Mistletoe - all Heal

Cider aplles On New years Eve there will be many kisses exchanged under the mistletoe unaware that there maybe  "Merry Miners" living in the leaves.  A rare micro moth Celypha woodian The Mistletoe Marble Moth.  whose caterpillars "etch mines into Mistletoe leaves and live there unseen until they emerge in summer and take wing. The moths live mainly in mistletoe growing apple orchards.  We can help this species in a very pleasant way.  Bridge Farm Somerset Cheers!  *Moth experts are appealing to the public this Christmas to help save an endangered species by drinking British cider. The moth, a threatened species which feeds on Mistletoe, is confined to a few sites in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Monmouthshire.  Butterfly conservation. How will this work? Well the more British Cider we all drink the more apple trees will be planted in the thriving cider farms orchards.   The Mistle Thrush is a powerful bird and is larger than other Thrush. It is midway between a blackbird and a pigeon.  It is aggressive and  territorial, and can often been seen on top of a tree singing its distinctive song, particularly if the tree has mistletoe growing on it with ripe berries. The Mistletoe Thrush has an important part to play in the distribution and germination of the seeds of mistletoe. This is describe in  Mistletoe Symbol of Love and Peace. Mistletoe berries have also benefit human beings for centuries.  It is referred to in old text as All Heal.  Culpepper in 1649  describes it as a plant  under the dominion of the Sun. He records the use of the powders of the leaves helping falling sickness, and how  the use of the sticky substance of the berries is a remedy  for hard tumours and swellings.  This is similar to use of Mistletoe by Celtic Druid healers hundreds of years earlier.. Modern Herbalist use Mistletoe  for treatment to strengthen the heart and for high blood pressure ,and the powered leaves can be used for the treatment of epilepsy.  Mixed with Valerian root and Vervain it is said to help nervous conditions.  Mistletoe in large quantities can be toxic and is used in small amounts perhaps as little as 10- 16 grains 0.65 g. It is also used in homoeopathic medicine  Healers throughout the centuries have used this powerful All Heal to treat similar diseases but in the 20th  and 21st century  Mistletoe  under its Latin name .viscum album is being used to treat Cancer patients.  Rudolf Steiner the founder of Anthroposophic Medicine a combination of spiritual a scientific approaches to medicine began in 1916 to believe that mistletoe could restore the balance between spirituality energy and and  the body defences and fight back against Cancers . Continued research took Steiner's beliefs further and even:   that some of the chemicals in mistletoe could stop cancer growth and even kill cancer cells directly while enhancing the body's immune system. Today an article in The Daily Mail On-line describes Mistletoe as being: credited with the power of healing  -  an attribute currently being harnessed by a new outpatient unit at the independent Raphael Medical Centre in Kent, which offers integrated cancer care.    ....  to combat undesirable effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, such as fatigue, nausea, weight loss, low mood and infections.  Gene Feder a GP and a Professer  at Bristol University s initiating the first UK pilot study.  He sayes:   'Patients receiving mistletoe during and after radiotherapy or chemotherapy appear to tolerate those treatments better.  The pilot will start in April 2013. Modern Scientist are treading along a similar Path as the Celtic Druid Priests and Ovates, the Druid Healers, travelled. It seem that Mistletoe lives up to its name All Heal and not only brings Love and Peace, but is Life giving  to a tiny rare moth,  the Mistletoe Thrush and many other birds as well as to  humans. MerryB Mistletoe can be toxic to human and self medication is not advised.