On the Isle of Lewis the outcome of a sickness was read at St Andrew’s Well. A wooden bowl was set gently on the surface of the water, and the watchers saw which way it turned. If it turned towards the sun the omen was good, and if it turned away from the sun it was bad. Chambers gives it among several wells used, like St Oswald’s, as divining pools.
The Bowl on St Andrew’s Well
Printed under 1 July · Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides
Lore and belief
watching if it turned from or towards the sun; the latter being the favourable omen.
From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 2, p. 7. Read the original
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