Kissing under the mistletoe is a tradition shrouded in myth as is mistletoe’s medicinal heritage. I spent some time looking at numerous web pages and have found there are Norse myths handed down orally and Greek myths that allude to where the kissing practice may have come from. The druids revered the plant and called it allheal.

The process of finding the myths on the net and presenting a coherent story that somehow connected to the kissing practice placed me in the curious position of continuing the myth.

I cut, pasted, modified and morphed the stories (plagiarising like mad as most student today – at school an English teacher I admired once said that learning is about intelligent cheating) until I had one, admittedly with two endings, that seemed consistent with my sensibilities and with the material and the kissing practice.

During my reading I found that some parts of the Norse myths seemed to pre-date the New Testament and some to post date it. The Norse myths contain a creation story, an apocalyptic story and a resurrection. I believe the resurrection of Balder probably post dated the gospels whereas the apocalyptic story probably pre-dates Revelations. This gave me an insight in to the mechanism of myths – they have to make sense to the audience, given what they already know and believe, and can be incorporated into narratives that post date a previously held belief and in doing so placate and subvert ancient beliefs.

In my readings concerning the medicinal benefits it seems to be at once a poison and a panacea not an unfamiliar position for medicines. The druids hailed it as allheal, as you will read the Norse discovered it to be a poison until…, in Europe in the 20th century it has been used as a treatment for cancer, high blood pressure and HIV.

* * * * * * * * * *

The Norse mistletoe myth…

Frigg, the goddess of love, gave birth to Balder, the god of light and to Hod his fraternal twin, the god of darkness – he was born blind. Their father was Odin, ruler of the gods. Balder grew into a fine young man who was not only physically beautiful but had great strength of character. He was wise, friendly, caring and eloquent and attracted great attention from all the ladies! Balder was loved by the gods and mortals alike.

However, he became plagued by dreams of dying and because he was aware that his death foretold the coming of Ragnorok, the destruction of the Nine Worlds heralding the doom of both ordinary mortals and the gods alike, he believed his dreams were a prophecy.

Odin, ruler of the gods, used his skill in necromancy to summon the dead prophetess about the meaning of his son's terrible dreams in a vain hope that he could prevent it coming to pass. Frigg also believed in the prophecy, she was renowned for her ability to predict the future, and was so alarmed she travelled the earth to seek out all that could harm her precious son, Balder, to exact a promise of innocence from creatures, plants, objects and elemental forces alike.

After securing the oaths not even fire or water could hurt Balder. The gods reassured themselves in court after a few rounds of drinks by playing games of throwing sticks, stones, knives and firing arrows while he stood in the centre of their circle, laughing as the offending weapons bounced off him or shied away from making contact with his body.

However Loki, the prankster, trickster and shape-shifter was very jealous of Balder and the attention he claimed from all around, and sought a way to undo Balder’s invincibility. An expert at disguising himself, Loki transformed himself into the guise of an old woman and sought out Balder's mother, the goddess Frigg. Pretending interest and concern, he asked her to recount her journey to secure the promises from the living and dead and in doing so Frigg recalled that there was just one thing she had overlooked, a very small tree called mistletoe, which lived in the west in a wood near Valhalla, which she had believed too young to ask an oath of it.

Loki immediately travelled west, seeking the mistletoe and upon finding it now well grown and sturdy, cut a branch, and crafted this on his return into an arrow.

During the next game of target practice where Balder stood in the middle of a circle at court Loki tricked Balder's blind twin brother Hod into joining in with the fun. Hod had always wanted to take part, so readily agreed to let Loki help him throw several objects, which then "bounced" of his brother. Enjoying himself he was unsuspecting when Loki suggested that he fire an arrow at Balder and happily let Loki guide his hand and fire the bow. The arrow of made from mistletoe pierced Balder's heart and he fell to the floor, dead.

The Aesir (one of the two main groups of deities – Odin being their ruler) wanted to take immediate vengeance but couldn’t because of the immunity provided by the sanctity of court and Loki fled the scene.

Because Balder was not a warrior and did not die in battle, he did not go to Valhalla, the hall of slain heroes, but into the domain of Hel, keeper of the dead. When Odin requested his release, Hel responds that if everything in the world both dead and alive weeps for Balder, then he can return to the Aesir; otherwise he will remain with Hel.

The Aesir sent messengers throughout the world requiring all nature, humanity, gods, and beasts to weep for Balder. All responded except a giantess, Thokk (Loki in disguise), whose refusal to weep forces Balder to remain in Hel's domain.

