Dates
(Phoenix dactylifera)
Those suspicious looking brown wrinkled things you get at Yule (no not grandma…). Sweet fruits from the Phoenix palm tree.
An ancient fruit… not the packet of dates from last Yule, but the tree and us eating them. They were sacred in Babylon and ancient Greece and quite often used as offerings to the gods.
The Persians used them to celebrate with the symbolism of death and resurrection.
The dried date fruit is considered to be very spiritual and symbolises the soul they also have very strong aphrodisiac qualities…or so I am told…
They are also the ingredient in sticky toffee pudding that makes the pudding sticky.
Dates Magical Properties:
Spirituality, death & rebirth, offerings
Ruling planet – Sun
Element – Air
Gender – Feminine
From A Kitchen Witch's World of Magic Food by Rachel Patterson
