Orchard Leigh · Rodborough Hill · Stroud · Gloucestershire · GL5 3SS T: +44 (0)1453 765 956 · E: [email protected] www.homeopathyschool.com Proving: Holly (Ilex Aquifolium) Date: October 2015 By Misha Norland, Mani Norland & The School of Homeopathy. Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots Order: Aquifoliales Family: Aquifoliaceae DC. ex A.Rich. Genus: Ilex Aquifolium The School of Homeopathy ran a proving of Holly in Stroud over a three month period in 2015 starting in October and coming to a close in December. There were seventeen provers (14 women and 3 men). Introduction For those homeopaths familiar with Edward Bach’s flower essences Holly is very well know. When I started out in general practice, treating children and animals more frequently than adults, Holly was one of my mainstays alongside polycrests such as Nux vomica, Pulsatilla and Natrum mur. As you will doubtless know the indication for Holly rest upon it’s capacity to reconnect the sufferer with the light, turning hate to love, for instance when the subject is feeling jealous, envious, suspicious, bitter and angry. How astonishing then, that homeopathic Materia medica’s have so little to teach us. Boericke who has more to say than most, comments: Intermittent fever. Marked eye symptoms. Spleen pain. All symptoms better in winter. Infiltration of cornea; staphyloma; nightly burning in orbits, rheumatic inflammation of eye. Pilosis. A few years back I collected both male and female flowers, placing them under vodka in a medicine bottle. To this I added three partly crushed burrs. While crushing these I split the mortar. The pestle’s blows focused by the hard wood of the gall cracked the bowl. I had not taken the extreme density of the slow growing wood into account. The wood of Holly was used in joinery, cabinet making, engineering, the making of mathematical instruments, wood engraving and veneering, and was fashioned to provide bobbins for the cotton mills of Lancashire. Below is the source substance the homeopathic proving was derived from 30c potency of burr wood and flowers: Following the taking of the proving substace the provers did a meditation, during the meditation Mani had an image of someone coming into the room, a stranger. He asked them what they saw. ‘They see a green leaf in the middle of the room, it is large and it is shaped like a dragon. Strong and powerful. Dragons fly and they breath fire’. The mythical dragon is an interesting metorphor for Holly as they are depicted as brave, strong and defient, yet at the same time calm and carfree – they do as they please and have a sense of independence. Yet they are solitary creatures, living alone – detached. Often there is something precious they are protecting and that they will defend with anger and violence. These ideas are all key themes of the proving. Myths & Legends of the Holly Tree The Holy holly at Glastonbury, Somerset, with prayers hung on its bows. Because the fruit of the Holly Ilex aquifolium is largest & brightest in winter, & the sharp leaves are evergreen, the holly has always been associated with winter magic. Throughout Europe holly was believed to repel evil, & this belief lingers to the modern day. An old tradition of bringing holy boughs into one's house in winter, as a place for good fairies to play, is echoed down to our own era, when holly wreaths are brought indoors for Christmas, to await the arrival of the winter elf king Santa. It was long regarded as unlucky to leave these holly wreaths up after Twelfth Night, so it was consigned to the fireplace on New Year's Eve. Others felt that good luck could be obtained by keeping a sprig from a holly wreath that had been used as a Yuletide decoration within a church, hence the wreathes would be cut to pieces to divide among church members. The Celts of the British Isles & Gaul believed the Holly King ruled over death & winter, whereas the Oak King ruled life & summer. This ancient (conceivably originally Druidic) belief was preserved into medieval times in mummers' plays, & has modernly been adapted to the Druidic revival & other pagan systems of faith. The Holly King was a warlike giant who bore a great wooden club made of a thick holly branch. He found his way into Arthurian Legend as the Green Knight, who challenged Sir Gawain during a Yuletide feast, baring as his weapon "a solitary branch of holly." It is also noteworthy that in the art of heraldry holly represents truth. The Holly speaks to the fierce capacity of the human soul to take the descent into the underworld, bringing inner light into darkness. Thus we can understand the signature of the tree, with its ability to germinate