Last week we looked at lady's smock (cuckooflower) and I couldn't let us get any further into May without celebrating Ladys Mantle. It's name is derived from its cloak shaped leaves. These soft, downy leaves trip the morning dew causing them to sparkle in the early morning light.
Early alchemists believed that the drops held the light of the sun within them. They eagerly gathered them looking for riches and the exiler of eternal youth. Before these early scientists started experimenting with the collected drops on the Ladys mantle women had been using them as a tonic for health for centuries. It is said that bathing in the dew of ladys mantle at dawn on Beltane will keep you young for the year.
I do not know if it works however I have done this as a spring ritual to welcome the coming of summer for many years and it certainly makes my soul feel young.
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