by Steve Tatler.
The Mistletoe Ceremony
The Druids, for so the Gauls
call their wizards, esteem nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and
the tree on which it grows, provided only that the tree is an oak. But
apart from this they choose oak-woods for their sacred groves and perform
no sacred rites without oak-leaves; so that the very name of Druids may
be regarded as a Greek appellation derived from their worship of the oak…
It is popularly accepted that mistletoe was revered by
the ancient Druids, although the only known classical reference describing
the ritual gathering of mistletoe was the following account written in
the first century by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia:
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)
Image : a Druid holding a sprig of mistletoe (from
Aylett Sammes, ‘Britannia Antiqua Illustrata’, 1676)
Pliny indicates that the Druids measured their year by
lunar months. This was confirmed by the discovery in 1897 of the Coligny
Calendar and there is little doubt that the moon’s phases were of
great significance in the lives of the early Celts. He states that the
Druids performed the mistletoe ceremony on the sixth day of the moon,
i.e. just before the first quarter, when the waxing lunar influence is
strong.
In Druid lore the wren is one of the most sacred of birds,
venerated for its cunning. The story of the wren tells how it hid under
an eagle’s wing in a contest of flying. As the eagle reached its
maximum altitude, the wren emerged from under its feathers and flew up
above it to become the highest-flying bird. Similarly the mistletoe sits
high on the sacred oak without having touched the ground and is close
to the gods. In the case of mistletoe, however, the gods are seen as its
source.
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.
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.
Pliny also tells of the sacrifice of two white bulls
and, in common with the oak, the bull is sacred to Taranis. Whilst the
bull (like his zodiacal counterpart Taurus) is an earth symbol, his horns
reach skywards in the shape of a crescent moon, linking earth with the
realm of the gods.
Pliny also gave an account of the ritual gathering of
other plants - Selago (Fir clubmoss) and Samolus (Brookweed):
…Like to this Sabine
herb is that called selago. It is gathered, without using a knife, with
the right hand wrapped in a tunic, the left being uncovered, as though
the man was stealing it; the gatherer being clothed in a white dress,
and with bare feet washed clean, after performing sacrifice before gathering
it, with bread and wine. It is to be carried in a new napkin. According
to the tradition of the Gaulish Druids, it is to be kept as a remedy against
all evil, and the smoke of it is good for all diseases of the eyes. The
same Druids have given the name samolus to a plant that grows in wet places;
and this they say must be gathered with the left hand by one who is fasting,
as a remedy for diseases of swine and cattle, and that he who gathers
it must keep his head turned away, and must lay it down anywhere except
in a channel through which water runs, and there must bruise it for them
who are to drink it.
Medicinal herbs were evidently collected with much ceremony
by the ancient Druids but the mistletoe in particular held a special and
divine significance and was carefully gathered with great reverence and
symbolic ritual.
This gift from Taranis embodied the union of the sky
god with the earth and contained the healing power and potent magic of
their mating.
written by Steve Tatler
2003
(This article has been taken/edited from the ‘green
pages’ of the Albion Conclave course material)
