Consult the Oracle

by Gabriel Nostradamus

  PREDICTIONS OF THE DEATH WATCH

  The clicking of the insect known as the death-watch is an omen of the decease of some one in the house in which it is heard.

  BEES KNOW MORE THAN PEOPLE THINK

  ALL who have watched bees are aware that they are knowing little creatures, with whims and caprices, and a close connection with the fortunes of the human race.

  BEES DETEST QUARRELSOME PEOPLE

  They are lovers of peace, and will not thrive with a quarrelsome family. If the wife nags at the husband or the husband bullies the wife, it is a wonder if the bees do not leave them – they often do.

  Especially is it offensive to the bees if they themselves are the subject of quarrel.

  BUYING AND STEALING

  When bees are purchased the swarm should be paid for in gold; silver coin is unlucky for the purpose. For this reason the buyer should take care to have at least half a sovereign handy in his pocket. Stolen hives will never thrive, but pine away and die.

  CHRISTMAS FARE FOR BEES

  It promotes good feeling to put a little sugar at the hive’s entrance on Christmas Eve. At the stroke of midnight the bees will be found coming out to eat it.

  BEES MUST BE TOLD OF A DEATH IN THE FAMILY

  When there is a death in the family where bees are kept, the bees should be informed of the event, otherwise they will leave their hives and never return. Some people put wine and honey at the same time before the hives, but this is understood not to be absolutely necessary. The rule is to tap quietly three times on all the hives in succession and say, “Little brownie, little brownie, your master (or naming the person) is dead.” Then the bees begin to hum by way of showing their consent to remain.

  On the day of the funeral the bees should be put in mourning by placing a scarf of black crape on each hive.

  AN UNLUCKY SIGN

  Should a swarm of bees settle on one’s premises without the owner coming to lay claim to them, it is unlucky. It is also a bad sign if a swarm of bees alight on a dead tree, or the dead branch of a living tree; it indicates, in fact, that there will probably be a death in the family of the owner during the year.

  ANOTHER UNLUCKY SIGN

  The entrance of a wild or bumble bee into a house is a certain sign of death.

  FEATHERED PROPHETS OF GOOD AND EVIL

  UNLUCKY TO HARM ROBINS AND WRENS

  The robin is a sacred bird: to kill one is little less than sacrilege, and its eggs are free from the destroying hand of the bird-nester. It is asserted that the respect shown to it by man is joined in by the animals of the wood. The weasel and wild-cat, it is said, will neither molest it nor eat it when killed.

  The wren is not perhaps so much spoken about as the robin, but it is nevertheless a bird whose favour it is desirable to secure.

  “The robin and the wren

  Be God A’mighty’s cock and hen.”

  Whilst ill-treatment is sure to be avenged, kindness shown to these birds is as certainly repaid.

  The reason why the robin redbreast is the favourite of man is that while our Saviour was bearing His cross, one of these birds, they say, took a thorn from His crown, which dyed its breast; and ever since that time robin redbreasts have been the friends of the human race.

  A SINGING CANARY

  When a canary sings cheerfully it is a good sign, but when it becomes silent and remains so there is a great probability of approaching misfortune.

  SWALLOWS AND MARTINS

  Swallows or martins building in a window corner, or indeed anywhere about a house, is a lucky omen, and any trouble they cause should be patiently borne, seeing that their presence causes prosperity. The more birds the luckier.

  To tear down a nest is a daring of the fates sure to be followed by a calamity within a twelvemonth.

  Swallows and martins are never found coming to a house where there is strife.

  BAD SIGNS

  When swallows and martins forsake a house they have once frequented the occupier must expect misfortune.

  NOT ALWAYS TO BE RELIED ON

  An eagle hovering over one is as a general rule a sign of approaching success in some important enterprise, but it is not a sign invariably to be relied on.

  PIGEONS AS A SIGN OF DEATH

  If a pigeon is seen sitting in a tree, or comes into the house, or from being wild suddenly becomes tame, it is a sign of death.

  If an invalid asks for pigeons to eat it is a sign of approaching death.

  WHEN SPRINKLED WITH PIGEON’S BLOOD

  He who is sprinkled with pigeon’s blood will never die a natural death. A sculptor, in the days of Charles I, was carrying home a bust of that monarch. Just at that moment a pigeon overhead was struck by a hawk, and the blood of the bird fell on the neck of the bust. The sculptor thought it ominous, and sure enough Charles I came to be beheaded.

  UNLUCKY FEATHERS

  Peacocks’ feathers in a house are unlucky. They form the emblem of an evil eye or an ever-watchful traitor.

  AN OMINOUS BIRD

  The owl is the most ominous of all birds, and its screech is to be heard with alarm.

