Love Divinations

: SUPERSITITIONS
: Popular Rhymes And Nursery Tales

Butter-dock.--The seeds of butterdock must be sowed by a young

unmarried woman half an hour before sunrise on a Friday morning, in a

lonesome place. She must strew the seeds gradually on the grass, saying

these words--



I sow, I sow!

Then, my own dear,

Come here, come here,

And mow and mow!



The seed being scattered, she will see her future
husband mowing with a

scythe at a short distance from her. She must not be frightened, for, if

she says "Have mercy on me," he will immediately vanish. This method is

said to be infallible, but it is looked upon as a bold, desperate, and

presumptuous undertaking.



True-love.--Two young unmarried girls must sit together in a room by

themselves, from twelve o'clock at night till one o'clock the next

morning, without speaking a word. During this time each of them must

take as many hairs from her head as she is years old, and, having put

them into a linen cloth with some of the herb true-love, as soon as the

clock strikes one, she must burn every hair separately, saying--



I offer this my sacrifice

To him most precious in my eyes;

I charge thee now come forth to me,

That I this minute may thee see.



Upon which her first husband will appear, and walk round the room, and

then vanish. The same event happens to both the girls, but neither see

the other's lover.



Gerard says of the herb true-love or moonwort, p. 328, that "witches do

wonders withall, who say that it will loose locks, and make them to fall

from the feete of horses that grase where it doth growe."



A charm-divination on the 6th of October, St. Faith's day, is still in

use in the North of England. A cake of flour, spring water, salt and

sugar, is made by three girls, each having an equal hand in the

composition. It is then baked in a Dutch oven, silence being strictly

preserved, and turned thrice by each person. When it is well baked, it

must be divided into three equal parts, and each girl must cut her share

into nine pieces, drawing every piece through a wedding-ring which had

been borrowed from a woman who has been married seven years. Each girl

must eat her pieces of cake while she is undressing, and repeat the

following verses:



O good St. Faith, be kind to-night,

And bring to me my heart's delight;

Let me my future husband view,

And be my visions chaste and true.



All three must then get into one bed, with the ring suspended by a

string to the head of the couch. They will then dream of their future

husbands, or if perchance one of them is destined to lead apes, she will

dream of wandering by herself over crags and mountains.



On the 28th of the same month, another divination is practised by the

paring of an apple, which is taken by a girl in the right hand, who

recites the following lines, standing in the middle of a room--



St. Simon and Jude, on you I intrude,

By this paring I hold to discover,

Without any delay, to tell me this day

The first letter of my own true lover.



She must then turn round three times, casting the paring over her left

shoulder, and it will form the first letter of her husband's name; but

if the paring breaks into many pieces so that no letter is discernible,

she will never marry. The pips of the apple must then be placed in cold

spring water, and eaten by the girl; but for what further object my

deponent sayeth not.



A very singular divination practised at the period of the harvest-moon

is thus described in an old chap-book. When you go to bed, place under

your pillow a prayer-book open at the part of the matrimonial service,

"With this ring I thee wed;" place on it a key, a ring, a flower, and a



sprig of willow, a small heart-cake, a crust of bread, and the following

cards:--the ten of clubs, nine of hearts, ace of spades, and the ace of

diamonds. Wrap all these in a thin handkerchief of gauze or muslin, and

on getting into bed, cross your hands, and say--



Luna, every woman's friend,

To me thy goodness condescend;

Let me this night in visions see

Emblems of my destiny.



If you dream of storms, trouble will betide you; if the storm ends in a

fine calm, so will your fate; if of a ring or the ace of diamonds,

marriage; bread, an industrious life; cake, a prosperous life; flowers,

joy; willow, treachery in love; spades, death; diamonds, money; clubs, a

foreign land; hearts, illegitimate children; keys, that you will rise to

great trust and power, and never know want; birds, that you will have

many children; and geese, that you will marry more than once.



In Dorsetshire, the girls have a method of divination with their shoes

for obtaining dreams of their future husbands. At night, on going to

bed, a girl places her shoes at right angles to one another, in the form

of a T, saying--



Hoping this night my true love to see,

I place my shoes in the form of a T.



On St. Luke's day, says Mother Bunch, take marigold flowers, a sprig of

marjoram, thyme, and a little wormwood; dry them before a fire, rub them

to powder; then sift it through a fine piece of lawn, and simmer it over

a slow fire, adding a small quantity of virgin honey, and vinegar.

Anoint yourself with this when you go to bed, saying the following lines

three times, and you will dream of your partner "that is to be:"



St. Luke, St. Luke, be kind to me,

In dreams let me my true love see.



If a girl desires to obtain this information, let her seek for a green

peascod in which there are full nine peas, and write on a piece of

paper--



Come in, my dear,

And do not fear;



which paper she must inclose in the peascod, and lay it under the door.

The first person who comes into the room will be her husband. Does

Shakespeare allude to some notion of this kind by the wooing of a

peascod in As You Like It, ii. 4?



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