Although Ivy plants are usually regarded as climbing plants, ivy is as happy trailing across the woodland floor as it is climbing trees or masonry. Like the grapevine, ivy plants are not parasites, as they do not feed off the host, using it rather as a means of support, but it must be controlled otherwise ivy can smother a tree or shrub.

Ivy plants create a most useful cover and grow very fast, hiding all sorts of indiscretions and making barren land bountiful. Evergreen Ivy plants (Hedera Helix) is shade tolerant with glossy green leaves that have pale veins and a lovely shape. The flowers of the ivy plant are quite small but are the last main source of nectar and pollen for the bees, first appearing in autumn and continuing well into winter. As such, these plants Ivy plants have long been thought to have magical powers.

Hedera plants (ivy) were sacred to Osiris, the Egyptian god of magic, Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and to Bacchus, his Roman equivalent, as well as their respective followers. The white Ivy leaf is considered sacred to the ancient forms of the White Goddess which include Ariadne, wife of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, Diana, Goddess of hunting and the moon and the Celtic goddess Arianrhod, Goddess of the silver wheel. Entwining Ivy plants represents to some the embracing and confining female principles of life. Through conception and birth, the male life force is given form by the female body. Ivy plants entwining habit represents to some the movement and cycles of the heavenly bodies, the stars and the planets and is symbolic of the knowledge and understanding of the way in which these movements are reflected on earth and the affairs of mankind. In particular, it represents the spiralling cycles of the moon, governing fertility and the continuation of life and death.

In Celtic astrology entwining ivy plants represent those born between September 30th and October 27th.

Specifications for alternative medicine:

Planet Moon, Stone Opal, Polarity Feminine, Element Water
Deities Ariadne, Diana, Arianrhod, Dionysus, Bacchus, Osiris
The Spirit, Search for Enlightenment, A Warning,
Binding Restricting, Freeing Uniting