Equinox--a Time for Superstition

The equinox is a time for superstitions. Are you superstitious?  I’m not.  Okay, maybe I have a couple phobias, but only a couple.

·       I suppose I might be superstitious about walking under ladders.  Especially those two-foot step ladders.

·       And I have difficulty walking on cracks—which makes me kinda crazy since I work on a campus with brick sidewalks.

·       If I see a penny, I don’t pick it up.  First, if it’s so darn lucky, why did the other dude drop it?  Worse, coins are a virtually germ factory, so if the choice is good luck or avoiding Ebola virus… No contest. Besides, I’d have to pick up two-hundred pennies just to buy a lottery ticket.

·       I am NOT superstitious about black cats crossing my path.  No matter than I’ve tripped over my ebony feline 287 times—sometimes after walking under the step ladder.

·       I’m very suspicious of a rabbit’s foot, though.  Supposedly, that little piece of dead fur/bone/ewwww is good luck.  For the rabbit—not so much.

·       I never open my umbrella indoors.  Why would I? It doesn’t rain there.

·       I don't believe breaking a mirror leads to seven years of bad luck. Unless you cut yourself--then you'll be unlucky for at least seven minutes.

·       Four-leaf clovers bring good luck. Puhleez! Anyone sitting in the dirt looking for one of those botanical charms is already behind the proverbial eight-ball. Not only are you wasting time, you are—I repeat—sitting in the dirt. 

·       Garlic wards off vampires. Vampires? Really?  Who believes that crap? 

Besides, vampires live in Olive Gardens; they must love garlic.

·       Refusing to kiss someone under the mistletoe is supposedly unlucky. Doesn’t that depend on who’s under the mistletoe? If it's the Olive Garden Vampire, you're probably unlucky whether you pucker up or not.

·       I do not believe standing in a circle will keep the evil spirits away.  After all, the earth is a circle and I’ve been standing her for years and Congress is still here.

·       I do believe it's bad luck to sing at the table. With my voice, singing anywhere is bad luck.

·       I’m not superstitious about the number thirteen. Uh-oh.  I have thirteen bullets.  Gotta go find some salt to throw over my shoulder.

Maybe I need an entire bag of salt, because you know what I’m really superstitious about?  Writing down my superstitions. 

Oy vey.  

Happy Spring!

She says she didn't do it.

The evidence says otherwise.

Styrofoam Corpse is available at Amazon.com.

Dropped Knives, Head Lice and PFM

by Sarah Raplee

                Have you ever wondered why seemingly off-the-wall superstitions hang around for hundreds, if  not thousands, of years? Or where new superstitions come from?                 Read on for my mostly unscientific analysis.

My sweet Italian mother-in-law had a superstition in her pocket ready to pull out for any occasion. Some of her beliefs are shared widely in the US: If you break a mirror, you’ll have seven years’ bad luck. Walking under a ladder is unlucky. If a black cat crosses your path, something bad will happen to you.

                She also held many more obscure beliefs: A bargain is guaranteed to be kept if the people involved spit in their hands and shake on it. Eating raw potato or raw hotdogs will give you worms. If your right palm itches, you’ll receive money. If your left palm itches, you’ll give away money. If a crow lands on your roof, sickness or disaster will strike you or those with whom you live. If you drop a knife, someone close to you will die.

                A number of these beliefs make a certain kind of sense. Eating raw pork or potatoes can make you sick—just not from worms. Crows often feast on dead things (think plagues) and follow armies into battle. Knives are weapons; being careless with weapons kills people—you get the idea. This type of superstition may have along lifespan because there is some truth (at least historically) in them and they have very strong emotional associations, like illness, war and death.

                Some superstitions are rhymes and rituals.  Step on a crack and you’ll break your mother’s back. If you’re holding hands with a friend and you let go to go around an obstacle on opposite sides, one of you says bread and butter, then the other replies cheese and crackers to avoid bad luck. Children love rhymes and call-and-response rituals, so they learn them from older kids and then teach them to younger kids, perpetuating the superstition.

                Many superstitions are specific to people from a certain cultural tradition. Years ago I worked with a Mexican-American woman who was a naturalized US citizen. She told me that some mothers in Mexico deliberately infect their small children with head lice to protect them from ghosts.

                Seeming superstitions exist that cross so many cultures in one form or another that I believe there may in fact be truth to them. For example, people in many cultures believe in the power of a curse or the Evil Eye. Interestingly, modern scientific research gives credence to the power of focused intention to affect outcomes. (Quantum physics, anyone?) Many cultures believe certain symbols or objects offer protection. An article in the latest issue of Scientific American Mind reports that recent research indicates metaphors have powerful subconscious effects on behavior.

                New superstitions show up in cultures over time. Some may be an attempt to find logic when we are faced with things we can’t explain. When I worked as a technical writer for a large corporation, I became friends with a smart guy named Brian, our department’s computer and internet troubleshooter. At one point, all the tech writers were experiencing a particularly nebulous and intractable problem: our saved work disappeared from the server on a regular basis.

