Magical Apples by Susan A. Sheppard Revered in the ancient festival of Pomona, the “apple” holds special significance among pagans and ancient magical lore. The apple is sacred fruit in Celtic, Teutonic, and Arabian mythology where it is considered a love charm. Brides and grooms in Gypsy weddings often shared an apple after the ceremony to insure fertility. In Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and on the Isle of Man, apples were used in witchcraft, for divination and also spells. When an apple is cut open cross-wise, the seeds form a pentacle, or five-pointed star. Apples are also said to increase sexual potency and energy.
In ancient times, the apple was sacred to the goddess Venus. One part of the apple belonged to Venus, while the other belonged to her brother Lucifer, “light-bearer,” or son of the morning star. Although Lucifer was never intended to mean the Devil, it was Satan who tempted Eve in the garden with his “fruit of forbidden knowledge,” or the apple. No one is clear as to what exactly this forbidden knowledge was but the apple has always been the fruit of carnal love and sex. Another magical use in the ancient world was using apples to attract unicorns that had the powers of healing and innocence. 
In frontier America, apples were worth their weight in gold since they could be used to sweeten food as a sugar, a substance rare in the wilderness. Dipping and bobbing for apples during Halloween came from the Druids who used apples for both eating and fortunetelling purposes. Peeling apples have always been used for divination and foretelling the future especially questions having to do with marriage and childbirth. If the apple peel was left unbroken it would then affirm a “YES” answer to the question. If that peeling fell into the lap, forming a U or an O, the answer was then “NO.” 
The magical power of the apple survives in legend and lore, such as in tales of Isaac Newton discovering gravity by watching an apple fall to earth to Johnny Appleseed sowing his seeds of generosity throughout the American wilderness, to the fairy tale Snow White being poisoned by an evil queen with an apple. Apples hold magical powers in both legend and in the human imagination. Even to this day, fairy followers and pagans use the apple to open the doorways to the fairies. But more than this, the apple's most special properties are for both good health and the innocence expressed in finding one's own true love.
Susan A. Sheppard
ssheppard825@gmail.com
Cape made by Trish Davis
Photo by Olivia Carroll Hefner
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