MAIDENS

denote purity and redemption....

Word comes from the Middle English, from Old English mægden, m[AE]den, diminutive of mægeth; akin to Old High German magad meaning maiden and also the Old Irish word mug which meant serf. It usually signifies an unmarried woman, a young unmarried woman or a virgin as in, 'Maiden innocence'.

The Greek and Roman Maiden Goddesses of Diana/Artemis were goddesses of fertility, and probably the best-known association with deities the Maidens enjoy.

Maidens in heraldry denote purity and redemption and virtuousness.

It is said that only a young maiden could capture the Unicorn as it was attracted to chastity and purity, so the noble huntsmen would take a maiden with them when hunting this shy and wild creature.

The ancient Celts and many other cultures tell of folk and mythological tales involving the Maidens.

MOOR-COCK

universally exalted

The male of the moorfowl or red grouse of Europe is borne by several families in allusion to their names.

Birds in general are almost universally exalted and accepted as symbolically beings associated with the soul, as messengers of the gods, carriers of souls, as oracles or seen to possess the spirit of loved ones.

They are also symbols of good or evil and a universal emblem of freedom.

THE MANDRAKE

symbol of love

In ancient times human figures were often cut out of the root, and wonderful virtues ascribed to them. It was used to produce fecundity in women.

Another superstition is that when the mandrake is uprooted it utters a scream,

in explanation of which Thomas Newton, in his Herball to the Bible, says, "It is supposed to be a creature having life, engendered under the earth of the seed of some dead person put to death for murder.

" Mandrake are also called 'love apples', from the old notion that they excited amorous inclinations;

hence Venus is called Mandragoritis, and the Emperor Julian, in his epistles, tells Calixenes that he drank its juice nightly as a love-potion; symbol of love, fecundity, gallantry and benevolence

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