. . . and The Ivy

The Ivy gets raw deal when it comes to the written word celebrating its existence. Although part of the song title "The Holly and the Ivy" its presence in the song is very minor while the Holly gets all the glory. However, going back to before the Christian over-taking of the song there was a previous version called "The Battle of the Holly and the Ivy.", which was represented centuries ago by rites that included a "battle" between boys carrying Holly and girls carrying Ivy. It is recognised that the Ivy represents the feminine spirit and is associated with the White Goddess, Cerridwen, Saturn and Bacchus. Taking Ivy as a metaphor for life it can be seen as a tenacious spirit that has in its grasp both life and death. Like Holly it has poison berry and is also evergreen. It can been seen as represnting a stong binding and symbolises the those who chose a path of seeking and reaching for the light to climb out of a personal darkness. It is seen as representative of opposing themes such as dark and light and binding and freeing. There are various medicinal and magickal uses for ivy, which are best described at the very useful site Rowan's Remedies. However, we can't really get away from the image that springs into most people's mind when Ivy is mentioned and that is it's union with Holly and a really jolly song at Christmas . . . Enjoy Yule ;)