Capture a floating thistledown, breathe on it, make a wish to see or hear from an absent friend, blow in his or her supposed direction, and it will carry your message.
Ohio.

Capture a floating thistledown, breathe on it, make a wish to see or hear from an absent friend, blow in his or her supposed direction, and it will carry your message.
Source: Current Superstitions (1896), entry 461.
Fanny D. Bergen, editor.
Modern normalized navigation; the historical attribution above remains unchanged.