Pagan Christmas (20 page)

Nine Herbs for Weather Magic Incense

Equal parts of:

Elecampane (Inula helenium)

Marienbettstroh, several herbs share this common name, most commonly it refers to lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum) or wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum)

Southernwood (Artemisia abrotanum)

Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris)

Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium)

Valerian root (Valeriana officinalis)

Black nightshade (Solanum nigrum)

Bittersweet or climbing nightshade (Solanum dulcamara)

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare)

All of these herbs were used not only by witches, but also by farmers as Christian blessing plants—as protection, in fact, against witches, magic, sorcery, hauntings, nightmares, and thunderstorms.

The following nine herbs represent a sort of “nine woods.” They all come from sacred trees that are used today as Christmas trees or greens:

The carline thistle (Carlina acaulis L., Asteraceae), also known as “silver sun,” shines like a Christmas star. The plant not only protects against lightning, but also acts as an aphrodisiac and love magic: “Nine leaves of carline thistle are supposed to give the power of nine young men” (Hiller 1989, 208). “A guy would hope for the fulfillment of all his wishes from a girl when he carried carline thistle and valerian root in red wax with him” (Hiller 1989, 24).

From Freia’s Bedstraw to the Infant Jesus

Herbs called bedstraw or “our lady’s bedstraw” in the vernacular include woodruff (Galium verum and G. odoratum), lamb’s ears or betony (Stachys officinalis), wild thyme or quendel (Thymus serpyllum), and St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum). True lady’s bedstraw (Galium verum)—known as echt or walstroh in German—was put in bundles into the beds of pregnant women to make birth easier. Bedstraw contains the sweet-smelling chemical compound coumarin. “Frauenstroh (Galium). According to a legend, Mother Mary made the baby Christ a bed with these plants” (Prahn 1922, 144). Lady’s bedstraw “makes fairy love” (von Perger 1864, 168).

In Polish, wild thyme (Thymus serpyllum L.) is called macierza duszka (soul of the mother): “Because it is an herb of fertility, many smudge their fruit trees with it on Christmas Eve so that they will bear a lot (Bohemia)” (Aigremont 1987I, 148).

Common juniper (Juniperus communis)

Larch (Larix decidua)

Mountain pine (Pinus mugo)

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris)

Spruce (Picea spp.)

Stinking juniper (Juniperus sabina)

Swiss stone pine (Pinus cembra)

White fir (Abies alba)

Yew (Taxus baccata)

On one hand, the nine woods were believed helpful for making “magic and discovering special places to sit” (Abraham and Thinnes 1995, 212f) as well as for warding off witches and devils. On the other, they belonged to the botanical repertoire of the same witches and demonic beings that they were supposed to defend against or unmask. The wood was gathered by witches and burned as incense at Christmastime:

In order to lure a lover, they light the wood around midnight on the winter solstice, and then they throw their dresses down in front of the door. They said: “I sit here all naked and bare. If only my beloved would come and throw my shirt back in my lap!” (Müller-Ebeling
et al.
1998, 19).

In Mecklenburg, some purported witches testified that they used the nine woods for purposes of love magic: “Oak, birch, alder, hawthorn, rowan, elder, pine, whitethorn and blackthorn” (Müller-Ebeling
et al.
1998, 19). The nine woods are all among the ritual plants and holy trees that were revered by pagans. With the advent of Christianity, the trees of the old pagan gods received new names that associated them either with Christ or the devil. For example, hawthorn (Crataegus laevigata, C. monogyna) was called Christ’s thorn, just as sloe or blackthorn (Prunus spinosa) was called devil’s thorn! “On witches’ night (St. Ottilie, December 13) you put blackthorn twigs into a red-hot pan in Bavaria to smoke out witches and demons” (Weustenfeld 1996, 107).

Incense Recipes from Hildegard von Bingen

The devil flees from everything that has the power of healing, because he himself has no such power.

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN, PHYSICA, III, 20

With what kind of incense was the famous herbalist Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179) acquainted? Which of the exotic spices and resins that we count as characteristic Christmas scents did she use? A glance into her book Physica (which translates as “science”) reveals that she was familiar with frankincense and myrrh as well as various spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, and cloves. From these substances, one can concoct a highly aromatic, seriously Christmas-scented incense. Her incense calls for a good portion of frankincense (olibanum) and the finest myrrh. Instead of the usual cinnamon sticks, use a small amount of bark from the related plant cassia (Cinnamomum cassia). Mace (the seed coat of the nutmeg) and cloves round out the Christmas blend. Spoon it onto the coals and enjoy the fragrance.

