Lavender, while often celebrated for its calming and purifying qualities, also has a rich tapestry of folklore beliefs connecting it to luck and fortune. These beliefs often intertwine with its protective and attracting properties.
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Bring the lavender idea from this article into your home with these Island Lavender favorites.
Here's how traditional folklore links lavender to luck:
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Attracting Good Fortune and Prosperity:
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Bringing in Blessings: Lavender is believed to draw in positive energy and good fortune. This can extend to various aspects of life, from general well-being to more specific areas like finances.
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Business Prosperity: In some traditions, particularly those influenced by Feng Shui, the color purple (associated with lavender) and the plant itself are used to attract new customers and bring financial success to stores and businesses.
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Money Spells: Historically and in some modern magical practices, dried lavender flowers are included in sachets, charms, or burned as incense with the intention of attracting money and financial abundance.
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Repelling Misfortune and Negative Luck:
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Ward Against Evil: Perhaps the strongest link between lavender and luck comes from its powerful protective qualities. It was traditionally believed to ward off evil spirits, negative influences, and bad luck.
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St. John's Day Bonfires: In places like Spain and Portugal, lavender was thrown into bonfires on St. John's Day (Midsummer) to cleanse and repel dark forces and evil spirits that were thought to roam during that time. This ritual was performed to bring good luck and protection for the coming year.
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Home Protection: Hanging crosses made of lavender over doorways or placing sprigs around the home was a common practice to prevent evil from entering and to bring good luck and peace to the inhabitants.
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Against the Evil Eye: Wearing sprigs of lavender or rubbing diluted lavender oil on the body was believed to protect individuals, especially children, from the "Evil Eye" (a malevolent gaze believed to cause misfortune or harm).
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Enhancing Love and Devotion (as a form of good luck in relationships):
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Marital Harmony and Fidelity: Lavender's association with love and devotion extends to the idea of bringing good luck in relationships. Sprigs of lavender given to newlyweds or incorporated into wedding ceremonies were meant to bless the couple with a harmonious, faithful, and long-lasting marriage. Tudor girls even made lavender tea to dream of their future husbands, a form of seeking "luck" in finding love.
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Purification Leading to Good Fortune:
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Clearing the Path: The core belief is that by purifying oneself or a space of negative energy and influences (which lavender excels at), you make way for good luck to enter. It's about removing blockages that might be attracting misfortune.
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While lavender isn't universally seen as a direct "lucky charm" in the way a four-leaf clover might be, its strong historical ties to protection from bad luck and its ability to attract positive energies like peace, harmony, and love firmly establish its role in traditional folklore surrounding good fortune.