I jokingly said to Brian, “Maybe we’re suffering from Bad Computer Magic.”

He laughed. “Actually, we have a name for what causes situations like this in the Information Technology Department. We call it PFM—Pure Fx%!-ing Magic.”

What do you think? Are we simply dealing with systems too complex for our minds to understand? Or might there be a ghost in the machine?

Happy Halloween!

Superstition, Magic, and being a Teenage Witch

I am not superstitious by nature. I don't think Friday the 13th, black cats, or walking under a ladder are unlucky. Broken mirrors have never caused me any more bad fortune than having to buy a new one. I've never carried a rabbit's foot (because that clearly wasn't lucky for the rabbit who once owned it), although I did once find a four leaf clover. I do believe in luck, whether good or bad, but not in supposed charms for either. My mother-in-law, on the other hand, is deeply superstitious, so things like peacock feathers and images of owls have to be kept in rooms she's not likely to visit. I'm not sure how much of superstition is down to coincidence, or whether humanity has convinced itself such things are true. In this day and age, with all the technology and scientific explanations, superstition still somehow survives.

While I may not be superstitious, I was a practicing witch as a teen. I cast spells for protection and good fortune on myself and my home - I never won the lottery as a result, but I think cultivating the positive thoughts and energy involved in casting such spells help promote a positive mental attitude and make the magic self fulfilling to a degree. And be warned, I even knew a few curses, although I never used them - not that I wasn't tempted at times! I just felt it might be bad for my own spiritual well-being. As Voldemort tells Harry Potter when he tries and fails to do a good job of the Cruciatus curse, "You've got to mean it..." *shudders*

But magic and superstition feature in my debut novel Keir. Thanks to the medieval-style society into which he was born, the strange discoloration of his skin curses him to life as a feared and reviled outcast. Nicknamed the 'Blue Demon' and falsely accused of performing black magic, Keir's existence is reduced to a living hell...until my heroine Quin arrives on the scene. Earning herself the nickname of Red Witch, despite not being a witch at all, Quin uses the label to good advantage. On being captured she threatens to cast her 'magic' - actually using technology, being from a more advanced society - and summons up a dragon to cause a distraction while she and her companions escape. As Martha Jones once said in Doctor Who, The Shakespeare Code, "But there's no such thing as magic."
The Doctor: "Well, it's just a different sort of science." In Quin's case, a holographic generator and a couple of explosions are enough to convince the populous of her dark powers. At least the dragon doesn't need feeding afterward. :P

Will superstition stay with us into the far future? Will we still cross our fingers for good luck (or as I learned this week, hold our thumbs if you're Swedish)? Throw salt over our shoulders and live in dread of Friday the 13th? Or will superstition become like Halloween, once an important pagan event and now just fun holiday? Hmmm, now there's an idea for a story...

Very Superstitious

Are you superstitious?  I’m not.  Okay, maybe a little, but I only have a couple phobias.

·        I suppose I might be superstitious about walking under ladders.  Especially those two-foot step ladders.

·        And I have difficulty walking on cracks—which makes me kinda crazy since I work on a campus with brick sidewalks.

·        If I see a penny, I don’t pick it up.  First, if it’s so darn lucky, why did the other dude drop it?  Worse, coins are a virtually germ factory, so if the choice is good luck or avoiding Ebola virus… No contest. Besides, I’d have to pick up two-hundred pennies just to buy a lottery ticket.

·        I am NOT superstitious about black cats crossing my path.  No matter than I’ve tripped over my ebony feline 287 times—sometimes after walking under the step ladder.

·        I’m very suspicious of a rabbit’s foot, though.  Supposedly, that little piece of dead fur/bone/ewwww is good luck.  For the rabbit—not so much.

·        I never open my umbrella indoors.  Why would I? It doesn’t rain there.

·        I don’t believe that breaking a mirror leads to seven years of bad luck.  Of course I have one more year to go before I know for sure. 

·        Four-leaf clovers bring good luck. Puhleez! Anyone sitting in the dirt looking for one of those botanical charms is already behind the proverbial eight-ball. Not only are you wasting time, you are—I repeat—sitting in the dirt. 

·        Garlic wards off vampires. Vampires? Really?  Who believes that crap?

                  Besides, vampires live in Olive Gardens; they must love garlic.

·        Refusing to kiss someone under the mistletoe brings bad luck.  Doesn’t that depend on who’s under the mistletoe?  I mean, I can see how it would be bad luck to deny Bon Jovi a kiss, but what about O.J.  Also, doesn’t mistletoe sound a lot like missing toe? As in the poor rabbit.

·        I do not believe standing in a circle will keep the evil spirits away.  After all, the earth is a circle and I’ve been standing her for years and congress is still around.  I know because I sent them a check.

·        I do believe it’s bad luck to sing at the table. If you want to get lucky, shouldn’t you dance on the table??

·        I’m not superstitious about the number thirteen. Uh-oh.  I have thirteen bullets.  Gotta go find some salt to throw over my shoulder.

Maybe I need an entire bag of salt, because you know what I’m really superstitious about?  Writing down my superstitions. 

Oy vey.