SUMMER SOLSTICE AND MIDSUMMER’S DAY

We’ll watch the Sun

As his chariot rolls

Far down the horizon’s rim.

                                                                                                Mary L. Wyatt

At the summer solstice we cross the threshold of the year.  The sun has reached the peak of his strength, and after this day will begin to diminish.  Almost imperceptibly, time and the season adjust all around us; days grow shorter and recede before the lengthening hours of the night.  Like the sun, the season will gradually lose its warmth and brightness.  At the summer solstice we stand between the seasons in a breathless moment, and watch as the wheel of the year rolls on. 

Some Summer Symbols

The summer solstice usually falls near the cusp between Gemini, the Twins, and Cancer, the Crab.  Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the messenger of the gods, in the 3^rd House of communication, journeys, and siblings – all echoed in the open, outreaching sociability of the season.  By Midsummer’s Day (June 24^th) the Sun has entered Cancer, ruled by the Moon in the 4^th House of the home and family, domesticity and stability.  The Moon dictates our emotional responses to things, and we carry these wherever we go – just like the crab carries its shell.

In Tarot the summer connects with two cards, the Lovers and the Chariot.  The Lovers typically features two figures, a man and a woman, and is associated with many manifestations of this duality – not just the twins of Gemini, but also brother and sister, Adam and Eve, and the embodiment of the intangibilities of choice.  The Chariot suggests forward movement – both mental and physical – accomplished by looking beyond immediate circumstances, following intuition, and allowing the universe to carry us out of stasis to change, or, it might be said, out of our comfortable shells.

John the Baptist - Midsummer’s Saint

In the Christian calendar, the nativity of St. John the Baptist is celebrated at Midsummer on June 24^th.  Some traditions suggest that the early Church incorporated many of the incantations used by the cult of Bel, a pagan sun-deity, into re-dedicated litanies to St. John.  One ritual that that crosses the boundaries of many belief systems is the gathering of the plant St. John’s Wort on the feast of St. John.  When gathered at the appropriate time, St. John’s Wort is considered a cure-all; if it is gathered in on any other day, it might make you allergic to sunshine.

Midsummer Superstitions

v  On Midsummer’s Day, decorate the house with birch twigs and roses.

v  It is very unlucky to hear a cuckoo calling on Midsummer’s Day; she is not supposed to sing on this day of the year.

v  When gnats cluster and dance up and down, good weather is on the way.  But if they rush around and sting, a prolonged period of rain is coming.

v  If the first butterfly you see on Midsummer’s Day is white, you will eat white bread for the rest of the year; if brown or dull, you will have to survive on inferior brown bread.

Spells of Midsummer

Against Weeds in the Garden:  Under a waning moon, break one leaf from the garden’s tallest weed.  Crush it with your teeth and spit the fragments upon the earth, saying:

Malum Depuo, Hostem Veneno, Caedo Caedo

Cut the plant’s stalk off short with a silver knife and spread a handful of salt over the hidden root.  The entire garden bears witness to this act, and its enemies (the other weeds) must soon withdraw.  (It is not suggested to attempt this spell with garden pests, however.)

A Small Blessing on Vegetables:

Beans and peas and lettuces,

Radishes and beets,

Rise up soon for me to make

A garnish for my meat!

Source:  This Article Includes Spells and Poems from Slade, Paddy.  

Encyclopedia of White Magic: A Seasonal Guide © 1990, The Hamlyn Publishing Group/Mallard Press.

BELTANE: "Summer's Lease" Begins

“Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer’s lease has all too short a date . . .

But thy eternal summer shall not fade . . .

Nor shall Death brag thou wander’st in his shade . . .”

                                                           

                                                                        William Shakespeare

Summer, the season of joy and pleasant climes, is ushered in with one last fiery blast from the bluster and rain of March and April.  May Eve, April 30, is the night when witches the world over commune to celebrate the sacred marriage, the union of the Lord and Lady, the Sun and Moon. 

