I’ve been dabbling in a spot of domino divination today. I’m not saying that St Thomas Becket’s Day is an appropriate moment for domino divination, but I wasn’t in the mood for a game of hunt the cheese, and I’ve already done hair-related-tail-related folklore for St Augustine of Canterbury’s Day (tails and Canterbury seem to be a theme today).
Domino divination is a relatively simple operation. I turned all the tiles upside down, shuffled them, asked a question, and drew three. The sound of tile on wood as they were shuffled reminded me a little of waves breaking on the shore, whooshing and clacking. I have a thing for tiles. Never have you seen such competitive fury until you’ve played Bananagrams with a group of literacy teachers in the mid-morning break.
The first tile I drew represented the past, the second the present, and the third the future. And that’s when things got tricky, as all of my references seemed to be saying different things. Take my present tile, Gypsy Wisdom, Spells, Charms & Folklore was not impressed warning me specifically against buying lottery tickets, whereas one online source positively gushed at the thought of me winning on the scratch cards.
So obviously I’m now tempted to buy a lottery ticket for the New Year’s Eve draw to see which one is right. But either way, neither answer to this tile (nor the others), addressed my actual question. It’s said that you shouldn’t do a reading for yourself with dominos, which might be where the problem lies. Still, I might be a millionaire come the New Year, which is nice.
Incidentally, it’s the full moon tomorrow morning, my last full moon of the project, so if anyone has any special full moon folklore to recommend me trying, this is the last chance to fill your boots!
Resources
Alvarado, D. (2013) Gypsy Wisdom, Spells, Charms & Folklore, Prescott Valley, Arizona, Creole Moon Publications
Cooper, Q. and Sullivan, P. (1994) Maypoles, Martyrs & Mayhem: 366 Days of British Myths, Customs & Eccentricities, London, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
http://www.domino-play.com/Games/FortuneGypsyAdvanced.htm
https://365daysawitch.tumblr.com/post/130056991072/domino-divination
https://llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/article/25364
http://trivialbiographies.blogspot.com/2010/10/thomas-becket.html
What is hunt the cheese? I presume it is not turning your fridge over to find that Brie you swore was there before Christmas and now seems to have been eaten by elves and by the way wasn’t there a lot more port in the bottle last time you looked?
Ha ha! I’ve played that game with the ‘elves’ too!
Hunt the cheese was a reference to a food related miracle St Thomas Becket performed, guiding a girl who had lost her cheese to its hiding place…
I never knew that. He may become my favourite saint.