"The rarest and most precious knowledge is not that which is imposed, but rather, that which is absorbed, inhaled almost, from the ephemeral substance of the world in which we are contained."
April Prompt:
What's blossoming?
photo © myself 2011
Butterbur. No, not Barliman Butterbur the owner of The Prancing Pony in Bree. I mean the Common Butterbur, Petasites hybridus, (aka blatterdock, bog rhubarb, pestilence wort, butter-dock or sweet coltsfoot) which colonises our local river and canal banks, and pushes its thick stems of whitish-pink flower heads up through the mud at this time of year.
Butterbur gets its name from the former use of its large leaves to wrap butter during warm weather. In the herbals of the middle ages it was called the plague-flower for its efficancy in treating fevers and use as 'a soveraigne medicine against the plague'. In the 17th Century it was a noted treatment for coughs and asthma, and today it is stll used as a herbal remedy for hayfever and the prevention of migraines.
'The seeds of butterdock must be sowed by a young unmarried woman half an hour before sunrise on a Friday morning, in a lonesome place. She must strew the seeds gradually on the grass, saying these words:I sow, I sow!Then, my own dear,Come here, come here,And mow and mow!The seed being scattered, she will see her future husband mowing with a scythe at a short distance from her. She must not be frightened, for if she says, "Have mercy on me," he will immediately vanish! This method is said to be infallible, but it is looked upon as a bold, desperate, and presumptuous undertaking!'[Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales by James Orchard Halliwell Esq., 1849.]
Here I am thinking all internally and cosmic about this prompt, and you share about what is really blossoming! Brilliant. Sometimes I just get too much into myself to look at the world around me. Thank you for reminding me.
Thank YOU! I am quite a literalist when it comes to interpretation of these kind of prompts. I find the world around me so much more interesting than myself!