German witches celebrated the night in honor of the goddess Walpurga - their May Queen – with wild festivities on the Brocken, the highest peak of Germany’s Harz Mountains.  Since Saxon times, the region had a supernatural reputation; the gods were believed to manifest there on May Eve.  With the advent of the Christian faith, the pagan celebration that had come to be known as Walpurgisnacht was truncated; the Church canonized the German goddess, creating her St. Walpurga, and moved her feast to February to discourage the orgiastic rituals that associated her with May.  But this did little to discourage her followers, who continued to celebrate Walpurgisnacht, though in a decidedly less overt manner.

“If you love me, come discretely down to meet me, under the greenwood tree.”

                                                                                                                        (Traditional rhyme.)

The festivities of Walpurgisnacht give way to the light of the fires of Beltane, May 1^st, the first day of summer in the Old Style calendars.  Fire played a prominent role in Beltane celebrations; before the great bonfires were lit on the Celtic hills, the hearth-fire of every home was extinguished.  Bearing faggots and torches from the great fires, folk would rekindle their hearths, reclaiming them from the darkness and recognizing the growing light of the summer sun.

            It was common to choose a King and Queen to reign over the celebrations of May Day, but theirs was no tender love.  Indeed, in May, “the lusty month of May,” romantic love, trysts, and sexual desire blossomed feverishly alongside Nature’s bountiful blooms.  May’s association with sensuality and pleasure caused many minstrels to celebrate it as the month to “make much joy” – and the lush allure of greenery made a natural lover’s bower.  On May Eve, men and women, noble and common alike, would venture into the greenwood to go “a-Maying,” and would spend the night out, making love in woods and fields. 

“I have heard it credibly reported . . . that of fortie, threescore, or a hundred maides going into the woods over night, there have scaresly the third part of them returned home againe undefiled.”

                                                            “The Anatomie of Abuses,” Philip Stubbes, 1583.

The May Pole

No image comes more readily to mind when one thinks of May than that of people dancing joyfully around a flowered and beribboned May Pole.

            In addition to gathering flowers from the woods, it was also the custom to bring back a young tree.  Stripped of its branches, it would be set up in the midst of the village and decorated with flowers and long, flowing ribbons. 

            The May Pole was a powerful fertility symbol, representing the Sun God in the guise of Green Man, and embodying the spirit of growth and the promise of seed.  Its placement in the earth – the phallus of the god into the mother’s womb – continued the highly-sexual imagery of May celebrations.  Groups of dancers would circle the pole “sunwise” (or deosil), binding it about with the long ribbons, and “calling up the power” to strengthen it with dancing, singing, and drumming.

            Old-style May Day celebrations included the march of a white-clad virgin, representing day and the bloom of summer (another incarnation of the goddess queen), accompanied by another female clad entirely in black, representing night and the dearth of winter.  Fairs, mummer’s plays, milk and the rejuvenating waters of the new season were all celebrated in lore and superstition at this time of year.  And fire, always fire, as the power of the sun increased and the wheel of the year turned toward the solstice of June.

Celebrating Saint Sara la Kali (May 25^th)

In May, the Roma (Gypsies) everywhere, but particularly in Europe, celebrate their patron saint, Sara la Kali (or “Sara the Black”) with exceptional and genuine devotion, making pilgrimages to the saint’s famous French shrine. 

Although never canonized, Sara has been venerated by the Roma at least since medieval times as the Gypsy woman who drew the three “Marys of the Sea” (Saintes Maries de la Mer, thought to be Mary the sister of Lazarus, Mary the mother of St. James and St. John, and Mary Magdalene) to safety from the waves after they had fled Palestine in the wake of Christ’s crucifixion.  She is called “la Kali” because legend speaks of her origins on the coast of Egypt, where her skin was bronzed by the sun.

