The
term heautoscopy describes a reduplicative hallucination where one sees
one’s own body at a distance. This can be considered as a possible
explanation of the doppelganger phenomena or a form of bilocation. It
can also be metaphorically linked to the principles of vision in
general, where the eye provides sensory information before it is
consciously realized. Therefore, perception of the world is
asynchronous, with one consciously seeing the world not as it is now,
but as it existed a moment ago.
The folklore surrounding hawthorn trees, their branches and thorns is ancient and extensive. In Greece, they were associated with the triple goddess Hecate and were sometimes worn as bridal crowns. They are also symbolically connected to boundaries and liminal spaces as well used for apotropaic practices.