If you decorate your home for Christmas, chances are you’ve something green, perhaps including some holly. Holly has a long tradition of use at this time of year as a decoration with its deep green leaves and lovely red berries, but holly represents more than just decoration.
Like the Christmas tree, with Holly you bring something living and green into the home at a time that the year and vegetation seems to be dying: The Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, is on the 20th of December. The green vigour of the Holly may remind us that the new year will come, as will new growth. The red berries may remind us of fruit and seeds and new life. Holly becomes a symbol of life when things appear dark.
Celtic lore believed Holly to hold a potent masculine energy, which could help you restore direction and balance and find compassionate strength. As we approach the death of the old year, at a time when we cannot enjoy the energy of the sun, this symbol of strength is a useful one to meditate upon.
Bach (of the flower remedies) said that Holly protects us from anything which is not unconditional love, and that it unites us with divine love. Perhaps you might think about this as you bring it in.
I like these thoughts about Holly. If they don’t suit you, then you can sing ‘The Holly and the Ivy’ to yourself, or find your own symbolism in it. I’m going for the protective masculine energy and a bit of unconditional love, thank you very much!
