A Cluster of Clovers

Believe it or not, this past summer I found a total of 1,690 four-leaf clovers. Some of you know this, and followed my journey on social media this year, but some of you reading this may have heard of this for the first time. Regardless if you’ve followed me on my journey, I want to share with you why it’s been so important to me, and how I hope it helps you search for the magical and wonderous in your own life.

My journey with four-leaf clovers began about 12 years ago, when I was walking up my driveway after getting the mail. I looked down and found 8 in a cluster, and I still have them framed, hanging over my altar at home.

Over the years I’ve had a weird ability to look down and find them right where I’m standing, or have them find me, in a way. I can’t explain it. I’ll be walking with friends and then look down and find one or two, and it always astounds them.

I just somehow know where they are.

I’ve been keeping track every year, posting on social media whenever I find one, more to keep track for myself than anything else. In 2017 I found a total of 80 in the entire season, and I thought that was a lot...until 2018 came and I found a total of 102. This year, I found a total of 1,690 four-leaf clovers, beginning in May. On June 24th, I started a journey of finding them every day, going 135 consecutive days finding them.

I’ve found a lot on my daily walks, a majority on the sides of the dirt road by my house, but my journeys took me all over this summer, and I try to walk wherever I am. I’ve found them both in New Hampshire and Vermont but I’ve also found them when visiting Granby Zoo in Quebec, where I found several in a bird enclosure. I traveled to both Springfield, Illinois and Sleepy Hollow, New York this year, finding them each day I was there this summer. I found a lot at the local grocery store I frequent. I found them at the gas station and twice at a standing stone circle in Burlington, VT, where my biggest patch was found: 486, in a single clump! I found one on the grave of an ancestor in Littleton, NH. Strangely, I even made it on the front page of the paper. 

No matter where they were, no matter how many of them I picked, every time I picked one, I muttered a quiet yet heartfelt "Thank you.”

And I found the biggest lesson around these clovers was one of giving. This phenomenon of four-leaf clovers really sped up and took off when I decided I was going to give them away. Whenever I found one around people, I would give them away, even to bewildered strangers. After pressing them in books, I will take them and shellac them to pieces of wood, loop a string through, and make a charm out of them. I’ve given away hundreds already this year, hoping they bring people luck, abundance, love, and great health.

People have tried to rationalize my journey, telling me that I just have a way to pick out patterns. Some people even say it’s because they’re more prevalent now, with environmental toxins like Roundup causing mutations in ground foliage. To that I say: if they’re as prevalent as those folks say, why aren’t more people finding them? People told me all summer that they looked as often as they could and couldn’t find any.

I’ve had several significant memories around finding four-leaf clovers, but my most significant memory around a four-leaf clover was when I was with my family in my grandmother’s backyard, getting ready to spread her cremated ashes. She had a brook that ran behind her house and she always wanted her ashes spread there. I was the first, kind of all by myself, walking out towards where we’d be spreading her ashes, when I thought to myself, “Gram, if you’re with me show me a four-leaf clover.” Then, looking down in the middle of the lawn, right in front of me on a 6 or 7-inch stem, with no other clovers around it, was a single four-leaf clover.

I find them and they find me. A lot of people ask if I have Irish heritage, and I don’t, not very much. A few years ago I took a DNA test that told me I’m ⅔ Celtic (basically British, Scottish, and Irish) with a major concentration of Welsh.  From what I can find via research, four-leaf clovers were sacred to the ancient Druids of Wales, so there certainly seems to be some sort of connection.

Sir Richard Fitzsimon

The DNA test I took sent me on a path to research my family history and genealogy, and if you’ve ever heard my story before, you know that’s how I discovered my psychic abilities. That’s where I found my last name, Simonds, derives from Sir Richard Fitzsimon (meaning Son of Simon) a founding member of the Order of the Garter in Britain. I’ve found mention online about how leprechauns are associated with this ancient chivalric Order. Leprechauns in classic literature are actually quite different than the popular modern idea of a small green man hoarding pots of gold at the end of the rainbow. Historically, they were great warriors who were very tall, wearing scaly armor. The root of the word “leprechaun” is also the same for “leprosy,” meaning scaly. It’s interesting how they were quite tall, as I’m 6’7”. I don’t know how much stock to put into it but it’s easy to find mention of how four-leaf clovers were sacred to the early Celts of Wales, where my genetics are predominantly from.

As I said, the journey around my DNA and ancestry also lead me down another path - that of a psychic medium. Right around this time of self-discovery, I found I was able to tell people things about themselves that I shouldn’t know. Initially, it scared me, as I didn’t know what to make of these gifts and abilities. Working with my ancestors, researching their lives and struggles, really put into perspective all they went through to get me here, and so, I decided to embrace them. People say I find all these four-leaf clovers because of my gifts (and I won’t disagree with them, though I’m not really sure why this happens to me.) Some people say I would make a great dowser. 

 Outside of all this clover madness I've had an incredible year, I've met a lot of great people, been to a lot of great places, and have had unbelievable opportunities fall in my lap. So, yes, I'm lucky...but more so, I'm blessed. I have a family that seems like a tribe of miracles, wonderful friends, two healthy businesses, and my health. I often have people telling me I should play the lottery, and my first answer to that is that I’ve already won the lottery, long ago. It just wasn’t money. I was lucky enough to grow up in a great, supportive, loving family...I’m lucky enough to have a healthy and happy family...and I don’t want for much. By no means am I rich but life has had a way of making sure I never really had to worry about much. Money has never been a huge focus for me as I’m well aware we can’t take it with us. When I get to the end of my life I’d rather have a heart full of memories than a bank account full of money.

All I know is that through my work as a psychic medium, and over the hundreds and hundreds of readings I’ve provided, my goal is to bring people clarity, connection, and direction...and ultimately healing. My goal is to connect people with those they’ve lost, to provide proof of life and love everlasting, and to help liberate people from that which is holding them back from their best life.

If I were to hazard a guess as to why I’ve found such an insane amount this year, it would be that “someone” out there is showing me they approve of my path. That’s all I can guess. I will tell you that I’ve made an effort to communicate with my own spirits this year, as I professionally communicate with the guardian spirits around people on a regular basis. I will go for a walk, “hear” that I’ll find one or two or a dozen just up the road, on the left-hand side, right in a certain area. This journey has brought me closer to my own guardian spirits and ancestors, and the ones I have around me certainly have a connection to my Celtic heritage.

I’m blessed beyond measure to be able to hear from them, to be able to build relationships with them, to thank them.

I know beyond any shadow of a doubt that I'm not alone, that none of us are...and that we’re surrounded by magic every day. I believe our modern world has desensitized us to the wonder of the world around us, and how the Seen and Unseen Worlds overlap and interact. And even better, this journey has shown me self-worth: should I ever doubt my worth, should I ever doubt my own magical self...all I need to do is look back on the summer of 2019 where I went 135 consecutive days finding 1690 clovers.

Yes, it’s been an amazingly magical year, and yet the best part of this adventure was gifting these beauties away. I loved handing them out to people, and even sent dozens of charms with them, sending them to friends, family, and people I don't know well across the country and even across the world.

And the smiles!

Most of all, I loved the smiles on the faces of both friends, family, and strangers alike.

Those smiles, those little dollops of magic touching people in ways that I struggle to explain...that made the journey worth it all.