Each May, on her feast day, the statue of the saint is carried from its cave-like shrine in a great procession and held aloft to the gathering of pious Roma pilgrims.  The statue is then carried to the spot on the French shore where the Roma believe the legendary meeting with the Three Marys took place.  The statue is gingerly placed in the crashing surf where it is anointed and blessings are bestowed upon it before it is safely returned to its home.  The solemnities are followed by great fanfare and celebrations among the Roma, often lasting for days. 

For generations only the Roma were allowed to enter the shrine of St. Sara, making her the most personal of intercessors for a people generally bereft of advocates.  Recently, however, the Roma-only rules were suspended and Gadje have been allowed access to the enclave of the Black Saint of the Gypsies.

All material Copyright (c) 2011-2015 by Alyne Pustanio and Creole Moon Publications.

Reproduction or dissemination in whole or in part without the expressed written consent of the Author and/or the Publisher is strictly prohibited by law.

OMENS AND SUPERSTITIONS

At one time it was the responsibility of augurs and soothsayers to interpret what was considered to be signs sent from the gods.  Eventually, the predictions made by soothsayers and fortune tellers became common knowledge and passed into folklore.

            Omens have been known since ancient times and are today referred to as superstitions.  They vary from country to country and culture to culture, and sometimes can even have completely reversed meanings in different folk traditions.

            The following are some examples of how to interpret the present and anticipate the future through observing various omens, and highlight a variety of superstitions.

SORTILEGE

Divination by casting or drawing of lots, derived from the Latin sors, the word for lot, and sortilegus, meaning diviner.  An alternative name for sortilege is cleromancy, from kleros, the Greek word for lot.

            There are many types of sortilege.  In aleuromancy, answers to specific questions were baked inside small balls of dough and chosen at random, thought to have been a common practice until the 9^th century A.D.  Another form of sortilege is astragalomancy, divination by casting small bones (usually the vertebrae or ankle bones of sheep).  Belomancy is divination by arrows and probably dates back to the Babylonians.  It was also practiced by the Scythians, Arabs, and some North American Indian tribes.  Opening a book at random and taking an omen from the first words read – bibliomancy – is another form of sortilege.  It is also known as stichomancy: a “stitch” is a line of verse or a short section of prose.  Divination from a book of poetry is sometimes known as rhapsodomancy.  In the late Middle Ages the works of the Roman writer Virgil were the most popular choice, and bibliomancy was known as the sortes Virgilianae – the “Virgilian lots.”

            A large variety of objects have been used for lots.  In Africa, lots could be sacred stones or carved wooden or bone divining sticks – the tradition varies from tribe to tribe.  Divining sticks are also known among North American Indians and in parts of Asia.  In Polynesia, a coconut was spun and answered questions according to how it fell.  In Japan, slips of paper inscribed with omens for the future were placed in containers and drawn at random.  Pessomancy (psephomancy) is divination by drawing or casting of specially marked pebbles.  Many African shamans keep bags of “wise stones” that are cast to foretell the future.  Greek lots were specially marked wooden counters, drawn from an urn or cast on the ground (although the oracle at Delphi used beans as lots).  In China, “fortune cookies” are used, and are familiar to almost everyone.

            Many of us have unthinkingly determined our future by lots at some time in our lives – drawing straws to select a person to carry out a particular action, for example, or tossing a coin to make a decision.  Sweepstakes, lotteries, bingo, roulette are all forms of gambling that depend on casting or drawing lots. 

Sortilege Using Stones

Choose nine small, round-edged stones; you should be able to hold all nine in one hand. Mark symbols on one side of each stone, according to the following chart. Shake the stones in your hand, concentrating on your question, and cast the stones in front of you. Using the chart provided, read only those stones whose symbols are showing face-up.

Symbol and Interpretations:

Bird: Communications, visitors
Eye: "I" the questioner
Fence (drawn as a picket fence): Delay, restrictions, self-imposed limitations, old age

Flower: Success, prosperity

Moon (drawn as a crescent): Inner life, a woman or women

Rings (drawn as a triskele, three rings intersecting to form a triangle): Relationships, marriage, harmony, union

Sun: Health, outer life, a man or men

Swords (drawn as two crossed): Drive, energy, strife

Waves (drawn as two or three wavy lines): Intellect, travel (especially by sea or over water), dreams and the subconscious.

