According to a recent article by The Ecologist, Mistletoe is widely used and respected throughout Europe as a treatment for cancer.
In the United States, mistletoe, Phoradendron flavescens, is commercially harvested for Christmas decorations under which people can seek a cheeky kiss. However, Mistletoe is actually the common name for a group of hemi-parasitic plants (which means they get water and mineral nutrients from a host plant) in the order Santalales (flowering plants in tropical and subtropical regions). As a parasitic plant, it grows on the branches or trunk of a tree and actually sends out roots that penetrate into the tree and take up nutrients. Apple and Oak are favourites.
Kissing under the mistletoe is first found associated with the Greek festival of Saturnalia (held in honour of the God Saturn) and later with primitive marriage rites. Mistletoe was believed to have the power of bestowing fertility, and the dung from which the mistletoe was thought to arise was also said to have “life-giving” power.
Revered in European folklore and mythology for centuries for it’s protective, peace inducing and aphrodisiac properties, it is now being used for its healing properties in the fight against cancer. In the 1920’s, Rudolph Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, social thinker, architect and esotericist was busy connecting the dots between the cognitive path of Western philosophy and the inner and spiritual needs of the human being. Part of this involved the realisation that plants can heal the body with regard for the mind – he was one of the earliest mind-body medicine pioneers of the modern era. A connection between Mistletoe and cancer was established and the rest is history.
European mistletoe (Viscum album L.) is now among the most prescribed drugs in cancer patients in several European countries including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Proponents claim that mistletoe extracts stimulate the immune system, improve survival, enhance quality of life and reduce adverse effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy in cancer patients.
While the plant contains several biologically active substances that could kill cancer cells, fight viruses and tune the immune system, as with other forms of plant and herb medicine, including Aromatherapy, it is not clearly understood how it works. With any plant, the chemical structure is determined by a combination of many factors including country, soil, climate, altitude, method of cultivation etc, so the same plants from different areas and different crops, for example, would have different chemical structure which would, in turn, influence its healing properties.
We’ve tried to isolate the largest components of essential oils to recreate them in a lab and it simply cannot be done. Plants contain a life force that create more than the some of their parts and contribute to healing in many different ways. One theory is that they contribute to healing by sharing their high frequency with us, since disease sets in when our bodies have a frequency of between 59-60 MHz. Essential oils are said to have a frequency of betweeing 52-320 MHz, with Rosa Damascena being the highest.
In the hands of western medicine we’ll always be missing a vial component: an understanding of the individual. We have little understanding as to how physical factors like genetics and blood type etc combine with the mental, emotional, spiritual and psychological factors to contribute towards healing. Until we accept that every individual requires a bespoke treatment, we are far from unlocking the healing formula for any illness. Even with the understanding that mistletoe contains several biologically active substances that could kill cancer cells, fight viruses and tune the immune system, the formula is still:
Mistletoe + X = freedom from disease
The X factor derives from a unique understanding of the individual.
For now we can continue look to holistic modalities like Aromatherapy for positive mood and health, accepting that when we find the right combination for the person we are treating, it simply works, even though we can’t always explain how.
Source: The Medical News, Medical News Today, Wikipedia, The Ecologist
See also: The Alchemy of Electrical Synergy











