Magickal Household
Household Omens And Portents
Prognostication by Furniture
If you are rocking in your rocking chair and it starts to move along the floor, company will show on your porch before nightime.
A chair that rocks by itself signifies the imminent arrival of bad news.
If you knock your chair over when rising from a table, it is a sign that you lied while seating there.
Turning a chair on one leg so that it pivots around usually presages a household fight.
Any large piece of wooden furniture that starts to dry out and crack is signaling a change in the weather.
If you are dreaming away one night and suddenly feel that the world is falling, perhaps one of the slats on your bed has fallen out. If so, don't worry, this is a sign that riches will soon be coming your way.
Climbing out of bed over the footboard when rising in the morning portends a fortunate day.
Dreams and Nightmares
If you are plagued by constant nightmares, rise in the mornbing after experiencing one, and describe the entire dream to the Sun. You shouldn't be bothered again.
If you want to remember your dreams, don't look out the window first thing in the morning. To do so is to forget your dreams.
Consuming a bit of wild thyme before retiring wil grant the diner a sleep free of nightmares.
Household Guests - Being Rid of!
If you have company that stays too long, place a broom upside down behind the door. If they still have not left, stick a fork into the bristles of the inverted broom. If this has not worked, some guests are dense. Go into a room adjoining the one the guests are in, place the broom so that its handle points toward the offending visitors, and say the following rhyme: Get thee hence beyond my door, for I am weary to the core
Throw a pinch of salt on their shoes, (if they have removed them)
Put a pinch of pepper beneath his or her chair.
Ancient Herbal Spells
Place thorny rose branches on the front doorstep to keep evil from your abode.
Keep money with cedar chips in a small box to attract yet more money.
To discover the future, take two acorns. Name one "yes", and the other "no". Place them in a basin of water and ask your question. The acorn that floats towards you answers your question.
Gather the first anemone flower to bloom in Spring and carry with you as a charm against sickness.
To keep evil spirits from the house, hang dried seaweed in the kitchen.
Facts from the 1500's
Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May and still smelled pretty good by June. However, they were starting to smell, so brides carried a bouquet of flowers (bridal bouquet) to hide the body odor.
Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children-- last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it - hence the saying, don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Houses had thatched roofs - thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the dogs, cats, and other small animals, mice, rats, and bugs lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof - hence the saying it's raining cats and dogs.
There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could really mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.
The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt, hence the saying dirt poor.
The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entry way - hence, a "thresh hold."
They cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes the stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while - hence the rhyme, peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.
Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could bring home the bacon. They would cutoff a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.
Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with a high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning and death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.
Most people did not have pewter plates, but had trenchers, a piece of wood with the middle scooped out like a bowl. Often trenchers were made from stale Payson bread, which was so old and hard that they could use them for quite some time. Trenchers were never washed and a lot of times worms and mold got into the wood and old bread. After eating off wormy, moldy trenchers, one would get trench mouth.
Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top,or "upper crust."
Lead cups were used to drink ale or whiskey. The combination would sometimes knock them out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up - hence the custom of holding a "wake."
England is old and small and they started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, one out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they thought they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night, the "graveyard shift," to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be "saved by the bell" or was considered a "dead ringer."
A House Blessing
At dawn, rise and light some incense. Walk slowly through the quiet house and say the following words while visualizing their meaning and intent:
House of stone, metal, wood and earth;
Silent one, protective one, you of the four winds;
House of health, wealth, joy and peace;
Guardian, sustainer, you of the earth;
House of stone, metal, wood and earth;
Secure one, peaceful one, you of the charm;
Guarded and protected you be, cleansed and pure you be,
Peaceful and loving you be.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.
It is finished in beauty.
Set down the incense, and draw as exact a likeness of your house as you can from your imagination. Draw it from all angles - from above, from the front, from behind. If you live in an apartment, draw the building as well. When finished, go outside and check your drawing.
After making changes, if necessary, take a white candle and a sharp knife. Cut seven evenly spaced notches in the candle so that you create a knobbed candle. Now set the drawing down on a table where it can remain for seven days. Set the candle on top of it and light it as you visualize your home as blessed, safe and loving.
Let the candle burn down one notch the first day as you go about your early morning business, then pinch or snuff out the flame and leave it until the next day. The next morning, repeat the ritual - from lighting the incense and saying the blessing chant to burning one candle notch. On the seventh day, after the candle has burned down all the way, fold the drawing into a tight package and secure it with a red or white cord. Place it in a wooden box with salt and dried roses and tie the box firmly shut with another white cord. Finally, place the box in the home where it won't be seen or found.