The gods were angered by the giantess who they now believed to be Loki in disguise. Fearing his fate at their hands, Loki fled into the mountains to hide. He built a house with doors on each wall so he could watch for and escape from the gods who he knew would be looking for him.

From his throne in Asgard, Odin spotted Loki and sent Thor to capture him. Thor suddenly appeared, Loki escaped, shape-shifted into a salmon and hid beneath a waterfall in a nearby stream. Thor waded into the river with a fishing net. The first three times he cast the net, Loki escaped. On the fourth cast, Loki, still a salmon, leaped out of the water to evade the net yet again. This time Thor grabbed and held the trickster by the tail. Loki was taken to a cave deep within the earth where he was bound by unbreakable iron chains. The cave was the home of a poisonous snake which dripped its venom on Loki's face. It caused Loki great pain. His devoted goddess wife Sigyn tried to comfort him by catching the poison in a bowl. When the bowl was full, she left Loki to empty it. The poison covered his face once again. The muscle spasms caused by the pain shook the earth and to the Vikings, Loki's squirming was believed to be the cause of earthquakes.

There is a prediction, however, that he will one day break these chains. This will be the sign for the loosing of all evil, monsters and giants, to attack the gods in the great battle of Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods. Odin will be devoured by the wolf Fenrir, who will then be killed by Vidar, a son of Odin. Terrible fights will rage among the gods and the forces of evil until finally the primeval god Heimdall and Loki come face to face and kill each other. The Earth will then be destroyed by fire, and the entire universe will sink back into the sea. This final destruction will be followed by a rebirth, the Earth re-emerging from the sea, verdant and teeming with vegetation. The sons of the dead Aesir will return to Asgard and reign, as did their fathers.

The kiss – an alternative ending…

The goddess, Frigg, too late to extract a promise of innocence from the mistletoe and unable to destroy it because of an oath she demanded that it remain off the ground and be dependent upon other trees, a parasite, where it would do no harm.

On the third day after Balder’s death, Frigg was sitting under the tree where the mistletoe grew. She was holding her son close, while the tears dropped from her eyes. Some of the tears dropped onto the mistletoe arrow still in Balder's heart. The teardrops changed into small white berries on the Mistletoe. The berries negated the deadly poisonous effect and Balder was brought back to life!

Frigg was so happy that she started kissing everyone who passed under the tree where the mistletoe grew and went on to promise that anyone who stood under the mistletoe would never come to any harm, they would receive a token of love instead...a kiss.

Mistletoe Folklore…

According to the Anglo-Saxons’ legend, kissing under the mistletoe was connected to the legend of Freya, goddess of love, beauty and fertility. A man had to kiss any young girl who, without realizing it, found herself accidentally under a sprig of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling.

It is interesting to note that the Norse deities are divided into two major groups, the Aesir and the Vanir. So far I have mentioned the Aesir and the most important of the Aesir are Odin, Thor, and sometimes Tyr (remember one of Odin’s wives was Frigg). Their counterparts among the Vanir are Njord, Frey, and Freya.

The Vanir symbolize riches, fertility, and fecundity. They are associated with the earth and the sea as these symbolize the sources of fecundity. (It is easy to see how kissing would be associated with fecundity and fertility rather than the more divine love and light of Frigg and Balder- it would make a story more plausible).

The Aesir symbolize other values: Odin is a magician, chief among the gods, and a patron of heroes; Thor, who is god of the hammer, is an atmospheric deity of thunder who presides over work. In many of the Norse mythological cycles these two kinds of deities live in peace and engage in cooperative enterprises.

In Greek mythology…

Aeneas, having resisted the charms of Dido at Carthage, went in search of his father Anchises, in the abode of the dead. In order to make his way to and from Avernus, he was advised by the Sibyl that he must first seek and pluck the 'golden bough' from a tree in the forest. He was guided to the bough by doves sent by Venus, his mother, and found the branch. He successfully visited his father, and returned.

This 'golden bough' is assumed by many writers and scholars to be mistletoe. Certainly Viscum Album often appears golden in the winter months. The 'Golden Bough' became famous as a symbol of myth and legend when Sir James Frazer used it as the title of his monumental work on magic and religion in 1922.

The druids…

The only known classical reference describing the ritual gathering of mistletoe by the ancient Druids, as the Gauls call their wizards, was written in the first century by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia. They believed mistletoe to be an indicator of great sacredness. The winter solstice, called 'Alban Arthan' by the Druids, was according to Bardic Tradition, the time when the chief Druid would cut the sacred mistletoe from the oak. The mistletoe is cut using a golden sickle on the sixth night of the new moon after the winter solstice. A cloth held below the tree by other members of the order to catch the sprigs of mistletoe as they fell, as it was believed that it would have profaned the mistletoe to fall upon the ground. He would then divide the branches into many sprigs and distribute them to the people, who hung them over doorways as protection against thunder, lightning and other evils.

