Editing Holly (section)

==Uses==
[[holly|Holly]] can be used in the [[Awakening]] ritual to represent the element of [[Wood]], depending on culture, suggesting a more traditional attitude in the Practitioner (compared to using [[iron]] and the more modern element of [[Metal]]).<ref>“Get them out, we’ll need them soon.  These circles will each have an offering supplied by one of us.  I’m thinking back to a ritual I was barely paying attention to when I went through it twenty years ago, but it should be myrrh, oil, spice, quartz, and.. holly?”<br><br>“I would suggest holly,” Miss said, from the other end of the clearing.  “It’s the old way, and our approach here hews to old ways. Up to the girls.”<br><br>“What’s the new way?” Verona asked.  “And what does it change?”<br><br>“The materials connect to fire, earth, air, and water.  The fifth spot can be wood or metal, depending on culture.  Wood has roots, and metal points to the future.” - [https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/05/12 Excerpt] from [[Lost for Words 1.2]]</ref>

Holly's link to death and rebirth makes it effective against [[Ghoul]]s.<ref name=":0">"How do you stop ghouls?”<br><br>“Conventional wisdom is that you stave them off by reintroducing them to the cycle of life. [...] Some plants are tied to the cycle of death and rebirth.  Holly.”<br><br>“We used holly against the Hyena,” Evan said.  “See?  I know stuff.  You can tell me stuff.  No need to leave me out because I’m a kid.”<br><br>“No holly near here, as far as I can tell,”  I said.  “Not sure how that would work, either.” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/06/10 Excerpt] from [[Void 7.5]]</ref> [[The Hyena]] was vulnerable to holly,<ref>I investigated the fence.  Sure enough, it was plastic.  Faux picket fencing, waist height, churned out by machine, with interlocking panels.<br><br>No reason it should stop the monster.<br><br>The bush… I had to push off the snow that layered over the top, to get a better view.<br><br>Holly.<br>[...]<br>The hedge served two purposes.  It hid the shotgun, for one thing, which let me pull the trigger, with less than ten feet between me and the monster.<br><br>It also meant that when the shotgun ''did'' fire, there were shreds of holly mixed in with the shot.<br><br>The monster reacted, rearing up, flinching, shaking his head as if to get the offending materials loose. - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/04/01 Excerpt] from [[Collateral 4.11]]</ref><ref>Hyena fight: [[Collateral 4.11]] - [[Collateral 4.12]]</ref><ref name=":0" /> and [[goblin]]s generally struggle against it as a pure, natural element.<ref>[https://palewebserial.wordpress.com/2020/11/26 Bonus Material: Binding and Countermeasures]</ref> Blake and Rose speculated that holly's association with growth, as something that grows year-round, might make it effective against a [[Demon]] of the First Choir.<ref>“Rather than ''light'', maybe <em>creation</em>?”<br><br>“A circle that grows?”<br>[...]<br>Objects associated with growth… plants?” Rose asked.<br><br>“A wreath?”<br><br>“Hard to find something that really grows year-round,” she said.<br><br>“Evergreen plants,” I said.  “Holly?”<br><br>“Hmm.  Or just pine.  I’m not sure you’re in a condition to weave anything complicated, and I’m not sure how ordered it could be.  Put it in the maybe pile?” - [https://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/2014/04/19 Excerpt] from [[Conviction 5.5]]</ref>