For over 20 years I have experienced the healing effects of Mistletoe in cancer patients. I found its use rather fits our times more so, than just treating a disease. For instance, when there is difficulty bringing all parts of oneself together (trouble waking up, falling asleep, concentrating, etc), feeling solid about one’s place in life (love of your work, who you are or have become, etc.), repeated traumas, trouble generating internal warmth, or where the body has a tendency to seal off and make tumors or lumps within organs or on the skin—hence putting one at risk for cancer.

Most of the diseases of our times are slow to develop and create depletion over a long period of time, compared to 100 years ago or so, where life threatening illnesses were more acute and inflammatory. Unlike the Bubonic Plague or the Small Pox, which wiped out masses of people from acute inflammation, cancer is thought to be an epidemic of our times. Nearly all of us have at least one person close to us who has experienced cancer.

I for one, without counting my exposure as a medical provider have had my father (Kidney), my husband (Testicular), both grandfathers (Prostate), and several close friends with cancer diagnoses. It is like living in a battlefield, where one doesn’t know when the next soldier will be hit.

There is some belief that cancer happens when the body loses its warmth-producing qualities. For instance, my husband who had been a ‘hot-blood,’ about a year before his cancer diagnosis, became more cold, requiring extra clothing and blankets when he slept. Once he cleared the cancer his warmth returned.

Cancer has been described as a cooling illness, whereby processes of cell division proliferate indefinitely without ever dying off. The warmth process becomes dysregulated. With the advent of vaccines, anti-inflammatories for fevers, fast-paced lifestyles, over emphasis on technology, bottle-fed babies, lack of nutrients in our soils, food additives, and toxins in our environment we have deprived our natural mechanisms for creating strong immunity for vibrant health.

I am weary when a patient tells me that they never get sick, because the body must from time to time cleanse and purify through illness. Choosing wisely when, and if to vaccinate, nursing a fever appropriately, making essential time to be calm and enjoy life, creating a balanced exposure for being in nature vs. limiting extended exposure to technology and media, breastfeeding, and consuming live healthy foods and pure water are some ways to support one’s best health.

The way Mistletoe grows gives us the clue why this medicine works so well in cancer treatment. It remains green all year long, independent of light, storing up chlorophyll in the darkness of the wood in which it has buried itself. The berries ripen in winter (out of sync) without warmth, just as cancer works out of sync imposing on our bodies’ normal physiological processes. Mistletoe is freed from the conditions to which other plants must submit. It must, like cancer, have a host to live on to sustain itself growing in trees such as oak, apple, or pine.

In malignant growth the boundary between the organism and nature no longer lies merely on the skin, in the sense organs, the inner intestinal wall, the lumina of the glands, but is now transferred into the physical body itself at the border between the tumors and the surrounding tissue (Husemann &Wolff, 2003). Likewise, the boundaries of host trees are breached upon for the sake of mistletoe to grow and thrive.

Mistletoe (also known as Viscum, Iscador, Iscar, or Helixor) is a plant that has been used by anthroposophic doctors to treat cancer and other sclerotic illnesses since the 1920’s. Rudolf Steiner, the originator of Anthroposophic medicine, considered mistletoe one of our most important remedies.

Mistletoe has shown to be effective in vitro, that is in the laboratory against tumor cells in two manners. The first is a direct anti-tumor activity mediated by substances within the Mistletoe that attach to and rid cancer cells in the body (viscotoxins). The second is by indirect immune stimulation (lectins).

There is good evidence that a number of immune functions are stimulated by Mistletoe therapy, which aids in the healing of the imbalance with cancer. There is also a growing body of clinical evidence that Mistletoe is in some cases highly effective when used alone, but also effective when used in conjunction with chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery (Kienle, Kiene, & Albonico, 2006). Mistletoe has shown a benefit for overall survival, quality of life, and reduction of side effects from chemotherapy and radiation (Kienle, Kiene, & Albonico, 2006).

A myriad of research already exists in Europe, whereas some hospitals have specialized in this therapy for over 50 years. Currently, this medicine is under investigation by the National Institute for Health (NIH) and at John Hopkins University.

If Mistletoe is prepared homeopathically, in that ‘like cures like,’ healing takes advantage of this growth pattern and one’s body is inspired to heal from the inside out. Otherwise known as a poison, Mistletoe as a homeopathic becomes an ally.

Mistletoe generates and regulates warmth forces and engages our most positive self to create a healthy fire within. During treatment we look for a reaction of increased warmth as a rise in temperature and sometimes a fever. Igniting the warmth within; the whole being can effectively clean house.

In essence our immunity is brought to the front line again and the nonessential is burned away. A veil can be lifted and a person may see themselves more clearly. One’s heart can be opened and harmonized.