From Incense to Ashes

The Yule buck and Yule log that are burned in the fireplace during the winter season are essential elements in the Nordic Yule feast. The Yule buck is braided from straw and made to resemble the mountain goat (ibex), most likely to symbolize the goats that pulled Thor’s cart. The Yule log is a piece of wood—often ash—burned to honor the world tree, Yggdrasil. Yule bucks and Yule logs are very often burned in combination with herbs and resins. The holy, healing ash is retained:

Christmas Incense*

3 parts frankincense (Boswellia carteri)

2 parts myrrh (Commiphora spp.)

1 part cassia (Cinnamomum cassia)

1 part mace (Myristica fragans)

½ part clove buds (Syzygium aromaticum)

Thoroughly grind all the ingredients together in a mortar into very small parts. Place by teaspoonfuls on the smoking coals. A Christmas scent will follow very quickly!

*Adapted freely from a recipe by Hildegard von Bingen.

The Jul buck is braided from straw. It is burned as a sacrifice as part of the Julfest in Scandinavia.

Especially at Christmastime, ash expresses a mystery. The phoenix, the Egyptian bird of fable, burns itself up and is resurrected to new life from its own ashes, like the infant Christ, who in the coldest dark of the snow nights (=ash) is born again every year. And, dressed in red like an Indian Sannyasin [a Brahman who dedicates his life to meditation and spiritual searching], Father Christmas emerges from the snowed-in woods with nuts and apples, like a seed of renewal. In the Lausitz, as “Klas,” he comes as the rider of the white horse [=Wotan] with his sack of ashes. In the high north, the Yule log was burned on winter solstice, and its ashes were considered healing (Storl 2002, 218).

Burning the Yule buck and Yule log not only provides healing ashes, but also brings outward and inward wealth. If you make a smoking fire with ash wood at the time of the Yule feast, wealth and luck will be yours! These old Scandinavian traditions can be found in rudimentary forms in regions far from their origins. For example, in areas of the former Yugoslavia, incense and barley are burned on a log (Vossen 1985, 86).

CHRISTMAS INTOXICATIONS AND OTHER DELIGHTS

Everything that makes life worth living goes beyond boundaries, and this is why it can be described as an intoxication.

PAPAJORGIS 1993, 12

Christmas is the time of intoxication! Moreover, these days, despite all the warnings against overconsumption, calorie counting, and dieting, we still feast and indulge in the sin of gluttony during the Christmas season. We eat and eat, filling our stomachs with goose roast, Christmas cookies, marzipan, and other high-calorie foods. We drink the tastiest beverages and consume all manner of dietary evils. We live as if still taking part in the old rites of the past. The smudging nights were celebrated with libation offerings, smoking ecstasies, orgies of smell, feast meals and baccy pipes: Smudging nights are nights of intoxication. Among the customs that have passed into our modern Christmas rituals, we still have a tradition of holy intoxication at feast time.

Yule Drinking

When the gods left the earth, beer became alcohol and the divine intoxication became a purely mean drunkenness …

GRÖNBECH 1997, 180

Two Christmas goblins atop fly agaric mushrooms toast each other with gin. (Poster by Jan Lavies, Amsterdam, 1960, from Lemaire 1995, xxv)

In the north, Christmas is called Jul or Jule (from the Old Nordic jól, jol, or Anglo-Saxongeol). This is the time forJuldrinking andJulfeast (Joelfeast). In this season, one can choose among specially brewed Christmas beers, Wodelbeers (Wodel=Wotan) made from rye, and traditional Yule beers (Julbeer). Old Nordic Julbeers were not brewed in keeping with Bavarian pureness laws, but instead included intoxicating herbs like hemp, wormwood, black henbane, fir greens, and wild rosemary.

The festive time was sometimes called “beer days” in Germany, and the tranquil atmosphere of domestic family togetherness was described by the name “beer peace.”

Beer brings a festive shine with it. It does not belong to the mundane nourishment and thirst-quenching quality of everyday food, but offers a spiritual enjoyment of a higher level than milk and whey, a holy nourishment. And it is the drink that honors the high feast with its blessing, of a special power to unite gods and human beings (Grönbech 1997, 164).

