The colorful blossoms of spring are right around the corner, and they don't only bring with them beauty and pleasant smells and an uptick in bird and bug populations. Plenty of spring flowers have magical uses and can be put to work in divination, either as divinatory allies that can empower your work or as central tools in a particular method of divination. When it comes to divining, we so often praise the powers of herbal allies, but our floral friends need not be overlooked. They have a lot to offer.
In this post we'll explore various spring flowers, their divinatory uses, and a few divination methods and customs that put these plants to work.
Spring Bouquet Divination
Spring is a time when flower shops and stands are overflowing with vibrant colors and blooms, and spring bouquets (whether they be readymade at the store, gifted to you, or picked and arranged by you) can be the perfect base for a rather fun divination custom or divination 'game'.
What to do:
Either with the bouquet in a vase on a table before you or while holding the bouquet in hand, close your eyes and select one flower. You can pull the flower out or just touch it and leave your finger on it. Open your eyes. The flower you've selected tells of what's soon to come in your life. I've crafted a list of spring flowers that can be included in your bouquet and what each flower serves as a portend of.
Meanings for flowers typically featured in spring bouquets:
Azalea - first love, happiness
Bluebell - friendship, luck
Daffodil - luck, fertility, prosperity
Foxglove - protection (the need to take care and protect yourself)
Hyacinth - happiness
Iris - money
Lily of the valley - happiness
Magnolia - abundance, prosperity, fertility
Meadowsweet - happiness, peace
Pansy - love
Tulip - prosperity, money, good fortune
Spring Flowers as Divinatory Allies
Broom
[NOTE: Broom is considered poisonous and its seeds can be toxic. Though it has medicinal uses, always seek the advice of a medical professional before using potentially harmful plants for such purposes. Do not ingest. Use with caution. Do not keep around children or pets.]
Also known as Scotch broom, Irish broom, besom, and bizzon, broom is a delightfully versatile spring ally in witchcraft. Broom can be used in protection, purification, and warding work, as well as divination.
from Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen by Hermann Adolph Köhler, ca. 1887
Broom can be carried to strengthen psychic abilities, and hanging broom or keeping it (fresh or dried) in a room or area where you perform divinatory readings can aid in keeping one grounded during their divination work as well as help boost your divination skills.
Broom as an omen:
If broom produces many flowers, it's considered a sign that a season of plenty and abundance is on its way.
Cherry Blossom
Cherry blossoms and cherry blossom incense and infusions are commonly used in love magic, but cherry blossoms can be used in divination as well. As an aid in any kind of love divination, burn cherry blossom incense or keep cherry blossoms nearby your workspace.
Cherry blossom omens:
Whoever you sit with beneath a tree filled with cherry blossom flowers, you will know happiness together. Some say the happiness is assured for the duration of cherry blossom season, others say the happiness is guaranteed until the start of next year's cherry blossom season.
A cherry blossom tree in bloom can be taken as a sign of a life filled with love.
Finding cherry blossoms unexpectedly or being gifted them is believed to be a sign of good fortune and luck to follow, as well as mark of prosperity.
When a cherry blossom tree isn't blooming so well, it can be seen as a sign of difficulties and necessary change to come in your life, and particularly as an omen of needed transformation.
Dandelion
Dandelion makes its golden yellow debut usually in late spring and it has an abundance of uses in witchcraft and divination. Dandelion tea can be drunk to enhance psychic powers and empower divinatory works, and it can be presented as an offering to spirits if your divination involves spirit communication. Dandelion tea is also said to bring or call spirits.
from A Curious Herbal by Elizabeth Blackwell, 1737
Dandelion divination:
It's said one can tell how many years they have left in life by blowing on a dandelion once it has reached its peak puffball stage. Blow on the dandelion fluff. However many seeds are left attached after doing so are said to represent the number of years you have left.
Dandelion as an omen:
To have dandelion grow in abundance on your property is said to be a sign of good fortune and your wishes coming true.
Ground Ivy
Also called creeping charlie, gill-over-the-ground, catsfoot, and alehoof, ground ivy is an unassuming, oft overlooked, flowering creeper that is used in traditional medicine and can be used in divination to reveal who may be working malicious magic against you.
from Bilder or Nordens Flora by C.A.M. Lindman, ca. 1917-1926
Ground ivy divination:
As written in Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs, to reveal the source of negative work against you, place ground ivy at the base of a yellow candle on a Tuesday. Burn the candle fully. Whoever is working against you will become known to you (either by dream, vision, or someone revealing it to you) after doing so.
