St Luke’s ointment

The chapbook Mother Bunch’s Closet Newly Broke Open held that St Luke’s Day was better than St Agnes’s for seeing a future husband. Marigold flowers, a sprig of marjoram, thyme and a little wormwood were dried before the fire, rubbed to powder, sifted through lawn and simmered with virgin honey in white vinegar. The girl anointed her stomach, breast and lips with it on lying down and said a rhyme to the saint three times. The man she would marry was to appear walking by her bedside, smiling if he would prove a loving husband.