Coll/ hazel, lies at the root of many ancient stories where, to save someone from certain death, the hero must go the Well at the World's End and catch the magic nut before it reaches the Salmon of Wisdom. The nine hazel trees at Connla's Well in Tipperary hints at this:
The nine hazels of Crimall the sage
drop their
fruits under the well:
they stand by the power of magic spells
under a darksome
mist of wizardry.
(Gwynn III 1913, 293)
Nine is the number much associated with Coll/ hazel. In the Bush Barrow lozenge, found on the buried astronomer-priest (by Stonehenge, Wiltshire), is much nine-fold geometry. The outer angles measure either 80° or 100° which are precisely the extreme rising and setting angles found at the Stonehenge latitude (lunar being the wider of the two). Nine is the number of the Greek Muses and Gaia (Spirit of the Earth).
In greek and roman myth, Hermes has a staff or
rod made of hazel known as the caduceus - two intertwined snakes on a hazel rod
- which still remain the symbol of the healing arts, although the original hazel
leaves are generally transposed with the wings of Hermes (the messenger of the
gods).
Traditionally hazel is generally believed to be governed by Mercury and Venus.
White hazel wands, wrapped in a craneskin bag and carried by druids, hints at the legend of the crane who brought the tree alphabet from Egypt. Hazel's healing and dowsing power are still used, while its knowledge and inspiration are closely associated with the salmon.
Salmon, wisdom and hazel are all connected into the mystic Salmon of Wisdom, who each year travels his long journey to catch the falling Hazelnuts of Knowledge at the Well at the World's End before returning "the ways of the round rolling world". In the stories, Fionn, who is studying under a master druid, burns himself while preparing such a salmon one day. Licking his burnt thumb, he accidentally takes in a drop of the magic juice and so gains the gift of prophecy. Bardic inspiration is associated with hazel, and Scotland's other name, Caledonia, derives from Caldun (fort of the hazel), as does cnocach (wisdom) which comes from the more common word for hazelnut, cno.
And in the Mabingion, it is the magic salmon (who is even older than the oldest animal in the land, the Eagle of Gwernabwy), who directs Arthur and his companions upstream to find Mabon ap Modron, the Son of the Great Mother.
Perhaps the most famous
association that combines hazel, salmon and magic power is Taliesin. Known in
youth as Dylan, he was born when his mother, Arianrhod (her name means silver wheel), stepped over a hazel
branch. This branch, or wand, was laid before Arianrhod as a trick by Dylan's father Gwydion, who knew
the mother did not want him. The boy grew up with his father and became in time possibly the most famous celtic bard, known as Taliesin. Taliesin had many shapes "I am a blue salmon" and was famed for his teaching.
Added notes: the feast of Lughnasa (Lughnasadh) falls in the month of coll/hazel. Traditionally 1 August and celebration of harvest, Lughnasadh is named after Lug (the Shining One).