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Are you superstitious?

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12:18 / 01.10.04

I could have sworn we had a thread about this before but can't find it (*runs around in a circle three times and vibrates bottom lip with left thumb*).

So, that out of the way, are any of you superstitious? Do you observe any strange customs or compulsions related to ancient practices? Do you refuse to walk under a ladder, step on a cracked paving flag, or do you touch wood (insert Ganesh gag here)?

If you are superstitious, then in the name of God, why? This is the 21st Century, you bumpkin.

If you aren't, then how on earth have you survived so far?

Me, I always shout "How's your missus?" whenever I see a lone magpie. Of any gender.

13:50 / 01.10.04

I used to be highly supersticious, but in a way that got treated with proper medication. The one thing I still do is say "Bread and butter" when anyone I care about and I walk on opposite sides of something while strolling.

Now where's that black cat? I wanna pet it and love it and call it George.

14:09 / 01.10.04

I am more of a traditionalist on the magpie front, I salute.

My path is crossed many times a day by my own two black cats.

I have a pair of lucky underpants.

I don't walk under ladders, nor step on those backbreaking cracks. Underwear, inadvertently worn the wrong way round, will remain that way. Umbrellas should never be opened indoors.

I am practically Jack Nicolson in "As Good As It Gets".

14:39 / 01.10.04

I'm not at all superstitious, but I do think I'm 'lucky'. People say I'm reckless to talk about being lucky on the grounds that it might 'tempt fate', but that's something else I don't believe in.
I willfully walk under ladders, step on the cracks, don't talk to magpies and I'll happily smash a mirror. Because I'm probably alone in doing all these things while at the same time believing in luck (and myself lucky), I am, perhaps, in a unique position to argue that observing these rules is worse for you than defying them.

15:00 / 01.10.04

My thoughts on this is that superstition is just folk magic that has lost its context. As a rule, people don't really know why it's meant to be unlucky to walk under a ladder or not give respect to magpies, so it becomes a kind of obsessive-compulsive behavioural disorder. I do quite a lot of things myself that outwardly appear to be superstitious. For instance, I always salute magpies. But I do this because the magpie is associated with Newcastle (it's black & white colouring means it's always got a Newcastle United football shirt on), which is my home town, so I think of it as a kind of shamanic totem animal of the region. I'm quite interested in putting meaning and significance back into "superstitions" so that they function in a magical sense. It's like hoodoo revisionism, I suppose.

19:28 / 02.10.04

Interesting you point out the fact that most people don't know WHY they do things that are traditionally superstitious actions, Gypsy. For example, I have read that the reason walking under a ladder is taboo is because the triangle the ladder makes when leaning against a wall, or a building, or whatever, represents the holy trinity, thus walking under the ladder breaks that symbolism and is thus "bad" (luck).

Me, I make it a point to walk under ladders. However, of course I'm superstitious - I was raised Catholic, after all.

Lilly Nowhere Late

20:38 / 02.10.04

I'm so full of superstitions that I confuse myself with them. My mom knows them all and said them all my life and I tend to make them up as I go along, just in case. I insist that anyone in my presence respect them, even if I just made one up.

The most important one is that one should duck one's head when going into or out of a tunnel.

You will do this too.

21:31 / 02.10.04

I walk under ladders, but only if I've crossed my fingers.

I also used to ask the traffic lights if they minded if I crossed when I was a kid, just so I wouldn't get into accidents...but that was a telepathic link that we had, and I only asked mentally.

gotham island fae

00:08 / 03.10.04

I have always chosen to walk under ladders when given the option. Hearing that it's possible I've been magickally disrupting the trinity, I'm going to start having ladder hunts just to do it more.

Thirteen is my lucky number.

I've recently taken to tossing spilled salt over a shoulder.

Fascinating about the magpies, Gypsy.

03:57 / 04.10.04

I have almost no superstitions, I'm about as magically potent as a plank. The one I do sort of have is about the number 333. I always feel it's significant when it comes up [at 3:33 in the morning or afternoon etc], but I don't know why.