Father Christmas loves Yule drinking. (Cartoon by Peter Gamynn, © 2001, Cartoon Concept, Hannover)

Silenus, the wild man with hair covering his whole body, was one of the followers of Dionysus. Like Father Christmas, he carries a bag of wonderful gifts over his shoulder: a wineskin. (Antique statue from Delos, Greece)

The magical power of old Germanic brewing methods has been replaced largely by technology by now. Instead of intoxicating ingredients, manufacturers add the sedative plant hops to create a beer without holiness, a festive beverage made profane. However, the magic of the past still shines on modern labels, and the consciousness that accompanies the drinking can be a catalyst for a sense of Christmas holiness.

Germanic mythology, especially from the north, is full of drinking stories. According to one myth, Odin (Wotan) robbed Odhrärir of the “ecstasy drink” or the “mead of inspiration.” Whoever drank this beverage would be filled with wisdom and knowledge, become inspired artistically and gifted in the art of poetry, and develop the ability to lure and seduce with words.

Thor, the thunder god, was the heaviest drinker of the gods. His thirst was unquenchable, his drinking feats legendary. One myth recounts that during a drinking competition he drank from the sea god’s drinking horn, which was connected with the world sea. He gulped three times and caused high and low tides. These were some truly divine gulps! Many humans seem to want to emulate Thor, especially during Yule drinking; thus the Yule feast always ended when the people were drunk.

Love on Christmas Eve?

My head is going to find its love in intoxication …

BAUDELAIRE 1857, XXIII

An intoxicant may be an aphrodisiac or just the opposite, depending on the dosage. The intoxication caused by plant preparations is one of the most valuable Christmas experiences, a “border crossing” between worlds that can help celebrants understand their own position in the universe. Christmas intoxicants include special meals and drinks to put one in the right frame of mind for the feast of love and transform Christmas magic into fertility rite. There is love in the holy nights!

Plant ingredients closely associated with the aphrodisiac aspects of the Christmas feast include grain and poppy (the holy plants of the Greek mystery goddess, Demeter), flax, and hemp (the holy plants of the Germanic Freia). Such plants were essential to rites involving the Christmas love oracle and fertility magic. They were also supposed to ward off witches and sorcerers.

Poppy

Papaver somniferum L., Papaveraceae (poppy)

OTHER NAMES

Garden poppy, magan (Old German), opium poppy, sleep poppy

Poppy juice was the all-in-one aspirin and medicinal spirit for those times.

PIEPER 1998, 11

Why are dried poppy seedpods such a popular decoration for Christmas trees and advent wreaths? Contrary to popular belief, the opium poppy is not native to Asia, but to middle or southern Europe. This well-known cultivated plant was grown during the Neolithic period (the new Stone Age) in Northern Italy, Switzerland, and southern Germany. It has long been prized for food, but also for its intoxicating effects:

Days of Love Magic

“On some of those holy days—from times when demons were, in a sense, freer, unleashed, and had power over human beings—aphrodisiac plants became very potent. St. John’s Day was the strongest of the love magic days, and Wodan, Donar, Fro, and Frigga were closer at this time to nature and to human beings… . After St. John’s Day, the time just before and after winter solstice (December 24) is also very good for love magic… . It is seed time, the time when the trees inseminate one another; it is the moment of the solstice (Christ night) that is so important for the love power of the plants—when the rod of life gives health and fertility” (Aigremont 1987 II, 75f).

Poppy seedpods scratched for the production of opium. (Northern Thailand, 2002)

Poppy (Papaver somniferum) showing the Christmas colors, red and green.

The intoxicating and sedative attributes of the seed and the oil that can be produced from it did not escape the mound builders [of old Europe]. The frequency and quantity of poppy seeds found there and evidence of how it was used shows that it was an important cultivated plant of the mound builder (Hoops 1973, 233–234).

The cultivation of poppy in southern and northern Germanic regions must be very old. It cannot be dated accurately. The ancient Germans planted uniform fields of poppy. These fields were called “Odin’s ground” (Odainsackr) and were seen as sacred healing sites where Odin (Wotan) manifested healing wonders (Höfler 1990, 92ff). According to folk medicine, the ingestion of poppy juice (opium) is believed to ward off demons of the night, blood-sucking vampires, nightmares, and goblins, for poppies are the servants of St. Nicholas. However, “In some valleys the belief exists that poppy seeds may be a food of witches and of the dead” (Fink 1983, 66).