 And now, the mythology of Rosemary. According to legend, Rosemary was draped around the Greek goddess Aphrodite when she rose out of the sea for the very first time. One of the reasons that Rosemary is associated with memory-boosting skills is because of its long-time association with the Titaness, Menocene, who, in case you weren't aware, is the goddess of memory. Menocene was the one who was believed to have given humans the ability to create memories. It was said that Menocene would lead people to the river of Lethe to help them forget their mortal life and ease their suffering. But did you know there is another river running parallel to the river of Lethe with memory-boosting properties? This river was the river of Menocene, and she blessed it with Rosemary. Now Rosemary has a long-standing association with love thanks to Aphrodite as well as other various myths. According to English folklore, if a lady placed a plate of flour under a rosemary bush on Midsummer's Eve, her future husband's initials would be written into the flower. Did you know that if you place some rosemary under your pillow, you will dream about your true love? Greek tradition also says that if you place a rosemary twig under your pillow, you will prevent nightmares. It was believed that a man who was indifferent to the scent of rosemary was unable to give true love to a woman. It was also believed that those who smelled rosemary frequently would retain their youth. Yep, I can smell it. I can smell it. Yep, we're good. We're good. Do I look any younger? I'm well into bet that all you Disney fans out there probably aren't aware that Rosemary had a large part to play in Sleeping Beauty. Oh, you thought it was True Love's kiss that woke her up, huh? Ha ha ha ha ha ha! How cute! Now in some versions of the old legend, the old sleepy gal was awoken from her sleep by Prince Charming when he first brushed a sprig of rosemary over her cheek. Speaking of happily ever after, It is what brings us together today. Rosemary has been incorporated into wedding ceremonies in a wide variety of ways to help ensure a happy marriage. To ensure their faithfulness, brides would give their husbands a sprig of rosemary to hold on their wedding night. Dried rosemary was also put into bedsheets to help ensure faithfulness. Wouldn't that get a little uncomfortable? It was also used in bridal bouquets and ancient hand-fasting ceremonies to ensure both loyalty and fertility. Rosemary was believed to grow only in the gardens of righteous people and helped protect them from evil spirits. Rosemary was often believed to attract fairies. Dockside! Rosemary twigs hung over cradles prevented those evil fairies from stealing infants. Over in Sicily, if you want to find a fairy, go check out the rosemary because it was believed that young fairies like to sleep among the rosemary flowers. Dockside Part 2 People would place rosemary in their doorways to help prevent evil witches and spirits from entering their homes. That was also used in this way to turn anger and jealousy away from your door. Carrying a sprig around with you could help protect you from the evil eye or you could just put it in your buttonhole for a little good luck. Sidebar! Here's a weird bit of mythology for you. During the 14th century, they would take rosemary steeped in wine vinegar and use it to wash the feet of a thief. It was thought that this mixture would sap the restless robbers of their will to continue their thieving ways. Now, how they actually persuaded the thieves in question to have their feet washed for this purpose is lost to history. Maybe they just tricked them into it. Now just prop your feet up there. We're going to give you a nice pedicure and soothe your feet in this lovely rosemary lotion. It'll do wonders for you. Trust me. Apparently, the big JC himself owes a thank you to rosemary for saving his mother's life. The story goes like this. As she was escaping from Egypt, Mary took shelter overnight in a rosemary bush. Now, there was either a storm which made her put her cloak over the rosemary bush to keep dry or according to some accounts, she put the cloak over the rosemary bush to dry after the storm. Either way, the result was the same. You see, the flowers of this particular rosemary bush were white, but Mary's cape was blue. And after having her cloak over the flowers, they miraculously turned from white to blue forevermore. Now, there is one more version to this story. It says that when the Holy Family stopped to rest, Mary washed the baby Jesus's clothes in a stream. She then placed his garments on a rosemary bush to dry. God then rewarded the rosemary plant for services rendered by turning its flowers blue forevermore. Now, this legend is also one of the reasons rosemary is called rosemary. For it is said that after this miraculous event occurred that the plant became known as the Rose of Mary. Now, some Christian folklore claims that because rosemary is so tight with Jesus, it'll grow no taller than Jesus was at the time of his death. And it'll grow no older than 33 years the age Jesus was when he died. Since we're on the subject of death, rosemary is often used in burial rituals as a means of remembrance and respect of the dead. People would place rosemary sprigs on coffins and engraves. Well, general use of this practice stopped in the 19th century. It actually still takes place to this day in places like New Zealand and Australia, where they use it on Anzac Day to remember their fallen soldiers. Finally, there's an old English saying that goes like this. Where rosemary flourishes, the woman rules. That's right, ladies. According to the Treasury of Botany, it was believed that rosemary only grew well where the woman of the house was also the master. Now, this actually led to some insecure lords damaging their wives' rosemary plants because they believed they weren't in control of their households. Dude, get this straight. If you aren't in control of your household, it's because you got some other issues to sort out. Don't take it out on the rosemary, man. That's just rude. Besides, it's keeping the evil spirits away. If you crush it, you're probably just gonna get possessed by the devil for your troubles. Until next time, be kind to each other. And men, don't hurt your wives' rosemary plants. Just don't. It's not cool.