Winter Solstice :: Correspondences
| Season | Winter |
|---|---|
| Time of Day | Midnight |
| Direction | North |
| Moon Phase | New |
| Tide | Cleansing Tide |
| Colors | Gold, green, white, red, silver |
| Flowers | Paper whites, red nasturtium |
| Animals | Bear, reindeer, squirrel, stag, wren/robin |
| Mythological Creatures |
Phoenix , trolls |
| Plants | Evergreen, holly, mistletoe, oak, poinsettia |
| Herbs | Bay laurel, blessed thistle, cedar, chamomile, ginger |
| Incenses | Bayberry, cinnamon, frankincense, juniper berries, myrrh, orange, pine |
| Oils | Cedar, ginger, nutmeg, pine, rosemary, wintergreen |
| Stones | Bloodstone, garnet, jet, obsidian, ruby |
| Zodiac | Capricorn, the sign of perseverance, responsiblity to the community and tenacity |
| Decorations | Bonfires, candy canes (white for Goddess, red for God – or reverse), cauldron with candle, pine cones, snowflakes, sun wheels, wreaths, Yule log, Yule tree |
| Foods | Apples, beans, dried fruit, eggnog, fruitcake, gingerbread, goose, mincemeat pie, pears, plum pudding, potato pancakes, pork, poultry, red cabbage Sweets are served to wish sweetness in the coming year. |
| Teas | Apple cider, egg nog, mullein,oak bark, peppermint, willow bark, yarrow |
Origins of Mistletoe
Although the American Heritage Dictionary defines "mistletoe" rather dismissively as "a Eurasian parasitic shrub,"
most of us view this innocent little plant in a warmer light. Mistletoe was an element in European mid-winter
celebrations for thousands of years before the advent of Christianity, and like many "pagan" traditions, mistletoe was
eventually integrated into Christmas tradition, although it has no religious significance in itself. Today a small
sprig of mistletoe is often hung in a doorway, tradition dictating that anyone caught under the sprig must submit to
a kiss. Those pagan traditions certainly have staying power -- even as I write this, a commercial on the radio promises
that a haircut from a certain "salon" will provoke reactions from the opposite sex equivalent to wearing a "mistletoe
hat."
Tracing the origin of "mistletoe" is a bit of a problem -- it's a very old word, and all its precursors meant "mistletoe" as well. But if we go all the way back to Old English, there are some hints. "Mistle" came from the same root that gave us "mist," and "tan" meant "twig," giving us "twig of the mist" as a root meaning. "Twig of the mist" -- the fact that one little word, thousands of years old, could contain such a beautiful image is a wonderful gift in itself, don't you think?
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