Animal and even human bones can be used for divination and prophesy.

INTERPRETING ITCHES

Top of Head: Promotion, good luck

Right Eye: A meeting

Left Eye: Disappointment

Left Cheek or Left Ear: Compliments

Right Cheek or Right Ear: Derogatory remarks

Inside Nose: Grief, bad luck

Outside Nose: Kissed by a fool

Mouth: Insults

Neck: Illness

Back: Disappointment

Left Shoulder: Unhappiness

Right Shoulder: An inheritance

Left Elbow: Bad news

Right Elbow: Good news

Left Palm or Ankle: Bills to pay

Right Palm or Ankle: Expect money

Abdomen: An invitation

Loins: A reconciliation

Thighs: A move

Left Knee: Gossip

Right Knee: Good news

Shins: Unpleasant surprise

Left Foot: Unprofitable journey

Right Foot: Profitable journey

Knives and Scissors

Dropping a knife on the floor: A male visitor

Dropping a pair of scissors: A disappointment which can be averted by stepping on the scissors before picking them up.

Scissors landing point down when dropped: Illness

Crossed knives: Bad luck

Breaking a pair of scissors: Bad luck

A knife left blade upward: Danger

Giving a gift of a knife or scissors: Can cut a friendship unless a pin or coin is given in return.

A new knife used first on anything other than paper or wood: Good luck

Placing or finding a knife in the cradle of a newborn child: Good luck

Lithomancy

This is divination using precious stones (although colored glass beads can be used as a substitute).  In a darkened room, scatter the stones or beads.  Light a candle, close your eyes, and clear all thoughts from your mind.  As soon as you open your eyes, notice which color of stone first reflects the light back at you.

Colorless (clear): Success and happiness

Red: Romance

Dark red: Passion, a wedding

Yellow: Infidelity

Green: A wish will come true

Turquoise: An unexpected opportunity

Blue: Good luck

Violet: Grief

Purple: A quarrel

Black: Bad luck

Lychnomancy

This is divination from the flames of three wax candles.  Arrange three candles in an equilateral triangle and light a fourth candle some distance away to provide enough light for reading.  Switch off all the lights.  Using the same match, light your three candles and read the omens presented by the appearance of their flames.

A flame wavering from side to side: Travel

One flame burning brighter than the others: Great success

A glow or radiance at the tip of the wick: Prosperity

A curling or spiraling flame: Enemies plotting

Sparks: Be cautious

Rising and falling flames or candles burning unevenly: Danger

Flame sputtering: Disappointment

Flame unexpectedly extinguished: Great misfortune

Other Candle Omens:

New Year’s Candle Divination  

For this you will need twelve candles and a room with a wooden or concrete floor.

1. Remove any furnishings that might catch fire.

2. Next, arrange your twelve candles in a wide circle and light them all.

3. Name a candle for each month of the year.

4. Start at the January candle and jump over each in turn until you have completed the circle.

5. If you knock over or extinguish any candle, this signifies bad luck for that particular month.

6. Any candles still burning after you have completed the circle indicate good luck for the candles           those months represent.

True Lover Candle Divination

For this you will need a deep bowl of water, two halves of a walnut shell, and two small candles (birthday size) or wax matches.

1. Using a little melted wax to fix them in place, stand one candle in each half of the walnut shell.

2. Name one shell for yourself, the other for your lover.

3. Set the little shell boats afloat in the bowl of water.

4. Light the candles.

5. You will be true to each other if the two boats float side by side with the candles burning evenly.

6. Your relationship is doomed if the boats drift apart, overturn, or the flames go out.

7. You love more than you are loved if your candle burns longer than that of your lover, and vice             versa.

Lampadomancy

This is divination using a single oil lamp or a torch flame.