The Druids are thought to have believed that the berries of the mistletoe represented the sperm of the Gods. When pressed, a semen-like substance issues from the white berries. Hence its Latin name viscum album -viscous white. Mistletoe was considered a magical aphrodisiac. Girls standing under a sprig of mistletoe were asking for a bit more than a kiss, it seems.

The plant in old folklore is called Allheal, used in folk medicine to cure many ills, and indeed the Druids considered the mistletoe to be a sacred plant and believed it had miraculous properties which could cure illnesses, serve as an antidote against poisons, ensure fertility and protect against the ill effects of witchcraft. When taken as a form of diluted tea, it was thought as a curative for everything from infertility to epilepsy. (WARNING, this plant is highly toxic when ingested. You should seek expert advice before using Mistletoe in any form.)

To the Druids there is nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and the tree on which it grows, provided that the tree is an oak. Apart from this they choose oak-woods for their sacred groves and perform no sacred rites without oak-leaves; so that the very name of Druids may be regarded as a Greek appellation derived from their worship of the oak…

They believe that a potion prepared from the mistletoe will make barren animals to bring forth, and that the plant is a remedy against all poisons.

The mistletoe plant…

Mistletoe is a parasitic plant found on the branches of a tree or shrub. The plant seen in Britain is the European mistletoe variety, Viscum Album from the Santalaceae species; the only species native in Great Britain and much of Europe. European mistletoe is readily recognized by its smooth-edged oval leaves in pairs along the woody stem, and waxy white berries in dense clusters of 2-6 together.

The species grow on a wide range of host trees, and can eventually prove fatal to them where infestation is heavy, though damage more commonly only results in growth reduction. Almost all mistletoes are hemiparasites, bearing evergreen leaves that carry out some photosynthesis on their own, and relying on the host mainly for water and the mineral nutrients it carries.

Most mistletoe’s seeds are spread by birds, such as the Mistle Thrush. The seeds are egested in their droppings and stick to twigs, or more commonly the bird grips the fruit in its bill, squeezes the sticky coated seed out to the side, and then wipes its bill clean on a suitable branch. The seeds are coated with a sticky material called viscin (containing both cellulosic strands and mucopolysaccharides), which hardens and attaches the seed firmly to its future host.

The word 'mistletoe' is of uncertain etymology; it may be related to German Mist, for dung and Tang for branch, but Old English mistel was also used for basil.

Often considered a pest that kills trees and devalues natural habitats, mistletoe has recently become recognized as an ecological keystone species, an organism that has a disproportionately pervasive influence over its community. A broad array of animals depend on mistletoe for food, consuming the leaves and young shoots as well as transferring pollen between plants and dispersing the sticky seeds. Thus, rather than being a pest, mistletoe can have a positive effect on biodiversity, providing high quality food and habitat for a broad range of animals in forests and woodlands worldwide.

Mistletoe as a medicine…

Mistletoe extracts have exhibited both cytotoxic (preventing cell growth) and immunomodulatory (in this case stimulating the immune system) properties which have been efficacious in the treatment of cancer. These have been experimentally evaluated in vitro (in the lab) and in vivo (in living tissue on whole organisms). In general, making a fermentation from the whole plant worked better and was less toxic than using active constituents of the plant.

Many clinical studies of mistletoe exist, but their findings are inconsistent. Most of them are methodologically weak, and the less rigorous they are the greater the likelihood of a positive result. The conclusions of systematic reviews are therefore contradictory. Anthroposophical doctors, who tend to include unreliable primary studies, arrive at positive conclusions. In contrast, independent reviewers tend to focus on the most reliable evidence and regularly find that neither of the above two claims is supported by good evidence.

A wide range of serious adverse reactions have been noted, such as local reactions at the site of injection, anaphylaxis, dyspnoea, haemorrhagic colitis, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, joint pain, kidney failure, lymphangiitis, parasthesias, sarcoidosis, ulceration, and vertigo.

Findings from in vitro studies suggest that mistletoe extract may enhance the proliferation of some cancers. In addition, some patients with cancer may use mistletoe as an alternative to conventional treatments for cancer, rather than just a complementary treatment.

The claim frequently voiced by proponents of anthroposophic medicine—that mistletoe injections have no serious risks—is therefore misleading.

Thus, mistletoe has been tested extensively as a treatment for cancer, but the most reliable randomised controlled trials fail to show benefit, and some reports show considerable potential for harm.