There are perhaps equal numbers of sites that focus on interpretations of the rhyme’s meaning. Seems like it is quite a controversial little ditty. In due time, I’m sure I’ll incorporate these various explanations in some way or another in my writings about my journey to a Garden of Eden. But today, I was struck by one that interpreted the Old English verse as a hidden reference to Old Druid beliefs in earth energy and magic.
To the authors of this website, Mary represents the fertility energies of the earth; her contrariness due to her being ruled by the Moon (vs. the Sun); her garden representing ancient sites such as those in Glastonbury where Celtic pagan fertility rites of spring where held; and her silver bells were used to call forth the faerie spirits and other magical inhabitants between the worlds to “bestow their energies upon the plants… to be more abundant in their flowering and fruiting.” As for the meaning of the cockle shells, the Druid authors fall flat in providing a convincing interpretation. They suggest that cockle shells are the poor man’s faerie bells, similarly shaken to invoke the earth spirits. That seems lame.
Any decent gardener knows that despite the richest, most fertile soil and the best of intentions (be they prayers or faeries dust)—these mean nothing without water. Seeds will not sprout and plants will wither and die without it. Surely Mary knew this. (There is a wonderful essay by Walter Brenneman titled : The Circle and the Cross: Reflections on the Holy Wells of Ireland that discusses this while evoking the symbolism of Mary's garden.)
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| Cockle Shells Taken at Wells-Next-The-Sea Norfolk, England (c) All rights reserved josie-gd |
If indeed Mary was from the British Isles as the Druids would have, (and I’m not convinced), scenes like one pictured on the left were as common in her day as they are now. So surely she was aware that the cockle is a creature of the sea, a living creature—“bivalve” animals from the phylum Mollusca (like their cousins: clams, oysters, mussels, and scallops). They are called bivalve, because they have "two (from the Latin bis) sides (from the Latin valvae, meaning "leaves of a door"). Despite all appearances, they are pretty active critters, consuming a fair amount of organic matter from the sea.
Cockle Shell Bivalve Puffing and Puffing And they’ve been around for quite awhile. After the dinosaurs died out some 60 million years ago, they burrowed underground and developed the protective surfaces we see in their shells – spines, ridges, and teeth – evolutionary tactics to make them less enticing to their predators.
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| (c) seashellcity.com |
One particular species of cockle developed a unique shape to warrant the Latin name, Cardium cardissa, the “Heart Cockle.” It has been used as a symbol of love and it is said that it was given to many a maiden as a token of a sailor’s affections. This is also likely the source of the English idiom, “to warm the cockle’s of someone’s heart” which means to provide happiness or bring a deeply felt contentment.
For me, the cockle evokes fond memories of every summer spent from my infancy to early adulthood at the beaches of South Carolina, where these shells were plentiful. When I am stressed to my limit, it is the coast of South Carolina that beckons me. From the Grand Strand of Myrtle Beach in the northern part of the state, to the beaches surrounding historic Charleston where my mother’s family originated, down through the pristine white sand beaches of the low country sea islands - it is these soothing white sand seascapes that warm the cockles of my heart and become the balm for my soul.
I shall have more to say about shells and South Carolina later as they are clearly central characters in my journey to Eden.
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