Thursday This Is Your Spell - Floromancy

* Floromancy *
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Floromancy means Divining with Flowers, btw, and is a fun activity for Ostara.

From Occultpedia:A type of divination, this time by omens taken from flowers. Floromancy is based on the belief that flowers radiate vibrations, react to a sympathetic or hostile environment and are affected by electric shocks.

One of the most popular uses for Floromancy is for love divination. In Victorian England, two flowers that had not yet blossomed would be paired, and the initials of certain lovers’ names would be placed on the stems. After placing the flowers in a secret place for 10 days, the diviner would then observe certain portents, such as, if any flower twined the other, it would indicate that the man and the woman whose initials were used were going to be married. 

The term Floromancy os sometimes also used for the belief that flowers have the power to cure disease.

 

From The Mantalogue:

Derived from Latin flor-, combining form of flos flower.

1973 Gibson Complete Illustrated Book of Divination & Prophecy (1989) 317: FLOROMANCY: Any interpretation of future prospects through the study of flowers or plants, including their colors, petals, time of planting, and where planted. Many omens concerning the gathering of flowers at Midsummer's Eve have survived to modern times; and the "good luck" commonly attributed to the finding of a four-leafed clover falls in this category.

1985 N. Drury Dictionary of Mysticism & Occult 90/2: Floromancy. Belief that flowers radiate vibrations and have curative properties in healing disease. According to practitioners of floromancy, flowers are said to respond to a sympathetic or hostile environment and are affected by electric shocks. Professor Jagadish Chandra Bose of Calcutta's Presidency College experimented with the effects of electrical currents on plants around the turn of the century and was convinced that plants possess a life-force or soul.
The most recent proponent of floromancy is American lie-detector specialist Cleve Backster, who wired three philodendrons to galvanometers on different occasions to see how the plants respond to nearby trauma. Backster monitored the plants as he placed a brine shrimp in boiling water nearby, resulting in its instant death. ..Backster's galvanometer reading showed significantly higher electrical resistance when the brine shrimps were being killed, than on other occasions - suggesting that the plants were responding "emotionally" to the traumas occurring nearby. Unfortunately, attempts to reduplicate Backster's experimental results have so far proved unsuccessful.

It is said that in the spring, if you happen to find the first flower of the season on:

• Monday - it is good fortune for the season
• Tuesday - your greatest attempts will be successful
• Wednesday - denotes a marriage
• Thursday - a warning of small profits
• Friday – wealth
• Saturday – misfortune
• Sunday - excellent luck for weeks to come

Take a question to your garden and randomly pick a petal off a pansy, without looking at it. When you examine your petal, the following information may be divined...

• If the petal has four lines in it, it is a sign of hope.
• Five lines coming from the center branch is hope founded in fear.
• Thick lines bent to the right means prosperity.
• Thick lines bent to the left mean trouble ahead.
• Seven streaks is consistent love.
• Eight streaks means fickleness in either you or those around you.
• Nine, a changing heart.

It was believed that wearing the blossom associated with your month of birth would bring exceptionally good luck. So here are the flowers and there month associations:

• January - Snowdrop, a symbol of purity.
• February - Violet, for kindness and faith.
• March - Daffodil, an emblem for sincerity.
• April - Primrose, for the new love springing up in the world.
• May - White Lily, for strength.
• June - Wild Rose, for healing.
• July - Carnation, for protection.
• August - White Heather, for good luck throughout the year.
• September - Michaelmas Daisy, for happiness.
• October - Rosemary, for kind thoughts.
• November - Chrysanthemum, for truth.
• December - Ivy, for fidelity and faithfulness.

And then there is that old "he/she loves me, he/she loves me not..." thing that you can do while pulling petals off flowers. :-)

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