IN his Nature Watch article "Mistletoe has pagan tones" (LET, December 18), Ron Freethy stated that "In Norse mythology the cunning Loki killed Balder the Good by giving him a huge and lethal dose of mistletoe."
While this is correct in the broadest sense, Loki actually tricked the blind God Hother into throwing a sharpened stick of mistletoe at Balder. The death of Balder is symbolic of the sun's decline at the end of the year and its triumphant return at the winter solstice.
HENGEST THORSSON, Internet Information Officer, The Odinic Rite. http//www.odinic-rite.org
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