. Afterwards they grow young again, and so it will continue until Ragnarok.
deities associated with apple:
- Aphrodite (Greek Goddess)
- Apollo (Greek God)
- Athena (Greek Goddess)
- Bes (Egyptian God)
- Hera (Greek Goddess)
- Induna (Norse Goddess)
- Ithun (Norse Goddess)
- Odin (Norse God)
- Pomona (Roman Goddess)
- Venus (Roman Goddess)
- Woden (Anglo-Saxon God)
- Zeus (Greek God)
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