Flame with a single point: Good luck

Flame with two points: Bad luck

Flame with three points: Good luck

Flame bending, wavering: Illness

Flame unexpectedly extinguished: Disaster

Some Omens of Good Luck:

Four leaf clover

Picking up a pencil found in the street

Meeting sheep

Keeping a piece of oyster shell in your pocket

A ladybug landing on you

Carrying a rabbit’s foot

A horseshoe, prongs pointing upward

Sleeping on unironed sheets

A wishbone

Spilling your drink while proposing a toast

Bats flying at twilight

Breaking uncolored glass, other than a mirror

Walking in the rain

Sleeping facing south

A gift of a hive of bees

A sprig of white heather

A peapod containing nine peas

Seeing a bluebird

A robin flying into the house

A strange dog following you home

Hearing crickets singing

Putting your dress on inside out

A white butterfly

Rubbing two horseshoes together

Burning your fingernail parings

Picking up a pin

Cutting your hair during a storm

Catching two rats in the same trap

Finding a hairpin and hanging it on a hook

Sneezing three times before breakfast

Seeing a load of hay

Meeting a chimney sweep

Looking at the new moon over your right shoulder

Picking up a nail that was pointing toward you

Some Omens of Bad Luck

An owl hooting three times

A five leaved clover

Peacock feathers (especially in the house)

A rooster crowing at night

Meeting a pig immediately after a wedding

Opening an umbrella indoors

Emptying ashes after dark

A bat entering the house

Putting a hat on a bed

Singing before breakfast

Giving away a wedding present

Borrowing, lending, or burning a broom

Bringing an old broom to a new house

Bringing eggs into the house after dark

Cutting your nails on Friday

Bringing white lilac or hawthorn blossom into the house

Putting shoes on a chair or table

Killing a seagull

Mending a garment while you are wearing it (this harks back to when corpses were sewn into their shrouds)

Keeping your slippers on a shelf above head height

Seeing an owl in the daytime

Putting an umbrella on a table

Blossom and fruit growing together on the same branch (except on orange trees)

Meeting a grave digger

Buttoning a button into the wrong button hole

Putting your left show on before your right

Sitting on a table without keeping one foot on the ground

Killing a cricket

A picture falling

Breaking a glass when proposing a toast

Dropping a glove

Getting out of bed left foot first

Putting a pair of bellows on a table

A ring breaking on your finger

Three butterflies together

Red and white flowers in the same arrangement

Bringing Christmas greenery into the house before December 24th

Leaving Christmas decorations up after Twelfth Night (January 6th)

Looking at the new moon over your left shoulder

Taking anything out of the house on New Year’s Day

Removing your wedding ring

Meeting a hare on the road

Violets flowering out of season

Wearing an opal unless you were born in October

NOTE: The information contained in this article is presented as INFORMATION ONLY.

All material Copyright (c) 2011-2015 by Alyne Pustanio and Creole Moon Publications.

Reproduction or dissemination of this material without the expressed written

consent of the Author and/or Publisher is strictly prohibited by law.

THE MAGICAL HOOPOE – THE “LITTLE BIRD THAT TOLD . . .”

The Hoopoe (family Upipidae) is a colorful, medium-sized bird noted for its distinctive “crown” of feathers and a long, thin tapering bill that is black with a fawn base.  It is commonly found across Afro-Eurasia (less frequently in the British Isles) where it shares a habitat with its nearest relative, the Cuckoo, and distant cousins the Lapwing and the Magpie.  The Hoopoe is widespread in Europe, Asia and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Madagascar.  Most European and North Asian birds migrate to the tropics in winter.  In contrast, the African populations are sedentary year-round.  Like the Latin name, upupa, the English name is an onomatopoetic form which imitates the “hupupup” cry of the bird.

