When walking up to the store on these warm spring nights and smelling the wonderful fragrance of dandelions it brings to mind those warm summer nights. The common dandelion was once the popular flower to be turned into wine. Dandelion wine was often used as a tonic to ward off liver disease and ease arthritis. It was also used as a springtime tonic to help purify blood. In Ireland it was a believed to be a tonic and remedy against heart disease. Dandelion juice was once rubbed on warts with the belief it would drive them away. Dandelions that were gathered during the summer solstice or St. John's Eve were considered especially powerful as a medicine and were believed to chase away witches. If a dandelion fails to open up, then it will rain. Fairies were claimed to fly on dandelions similar to witches on broomsticks. Many consider dandelions to be weeds but I always considered them pretty flowers that welcome in springtime.

In the old days when a person was struck down with a stroke it was called being 'elf shot'. It was thought that the stroke was caused by being struck by an arrow from an evil elf. In a similar fashion it was thought that the trickster fairy known as an Amadan could also cause paralysis and even death by merely touching its human victim.

This wicked fairy seems to have been active during, notably the evening before the summer solstice. To ward off the Amadan's evil one must say 'the Lord between us and harm' when you meet on a June night. He often casts his curse on the innocent but can also cast the evil eye on those deserving of it. He is also a fool and Grand Master at the big fairy celebration the evening before the summer solstice. The Amadan was an evil spirit to be feared at fairy mounds and abandoned castles.