The Victorian Language of Flowers: Hiding Secret Messages in Plain Sight

Poppies. CC0, https://pxhere.com/en/photo/960192, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=78130850

If a bouquet of flowers arrives at our door, we’re more interested in who sent them. The Victorians were more concerned with what it meant.The Victorian language of flowers, also known as floriography, was a way to send messages using specific plants and flowers. Combining different flowers allowed them to send more complex or sophisticated messages.Let’s look at how this language developed and how to use it.

Folk Healing & Hypnotism: Arthur Spray, ‘The Mysterious Cobbler’ of Bexhill

Photo showing Jim Cornford & Arthur Spray in the doorway of their cobblers' shop, Cornford & Spray, 16 Station Road, Bexhill © Bexhill Museum Arthur Spray Archive

Arthur Spray, known as ‘The Mysterious Cobbler of Bexhill’, wrote an autobiography in 1935 which detailed his famed powers in healing and hypnotism.

British Legends: Treachery, Murder, Lust and Rowena – The Rule of Vortigern

Illumination of a 15th century manuscript of Historia Regum Britanniae showing king of the Britons Vortigern and Ambros watching the fight between two dragons.

Vortigern was legendary 5th century King of the Britons featured in the work of early British writers such as Gildas, Nennius, Bede, Geoffrey of Monmouth and others.

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