sapienza said:
I'm not Wiccan or Druid so I get a bit lost with some of the symbolism, but I thought I read somewhere once about some kind of symbolic cutting of a type of plant to represent something or other. Does this ring a bell with anyone? I thought it might be easier to understand this card if I knew about the symbolism behind it.
I have been delving quite deeply into Celtic lore and discovered quite a lot about mistletoe and its importance to the Druids.
Firstly there is the Oak or duir (door) a word of protection, solidity and the Oak tree. If you wish to enter, you need a door which must first be approached and your presence known thus, the oak marks the boundaries between one area and the next. The Oak is often hit by lightening but survives and grows slowly and surely. It was a most sacred tree to the Druids marking the doorway between this world and that of the next and the Fae.
The mistletoe grows on solid foundations and was venerated by the Druids particularly when it grew on oak trees. A survey by the Botanical Society during an 11 year period, (1969 - 79) found only 12 Oaks in Britain with mistletoe.
When found the mistletoe was ritually gathered with a golden sickle by the phases of the moon at midwinter and it was believed to contain the essence of the Oak. Upon close examination, the mistletoe berry has four black semi circular marks around the central dot representing the mystic cities of the Sidhe or world of Fae. The four worlds are: Falias (North); Finias (South); Gorias (East) and Murias (West). The fifth or central dot is etheric and encompasses the circles of existence. (Abred, Gwynedd and Ceugant)
Mistletoe is an unusual plant producing both flowers and ripe berries in winter and its strange characteristics were symbolic to the ancient Druids. They called it by a name translated as ‘All-Heal’ and believed it to possess great medicinal power. It is a plant that grows without touching the earth and so may be considered free from normal restrictions and to have come from the gods. Indeed Pliny states that “…whatever grows on these trees is sent from heaven…”. Because of the colour and juice of its berries mistletoe was regarded as the ‘sperm of the gods’, containing divine potency and waiting for the moment of conception.
For they believe that whatever grows on these trees is sent from heaven, and is a sign that the tree has been chosen by the gods themselves. The mistletoe is very rarely to be met with; but when it is found, they gather it with solemn ceremony. This they do above all on the sixth day of the moon, from whence they date the beginnings of their months, of their years, and of their thirty years cycle, because by the sixth day the moon has plenty of vigour and has not run half its course.
After due preparations have been made for a sacrifice and a feast under the tree, they hail it as the universal healer and bring to the spot two white bulls, whose horns have never been bound before. A priest clad in a white robe climbs the tree and with a golden sickle cuts the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloth. Then they sacrifice the victims, praying that the gods will make their gifts propitious to those to whom they have given it.
They believe that a potion prepared from the mistletoe will make barren animals to bring forth, and that the plant is a remedy against all poisons.
(from Naturalis Historia (XVI, 95) by Pliny the Elder)
The oak is the sacred tree of Taranis the thunder god and there is a certain symbolism in the oak’s hosting of mistletoe. Oak trees have a tendency to attract lightning and the striking of an oak by a bolt of lightning was seen as the symbolic mating of Taranis with the oak.
The mistletoe therefore represented the seed of Taranis - a sign that the oak had been struck by lightning and now visibly held in its branches a potent spark of lightning’s fire, the essence of life itself. Such a tree would have therefore been particularly sacred - “a sign that the tree has been chosen by the gods themselves”, and the mistletoe harvested from it would contain that essence of life and be imbued with the thunderbolt’s magical power.
When cut down at the Winter Solstice as the sun is reborn, this divine spark of the gods is drawn down to earth symbolizing the moment of conception, although the plant is prevented from actually touching the ground and its sacredness preserved by catching it in a white cloth.
The golden sickle used to cut the mistletoe represents both the sun and the moon - a union of male and female energies. The gold symbolizing the sun and the shape of the crescent blade resembling the quarter moon. The practical suitability of gold as a cutting edge has been questioned by some scholars however, and the historian Stuart Piggot, in his book ‘The Druids’, has suggested that gilded bronze would have been a more likely material in actual use.