I knew of a young woman who had uterine cancer. She had been through 5 rounds of chemotherapy. She was exhausted from the treatments and couldn’t bear to continue. She had researched Mistletoe on her own. By the time she presented to the clinic she had metastases in her lungs.

The other side of her story was that her husband was abusive, and within her culture she was being judged for not becoming pregnant right away after the marriage. In her religious beliefs, she was told that she couldn’t have cancer that young. She was told by her community that she was making it up. Meanwhile she could barely get herself to treatments.

After a while of Mistletoe therapy, she not only tolerated higher doses of the 6th round of chemotherapy, her metastases had retracted, and more profoundly she found her place amongst her community in a strong way. She began to speak out about her story.

She divorced her husband when it was unheard of in her culture. She maintained her place among her community and became a nurse. At one point, her mother and father asked why she had such strong opinions, when prior as the eldest of 8 children took care of the others without ever questioning the demands.

I find that in this woman’s story she was able to discover her inner fire and personal power to direct her will for her life’s work and path. She physically healed, though more importantly she came to know herself in a higher form. I have and continue to witness this effect in others who have chosen Mistletoe therapy.

Interestingly when I ventured to look at Mistletoe from a historical perspective I found that in ancient times Mistletoe was considered ‘The Golden Bough,’ that gave access to the underworld. Mythology of Egyptian, Greek, Norse, and India refer to Mistletoe as the metaphorical womb of the earth. I see this as a need to return to oneself, to the mother, to whom we pass through to be here on Earth or as a remembering one’s place again. Norsemen’s word for mistletoe was ‘Guidehel,’ the same as ‘guide to hell.’

Another meaning might mean that mistletoe helps us ‘through the hell’ of cancer, something so foreign and mind-boggling. Multiple metaphors can be inferred for meaning and understanding the place Mistletoe has in our day and age. Anachronistic in its nature, Rudolf Steiner implied that Mistletoe is a plant that has remained from the Earth’s evolutionary past (Bott, 1984) as gifted from the Old Moon.

I have witnessed the positive attributes of Mistletoe so many times that now I feel ethically compelled to offer this therapy where deemed appropriate. Even in patients who are terminal, I believe from an esoteric point of view that Mistletoe will help a person cross over and ascend into the next stage of life.

The medicine is given primarily by self-injection. Also it is given orally, topically and when cancer metastasizes, intravenously. Injections occur on a schedule, usually with a series of shots interspersed with 1-2 week breaks. Depending on the type, if the person is undergoing chemotherapy or radiation, or depending on the stage of the illness the frequency and timing of Mistletoe varies. The therapy must be guided by a licensed medical provider.

Mistletoe extracts are used in cancer for both adjuvant and palliative purposes, either alone or in combination with chemotherapy or radiation. Many Anthroposophic doctors also suggest other remedies and healing modalities to support a person going through cancer treatment. These might include remedies for pain, for cardiac and liver support, and additionally for immunity, constitutionally, if appropriate as well as nutrition and a healthy mindset are key to healing.

Mistletoe if invited, walks with you through life’s most trying tribulations. It has the capacity to assist us to remember who we are, lines us up for our innate goodness, and calls forth the strength to face all within our worldly realm. Ultimately, we all are capable.

LOVE WHICH CONQUERS DEATH, penetrates our souls in a higher way beyond our initial understanding. So why is it that we aspire to kiss under the Mistletoe in the dark of these wintery nights? Think about it. When everything shakes out in life, what is left? When someone receives a cancer diagnosis or a chronic debilitating disease a person asks many questions? Who am I? How do I want to live my life? What really matters? Does Love, Beauty, and Connection unite us all?!

References:

Bott, V. (1984). Spiritual science and the art of Healing: Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophical Medicine. Healing arts press: Rochester, Vermont.

Husemann & Wolff (2003). Anthroposophic approach to medicine Vol.3. Mercury Press:Spring Valley, NY.

Kienle, G., Kiene, H., and Albonico, H. (2006). Anthroposophic Medicine: effectiveness, utility, costs, safety. Schattuer:New York

Murphy, C. (2001). Mistletoe and Cancer Therapy. Lantern Books.

Walker, B. (1983) The Women’s Encyclopedia o fmyths and secrets. Harper Collins: San Francisco, CA.

www.theholidayspot.com/christmas/history/mistletoe

www.paam.net

www.weleda.com/iscador (USA)

*Lyrics from the song-Holly Jolly Christmas written by Johnny Marks

FURTHER RESOURCES

BELIEVE BIG

URIEL PHARMACY

HELIXOR

BOOK: MISTLETOE THERAPY AND CANCER

LILLIPOH: CANCER EDITION