It's Only Magic

but dear,

don't be afraid of love,

it's only magic. 

~r.m drake 

Love is the strongest form of magic! You don't need a lover to LOVE. 

   Start with yourself. 

Then love EVERYONE a little harder .  

The ingredients to the 'love charms' in this post are all listed below. 

All the flowers and foliage in this post are British, seasonal and foraged locally by me. 

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Make an order from my Etsy shop before Valentines day and recieve a little herby nosegay wrapped in velvet ribbon as a token of love and appreciation from me to you. 

Click on the link at the bottom of this page to visit my Etsy shop. 

There is FREE UK SHIPPING on all orders. 

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I V Y ~ 

Often with heart shaped leaves, Ivy is a symbol of binding. It can not live with out something to cling on to and to grow with. Always growing through adversity. 

Ivy binds us together. 

B A Y  L A U R E L  ~

Traditionally lovers would place a bay laurel leaf under each others pillows on valentines day and that night dream of love. 

If they dreamt of each other it was said that they would be married within the year. 

Bay is a very powerful manifesting tool. 

R O S E M A R Y  ~ 

Symbolising a constancy in love. 

Traditonally presented at weddings by bridesmaids to the groom bound with ribbon as a token of true love and loyalty. 

L A V E N D E R ~ 

Given by many a lover to impress and attact with lavender's beautiful colour and aroma. 

Charles II would take sachets of dried lavender tied up wth ribbon to his secret meetings with his mistress Nell Gwyn. 

T H E  H E L L E B O R E ~ 

Helebore's don't actually have any association with love, but in the language of flowers they mean to 'Relieve my anxiety', I thought that was a fitting one for anyone who dreads valentines day because of what it symbolises. 

Think like the Hellebore, standing tall with beauty and grace through the toughest of winters, bringing hope of Spring and better times ahead. 

Warning: Hellebores are very poisonous! Make sure you wash your hands throughly and do not combine with herbs that you intend to keep and use afterwards! 

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Anemone

In the days when the gods walked upon earth, Venus the goddess of Love and Beauty was at play with her son Cupid, when she was slightly wounded by one of his arrows. 

As they returned from their games on the outskirts of the forest, the hunt passed them by, for in those days all brave men were such great hunters. The bravest of these was the handsome Adonis, and when Venus, smitten by the shaft of Cupid saw the fine young god, she straightway fell ardently in love with him. 

Knowing Adonis' reckless passion for hunting, the goddess councilled him to beware of the wild beasts of the forest; but he was far too keen a hunter to heed such a warning.

One day in the heat of the chase, he pensrated deep into the forest, far ahead of his companions, and was attacked and killed by a wild boar before they could come to his aid and rescue him.

Venus, hearing of his death, mounted her chariot drawn by doves, and hurried to the forest. Kneeling by the dead body of her beloved, her golden tresses unbound, her matchless countenance buried in her white hands she was lost in grief. 

Beyond lay the grizzly bulk of the dead boar, his terrible tusks glittering white in the dusk as evening drew on. 

At last Venus roused herself and cried out: "Oh! Adonis, each year you shall return to the earth, that all mankind may delight in you and remember your prowess."

Where Adonis had fallen there sprang up drifts of anemones, nodding in the evening breeze, carpeting the woodlands in remembrance of the fearless young hunter. 

A Wreath Of Flower Legends

Anemones all from the Deans Court garden. 

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