Mistletoe

What this is

Mistletoe (Viscum album). The plant that grows in the air, rooted in the oak's branches and not the ground, green when all else is bare. The Druids cut it with a golden sickle and named it the all-heal; belonging to neither earth nor sky, it became the green key of the threshold. Its berries are poisonous, never to be eaten.

What it governs

Mistletoe answers to Jupiter and the element of Air, with a second hand from Sun. Its seat in the zodiac is Sagittarius, and its day is Thursday, when its virtue runs fullest. It strengthens with the full moon. In the old practice its office is plain: A sprig above the door at winter solstice — blessing for the coming year.

Its properties

In the Galenic reckoning mistletoe is warm and dry, and that temperament is the whole key to its work. The part you take is the leaf; twig. Its working colour follows Jupiter, royal blue and purple; its metal is tin, its stones are amber, sapphire, its number 4, and on the Tree of Life it threads up to Chesed. It is not gentle, a herb of real potency to be handled with care and never taken lightly.

Where else it appears

The Golden Bough crosses every tongue: Virgil's bough that Aeneas carried into the underworld; the Norse arrow of mistletoe that alone could fell the invulnerable Baldr; the Druid's uchelwydd cut at midwinter. One truth in three robes, that the thing belonging to no realm can pass freely between them all.

Where you meet it on the Oracle

In the Green Kingdom you meet Mistletoe on Today's Herb, Angelic Herb, Today's Gathering, and Herb of the Hour. When it surfaces it counsels you toward its office: A sprig above the door at winter solstice — blessing for the coming year. As the Angelic Herb it stands under Sachiel; read its rising as that intelligence laying a hand on your day, with Jupiter's expansion and good fortune. As Today's Gathering it marks a plant to take up now, while full moon and the day are with it.

Why it matters

Mistletoe stands at the threshold. It marks the doorway, the truce, the turning of the year, the ending that is also a beginning. It asks you to make your crossing cleanly, guarded but unlingering, and to honour the moment of passage rather than fear it.

Correspondences

planet

Jupiter

element

Air

zodiac

Sagittarius

number

4

sephirah

Chesed

day

Thursday

colour

royal blue, purple

metal

tin

stone

amber, sapphire

tarot

The Hierophant