There are many historical, folkloric, and cultural connections between witches and trees.

Welcome to the Witch’s woods.

Trees have long been associated with magical powers, and feature in many mythologies and religions. 

There’s something about the forest primeval in general, and trees in particular, that creates an environment of secrecy and sorcery. This was a setting that was cultivated by Renaissance etchers and resurrected by Victorian illustrators. The trees are often spindly, haggard, misshapen, and barren, like the women underneath them.

Blackthorn has long been considered a magical tree. In Celtic mythology, it was considered to be a home to fairies. It has been referred to as a witch’s tree and anyone carrying a walking stick made from blackthorn wood was suspected of being a witch.

There is a 130 year old Witch Tree in The Netherlands, part of an old legend about Black Kate. The legend says she kidnapped a newborn baby and raised it. After years, the kid escaped and helped turning the gang in. “Zwarte Kaat” was beheaded and buried in the forest. In stead of putting a cross on the grave, a beech tree was planted above her body.

Louisville, Kentucky

Locals place their offerings on this nightmarish gnarled tree so the witches won’t summon another storm.

According to local lore, in the late 19th century, this tree was the gathering place for a coven of witches. 

Tucked away in the Tuscan woods, there lives a 600-year-old oak tree.

However, this tree’s significance goes beyond its age and size. Its mysterious history began many years ago with a local legend. This tree, referred to as the Oak of the Witches.

The tree’s stunted trunk and outward growing limbs are were attributed to magical meetings. Supposedly  witches’ rituals, where they danced on the top of the tree, prevented the tree from growing tall. 

It was underneath the tree’s shady limbs that author Carlo Collodi wrote the first chapters of the Adventures of Pinocchio.

England’s New Forest is home to trees that bear the marks of more than 500 years of human activity. Known as arborglyphs, the etchings range from charms against evil that may have been carved during Shakespeare’s time.

A number of trees display concentric circles identified as “witches’ marks.” Per Historic England, the signs were probably intended to ward off evil spirits. 

There is a Witch Tree, or Little Cedar Spirit Tree named by the Ojibwe First Nation tribe growing on the shore of Lake Superior in Cook County, Minnesota. 

The tree is held sacred by the Ojibwe, who traditionally leave offerings of tobacco to ensure a safe journey on Lake Superior. 

Deep in the ancient woods of Grovely are three huge beech trees, which are said to mark the burial sites of women who were killed for ‘witchcraft’ in the 18th century. Decorated with emblems, gifts and other assorted offerings, a visit to these trees combines local folklore with a peaceful walk in the woods.

Grovely Woods is one of the largest woodlands in Wiltshire.

To the ancient Greeks and Romans, trees were thought to be inhabited by female spirits called Dryad.

Here are some movies too…….

The Witch Tree

In the 1970s a group of teenage girls test their nerve against the legendary Witch Tree, it is told to possess a dark ancient spirit with evil intentions.

Curse Of The Witching Tree

An innocent woman, accused of murdering her son and hanged as a witch, curses a tree and the children who play around it. The effects of this act of revenge echo through the years and centuries, and restless spirits haunt the house where the bodies of the cursed children have been buried.

The Cherry Tree

A young woman makes a fateful pact with a witch…..

Trees energize the environment around them. Even in death, trees are a source of energy. As trees shed leaves, flowers, branches, and roots, or when the stem itself dies or falls, the energy bound in the plant parts becomes an energy source.