It’s February! And not only do we have Valentine’s Day coming up, there’s also the release of my romance novella next week. So bear with me for some love-themed fun facts . . .

Starting with a simple question: what’s with the pomegranate, anyway? 😉

It’s an unusual fruit here in northeast America, and even more unusual as a name for a tea house or romance series. But you’ve probably noticed me talking a lot lately about the Pomegranate Café.

“The pomegranate is a lucky, magical fruit. Always make a wish before eating one and your wish may come true.”

Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, p. 209

These days when we think of love or Valentine’s Day, we might think of strawberries or cherries. From a mythical perspective, those are to pomegranates what Conversation Hearts are to dark, unprocessed cacao. (For the record, both are tasty, but there’s something more raw about pomegranate symbolism!)

Pomegranates were known in the ancient world from Greece to Egypt to China, and they were often associated with love, fertility, and the afterlife. You might be familiar with the story of Persephone, the Greek goddess who ate pomegranate seeds in the Underworld and therefore had to spend half the year with Hades. Pomegranate trees were also sometimes associated with Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. The pomegranate has Biblical associations with passion and life after death, too, and some connect it to tales of the Tree of Knowledge.

Much of this symbolism comes from the simple fact that pomegranates have lots of seeds. Cunningham’s encyclopedia, source of the quote above, suggests that a curious woman might throw a pomegranate against the ground and count the seeds that fall out in order to know how many children she’ll have. Given that pomegranates can have upwards of 800 seeds, that seems like a bit of a risk . . .

I chose “Pomegranate” as the name for the setting and the series in my romance stories because of Sakura, actually. We talked about her last week: while she’s the matchmaking character who’s not afraid to meddle for the sake of a happy ending, she’s also got a reputation for having dark magic. In many traditions, witches have a deity they consider a patron. If Sakura has one, it’s definitely Persephone, who traverses from light to dark and back again. And really, who better to oversee the course of love?

So, next time someone suggests chocolate-covered strawberries as a Valentine’s treat, go for it . . . but maybe throw in some pomegranate-flavored tea, as well! 😉

Selected Sources

I drew on Cunningham’s Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs (Cunningham, 2020, 2nd ed.), of course, and also on The Element Encyclopedia of Secret Signs and Symbols (Nozedar, 2008). There are plenty of articles online, too, but I liked this one from The Practical Herbalist for being straightforward and less ad-ridden. 🙂

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