Mistletoe and candles – I’ve discussed this before, and as my regular reader knows, have no truck with any of those ‘mistletoe-scented’ affairs – which are all fakes, as mistletoe doesn’t have a scent. For previous diatribes see relevant blog entries from 2011 here and 2010 here.
But earlier this year the Mistletoe Shop was approached by Lesley Sparks, of The Hedgewitches Garden, who wanted to produce mistletoe candles and melts, and needed to obtain some mistletoe out of season for their manufacture.
Did she know it was scentless? Yes she did, and was more interested in incorporating mistletoe into the product, rather than any supposed scent. Her aim was to ‘celebrate the magic & mystical influence of Mistletoe’ by incorporating leaf fragements in the wax – the scent was to come from other ingredients.
Lesley recently sent me some of the mistletoe melts to try (thanks Lesley). And we have tried them and can confirm that they are beautifully-scented – with a mixture of Sandalwood, Cedarwood, Oakmoss, Lemon & Bergamot. The mistletoe is visible as leaf fragments.
There’s a candle version too.
So, at last, an honest mistletoe candle/melt – mistletoe-branded but not pretending to be mistletoe-scented!
The Sandalwood scent is a particularly nice touch, though I’m not sure whether it is deliberate. Why? Because sandalwood and mistletoe are quite closely related. Our mistletoe Viscum album is in the botanical family Viscaceae, which is part of the wider botanical order Santalales. And that includes the Santalaceae or Sandalwood family. Indeed recent taxonomic opinions have lumped the Viscaceae within the Santalaceae family – meaning the two plants are now considered to be more closely related than previously believed. So a Sandalwood-scented candle is particularly appropriate for a mistletoe-theme.
For more on Lesley’s candles visit The Hedgewitches Garden.
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Commercial break:
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And try The English Mistletoe Shop for Grow-Kits, Grow-Kit Gift Cards, Books etc, and mistletoe of course.