Valentine's Day is much more than candy and flowers! Our commercial holiday actually has ancient Pagan origins! What a shocker, I know;) Celebrate this truly meaningful holiday to bring fertility in the form of abundance and prosperity int your home this year. And, for those of you looking to start a family, this truly IS the day to try;) Our holiday of romance has roots in an ancient Roman fertility rite known as the Lupercalia. Celebrated on Feb. 15th, the Lupercalia was a fertility rite in honor of the gods Lupercus, Faunus (associated with Pan) and the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. The celebration began at the Lupercal cave, where the wolf Lupa was said to have suckled the infant Romulus and Remus. Afterward, priests would sacrifice a goat (symbol of fertility) and a dog (symbol of protection) to the gods, anoint themselves with the blood, and run through the streets whipping onlookers with a thong made from the goat's skin. The whipping was believed to help ease childbirth and promote fertility. During the festival, young men would draw the names of eligible girls from a an urn. These couples would be paired up until the next Lupercalia, often in intimate ways. This drawing of Valentine lots continued into the Middle Ages in Europe. The young man would wear the slip bearing his Valentine's name on his sleeve, and attend to the lady with flowers, gifts, and words of affection. As Christianity became more prevalent, the celebration of love became associated with the patron saint of love and couples - St. Valentine. No one has verified the original Valentine to whom the day is dedicated, although two likely candidates have emerged. One Valentine, a priest during the reign of Emperor Claudius, was jailed for secretly marrying couples in defiance of orders from the Emperor that all marriages be stopped. This Valentine was jailed and died in prison for his devotion to love. Another Valentine was jailed for helping Christians during the 3rd century AD. In prison, he fell in love with the jailer's daughter and cured her of blindness. He was executed on February 14th, 289 AD. All of the Valentine stories were finally combined, and in 496 Pope Gelasius declared Feb. 14th in honor of St. Valentine. Celebrate this day, love, your lover, and your friends with this oil! Made with hand-harvested (fresh from Texas) mistletoe, rose petals, cherry and basil. Fun folk lore; -At night put yarrow under your pillow, and the first person you see when you leave home will be your future spouse. -If you visit a cemetery on St Valentine's Eve at midnight and walk around the church 12 times, you should dream of your future husband. -To gain the love of someone, on a night of the full moon, walk to a spot underneath your love's bedroom window and whisper their name three times into the wind. -To meet your future spouse count seven stars on seven successive nights, and on the eighth day the first person with whom you shake hands will be your wife or husband. Wishing you a phenomenal St. Valentine's Day! Bless!  ***Curio only, I am not responsible for usage or reactions. Ashe' Thanks for looking!