without sunlight, favoring dark, moist conditions that are more strongly related to the downward earth pole. Its stiff, pointed leaves are not unlike thorns or "spears." The Holly yields a hard, white close-grained wood that imparts a quality of solidity and impermeability, as it stands in the depths of winter, impervious to cold and darkness with its somber evergreen color. Of all the trees in the Ogham, the Holly and the Oak are most primordial—they are viewed as two "kings" who exchange leadership on a yearly basis by engaging in symbolic battle. The Gaelic name for Holly—Tinne—is related to the word, tanist, meaning "dark twin." The Oak King rules from the time the light begins its ascent in December until the summer solstice in June. Holly is the "dark twin" who reigns during the waning light of the year, until winter solstice. In Scandinavian mythology the Holly belonged to Thor & Freya. Holly's association with Thor's lightning meant that it could protect people from being struck by bolts. Norsemen & Celts would plant a holly tree near their homes specifically to take lightning strikes & protect a house & its inhabitants. The crooked lines of the holly leaves probably gave rise to the association with lightning, as well as the fact that hollies do conduct lightning into the ground better than most trees, with the least injury to the tree. So too Freya or Frigga had authority over weather, & if Thor was the lightning, Freya was the thunder. The Grimms' Fairy Tale of "Mother Holly" (or "Frau Holda") is a recollection of Frigga compounded with an even more ancient Earthmother named Hulta "Elderberry". In the charming tale of Mother Holly, her troublemaking cat sets off all sorts of bad weather by getting into Mother Holly's things. He then eats Mother Holly's corn. When Mother Holly discovers the mischief the cat has done, she doesn't punish the cat, because the corn caused the kitty's stomach to rumble as with thunder, a sound that pleased her. Although Mother Holly of the Grimms' tale is a winter hag or witch associated with the holly because it is a winter fruit-baring tree, she also had a maidenly spring & summer aspect, when she was associated with the Elderberry Tree which flowers in spring & fruits in summer. As Frau Holda, then, she is identifiable not just with Teutonic Frigga, but with the Scandinavian goddess Hulda or Hulta. Much of Freya's holly mythology at a more archaic level regarded Hulda's two aspects of maidenly life-giving (with the edible summer-fruiting Elderberry) & crone death-bringing (with the poisonous winter-fruiting Holly). That Holly should be sacred to a God & a Goddess is natural enough when the trees themselves are of two sexes. An old Germanic tradition has it that when the household's Christmas wreath is made of a "he-holly," that indicated that for the coming year, the husband would rule the house. But if it were a she-holly (& for sake of the berries, it usually was a she-holly), that meant the wife would rule the house. As wives usually do! In Shinto mythology the Japanese holly (I. crenata) held a similar position as that of the holly in Europe. When the Sun-goddess Amaterasu withdrew into her cavern & refused to come out, the erotic clown-goddess Uzume hung a sacred jewel & a sacred mirror in the branches of a holly, & began to dance about the black-fruited holly tree in a humorously sexy manner to attract the attention of Amaterasu & draw her out of the cavern so that Spring would begin. A luck-charm is down to the present day sold in Japan, consisting of a glass ball etched with holly leaves, symbolic of Amaterasu's mirror, jewel, & tree. A New Years charm popular in Japan consists of a holly leaf & skewer. This represents the Buddhist monk-god Daikoku. Once when he was about to be attacked by an oni devil, the rat that dwelt with Daikoku as a friendly companion hurried into the garden to fetch the monk a holly branch, bringing it to him in the nick of time, since an oni devil will not go near holly. To this day, there lingers a rustic Japanese tradition of hanging a holly sprig on the door to the house to keep away devils, not at all unlike numerous holly-related beliefs in Europe. Holly myths occurred everywhere, usually but not exclusively associated with winter. Chinese households were decorated with I. chinensis during February New Years festivals. Even in North America before the coming of the whites, the American Holy (I. opaca) was symbolic of courage & defense. It was encouraged to grow around Indian encampments & homes to protect the tribe, & sprigs of holy would be attached to warshields. In the American southeast & southwest, yaupon holly (I.