  Crows and Magpies

  CROWS IN DAYS OF YORE

  The crow is called by Pliny a bird of ill-omened garrulity, most inauspicious at the time of incubation, or just after the summer solstice. The appearance of a flight of crows upon the left of their camp sufficed to cow the courage of the soldiers of old Rome, since they looked upon it as a sure sign of defeat – as sure as when the birds hovered or passed over their standard.

  DEATH IS SURE

  A crow croaking thrice as he flies over a house is a sure prognostic of the death of some member of the family.

  COUNT THEIR NUMBER

  Whether a lucky or an unlucky inference is to be drawn from seeing crows depends on their number.

  “One’s unlucky, two’s lucky,

  Three is health, four is wealth,

  Five is sickness, and six is death.”

  AN EVIL OMEN

  A single magpie crossing your path is an evil omen. But the evil influence may be averted by laying two straws across, or by describing the figure of a cross on the ground.

  ONE, TWO, THREE, AND FOUR

  Like the crow, the magpie is not always an ill-omened bird. It altogether depends on the number you see.

  “One for sorrow, two for mirth,

  Three for a wedding, four for death.”

  In the Poultry Yard

  CROWING HENS ARE UNLUCKY

  The crowing of a hen bodes evil, and is frequently followed by the death of some member of the family. No house can thrive whose hens are addicted to this kind of amusement. Hence the old proverb often quoted –

  “A whistling woman and a crowing hen

  Are neither fit for God nor men.”

  A COCK MAY CROW TO ANNOUNCE A STRANGER

  When a cock crows with his head in at the door, or even turned towards the door, that is the attitude of a prophetic bird: it is as much as to say, “You may look for the arrival of a stranger.”

  THE POULTRY KNOW THAT DEATH IS NEAR

  Before the death of a farmer his poultry frequently go to roost at noon-day instead of at the usual time.

  THE EGGS IN THE NEST

  In what is technically termed “setting a hen,” care should be taken that the nest is composed of an odd number of eggs, or else the chickens will not prosper. Each egg should be marked with a little black cross: this is instrumental in producing good chickens, and it acts as a charm to prevent attacks from weasels or other farmyard marauders.

  WHEN DEALING WITH EGGS

  It is unlucky to bring eggs into the house after sunset.

  Should eggs be brought over running water there is no use attempting to hatch them, for they contain no chickens.

  It is unlucky to sell eggs after sunset.

  DO NOT BURN EGG-SHELLS: CRUSH THEM UP

  Never burn egg-shells; if you do, the hens cease to lay.

  Empty egg-shells shou
ld always be crushed up. The reason for this is to prevent witchcraft. If the shells are left whole there is a chance that witches will use them as boats, and so put to sea and wreck ships.

  The Cuckoo

  THE CUCKOO “TELLS NO LIES.”

  Whatever you may be doing when first you hear the cry “Cuckoo,” that you will be chiefly doing all through the year. Above all, if you do not wish to pass the year idle, run round in a circle as soon as you have heard its notes.

  It is on the whole luckiest to hear the cuckoo for the first time in spring when you are walking. As the Scottish saying has it, “Gang and hear the gowk (cuckoo) yell, and it will be a happy year with you.”

  WEALTH AND WISHES

  When the cry of the cuckoo is heard for the first time in spring, it is customary to turn the money in the pocket. Doing so is a protection against being hard up during all the year. If you have only a penny in your pocket, turn it over, and you will never be without one until you hear him again. In reference to this pecuniary idea respecting the cuckoo, the children sing –

  “Cuckoo, cuckoo, cherry-tree,

  Catch a penny and give it to me.”

  Besides turning your money you ought also to wish, and if your wish is within the bounds of reason it is sure to be fulfilled.

  HOW LONG WE HAVE TO LIVE

  The most singular feature in the cuckoo is its power of telling people how long they have to live. If when you first hear the cuckoo of a morning you put the question in a respectful manner, it will repeat its note just as many times as you have years yet to spend in this world.

  CHAPTER THREE

  MAGICAL REMEDIES

  A GENERAL REMEDY

  To fan the face of a patient with leaves taken from the Bible will go a long way towards the cure of most cases of illness.

  ADDER’S BITE: A CERTAIN CURE

  A certain remedy for the bite of an adder is to kill the offending reptile, and apply some of its fat to the wound.

  ANAEMIA

  For this condition, in which there is an impoverished state of the blood, the patient being very pale, there is a simple remedy. To have ruddy cheeks, bury a drop of your blood under a rose-bush.

  BLEEDING AT THE NOSE

  If a man suffers from bleeding at the nose, he asks a woman to buy him a lace (if a woman, she asks a man), without either giving money, saying what it is wanted for, or returning thanks when it is received. The lace so obtained must be worn round the neck for the space of nine days, at the expiration of which the patient will experience no return of the disorder.

  HEADACHE

  If you wear a snake’s skin round your head you will never have the headache.

