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Ivy
Keywords
Fertility, Fidelity, Growth, Healing, Love, Protection, Resurrection,
Transformation, Vitality
Historical
Background and Folklore
In ancient Greece, people wore a circlet of ivy leaves on their
heads at drinking festivals especially those honoring Dionysus.
A story tells of Cissos, a young woman who died of exhaustion after
dancing at a festival. Dionysus turned her corpse into an ivy vine
so she could continue to live. This folktale was the basis for the
belief that ivy could prevent drunkenness and that it would thrive
when planted on the grave of a woman who had died for love. A variety
of beliefs follow this theme. One is that a sprig of ivy under your
pillow will make you dream of your true love.
Ivy is associated with the Goddess because it grows in a spiral,
which is one of her symbols. Use ivy on your altar to symbolize
your spiritual journey through the Wheel of the Year: in winter
we follow the spiral of energy down and within, and in the spring
we follow it back up into the light for our own symbolic rebirth.
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It was the custom in England at Yule for girls and boys, ivy girls
and holly boys, to compete for treats. This symbolized the struggle
for balance between the light and dark times of the year. Light and
dark, female and male energies are essential and best when in balance.
Associations
Elements: air, earth, water
Energy: feminine
Goddesses: Arianrhod, Danu, Hel/Holle, Persephone, Rhea
Gods: Bacchus, Cernunnos, Dionysus, Frey, Hermes, Loki, Ogma, Osiris,
Pan, Saturn
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Other
Being/Character: faeries
Zodiac: Gemini
Celestial Body: Saturn
Colors: blue, light brown
Gemstones: Alexandrite, chrysoberyl, opal
Ogham Character: Gort – Letter: G
Ogham Character: Oir – Letters: OI, TH
Dates: September 30 - October 27 (Celtic tree calendar); December
17
Miscellaneous: celebrate and honor the balance of light and dark,
and life and death; good luck; poetry; search for self; mazes and
labyrinths; south;; sabbat: Yule/Winter Solstice
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© Llewellyn - Whispers from the Woods
For more information, refer to the full text in Whispers from
the Woods.
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