Working with the Berries
Herewith some feedback as to what has been done with the mistletoe berries
taken from the Mistletoe Rite of December 2004.
... the seed finally touched mother earth in Derbyshire, shrouded
in mist. A simple rite, but such power ...
Gordon
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rituals enacted with our parts of the mistletoe ... It was a cold
winter solstice night, two intrepid druid priestesses, only one of
whom had a vague idea of their destination, set off across a moonlit
nature reserve in search of a sacred circle of five apple trees ...
a Goddess grove that needed a lot of re-energising. We, that is Michelle
and I, weren't spooked at all, traipsing along by our lantern light
and the gentle silvery light of the Lady ... well maybe a bit! The
grove was in Magpie Bottom(!) which was once part to the King's Forest
in South Gloucestershire. The magpies were very noisy up to the point
when we cast our circle, after then either we didn't hear them or
we were truly in a place between places...
We decided that part of our
ritual should involve us eating a berry each and then planting one
on each tree. After giving each tree a sacrifice of wine, we ate one
berry ... Little tip, don't squish the berry in your mouth, because
the juice is very viscous and almost impossible to get off your tongue,
just swallow as Michelle did! It took a lot of sips of wine! Before
eating the berries, we stated that this act created a bond between
us and the trees and signified our commitment to care for them in
the future. We planted a berry on each tree and gave them our blessings.
We both felt it was a powerful ritual and that the trees were welcoming
of our attention; they were certainly in a negleted part of the nature
reserve. We also placed some of the mistletoe in the centre of the
grove to energise it further.
A further point, if you suffer
from any allergies, do not ingest the berries, as a friend of Michell's
did have a reaction to eating one. So far we are absolutely fine,
honest!! Cindy |
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I'm contacting you to let you know of another place
that the sacred mistletoe has been buried at. On the 3rd January I
went to Hetty Peglar's Tump - a Bronze Age chambered barrow - and
buried some mistletoe sprigs there as well as placing some in the
walls of the barrow (OS ref : 162.789000).
The barrow is an amazing place which, like all sacred
burial mounds, needs to be approached with humilty and reverence.
I hope my feeling that the spirits of place there were welcoming of
my offering and intent was a genuine one. Cindy |
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