  NETTLE-STINGS

  When one is stung by a nettle, take a dock-leaf, and with it rub the part affected, all the while repeating –

  “Nettle in, dock out;

  Dock in, nettle out;

  Nettle in, dock out;

  Dock rub nettle out.”

  RHEUMATISM

  A potato begged or stolen is a preservative against rheumatism. Sufferers from this complaint should observe that the small knuckle-bone of a ham carried in the pocket is a charm against the evil eye in general and rheumatism in particular.

  TEETHING

  Mothers whose children are troubled with teething should read this –

  “The vicar of a village in East Sussex was rather surprised the other day by one of his most respectable parishioners telling him that she never had any trouble with her children teething. Directly they showed any signs of it she borrowed a neighbour’s donkey, set the child backwards on the cross of the donkey’s neck, and led it while she repeated the Lord’s Prayer, and she never had any more trouble. ‘Do I, Jim?’ she wound up, appealing to her husband, who stolidly agreed.”

  WARTS

  Rub the warts with a cinder. The cinder tied up in paper and dropped where four roads meet will transfer the warts to whoever opens the packet. Alternatively, steal a piece of meat, rub your warts with it, then hide the meat, and as it decays, so will your warts; or rub them with a bean-pod, then throw the pod away, and as it decays, so will your warts.

  WHOOPING-COUGH

  Whooping-cough will never be taken by any child which has ridden upon a bear. While bear-baiting was in fashion, great part of the owner’s profits arose from the money given by parents whose children had a ride.

  WOUNDS

  The ring-finger – the fourth finger of the left hand – is the favoured finger for curative purposes; it has the power of curing any sore or wound which is stroked by it.

  TALISMANS & AMULETS

  TALISMANS

  Talismans generally consist, or at any rate ought to consist, of an astrological character engraved upon a sympathetic stone or on the metal corresponding to the constellation or the star represented; they are fashioned at the auspicious hour marked by the ascending of the star or planet whose influence is conjoined with them, and they act by the power of the astral spirit to whom they are thus dedicated.

  The chief virtue of the talisman is in averting disease and the influence of evil spirits.

  AMULETS

  Amulets have nearly the same virtues as talismans, but they are of less potent effect, as they must always be worn on the person to do any service.

  Any material will do for an amulet, but for the more universal amulets precious stones are naturally preferred, as they serve for elegance in dress, and there are few diseases capable of resisting their virtues, provided only they are formed in the propitious hour of their planets’ ascendency.

  Verses from the Bible, and especially from the Gospel of St. John, are of great power as amulets.

  AGAINST THE EVIL EYE

  THE EYE OF ENVY

  The evil eye obtains its power from the envious disposition that lies behind it. It emits a malignant and poisonous spirit, which has a disastrous effect on the person on whom the eye is cast. The more wicked any person is the more power has he to exercise the evil eye.

  CHILDREN CHIEFLY SUFFER

  Those chiefly in danger from the influence of the evil eye are children, but it may be exercised on all persons and things.

  Children in unwashed baby linen are easily subject to the influence of the evil eye; so also, says an old writer, “is any fair one who employs two lady’s maids to dress her hair.” To these must be added “all who lie in bed very late in the morning, especially if they wear night-caps; and all who break their fast on cheese or peas.”

  SYMPTOMS OF ITS INFLUENCE

  The signs of any one being under the influence of the evil eye are loss of colour, heavy and melancholy eyes, either overflowing with tears or unnaturally dry, frequent sighs and lowness of spirits, watchfulness, bad dreams, falling away of flesh.

  A SURE TEST

  In order to ascertain whether a child is fascinated – under the spell, that is to say, of the evil eye – three oak apples may be dropped into a basin of water under its cradle, the person who drops them observing the strictest silence. If they swim the child is free; if they sink it is affected.

  CHARMS AGAINST THE EVIL EYE

  There are many charms which protect against the evil eye. Amongst the best are sweeping a child’s face with the bough of a pine-tree; laying a piece of turf cut from a boy’s grave under a boy’s pillow; from a girl’s under a girl’s; hanging up the key of the house over a child’s cradle; or hanging round its neck fennel seeds or bread and cheese.

  A YOUTH IN DANGER

  If a youth sits musing and intently looking into the fire it is often a sign that some one has cast the evil eye on him, or is fascinating him for evil. In case this should be so let any one without speaking take the tongs and turn the centre coal or piece of wood in the grate, and whilst doing so say, “God preserve us from all harm!” This will break the spell and cause the intended evil to revert to the ill-disposed person who was attempting mischief.

  THE EVIL EYE CAST UPON CATTLE

  The evil eye has a singularly bad
effect upon cattle, mischances frequently, and sometimes even deaths, being occasioned by its means.

  A good charm for the protection of cattle is a small piece of mountain ash bound into a cow’s tail. It is a wise plan to put boughs of mountain ash about the cow-houses, and if some honeysuckle is added it makes the protection even more certain.