I have just gone out and picked some mistletoe from an indigenous tree outside my house in the south eastern cape of South Africa. I have noted it growing in many different terrains here.
It is used as an anti cancer treatment in anthroposophical medicine.
Thirdly, I grew up using the generic term 'muti' (mootee) for medicine. In Zimbabwe's Shona language it means - trees.
Druidism - and other animistic 'primitive' religions - saw the divine fully animated in nature, i.e. in earth, and its plants and animals, even its inanimate physical landscapes and features thereof, e.g. mountains, streams, lakes and rocks. Romano-Greek and later Christian traditions removed the divine from Nature and from earth and placed it 'above'. In the process, earth and nature were relegated, even denigrated, as 'prisons of the soul'. The flesh was seen almost as dirty.
But it's important to recognise that the Druids venerated the Sun, Moon and stars also, indeed they were accomplished astronomers. Thus, they did not exclusively identify the divine as being 'of earth'. In that respect, their world view was more holistic, uniting earth with the stars, seeing the divine as immanent in both. This echoes the world view of the alchemists, who, whilst identifying the prima materia, or 'chaotic matter' as being raw, 'found in the dirt', a 'black, putrefied matter', common as muck and overlooked and ignored by the vast majority, was nonetheless the miraculous 'first matter' which, with due diligence, was capable of being transmuted into the imperishable Philosopher's Stone, simply by reorganising its elemental constitution. "Despise not the ashes, for they are the diadem of thy heart." Nature is not all sweetness and light, it is often violent, raw and unforgiving, red in both tooth and claw. Birth, life, pain and suffering, death and decay are part and parcel of nature, and were so even before humans came along to intensify that suffering and multiply those deaths. But we should not despise Nature, we should work with it. The divine, immortal human soul is not 'of earth' but is 'in earth', trapped as it were in a human body which ages and decays and eventually dies. The failure to recognise the divinity (and connectedness) of human, animal, vegetable and even mineral souls, means that our souls merely gather dust as we proceed through this brief life on earth, blind to our own potential and that of our surroundings.
The human body shouldn't be seen as a trap- it IS the soul in its current form, rather than a container. Everything is made of the same, living, immortal substance.
The body ages and dies. Trees age and die. Even mountains disappear eventually as they are worn down by millennia of wind and rain. Entropy and the arrow of time rule this world in which we find ourselves and it is the illusion of time which is the real trap.
I agree time is an illusion. I dont' know about "entropy"... The ageing and death of perceived physical beings is a matter of time (which we know is an illusion), but in our case it is premature and triggered by vaccines and all the other forms of poisoning and enslavement we are subjected to. Animals spending their lives in cages live shorter lives and develop diseases. What happens to consciousness at death is the question... some say if we prepare enough we can avoid oblivion and I tend to agree.
“Markale also points us to Cad Goddeu (‘The Battle of the Trees’), a medieval Welsh poem in the Book of Taliesin which tells how the legendary enchanter Gwydion brings the trees of the forest to life so they can fight as his army – a theme later taken up by William Shakespeare in Macbeth.” — And all not so far, perhaps, from Tolkien's Ents.
"They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren and that it is an antidote to all poisons.”
An odd belief, if--as I'd always been told--all parts of mistletoe are toxic to human beings.
Moreover, the image of mistletoe's growth-habit--an evergreen ball-like form growing and fruiting high in barren oak branches in the depths of winter--is striking, if not unique. It seems mistletoe is a hemiparasite: rooted in a host plant for moisture, but producing its own energy through photosynthesis.
Interesting, too, that in Norse mythology, Baldr was killed by a dart fashioned from mistletoe. His mother, Frigg, had not considered mistletoe a threat and her regretful tears formed its white berries which were used in later medieval peace-making rituals.
(Snorri's Prose Edda, Gylfaginning, chapters 49-51, c. 1220 CE)
I remember reading in Fraser's Golden Bough that mistletoe has it's power because it is neither of the earth nor of the sky, over which the most poweful gods hold sway.
“The care with which the mistletoe was picked and what was then made from it, that kind of ‘magical potion’, indicates the druids’ constant search for contact with superior powers, contact which takes the form of an assimilation, a veritable digestion of these powers. It really does amount to integrating divinity into the human, and, in fact, to incarnating god”
This is how to use psychoactive plant medicine as well. Even if you cannot pick them yourself; preparing and using them as sacraments, then assimilating and embodying, which is really coming back to one's true nature, or re-membering..
Thank you. The satanic Church of Rome, as every 'christian' (aka jewish) religious organisation, has stolen this from us, making us weak and easy to be directed (guilt-complex and fear of the afterlife). The christian religion, as a servant to JAHWE and Judaism, has to perish. Europe must find back to its roots, and that means puttin aside the lies and finding the way to cherish our nature and OUR GOD.
If you read the previous article, Spiritual Roots Entwined, you will see that Jean Markale, for one, very much disputes that any human sacrifice took place and insists this was just Roman and then Church propaganda. I don't think even the Romans suggested children were involved. When I think about who the Celts are today - Irish, Welsh, Bretons and much of the indigenous populations of France and England - I just cannot imagine them sacrificing children. They are, on the whole, humane and kindly people. Not monsters.
I have just gone out and picked some mistletoe from an indigenous tree outside my house in the south eastern cape of South Africa. I have noted it growing in many different terrains here.
It is used as an anti cancer treatment in anthroposophical medicine.
