[Note: by Anna Franklin, ]

Midsummer is a day of very potent magic, a time when the Otherworld is
close, and it is possible to see into the future.

In the past, a wide variety of Midsummer divination techniques were employed
by country people. In fact, many of these techniques are employed even
today--farmers view the weather on the solstice as a potential indicator of
the bounty of the harvest. Rains on this day indicate a poor and wet grain
harvest, but a large crop of apples and pears.

Midsummer Love Divination

In bygone days, young girls would take the opportunity on the Summer
Solstice to perform various acts of divination, usually to discover whom
they would marry. You might like to try some of these yourself--after all,
you don't have to be a young girl to be interested in potential lovers. But
be forewarned, some of these techniques are pretty scary, designed to
conjure up an apparition of the lover rather than a rosy-cheeked
warm-blooded person.

At midnight on St. John's Eve, walk seven times sunwise around a church,

scattering hempseed and saying, "Hempseed I sow. Hempseed I sow. Let the one
that is my true love come after me and mow." When you've completed the
circuits, look over your left shoulder to see your true love coming after
you-- with a scythe in hand.

On Midsummer Eve, meanwhile, take off your shift and wash it, then turn it
inside out and hang it over the back of a chair near the fire. Do it all in
silence, and you will see your future husband at midnight, intent on turning
the shift right side out.

You can also test on Midsummer Eve whether a partner returns your love.

Follow this ancient Roman method of divination: Eat an apple and save back
one pip, which you will address with your lover's name. Flick the pip from
your finger with your thumb nail--if it hits the ceiling then your love is
returned.

Daisies are associated with faithful love and are sacred to the love
goddesses Venus, Aphrodite, and Freya. Their folk name "measure of love"
comes from

the following charm. To find out whether someone loves you, take a daisy and
pull off the petals one by one, saying alternately after each: "He loves me.
He loves me not." The final petal will give you the answer.

To discover when you will marry, find a meadow or lawn where daisies grow.
Close your eyes and pull up a handful of grass. The number of daisies in the
handful is the number of unmarried years remaining to you.

One Welsh method of divination called ffatio involves washing clothes at
midnight in a well while chanting: Sawl ddaw I gyd-fydio doed I gyd- ffatio
("He who would my partner be, let him come and wash with me"). The lover
will then appear to help out with the laundry. (Lady Nightshayde's Note:
Where was I when they taught this one???) Finally, to find your husband,
fast on Midsummer Eve until midnight, then spread a supper of bread, cheese,
and ale on a clean cloth. Leave the front door wide open. Your future
husband will enter the room, drink a glass of ale, bow, and leave.

Or it may be a burglar, you never know.