10:16 / 04.10.04

I am superstitious, but tending towards the obssessive/com-pulsive spectrum. I don't care about ladders and cracks and salt but I have to say touch wood and/or actually touch wood if I say something that I consider to be tempting fate.
The other superstition is very stupid and isn't even a traditional one and it's the one about three manholes together being bad luck, while two together is good luck. This or variants on it seem to be fairly widespread but I can't stop doing it. Even today I feel vaguely uneasy about having to walk over threee manholes despite my awareness that it is a stupid rule.
I think the problem is with superstitions is that it is very easy to start observing a superstition, but a lot harder to stop doing so.

18:42 / 04.10.04

I often say "Touch wood" and avoid walking under ladders (more out of the fear that someone will inadvertently drop something on my head if I do and I think its foolish to walk under a ladder, period, than the normal reason of avoidance). More often than not, I throw spilled salt over my shoulder to annoy the person behind me than to ward off bad things. I get very irked when my partner makes a fuss if I drop his hand to walk around something that has come between us...he cant even tell me WHY its bad luck!

01:20 / 09.06.06

I woke up this morning worried that I may be the most superstitious person I know. For example: I take my horoscope seriously, I would never walk under a ladder, I try not to go out on Fridays the 13th, I steadfastly refuse to clink glasses with anyone drinking water, and I would lose my shit if a black cat crossed my path. Plus I accept the Tarot as final arbiter on all decisions. (It was the latter that made me anxious about how superstitious I am, because last night the Tarot slapped me down like you wouldn't believe and here's me just... accepting it.)

04:18 / 09.06.06

Whenever I see a raven, I say "Greetings, brother raven, sister raven" - I don't even remember where I picked it up from. Where did the magpie salute come from, and can it be extended to other members of their family to crows and ravens/rooks?

I'm not so much of a superstitious person, but on occasion, sometimes I feel the need to do a little ritual such as pouring a bit of wine out before drinking it, or knocking wood - just a funny little urge every now and then. Otherwise, I treat traditional bad luck (13, ladders, black cats) as good luck for witches!

05:04 / 09.06.06

Just posting this so there won't be 13 replies anymore.

08:22 / 09.06.06

Similar to one of the above posters, I don't tend to go for 'traditional' superstitions, but occasionally indulge in mildly ritual personal activities, Talking to the Moon, to Various Animals / Plants, little rituals when eating/drinking .. not because they are good or bad luck, but because it 'feels right' to do them.

I am mildly magi-sceptical, I think, and find it hard not to giggle when someone enquires about my star sign. While I have indulged in Tarot and the I-Ching once or twice, divination feels more like subconcious self examination to me than tapping into anything mystical. That aside, I'm intregued by Gypsy Lantern's desire to put magical meaning back into superstitions and think I approve.

Regrettable Juvenilia

08:36 / 09.06.06

I've found myself becoming more and more suspicious as I try to put on this club night thingy - for example, I keep saying "touch wood" every time I talk about the prospect of something going well, and then having to find some actual wood to touch.

08:36 / 09.06.06

It was the latter that made me anxious about how superstitious I am, because last night the Tarot slapped me down like you wouldn't believe and here's me just... accepting it

Do you see divination as just "accepting it" though? I see divinations as "pointers for action"*. New perspective on a situation which help you make new and different choices.

*Could sometimes be "pointer for non-action" when you've committed to a particulary stupid choice that you shouldn't go ahead with.

09:37 / 09.06.06

Similar to lizard above, I salute solitary magpies with the words "good morning / afternoon admiral" to ward of the bad luck as in "one for sorrow".

Even this though is more habit than actual superstition. In fact a lot of superstitious behaviour for me is just paying lip service to the superstition for the sake of form.

The only time I genuinely feel superstitious is during major sporting events. Penalty shoot out anyone?

10:46 / 09.06.06

I’m quite interesting in the mechanism by which people adopt superstitions. What convinces you that something is bad luck, for instance? Were you just told that breaking a mirror would cause bad luck and took their word for it? Would you believe me if I told you that holding a pint glass in your left hand was unlucky? Would you avoid doing it during a penalty, Jub?

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

10:53 / 09.06.06

I don't know much about football, but I'm guessing ANYONE would try to avoid holding a pint glass in their left hand during a penalty shoot-out.

Regrettable Juvenilia

11:03 / 09.06.06

On the contrary, I think it's a necessity.