Hoopoes are distinctive and have made a lasting cultural impact across their range.  Islamic tradition teaches that the hoopoe obtained its golden crest from King Solomon for not paying homage to women.  Afterward, so many greedy hunters sought out and killed hoopoes for their fabulous crests that the hoopoe begged King Solomon to remove it; he turned their crests into feathers instead.  The hoopoe’s relationship with this great king is further documented in the Quran:  When Solomon was about to punish the bird for being absent from his court, the hoopoe – known for its habit of eavesdropping – returned hastily, saying:  “I have found out a thing that thou apprehendest not, and I come unto thee from Sheba with sure tidings.”  The hoopoe brought tidings of the woman who would be Solomon’s queen, and its coming to the king with the news is the origin of the saying, “A little bird told me . . ."

From the Punjab of India to Minoan Crete the bird was considered remarkable; it was thought that the Garudas of Hindu and Buddhist belief were originally hoopoes.  In the Bible, in Leviticus 11:13-19, hoopoes were listed among the animals that are “detestable and should not be eaten,” and were listed in Deuteronomy as not kosher, possibly due to their reputation as unusual creatures.  (The hoopoe was chosen the state bird of Israel in 2008!)

Hoopoes were seen as a symbol of virtue in Persia; a hoopoe was the leader of the birds in the Persian book of poems The Conference of the Birds.  The hoopoe is also cast as the king of birds in the ancient Greek comedy The Birds by Aristophanes.  One of the most infamous tales involving a hoopoe is related by Ovid in his Metamorphese, where, in Book Six, King Tereus of Thrace – married to Procne – rapes his wife’s sister, Philomela and cuts out her tongue.  In revenge, Procne kills their son Itys and serves him as a stew to his father.  When Tereus sees the boy’s head, which is served on a platter, he grabs a sword but just as he attempts to kill the sisters, they are turned into birds – Philomela into a nightingale, Procne into a swallow.  Tereus himself is turned into a hoopoe.  The bird’s showy crest is said to indicate his royal status, and his long, sharp beak is a symbol of his violent nature.

Hoopoes were thought of as thieves across much of Europe, especially in that they often partnered with cuckoos in the raiding of nests; the holes bored by woodpeckers are a favored nesting place of the hoopoe.  Epithets across their range also distinguish the hoopoe as a “dirty bird” or a “dung bird,” after the mother hoopoe’s habit of soiling its nest to discourage incursions by predators – animal and human alike.  

This habit of the female hoopoe gave rise to the old saying, used particularly against truculent women:  “It is an evil bird that defiles its own nest.”

Medical practitioners of the ancient world found that many parts of the bird were marvelously effective in the treatment of a variety of illnesses and diseases.  The Arabs call the hoopoe the “Doctor because of its medicinal qualities; as a therapeutic the bird appears in Egyptian, Coptic, and Greco-Roman medical prescriptions, in Pliny, and in the Syriac Book of Medicine; and as late as 1752, its medicinal virtues were listed in the English translation of the Pharmacopoeia Universalis.  Even today, nomads of the Sahara still believe in the bird’s medicinal powers.

Closely related to the belief is specific medicinal values is the conviction found in antiquity and still current that the whole, or certain parts of the hoopoe possess magical powers.  These parts are the heart, the blood, the eyes, the head, the tongue, the wings, and the feathers.  Magical powers are also claimed for the eggs of the hoopoe and for the fabled stone – the lapis quirinus – found in the hoopoe’s nest.

It is said that the heart of the hoopoe is especially used by magicians and people who “perform evil deeds secretly” – in other words, who practice black magic.  On the other hand, the hoopoe is often recommended as a protection against witchcraft.  Tradition informs us that the hoopoes heart, when placed upon a sleeper at night, will cause him to reveal hidden things; the hoopoe’s heart, if carried on a person, will cause everyone to love that person; drying and pulverizing the heart of a hoopoe, and placing it under the pillow at night will allow one to dream of the location of hidden treasure.

