Folklore in july from the Hoodoo almanac

JULY GARDENING TIPS July is a good time to plant pumpkins, eggplants, corn, cabbage and cilantro. Plant more basil. Thin seedlings. Dead head faded flowers unless you will be collecting seeds. Cut and dry lavender flowers and cornflower. Harvest peas, lemon balm, summer savory, hyssop, tarragon, thyme, lavender, marjoram and most other herbs. Begin gathering angelica and caraway seeds.

fOR A gIRL TO ASCERTAIN IF SHE WILL SOON MARRY

Find a green pea pod with exactly nine peas in it and hang it over the door of a room or entryway without letting any person know you have done so. You must then watch the door sand see who goes through it first: if it is a bachelor or an unmarried young man, you will positively be married before the current crop of peas in disposed of; if it is a woman, you will have to sigh in single blessedness another year; is a married man be careful and not allow your lover too much liberty in his attentions.

cUPID'S nOSEGAY

On the first night of the new moon in July, take a red rose, a white rose, a yellow flower, a blue one, a sprig of rue and rosemary, and nine blades of long grass; bind all together with a lock of your own hair; sprinkle the nosegay with rosewater and some common salt; wrap the flowers in a white handkerchief and lay it under your head on the pillow when you go to rest. Before morning you will see your fate as clear as if you had your nativity cast by the best astrologer in the world, not only in respect to love, lovers or marriage, but in the other most important affairs of your life. Storms, in this dream foretell great trouble; and graves or churchyards are fatal tokens and so is climbing steep and dangerous places.

ANGEL OIL

This month is the perfect time to use those fresh herbs to make a wonderful Angel Spiritual Oil. Dry your lavender, hyssop, thyme and angelica and add some of each to olive oil.

jULY lORE

If it rains on July 10th, it will rain for 7 weeks. If you sit between 2 fires in July you will be purified (Daniels & Stevans, 1903). If ants increase the size of their mounds at the beginning of July, they are enlarging the tunnels of their nests in expectation of an early and severe winter (Hyatt, 2002).

*The above article is excerpted from the Hoodoo Almanac 2014-2015.