Mon Oncle Ignatius

11:10 / 09.06.06

I would avoid a penalty shoot-out while holding a pint glass in my left (or indeed, right) hand.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

11:22 / 09.06.06

Having to interrupt your drinking to play football could certainly be considered unlucky.

11:41 / 09.06.06

heh. Um, I'm not sure, but during penalties and the rest of the internationals I do find that I'm not only superstitious but actually bargain with myself. Most strange. I've never thought of it at length before. Will let you know after Saturday's game!

12:02 / 09.06.06

Yeah, I think it’s really interesting. I’m often struck by how many people who eschew religion and dismiss Faith, are nevertheless enormously superstitious. The ‘bargaining with yourself’ thing (if I understand what you’re referring to) isn’t unrelated to prayer, is it?

12:56 / 09.06.06

Yes, I think that's it. Not prayer to God or anything but defintely in the same vein.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

13:01 / 09.06.06

I am more superstitious than I realize.

I throw salt over my left shoulder, I won't walk under ladders, I knock on wood for luck, I dislike going out on the 13th and during the full moon, and I talk to ravens and crows.

Hmm. I feel I should not be let out of the house.

13:38 / 09.06.06

With regard to adopting superstitions, I used to be a little bit nuts about the lottery. Not that I played it a lot. But when I did play, I could really visualize myself winning. I really believed in that paper-thin slice of luck. So then, my sister and my mother both got cancer. Somehow I got it in my head that if I gave up playing the lottery, perhaps just one of those paper-thin slices would tilt the balance of luck for them. And well, my mom died. I think at this point any normal person would think, So much for luck. Except that there were lucky circumstances around my mother's death, people getting to the hospital in time & phones not ringing at the wrong moment. So I'm not sure that it didn't work, and my sister got better & now I still don't play the lottery, just in case.

13:39 / 09.06.06

I mean, imagine if this catches on...

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

13:47 / 09.06.06

It's weird, actually- back when I had Biscuits the dog, I became incredibly superstitious (mind you, I was doing a lot of amphetamines for most of it, so it could just have been me going nuts) and convinced that anythinng I did contrary to my own made-up superstitions would result in something bad happening to her. When she died, and it had absolutely nothing to do with any of them, it was like the worst thing I could imagine had already happened and the superstitions had done nothing to make it happen or prevent it happening.

I've been a fuck sight less superstitious since then.

13:55 / 09.06.06

I have a family superstition about white cats/white animals not black cats.
The white animal belief is from my irish family's belief about pookas.

I don't pass under ladders, the reasoning being the belief that someone atop the ladder may drop something on your head.

We greet magpies with 'Hullo Mr./Mrs. Magpie', we always greet crows/ravens or any animal in our path. Cats and dogs which require petting on our path take priority over being prompt. The birds are greeted as messengers of various Gods, and the cats and dogs as neighbors and/or messengers.

I was raised to adhere to the 'touch wood' but I have developed personal superstitions which I consider to be personal taboos.

If I think about buying toilet paper while shopping I have to buy it. (This may just sound like OCD, but it reflects honoring the voice of the Housekeeper.)

If I'm eating or drinking something and think about offering some, I must do so. If I think of something disturbing I use a hand gesture to avert it happening. I always leave at least one mouthful of alcohol in my glass as an offering.

Kali, Queen of Kitteh

14:11 / 09.06.06

I'm pretty compulsive about greeting animals in the street. No matter where I'm going or late I might be, I always take time to pet any animal that comes my way. I sort of feel like if I don't, then said animal will tell other animals I'm an asshole and to avoid me.

Or that news might somehow travel back to my cats.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:14 / 09.06.06

I do the same (greeting animals), but it's not out of superstition. It just seems the polite thing to do. I moved a dead mouse out of the road once because it seemed like such a horrible place to be left, so I found it a nice hedge with some grass underneath.

STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK

14:16 / 09.06.06

Although actually, thinking about it... I've got a bit of a dilemma at the moment. It's so fucking dry and sunny that I urgently need to water the tree Biscuits is buried under. But I feel weird about going to her grave with Sheena, and going into the cemetery and NOT taking Sheena (who loves it there) always makes me feel a bit guilty...

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