Grimoire Encyclopædia

From Mother Shipton's Wheel of Fortune:

The Charm of St. Catherine

This day falls on the 25th of November, and must be thus celebrated:—Let any number of young women not exceeding seven or less than three, assemble in a room, where they are sure to be safe from interlopers, just as the clock strikes eleven at night, take from your bosom a sprig of myrtle, which you must have worn there all day, and fold it up in a piece of tissue paper, then light up a small chaffing dish of charcoal, and on it each maiden throw nine hairs from her head, and a pairing of her toe and fingernails, then let each sprinkle a small quantity of myrtle and frank incence on the charcoal, and while the odoriferous vapor rises, fumigate your myrtle, (this plant or tree is consecrated to Venus,) with it. Go to bed while the clock is striking twelve, and place the myrtle exactly under your head, and you will be sure to dream of your future husband. Observe, it is no manner of use trying this charm if you are not a real virgin, and the mystic hour of performance must be past in strict silence.