Thirdly, I grew up using the generic term 'muti' (mootee) for medicine. In Zimbabwe's Shona language it means - trees.
Interesting, thanks.
Druidism - and other animistic 'primitive' religions - saw the divine fully animated in nature, i.e. in earth, and its plants and animals, even its inanimate physical landscapes and features thereof, e.g. mountains, streams, lakes and rocks. Romano-Greek and later Christian traditions removed the divine from Nature and from earth and placed it 'above'. In the process, earth and nature were relegated, even denigrated, as 'prisons of the soul'. The flesh was seen almost as dirty.
But it's important to recognise that the Druids venerated the Sun, Moon and stars also, indeed they were accomplished astronomers. Thus, they did not exclusively identify the divine as being 'of earth'. In that respect, their world view was more holistic, uniting earth with the stars, seeing the divine as immanent in both. This echoes the world view of the alchemists, who, whilst identifying the prima materia, or 'chaotic matter' as being raw, 'found in the dirt', a 'black, putrefied matter', common as muck and overlooked and ignored by the vast majority, was nonetheless the miraculous 'first matter' which, with due diligence, was capable of being transmuted into the imperishable Philosopher's Stone, simply by reorganising its elemental constitution. "Despise not the ashes, for they are the diadem of thy heart." Nature is not all sweetness and light, it is often violent, raw and unforgiving, red in both tooth and claw. Birth, life, pain and suffering, death and decay are part and parcel of nature, and were so even before humans came along to intensify that suffering and multiply those deaths. But we should not despise Nature, we should work with it. The divine, immortal human soul is not 'of earth' but is 'in earth', trapped as it were in a human body which ages and decays and eventually dies. The failure to recognise the divinity (and connectedness) of human, animal, vegetable and even mineral souls, means that our souls merely gather dust as we proceed through this brief life on earth, blind to our own potential and that of our surroundings.
The human body shouldn't be seen as a trap- it IS the soul in its current form, rather than a container. Everything is made of the same, living, immortal substance.
Yes, we do not have souls, we are souls, according to the Genesis account.
“God breathed into man and he BECAME a living soul”
The body ages and dies. Trees age and die. Even mountains disappear eventually as they are worn down by millennia of wind and rain. Entropy and the arrow of time rule this world in which we find ourselves and it is the illusion of time which is the real trap.
I agree time is an illusion. I dont' know about "entropy"... The ageing and death of perceived physical beings is a matter of time (which we know is an illusion), but in our case it is premature and triggered by vaccines and all the other forms of poisoning and enslavement we are subjected to. Animals spending their lives in cages live shorter lives and develop diseases. What happens to consciousness at death is the question... some say if we prepare enough we can avoid oblivion and I tend to agree.
Jamie ! OMG - what an amazing comment! Thank you for sharing. So beautiful!
“Markale also points us to Cad Goddeu (‘The Battle of the Trees’), a medieval Welsh poem in the Book of Taliesin which tells how the legendary enchanter Gwydion brings the trees of the forest to life so they can fight as his army – a theme later taken up by William Shakespeare in Macbeth.” — And all not so far, perhaps, from Tolkien's Ents.
"They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren and that it is an antidote to all poisons.”
An odd belief, if--as I'd always been told--all parts of mistletoe are toxic to human beings.
Moreover, the image of mistletoe's growth-habit--an evergreen ball-like form growing and fruiting high in barren oak branches in the depths of winter--is striking, if not unique. It seems mistletoe is a hemiparasite: rooted in a host plant for moisture, but producing its own energy through photosynthesis.
Interesting, too, that in Norse mythology, Baldr was killed by a dart fashioned from mistletoe. His mother, Frigg, had not considered mistletoe a threat and her regretful tears formed its white berries which were used in later medieval peace-making rituals.
(Snorri's Prose Edda, Gylfaginning, chapters 49-51, c. 1220 CE)
so interesting, thank you
I remember reading in Fraser's Golden Bough that mistletoe has it's power because it is neither of the earth nor of the sky, over which the most poweful gods hold sway.
“The care with which the mistletoe was picked and what was then made from it, that kind of ‘magical potion’, indicates the druids’ constant search for contact with superior powers, contact which takes the form of an assimilation, a veritable digestion of these powers. It really does amount to integrating divinity into the human, and, in fact, to incarnating god”
This is how to use psychoactive plant medicine as well. Even if you cannot pick them yourself; preparing and using them as sacraments, then assimilating and embodying, which is really coming back to one's true nature, or re-membering..
The Siddhe
https://www.soundsofsirius.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Riders-of-the-Sidhe-Art-UK.jpg
Thank you. The satanic Church of Rome, as every 'christian' (aka jewish) religious organisation, has stolen this from us, making us weak and easy to be directed (guilt-complex and fear of the afterlife). The christian religion, as a servant to JAHWE and Judaism, has to perish. Europe must find back to its roots, and that means puttin aside the lies and finding the way to cherish our nature and OUR GOD.
The ancient Celts sacrificed children.
If you read the previous article, Spiritual Roots Entwined, you will see that Jean Markale, for one, very much disputes that any human sacrifice took place and insists this was just Roman and then Church propaganda. I don't think even the Romans suggested children were involved. When I think about who the Celts are today - Irish, Welsh, Bretons and much of the indigenous populations of France and England - I just cannot imagine them sacrificing children. They are, on the whole, humane and kindly people. Not monsters.
Interesting Druid pagan history. But we need to worship Jesus Christ, not trees.