Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore of the Plant KingdomFolkard, Richard
History
Plant Lore, Legends, and Lyrics: Embracing the Myths, Traditions, Superstitions, and Folk-Lore of the Plant Kingdom
Folkard, Richard
Plants -- Folklore
The Witch was cunning in the composition of draughts which should
procure dreams, and the secret of many of these potions is still known
and treasured. Thus: fresh Mistletoe-berries (not exceeding nine in
number), steeped in a liquid composed of equal proportions of wine,
beer, vinegar, and honey, taken as pills on an empty stomach before
going to bed, will cause dreams of your future destiny (providing you
retire to rest before twelve) either on Christmas-eve or on the first
and third of a new moon. Similar dreams may be procured by making a
nosegay of various-coloured flowers, one of a sort, a sprig of Rue, and
some Yarrow off a grave; these must be sprinkled with a few drops of
the oil of Amber, applied with the left hand, and bound round the head
under the night-cap, when retiring to bed, which must be supplied with
clean linen. A prophetic dream is to be procured through the medium
of what is known as “Magic Laurel,” by carrying out the following
formula:--Rise between three and four o’clock in the morning of your
birthday, with cautious secresy, so as to be observed by no one, and
pluck a sprig of Laurel; convey it to your chamber, and hold it over
some lighted brimstone for five minutes, which you must carefully
note by a watch or dial; wrap it in a white linen cloth or napkin,
together with your own name written on paper, and that of your lover
(or if there is more than one, write all the names down), write also
the day of the week, the date of the year, and the age of the moon;
then haste and bury it in the ground, where you are sure it will not be
disturbed for three days and three nights; then take it up, and place
the parcel under your pillow for three nights, and your dreams will be
truly prophetic as to your destiny. A dream of fate is to be procured
on the third day of the months between September and March by any odd
number of young women not exceeding nine, if each string nine Acorns on
a separate string (or as many Acorns as there are young women), wrap
them round a long stick of wood, and place it in the fire, precisely
at midnight. The maidens, keeping perfect silence, must then sit round
the fire till all the Acorns are consumed, then take out the ashes, and
retire to bed directly, repeating--
“May love and marriage be the theme,
To visit me in this night’s dream;
Gentle Venus, be my friend,
The image of my lover send;
Let me see his form and face,
And his occupation trace;
By a symbol or a sign,
Cupid, forward my design.”
Plants Antagonistic to Witchcraft.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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