Clair De Lune, Debussy

Earth Angels Pulling for Jessica

Tune in Thursday, December 17th at 8:00pm EST for a special two-hour benefit radio show to raise money for Jessica's Christmas Wish!

Jessica Rose Cannizzo is battleing a rare and deadly form of cancer. She has been battleing this for over a year and a half. On December 2nd, her parents got the news that no parent should ever get. There is nothing more... that her doctors can do for her, and this monster called cancer was going to take her life. Her doctors gave her 6 months or less to live. With this news, and still not giving up the fight, this maybe Jessica's last Christmas. We all want to make her Christmas wish come true, and her parents at this time can not afford to give her that wish. Her Christmas wish is to spend a week on a Texas horse ranch, and have her very own horse.

There are many ways that you can help.

1. Listen to the special benefit radio show on Thursday, December 17th at 8:00pm EST.

2. Schedule this event on your facebook page and tell all your friends to do the same.

3. Make a donation during the special benefit radio show. Or make a donation now using Paypal. Just visit Paypal here: http://tinyurl.com/ks23mn and donate using the e-mail address: chickenwhisperer@chickenwhisperer.net

4. Businesses can purchase a 30 second commercial during the special benefit radio show for $100.00 and all proceeds will go to Jessica's Christmas wish.

More information will be posted as it becomes available.Thank you in advance for participating in this event.Blessings,Chicken Whisperer

Andy will be airing a special two-hour benefit radio show on Thursday, December 17th at 8:00pm EST in honor of my daughter, Jessica and her Christmas wish. Please stay tuned for more details.

The Chicken Whisperer

Mistletoe

Mistletoe was used by Druid priests 200 years before the birth of Christ in their winter celebrations. They revered the plant since it had no roots yet remained green during the cold months of winter.

The ancient Celtics believed mistletoe to have magical healing powers and used it as an antidote for poison, infertility, and to ward of evil spirits. The plant was also seen as a symbol of peace, and it is said that among Romans, enemies who met under mistletoe would lay down their weapons and embrace.

Scandanavians associated the plant with Frigga, their goddess of love, and it may be from this that we derive the custom of kissing under the mistletoe. Those who kissed under the mistletoe had the promise of happiness and good luck in the following year.

There are two types of mistletoe. The mistletoe that is commonly used as a Christmas decoration (Phoradendron flavescens) is native to North America and grows as a parasite on trees from New Jersey to Florida. The other type of mistletoe,Viscum album, is of European origin. The Greeks and earlier peoples thought that it had mystical powers and down through the centuries it became associated with many folklore customs.

The European mistletoe is a green shrub with small, yellow flowers and white, sticky berries which are considered poisonous. It commonly seen on apple but only rarely on oak trees. The rarer oak mistletoe was greatly venerated by the ancient Celts and Germans and used as a ceremonial plant by early Europeans.

Origins of its name - The common name of the plant is derived from the ancient belief that mistletoe was propagated from bird droppings. This belief was related to the then-accepted principle that life could spring spontaneously from dung. It was observed in ancient times that mistletoe would often appear on a branch or twig where birds had left droppings. "Mistel" is the Anglo-Saxon word for "dung," and "tan" is the word for "twig". So, mistletoe means "dung-on-a-twig".

The Legend :

For its supposedly mystical power mistletoe has long been at the center of many folklore. One is associated with the Goddess Frigga. The story goes that Mistletoe was the sacred plant of Frigga, goddess of love and the mother of Balder, the god of the summer sun. Balder had a dream of death which greatly alarmed his mother, for should he die, all life on earth would end. In an attempt to keep this from happening, Frigga went at once to air, fire, water, earth, and every animal and plant seeking a promise that no harm would come to her son. Balder now could not be hurt by anything on earth or under the earth. But Balder had one enemy, Loki, god of evil and he knew of one plant that Frigga had overlooked in her quest to keep her son safe. It grew neither on the earth nor under the earth, but on apple and oak trees. It was lowly mistletoe. So Loki made an arrow tip of the mistletoe, gave to the blind god of winter, Hoder, who shot it , striking Balder dead. The sky paled and all things in earth and heaven wept for the sun god. For three days each element tried to bring Balder back to life. He was finally restored by Frigga, the goddess and his mother. It is said the tears she shed for her son turned into the pearly white berries on the mistletoe plant and in her joy Frigga kissed everyone who passed beneath the tree on which it grew. The story ends with a decree that who should ever stand under the humble mistletoe, no harm should befall them, only a kiss, a token of love. What could be more natural than to translate the spirit of this old myth into a Christian way of thinking and accept the mistletoe as the emblem of that Love which conquers Death? Its medicinal properties, whether real or imaginary, make it a just emblematic of that Tree of Life, the leaves of which are for the healing of the nations thus paralleling it to the Virgin Birth of Christ.

Mistletoe its history, meaning and traditions