Meadowsweets
Also known as bride of the meadow, lady of the meadow, steeplebush, and queen of the prairie, meadowsweet has been used in traditional medicine, in magical workings for love, happiness, and harmony, and can be used in divination.
Meadowsweet can refer to a variety of plants and some definitions and classifications vary depending on region. In North America, meadowsweet is more commonly used to refer to plants within the spiraea genus, while in Europe it can also be used to mean those within the filipendula genus.
'Spiraea, Dropwort, Meadowsweet, Queen of the Meadows' by Jane Loudon, 1846 (left); 'Meadowsweet, Filipendula ulmaria' by C.A.M. Lindman, ca. 1917-1926 (right)
Because meadowsweet can be used in both divination and love, it can be kept (dried or fresh) by those who wish to work divination on matters of love, strengthening one's psychic abilities whilst performing that work.
Meadowsweet divination:
Meadowsweet gathered on Midsummer can be used to divine details about the identity of a thief. If you have been robbed or stolen from, place the meadowsweet picked on Midsummer on water. If it floats, the one who stole from you is a woman. If it sinks, the thief is a man.
Pansy
Also called banewort, bonewort, johnny jumper, love-in-idleness, and tittle-my-fancy, the pansy flower is known for its use in love magic and love divination. Pansies can be worn, carried, kept, or potted nearby to draw love and/or to help boost one's psychic abilities or guarantee clearer answers whilst working love-related divination.
Pansy as an omen:
If pansies prosper, your relationship will prosper. If they wilt or fail to grow well, the same will come of your love.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING:
110 Magical Flowers and How to Use Them
'A Curious Herbal' - Blackwell, Elizabeth
'Bilder ur Nordens Flora' - Lindman, C.A.M.
'Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs' - Cunningham, Scott
'Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen' - Köhler, Hermann Adolph
Did I just write an Aesop fable? I don’t know, man, I just write what my brain tells me and pray it’s at least kinda good. 🤷♂️
Thank you @flashfictionfridayofficial for the rad banner and the excuse to write about death and flowers. XD
Anthomancy
On a spring day, the local crone had three visitors. Each one had the same question on their lips: “how will I die?”
The crone found that direct answers were never that useful. So for each, she went out into her garden, chose a flower that she found suitable, clipped it, and brought it to them.
“When the last petal is taken from this flower, you will have your answer,” she said to each client.
The man that received the white dog rose was unhappy with the vague response. But logic dictated if the petals needed to be taken, then he was the one intended to do it. Once he got home, he plucked the petals, one at a time, not noticing the way they took on a red hue as they pooled at his feet. Upon pulling the last one, he waited. And waited. Finally, he tossed the thorny stem when the answer did not come. The crone had cheated him out of his money.
A week later, he was found in an alleyway with five stab wounds and a significant amount of blood loss. He did not make it through the ambulance ride.
The woman that got the geranium could not help but notice the painfully short stem it had. Sure, she was directed to focus on the petals, but the flower as a whole had to have meaning, right? Ever so paranoid, she chose to speed up the process and tore off one of the silky sheets. An unearthly scream filled her ears, startling her. She looked around, knowing everyone in the house would have heard it. But when she didn’t hear doors opening and feet padding on stairs, she pulled another petal. And another. The screams continued, but she guessed that this was part of some test. Yes, she wanted to know the truth. No, she was not afraid.
The flower gave a final howl and its remains whithered in her hands.
She did not understand her answer until a year later when she was diagnosed with some incurable disease. Six months after that, she found herself living out her final days in a hospital bed, sobbing uncontrollably.
The final flower was a blue tulip given to an older widow. She was curious what the crone had in mind with this exercise, but didn’t give it much thought. She took an old vase, placed the flower into it, and cleared a spot for it on her kitchen table.
To her surprise, it lasted a couple weeks in decent condition, a petal coming off here or there. By the end of the third week, the stem was bare and drooped as if disappointed. While she did not know her answer still, she thought of it as an interesting experience and pressed the stem and petals into a book. Missing the extra bit of color in her life, she bought a new tulip from the florist and deposited it into the vase. She continued the habit for several iterations until she learned to grow her own.
Years passed. She remarried. Then, once again, she had outlived her husband, but they had a nice time together, gardening and exploring the little bit of world that was still accessible to them in their old age. Her oldest daughter that still lived in town visited often and moved in when the widow got too old to take care of herself. Five months later, the widow passed away of natural causes. Her daughter had her cremated and used the vase as a makeshift urn.
Every month she clipped a new tulip to put in the vase and watched it flourish as the weeks passed. On the final day, it would always die, but she would quickly have it replaced, as though it had never completely left this world in the first place.
