The story that inspired the name of the fruit & herbal tea blend.
Crone’s Elixir Fortify & Cleanse
In the dark winter months this delicious tea helps to fortify your system to keep you healthy while giving you a sense of being cleansed.
Ingredients: Apple, beetroot, fennel, ginger, anise, birch leaves, nettle, lemongrass, lemon peels, liquorice root, coriander seeds, burdock root, dandelion.
The Tale of this Tea: Beira, Queen of Winter The crone is known by many names, in Scotland it is the Cailleach, meaning old woman, or Beira, as in this tale. Beira is as old as the land itself, every spring she becomes young at the Well of Youth and as winter approaches she becomes old and takes up her reign as the Queen of Winter. With her hammer she strikes the ground to make the frost take it over and pounds the clouds to make them black and tempestuous. Following her are eight hags who bring the cold, driving winds and snow. Beira herself can be seen riding a black steed across the land in the depths of winter, her main purpose being to prolong her reign over winter as long as possible.
It is said she once carried a creel, a wicker basket, full of stones on her back and wherever she went the stones fell from the creel to form the mountains and islands. Then to harden the mountains she struck them with her hammer. Beira occasionally washes her shawl in the great whirlpool of Corryvreckan off the west coast of Scotland.
Beira also tends to many of the wells across Scotland. Once Beira had a maiden, called Nessa, protecting one of the wells. Nessa became afraid of how fast and powerful the water was gushing from the well and she tried to run away. When Beira saw that the maiden was neglecting her duty she turned her into a river so she would be water for evermore. This is the River Ness which flows into Loch Ness. It is said that once a year, on the full moon, the maiden rises from the river at it’s source and sings in the moonlight.
A version of this story, and others about Beira, can be found in: Scottish Wonder Tales from Myth and Legend, by Donald A. MacKenzie