Healing Herbs of the Ancient Celts

Mistletoe - (Drualas)

Mistletoe was most likely imported to Ireland via the Greeks, who traded with the Celts and exchanged medical knowledge with them. Reference to Mistletoe is strewn throughout Greek Mythology, the goddess Athene used it as a curative and Aeneas took it with him to the underworld in order to assure his safe return to the world above.

The Druids became great cultivators of Mistletoe, and can be found in Waterford today growing on old apple trees. The Celts had a special name for Mistletoe growing on apple trees, calling it silver bough, and it was considered sacred to the Celtic god Manannan, the sea god. It is now quite rare however, and can only be found in about a dozen places throughout Ireland today.

The Druids used Mistletoe in their celebrations of the festival of Alban Arthuan, held during the Winter Solstice around December 21st. The Greek writer Pliny mentions the Druids cutting Mistletoe on the new moon at the end of the Celtic year (around December 21st) and using it to decorate the oak trees surrounding they area where they would partake of the ceremonial meal. They would later use these Mistletoe boughs in conjunction with the sacrifice of a bull to appease the Oak God Hu, who they believed would impart sexual vigor to them.

Being hallucinogenic when consumed in large quantities, the Mistletoe berries were most likely used by the Druids in their rituals of prophesying and entering the "other worlds". Of all the natural remedies of the Celts, this was probably the most toxic.

In recent times Mistletoe has been investigated for its possible treatment of various cancers, and a drug named Iscador was developed by Rudolph Steiner and a team of physicians, pharmacists and scientists in the 1920's. Since then a plethora of Mistletoe-based drugs have been patented by various companies with names such as Plenosol, Helixor and Isorel.

Modern herbalists also use Mistletoe juice or tincture to treat cancer, however Mistletoe is extremely poisonous, and I reiterate, should only be taken under the supervision of a qualified and licensed herbalist.

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