Milk

The white milk is considered a liquid of innocence and has historically been used to ward off evil. It is thought to possess a purifying quality; washing something or someone in milk is believed to cleanse them of all negativity and harm. On the other hand, milk has been particularly vulnerable to witchcraft in folklore—it can be magically rendered watery or blue, and so on. Its innocence seems to attract its opposite, as if to create balance. In dreams, an “enchanted” cow that no longer produces milk might symbolically refer to a “neurotic block” on an instinctive level or something equivalent.

In Greek tradition, milk was offered to the gods of the underworld, in contrast to wine, as a means of appeasing and calming them. Milk was also sacrificed to those who had recently passed away.

After an initiation ritual, the initiate might be given milk to drink, as in the Attis cult, where it served as a symbol of rebirth. The newborn, after all, drinks the mother’s milk. The cow is a maternal symbol, and its milk represents fertility. Both milk and the cow are associated with the moon.

In dreams, milk can appear as a nourishing drink (if perhaps slightly infantile). For instance, being offered a glass of sour milk at work might illustrate that your job is not psychologically nourishing.

For alchemists, lac virginis—the milk of the virgin—was an aspect of Mercurius.

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