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Writer's pictureLepass Bonheur

The Four-Leaf Clover for Luck

There is another tradition, he specifies: "the first leaf would bring fame; the second, wealth; the third, love; and the fourth, health." The four-leaf clover is a symbol of luck and happiness. The legend surrounding this little plant is universal and filled with positive vibes.



Why Does the Four-Leaf Clover Bring Luck


Beneficial plant, the clover certainly is, but it is nothing compared to the exceptional powers of the four-leaf clover, the quintessential good luck charm throughout the West. Its role can be explained by its (relative) rarity and the fact that its four leaflets resemble the shape of a cross. For the Anglo-Saxons, "the four-leaf clover owes its reputation to Eve who took one with her when she was expelled from paradise."


However, the fame of the four-leaf clover seems to predate the Christian era by a long way: it finds its origin two hundred years before Jesus Christ in the British Isles, where druids, fascinated by its rarity, took advantage (as did the Gallic druids) of mistletoe harvests to search for it.


A four-leaf clover found by chance announces an important romantic encounter the same day for the English, and a forthcoming marriage. Americans claim that if you place it in your shoe, the first person of the opposite sex who accompanies you on a walk will be your future spouse. In France, for the romantic omen to come true, the clover must be placed in holy water (in Lorraine and Valois), picked at midnight or on a full moon night (in Gironde), put in the pocket of the one you wish to seduce, and, in Brittany, kneel to grab it with your teeth: a four-leaf clover plucked under these conditions also guarantees victory in wrestling. According to some old herbarium manuscripts, it is best to harvest the four-leaf clover on a Monday, to be on an empty stomach and to say to it: "I want you for love." Placing the magical plant in the priest's missal or on the altar during a mass increases its powers; passing it momentarily under the nose of your beloved is enough to make them fall in love. In the Vosges, it is recommended to say, at the moment she inhales the scent of the clover: "Gabriel, illa sunt."


The four-leaf clover also promised, it was said in the 15th century, happiness and wealth until the end of its days. It "reveals what is hidden," hence the expression: "It wouldn't take a four-leaf clover to guess that!" It brings luck in games: in the past, finding it under a gallows increased its powers, especially if it was acquired after midnight on the first day of the moon. One can also follow the recipe from the Grimoire of Pope Honorius (Rome, 1670):


We saw it at the beginning of the article, its reputation is well established.


"Whoever finds the four-leaf clover, if they keep it with reverence, know, as true as the Gospel, that they will be happy and rich all their life." Taken at the end of the 15th century in the "Evangiles des quenouilles," this maxim emphasizes the need to surround the clover with respect by drying it, for example, between the pages of a missal or a Bible.


"One leaf for fame,


One for wealth


One for sincere love,


And one for health:


They are all in the four-leaf clover."


The list of benefits attributed to the four-leaf clover seems to have no limits, but the many superstitions related to love, money, and gaming hint at the exceptional abilities of the plant to excel in these three areas.


In Lorraine, the four-leaf clover protected against ghosts, in Brittany, it warded off the devil, and in the Vosges, while making the one who had placed it under their left sole invisible, it protected against enchantments and allowed, on condition of carrying it without their knowledge, to kill a werewolf. In the country of Albret, "to know who are the witches of a village, put a four-leaf clover in the holy water font at mass time; the witches are obliged to leave last and the priest (and him alone) will see that they have a light on their head."


According to the Belgians, thanks to the magical clover, you can travel on water without danger and win a lawsuit. In England, where the rumor spread during the last war that the man wearing a four-leaf clover in his buttonhole would be exempted, they say: "One leaf for fame, one leaf for wealth, one leaf for sincere love, and one leaf for health."


Finally, the four-leaf clover can be considered an excellent omen in any field. "At the beginning of the war of 1870, one of the Empress's dispatches to her husband said that little Malakoff 'had found a four-leaf clover' and seemed to draw a good omen for the success of our arms."


It should be known that giving the four-leaf clover that you have found "increases luck." One can settle for a metal amulet representing the plant, which favors success. The gold, silver, or copper ring set with a four-leaf clover also brings good health and good luck. The four-leaf clover mounted on a bracelet, a watch chain, a tie pin, or represented on objects, stationery, etc., caused a sensation in Paris at the end of the 19th century: "I have been assured," a witness reports, "that some people, in this very skeptical city, truly believed in the happy influence that such an amulet could have when worn constantly on oneself." Years later, in Italy, certain models of the Alfa Romeo car company had a green four-leaf clover on their hoods (in a white triangle), notably the one that raced at Le Mans in 1970 and won numerous victories on circuits. According to a medieval belief, consuming a four-leaf clover for four days cured fevers. The white clover was considered effective in Béarn, especially against eye ailments, if rubbed on the affected part between eleven o'clock and midnight with this incantation: 'Wild pain, sorcerer's pain, leave here, by the grace of the Good Lord.' In the 15th century, it was also believed that walking barefoot on a four-leaf clover was dangerous: the man would get fevers and the woman would be deceived."




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