With its historical lunar association, hackberry is said to inspire creativity & bring divine protection.

According to folklore in the Middle East, the tree's round fruit was believed to grow only in the moonlight. Amulets made from their wood were reputed to bring the great power of the moon to the wearer - inspiring creativity and divine protection. There was also a belief that a person who slept under a hackberry would be protected from evil spirits.

Walnuts are most often associated with intelligence, wisdom, and inspiration.

Greek mythology says that Prometheus, an immortal titan who rebelled against Zeus by stealing fire from Mount Olympus, gave a single walnut shell containing all the secrets of human future knowledge to his brother Epimetheus as he left him to create the human race.

Spalting is any kind of wood coloration that is caused when fungi colonize the wood and extract nutrients from it, leaving behind dark dotted and lined patterns.

Ebonizing wood is an old-world technique that was used to preserve the grain of the wood. The classic method to darken the wood is based on a chemical reaction between iron acetate and the natural wood tannins which produces a dark stain. A more modern technique to “ebonize” is to use India Ink to completely dye the grain a deep, rich black.