Concerning the blood of a female hoopoe, we learn from Albertus Magnus that it, mixed with the centauria plant and added to the oil of a burning lamp brings about strange hallucinations.  Medieval bestiaries warn against anointing oneself with the hoopoe’s blood when falling asleep, because then one will dream of being suffocated by demons.  It is, however, not only unpleasant dreams that the hoopoe’s blood brings, if only one ties a piece of cloth impregnated with the hoopoe’s blood upon one’s wrist.  The wearing of a wig made of the hair of a hanged man, and moistened with the blood of a hoopoe, makes one invisible.  A 15^th century German tract states that the hoopoe’s blood, properly applied, can inspire a man to love a woman; in Haggadic writings, the blood of the hoopoe is mentioned as a curative. 

The eyes of the hoopoe are a counter-charm against all kinds of witchery, if they are used in a talisman with feathers that accumulate in the gizzards of owls, together with a small splinter of wood.  In order to be effective, these three ingredients must be blended in the last night of the year.  The hoopoe’s eyes are also mentioned as having been carried about in a little sack by hunters as a talisman against the Devil, evil spirits, witches, and sorcerers, and as a powerful defense against all manner of black art.

The eyes of the hoopoe can furthermore make one who carries them on his person universally loved, accepted.  They inspire cleverness and gratitude; they transform enemies into friends.  If carried in a bag they help one to buy profitably.  They assist one in being acquitted in court if worn on one’s chest in the presence of the judge; at least they put the judge in a favorable state of mind.

No merchant can ever deceive you if you carry along in a sack the head of a hoopoe.  The tongue of the hoopoe helps in overcoming forgetfulness.  Accuracy of shooting is guaranteed through the possession of a charm, composed of the hearts of three young swallows and the right wing of a hoopoe.  The feathers of the hoopoe are one of eight charms that increase the sale of bread and protect against vermin; when placed upon the head, the feathers relieve headache.  The eggs of the hoopoe are said to be of interest to witches who use them “for sorcery.  The stone found in the hoopoe’s nest – the lapis quirinus – when placed under the head or upon the chest, causes one to reveal secrets while asleep, and increases fantasies.

In the superstitions that have to do with the cry or the song of the hoopoe, we find that it predicts fair weather if its “huppuppup” is heard frequently in spring; on the other hand, if the bird cries hoarsely it is said to foretell rain.  Again, “If the hoopoe do sing before the vines bud, it foreshadows great plenty of wine”; and, if upon hearing hoopoe’s call for the first time in the spring of the year, one rolls around on the ground, one will not suffer lumbago.  In Scandinavia and northern Europe, the same cry (“huphup”) prophesies war and mourns the dead.

In Oriental-Semitic traditions, the hoopoe has the faculty of speech and occupies a special niche among speaking birds, echoing its distinction as King Solomon’s “little bird.”  The same traditions also describe the hoopoe as a waterfinder, a natural “opener,” and this serves to strengthen the bird’s title of “Doctor.”  As a waterfinder, the hoopoe is said to be able to see through the earth and point out hidden springs, a virtue that further endeared it to those living in desert regions.

The Queen of Sheba and the Little Hoopoe

The power is, usually, inherent in some magical object (stone, herb, root, worm, etc.) which the bird owns or which is accessible to it.  In the case of the hoopoe, it is said to possess the famous Shamir, one of the ten marvels that were created in the twilight of the earth’s first Sabbath-day.  This Shamir is said to be an exceedingly small worm, in size not larger than a grain of barley, and was thought to have been used by Moses to engrave the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on the breastplate of the High Priest.  Later it was employed by Solomon, who obtained it through cunning means, to assist in the erection of his temple.  According to legend, the great king went to the stone quarries, drew the outline of every stone that would be needed in the building, and placed the Shamir worm on these outlines.  As the worm crawled along, the stones split asunder without any noise, “so that there was neither hammer nor ax, nor any tool or iron heard in the house while it was building” (I Kings: 6-7).

