Sylvia Rose
Honey Mead: Most Ancient Ambrosia
Honey mead is likened to ambrosia, nectar of the Greek Gods, with qualities of immortality and transcendence. The world's oldest...
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Sylvia Rose
Apr 283 min read
Grayanotoxins: the Madness of Honey
Grayanotoxins are neurotoxins. They're active ingredients in mad honey, produced by bees harvesting pollen and nectar of plants carrying...
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Sylvia Rose
Apr 66 min read
Mad Honey - What's the Buzz?
Mad honey comes from a group of plant-produced neurotoxins named after Leucothoe grayana, a plant native to Japan. Grayanotoxins can...
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Sylvia Rose
Apr 45 min read
Mugwort (Wormwood) Herbal Lore
Mugworts are used in folk medicine of India, China, Europe, America and other regions. A member of the Artemisia genus, mugwort is also...
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Sylvia Rose
Feb 47 min read
Khet, the Body: Death Rites of Ancient Egypt
Khet represents the physical body and is considered part of the soul in ancient Egypt. The soul is made of eight parts. Together they...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 104 min read
Salt Trade - the Most Precious Mineral
Salt is an essential mineral of life. In food it stimulates taste and is among the oldest preservation methods. Part of the human taste...
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Sylvia Rose
Dec 20, 20234 min read
Giant Cinnamon Birds of Arabia
Cinnamon birds appear in folklore of Eurasia shortly after Arab merchants begin trading with ancient lands to the north. Cinnamon enjoys...
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Sylvia Rose
Dec 19, 20235 min read
Cinnamon - Spice Trade of Ancients
Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum ) is the oldest known spice in the world. The fragrant bark comes into popular use by c. 2000 BCE, when Egyptians...
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Sylvia Rose
Nov 20, 20234 min read
Minoan Genius (Genii) Helper Spirits
The Minoan Genius (pl. Genii) spirit appears as a hybrid animal merger of animals which can include lion, snake, hippopotamus, crocodile,...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 18, 20233 min read
German House Spirits: Beer Donkey (Bieresel)
Bieresel loves beer and other fermented beverage s , such as apple cider, mead or wine. In German folklore the beer donkey lives in wine...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 16, 20234 min read
Immortal - Quest for the Elixir of Life
The Elixir of Life has value beyond money. The concept first appears in Mesopotamia of the 2nd millennium BCE. Its discovery is one of...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 13, 20236 min read
House Spirits of Germanic Mythology
House spirits such as Kobolds , domestic elves , gnomes and the earth hen are popular figures in Germanic myth and folklore. They have...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 9, 20234 min read
Pagan Christmas Yule Fests: Frau Holle
The Festival of Frau Holle decks the halls from her Feast Day 25 Dec to the 5-6th of January. An ancient German goddess, Frau Holle...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 8, 20235 min read
Mulberry Tree (Morus): Uses, Folklore & Myth
Benefits of mulberry (Morus) include personal health, wood, silk, color for yarn and food. Romantic myth surrounds fruitful mulberry...
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Sylvia Rose
Sep 26, 20235 min read
Apples: Nature, Spirituality & Folklore
Cultivation of apples goes back to the Middle Stone Age in central Asia. The wild ancestor of today's apples still grows naturally in the...
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Sylvia Rose
Sep 26, 20234 min read
German Nature Folklore - Fruit Trees
Fruit trees are integral to Germanic culture and lore. In times when most farms and rural homesteads depend on the land for nourishment,...
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Sylvia Rose
Sep 19, 20234 min read
Caraway Spice - Herbology & Folklore
Caraway (Carum carvi) is a cooking and medicinal herb with a pungent anise taste, known for its strong spicy fruits, called seeds. It's...
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Sylvia Rose
Sep 10, 20234 min read
German Myth & Folklore: Moss People
Moss people inhabit deep forests, trees, ancient rocks and rills. Nature spirits of German mythology, they can appear in various forms...
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Sylvia Rose
Jul 17, 20232 min read
German Traditions - Candy Canes
German traditions abound at Yuletide season. Sweets and candy are a big part of Christmas in Germany. Candy canes date back to the 17th...
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Sylvia Rose
May 7, 20234 min read
Frau Holle - A German Fairy Tale
A mother, her daughter Hilda and stepdaughter Elsa live in a house in the woods. Elsa does all the work as the other two are lazy, but...
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