Throughout time humans have found meaning in plants and used them to aid them spiritually and physically. Mistletoe does not fall short of this claim. In Pagan faiths, specifically the denomination of Druidry, mistletoe is found to be sacred. Paganism is understood to be a collection of non-Christian faiths that are collectively unified through their connection to the Earth and values for balance, reverence for life, and interconnectedness (Monroe). As an oral tradition, Druidry is hard to find textually; however, the first records available date back to Europe twenty-five thousand years ago. More recently, in Plinius Secundus’ Pliny Natural History, originally published in seventy-seven AD, he especially states “we also must not omit the respect shown to this plant…The Druids… hold nothing more sacred than mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is a hard-oak.” (549).
This traditional aspect has now come to be a key aspect of the Christian holiday Christmas through colonialism and assimilation. As Christianity spread throughout the Celtic world, the societal traits of Druidry assimilated into a Christian model. While this time period served as a means of evangelism and the execution of those who did not convert it played a vital role in actually preserving Druidic traditions through recording stories. Consequently, these stories have manifested in our current lives as seen with the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe at Christmas time (Carr-Gomm). Historically, mistletoe holds a meaning of fertility as it is an evergreen and is found in bare trees, thus pagans would use it in ceremonies on the “sixth day of the moon” in a drink mixture to bring prosperity and fertility to their barren livestock (“A Brief History”, Secundus). In a Christian context, this is the origin of kissing underneath the mistletoe for luck. Neo-Druids have not left their roots behind reclaiming this aspect of faith by often decorating their altars and homes and giving it as a gift for others seeking to start families or for those they wish prosperity upon.
Outside of faith practices, mistletoe has seen a rise in recent years around its medicinal properties in cancer treatments. Primarily, clinical trials only exist in Europe and have been used to target cancer fatigue which manifests as a side effect of not only cancer itself but its treatments as well. In a small study of twenty-six randomized controlled (RCT) and ten controlled trials, twenty-two out of the twenty-six RCTs breast cancer patients that were receiving chemotherapy reported that mistletoe therapy improved their quality of life. Researchers reviewed their results using “random-effects meta-analysis” and found out of thirteen of the controlled studies where nine of them were randomized the estimated “short-term standardized mean effect of 0.56 (95% confidence interval, 0.41–0.71; p < 0.0001)” proving to be statistically significant. Conversiatally, the methods of this study were deemed poor and continued research is needed to understand the true impact of mistletoe therapy before it makes headway in America (Evans, 134-136)
Works Cited
“A Brief History of Druidry.” Order of Bards and Druids, Order of the Bards, Ovates, and Druids, 17 Nov. 2012,
www.druidry.org/druid-way/what-druidry/brief-history-druidry.
Carr-Gomm, Philip. What Do Druids Believe? Granta Books, 2006.
Evans, Maggie, et al. “Cancer Patients’ Experiences of Using Mistletoe ( Viscum Album): A Qualitative Systematic
Review and Synthesis.” Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine, vol. 22, no. 2, Feb. 2016, p. 134.
EBSCOhost, doi:10.1089/acm.2015.0194.
Secundus, Plinius. Pliny Natural History: with an English Translation. Translated by H. Rackham, vol. 9, Heinemann,
1945.
Monroe, Douglas. The 21 lessons of Merlyn: A Study in Druid Magic and Lore. St. Paul, MN.: Llewellyn Publications,
2004. Print.
(December 2017)