In extra-Solomonic “opener” legends, the use to which the hoopoe’s opener is put is of a much less exalted nature.  Ordinarily, the hoopoe employs the Shamir to burst through obstacles separating it from its young; it is also said to be placed by the hoopoe in its nest to “ward off fascination.”  If a man, usually through stealth, obtains possession of the magic object, he abuses it by gaining through its power treasures that do not belong to him.  One of the earliest mentions of the hoopoe’s possession of the Shamir is found in Aristophanes’ legend of Tereus, Procne, and Philomela.

In some legends the hoopoe’s opener is a magic plant – sometimes the centauria, in other texts the cornflower – that has another distinct virtue, that of restoring to well-being one who has imbibed too much of the fruit of the vine. 

The Egyptians held the hoopoe in high honor for its devotion to its parents, and for this reason made it the symbol of gratitude in their hieroglyphs and engraved it on the scepters of their rulers.  One legend, c. 1100 B.C.E., describes the hoopoe as “plucking the feathers and licking the eyes of the old birds, and “the young warm them under their wings, and sit over them until they have grown young once more.”  Leonardo da Vinci later confirmed this ancient observation when he noted in his Bestiary, “The young [hoopoe] build a nest for the parents, feed them, pluck out old feathers, and restore eyesight to their parents by licking and by means of an herb.”  Because of this practice, the hoopoe became associated with the ability to restore youth and impart immortality on those found worthy.

Among the English, who knew the hoopoe but little, and then only in temperate seasons when the birds would follow waves of warmer weather that might encompass the region, it had the reputation of “feeding upon dirt and dwelling among graves.”  This seems to add weight to examples of its use in Medieval “nigromancy,” or necromantic magic.

• A 15^th century necromantic manuscript tells how to summon a demon in the form of a horse by using conjurations, a ring with the Tetragrammaton inscribed on it, and the blood of a hoopoe.
• Another manuscript, instructing in the matter of love magic, states:  “. . . If you draw it on a Friday with the feather of a hoopoe and with its blood on a freshly prepared piece of parchment, and touch a person with it, you will be loved by that person above all others forever.”
• And, “There are recipes for madness . . . which involve not imitative magic but poisons (made from the body parts of a cat, a hoopoe, a bat, a toad, and other creatures) to be taken in food or drink, or a fume to be inhaled, whereupon the victim will be bedeviled (demoniabitur), losing his senses and memory, and not even knowing who he is.”
• And also, “The markings on this cloth are to be made with the blood of . . . a hoopoe, [and] the magician is meant to use the heart of this bird as a writing instrument.” 

In the Americas, there is only one known instance of a hoopoe having been sighted.  In 1978, in Alaska, a lone European hoopoe was seen by birders feeding among natural debris that had collected in the waters of a thawing creek.  The sighting was duly noted with the annotation, “Possibly significant that the bird is feeding at Old Chevak shaman’s garden.” 

No doubt the magical little hoopoe knew exactly why he was feeding there; but maybe this is something he will never tell.

NOTE: The information provided in this article is collected from folklore, and

is presented as INFORMATION ONLY. Animal abuse is punishable by law.

The Author and Publisher are not responsible for the intentional misuse of the 

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All material Copyright (c) 2011-2015 by Alyne Pustanio and Creole Moon Publications.

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GARDENING BY MOON SIGN

Plant, Transplant, and Graft:                        

Cancer, Scorpio, or Pisces.  Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn are good second choices.

Build/Repair Fences or Garden Beds:        

Capricorn.

Control Insects/Pests, Plow and Weed:      

Aries, Gemini, Leo, Sagittarius, or Aquarius.

Prune:                                                             

Aries, Leo, or Sagittarius.  During a waxing moon, pruning encourages growth; during a 

waning moon, growth will be discouraged.

Clean Out the Garden Shed:                        

Virgo.

All material Copyright (c) 2011-1015 by Alyne Pustanio and Creole Moon Publications.

Reproduction or dissemination of this article without the expressed written

permission of the Author and/or Publisher is strictly prohibited and punishable by law.