POPULAR DELUSIONS.

Clutha Leader, Volume I, Issue 5, 6 August 1874, Page 5

POPULAR DELUSIONS.

The Ist of January. — Tf a youno" maiden drink, on going to bed, a pint of cold spring water, in which is beat up an amulet, composed of the yolk of a pullet's egg, the legs of a spider, and the skin of an eel pounded, her future destiny will be revealed to her in a dream. This charm fails of its effect if tried any other day of the year, Valentine Day. — Let a single woman go out of her own door very early in the morning, and if the first person she meets be a woman, she will not be married that year ; if she meets a man she will be married within three months. Lady Day. — The following charm may be tried this day with certain success : String thirty-one nuts on a string, composed of red worsted mixed with blue silk, and tie it round your neck on going to bed, repeating these lines : "Oh, I wish! oh, I wish to see Who my true love is to be t" Shortly after midnight, you will see your lover in a dream, and be informed at the same time of all the principal^ vents of your future life. St. Swithin's eve.— Select three things you most wish to know -, write them down with anew pen and red ink on a sheet of fine wove paper from which you must previously but off all Jhe corners and burn them. Fold the paper into a true lover's knot, . and wrap Tound it three hairs from your head. Place the paper under your pillow for three successive nights, and your curiosity to. know the future will be satisfied. St. Mark's Eve. — Repair to the nearest churchyard as the clock strikes twelve, and take from a grave on the south side of the church three tufts of grass (the longer and ranker the better), and on going to bed place them under your pillow, repeating earnestly three several times, 'JThe Eve of St. Mark by prediction is blest, feet therefore my hopes and my. fears all to rest : Let me know my fate^whether weal or woe -, Whether my rank's to be high or low : [ Whether to live single, or be a bride, And the destiny my star doth provide.' Should you have no dream that night, you will be single and miserable all your life. If you dream of thunder and lightning, your life will be one of great difficulty and sorrow. Candlemas Eve. — On this night (which is the purification of the Virgin Mary), let three, five seven, or nine young maidens assemble together in a square chamber. Hang in each corner a bundle of sweet herbs, mixed with rue and rosemary. Then mix a cake of flour, oliveoil, and white sugar ; every maiden having an equal share in the making and the expense of it. Afterwards ft must be cut into equal pieces, each one marking the piece as she cuts it with the initals of her name. It is then to be baked one hour before the fire,not a word being spoken the whole time, and the maidens sitting with their arms and knees across. Each piece of cake is then to be wrapped up in a sheet of paper, on which each maiden shall write the love part of Solomon's Songs. If she put this under, her pillow she will dream true. She will see her future husband and every one of her children, and willl know besides whether her family will be poor or prosperous, a comfort to her or the contrary. St. John's Eve.— Make a new pincushion of the very best black velvet (bo inferior quality will answer the purpose), ; and on one side stick your name at full length with the very smallest pins that can be bought (none other will do). On the other side make a cross with some very large pins, and surround it with a circle. Put this into your stocking when you take it off at night, and hang j it up at the foot of the bed. All your future life will pass before you In a dream. ' Midsummer.— -Take three roses, smoke them with sulphur, and exactly at three in the day bury one of the roses under a yew-tree; the second in a newlymade grave, and put the third under your pillow for three nights, and at the end of that period burn it in a fire of charcoal. Your dreams during that time will be prophetic of your fnturej destiny, and; what is still more curious and valuable, says Mother Bridget,the man whom you are to wed will enjoy ho peace till he comes and visits you. ; Besides this, you will perpetually haunt his dreams. i First New Moon of the year.— On the first new moon in the year take a pint of clear spring water, and infuse into it the white of an egg laid by a white -hen, • a glass of white wine, and' a tablespoon* ful of white rose-water. Drink this on , going to bed, not making more hor less • than three draughts of it ; repeating the following verses three several times in a clear distinct voice, but not so load astol be overheard by anyboby i i l IfI dream of water pure - ! Before the coming* morn ij 'Tis a sign I shall be poor,' . v -oo n d unto wealth uotbdra. ' -'A If I dream of tastirigr beer, 1 Middling then will be my etteer— 1 Chequer'dwith the good and bad, '* Sometimes Joyful, sometimes sit-4 ' Wealth and pleasure will be mine •"- • rwmW^'3? 'W*** Abetter the cheer-; • * V] Dreams of my destiny, appear, appear r -<-'-

Twen ty-n in th of February •—Tliisa^ylß asit only occurs, on oh in four years',yjsa| peculiarly auspicious to those who^ de-^ sire to have a glance at futurity, espl*^ cially to young* m.-iidnns burning witjilw anxiety to know the apppnni nee, an'mfflf complexion of ncr -future lord:. "; .The 3 charm to be adopted is the folio win'gy|j| Stick twenty-seven of the smallest pinsfl that are made, three by three, into " iM tallow candle. Light it up at the wi-ong|| end, and then place it in a candlestick;! made out of clay, which must be drawttp from a virgin's grave, Place tlnV onll the chimney-place, in' the lefUinndfj corner, exactly as- the clock strikes!! twelve, and go to bed immediately.!! When the mandle is burnt out, tukdlfl the pins and put them into youivleft|§ shoe '; and before . nine nights liavejfi elapsed your fate will- be revealed to 8 you." , .'|| We have now taken a hasty review :' : f| of the various /-modes of seeking to dis-V 11 cover the future, especially as practised M in modern times. The main features M of the folly appear essentially the same 9 in, all countries. National charactor^l and peculiarities operate some difference VI of interpretation. The mountaineer^! makes the natural phenomena which he I most frequently witnesses pvognosti- yf cative of the future. The' dweller in. M the plains, in a similar manner, seeks 1 to know his fate among the signs of the | things that surround him, and tints his I superstition with the hues of his own 'J clime. The same spirit animates them I all-^-the same desire to know. that which 'M Infinite Mercy has concealed. There : 1 is but little probability that the curiosity I§| of mankind in this respect will ever toll wholly eradicated. Death and ill for- '^ | tune are continual bugbears to the weak- S minded, the irreligious, and the igno- |j rant ; and while such exist in the world, |j divines will preach upon its absurdity M in vain.- Still it is evident that those W follies have greatly diminished. Sooth- ;1 sayers and prophets have lost the credit || they formerly enjoyed, and skulk in. | secret now where they once shewed || I their faces in the blaze of day. So far Jf j there is manifest improvement. M