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SYMBOLS OF THE GODDESS -- M...
- MAIZE
- white and yellow maize -- sacred to Xmucane, qv Alaghom-Naom. The seeds are used for divining along with tzite (a pod containing red seeds resembling beans). She also made the flesh of humanity from maize.
- sweet-corn (maize) -- sacred to Zaramama.
- mutant corn-cobs -- sacred to Zaramama.
- MANDRAKE, or MANDRAGORA:
- a toxic plant, Mandragona officinarum, member of the potatoe family, native to the Mediterranean region. The resemblance of its root to the human shape has caused English folklore to distinguish both mandrake and womandrake forms. Old herbals picture the roots as male or female forms with bunches of leaves growing out of the head, the figures are sometimes accompanied by a dog.
- In Arabia it is called the Devil's candle because it shines in the dark; a phenomenum actually caused by glow-worms which enjoy the damp rosette of its leaves.
- In Hebrew folklore it symbolizes conception and fertility due to its
aphrodisiac properties.
- For Wicca, the realistic resemblance of the root to the human form lends the
mandrake the power of magic.
- Mandrake -- sacred to the Great Mother, giver of life -- {I take this to mean Magna-Mater, rather than Cybele, though it is perhaps sacred to Cybele as the origin of Roman Magna-Mater. But 'the Great Mother' could mean Babylonian Aa, Inuit Una-Kuagsak, Welsh Modron (under Deae-Matres), Tibetian Yum (under Prajnaparamita), {Phoenician} Rabbat-Umma (under Tanith), all of Whose names are translated as Great-Mother, Many other Goddesses are described as 'the Great Mother'}.
- Mandrake -- sacred to Circe -- it was believed that an infusion of mandrake was the witch-draught with which She first enamoured and then transformed men into animals.
- Mandrake -- sacred to Aphrodite -- as Mandragoris because of its erotic properties.
- MARIGOLD
- garlands of orange marigold sacred to Cihuacoatl
, Snake-Woman.
- sacred to the Nahuatl.
- {azov?} Used in Indian Mexico on the Feast of the Dead and other ceremonial occasions)
- sacred to the Maori.
- MILK
- milk (Norse) -- sacred to Authumla.
- MILK-WEED
- milk-weed (Holl. Pag) -- made sacred to Danae because the danaidae butterflies especially like it.
- >MILKY-WAY GALAXY
- milky-way (Greek) -- sacred to Hera. It is said to have been created when She fostered Hercules.
- MIRROR
- yata kayami (octagonal mirror) -- sacred to Amaterasu-Omikami. The shintai is neither a symbol nor the attibute of a deity, but a definite object into which an invisible deity can incorporate Erimself in order to establish contact with Eris believers. The shintai into which the august soul of the
Sun may enter to be present at ceremonies, or to come and hear the prayers addressed to Her, is the octagonal mirror (yata kayami). Ref: AMDDEM;
- Mirror of Diana, Lake Nemi (Roman) -- sacred to Diana.
- MISTLETOE
- There are more than 1,000 different kinds of parasitic plants of the genus Viscum album, having leathery evergreen leaves and waxy white berries. MG.ASM.
- The Eastern-European mistletoe, or loranthus, is a parasite of the oak and not, like the Western variety, of the poplar or the apple-tree. Aesculapius, the latin form of Asclepius -- apparently meaning 'that which hangs from the esculent oak', i.e. the mistletoe. Aeneas visited the Underworld with mistletoe in his hand, and thus held the power of returning at will to the upper air. The 'certain herb', which raised Glaucus from the tomb, is likely to have been the mistletoe also. GMv1/176.
- mistletoe (Celtic: Irish) -- sacred to Druantia. Mistletoe was regarded as the oak-tree's genitals, and when the Druids ritually lopped it with a golden sickle, they were performing a symbolic emasculation. The viscous juice of its berries passed for oak-sperm, a liquid of great regenerative virtue....
- mistletoe (Greek, especially Titane) -- sacred to Hygeia. Her 'all-heal', was ixias, a word with which the names Ischys, 'Strength' and Ixion, 'Strong-Native' are closely connected.
- mistletoe (Roman) -- sacred to Diana.
- MOLD
- symbol of Matrix [>d:\cyc\n\nature], because a mold of any sort is itself a symbol of the uterus.
- MOON-FERN
- moon-fern (probably Holladay Paganism, can't remember why) -- sacred to Bendis.
- MOUNTAIN
- mountain: Hindustan -- sacred to Annapurna. In the Himalyas there is a mountain of which She is the Eponym.
- eastern mountains -- sacred to Aa. Eastern mountains, because they appear to boost the sun into the sky, are associated with dawn and light. BGH/3
- Mount Cithaeron (Greek, Thebes) -- sacred to Antiope, whereon Her twin sons were exposed.
- MOUTH
- mouth (Hindustan): sacred to Mukhambika, qv Ambika.
- the gesture of a finger on the lips (Etruscan, Roman) -- sacred to Angerona. She is shown with Her mouth bound and sealed, with one finger placed on it in warning.
- MUREX
- Especially murex trunculus. Source of the Phoenician royal
purple dye.
- murex (Greek, Lydian): sacred to Arachne.
- murex perhaps sacred to Aphrodite-Urania, qv Ourania.
- MYRTLE
- A shrub with shining evergreen, often aromatic, leaves and white sweet scented flowers (used in perfume). The name of various plants, especially those of the genus Myrtus, family Myrtaceae. The best known is M. communis, the myrtle of classical literature, with white or pink-tinged flowers. The
berry is bluish-black, or sometimes white. It has been used since ancient times for wreathes and decorations in religious and civil ceremonies. Myrtle oil is distilled from the leaves, used medicinally and in perfumes. It has a hard, elastic wood of unusual grain. Other plants called myrtle include running myrtle, or periwinkle Vinca minor [and others]. Included in the family Myrtaceae is the eucalyptos (blue-gum), which store water in their roots, and clover Syzigium aromaticum. Sources OED; EA; Rodale's IEH
- According to Graves: myrtle stood for the last month of the king's reign in the tree calendar.
- myrtle (Greek) -- sacred to Aphrodite.
- myrtle (Cretan) -- sacred to Phaedra
- myrtle (Roman) -- sacred to Venus, and an emblem of love.
- Note: both the OED and Americana Encyclopedia say it is sacred to Venus, but this could be to do with the confusion between Venus and Aphrodite. FW
worked on July 1995
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