The Medium’s Valentine
The Medium’s Valentine Shaker Valentine hearts hand-drawn in 1844 under the influence of a spirit by Polly Reed–what we would call “channeled” works. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/so-esmerian-n09106/lot.707.html
There was a species of Victorian valentine called the “occupational” valentine, which directed verses, sentimental or caustic, to a particular trade or occupation. I posted this week on Mrs Daffodil about undertaker valentines and was delighted to discover this valentine verse that would make any medium a happy medium.
TO A MEDIUM.
Since one fatal evening
I have loved you well,
That was when I found you
Soft and spirituelle.
Sitting in the darkness
Of that seance-room,
Spirits making faces,
Wafting sweet perfume.
Tables pirouetting
Seemed to say to me,
“All life’s tables henceforth
Turned you soon shall see.”
Such the spirit message,
And I prized it well,
Binding us together,
Dear Spirituelle!
Sure a fitting title,
In thy lustrous eyes,
Highest spheral spirits
May materialise.
You and I are one, love,
To our being’s core,
Bound in links magnetic,
Always en rapport.
Life shall be a seance,
Whether dark or light,
Where your influence falls, love,
Everything is bright.
Since I gained your heart, dear,
O so highly prized,
All bad spirits from mine are
Daily exorcised.
Love Lyrics and Valentine Verses, 1875
A happy Valentine’s Day to all; may you find your Affinity!
Chris Woodyard is the author of The Victorian Book of the Dead, The Ghost Wore Black, The Headless Horror, The Face in the Window, and the 7-volume Haunted Ohio series. She is also the chronicler of the adventures of that amiable murderess Mrs Daffodil in A Spot of Bother: Four Macabre Tales. The books are available in paperback and for Kindle. Indexes and fact sheets for all of these books may be found by searching hauntedohiobooks.com. Join her on FB at Haunted Ohio by Chris Woodyard or The Victorian Book of the Dead. And visit her newest blog, The Victorian Book of the Dead.