Superstitions Part II – Horseshoes and Pennies

A long time ago, people believed that metal was a gift from the gods, given as a protection against evil. Any form of metal was considered lucky, whether it was a horseshoe hung over a door or a good luck coin.

Early Celtic tribes would put a horseshoe above the door to keep away elves and goblins. Not only was the horseshoe made of iron, which was used to ward off evil spirits, it was shaped like a crescent moon which was another symbol that repelled evil. Traditionally it was held in place by seven iron nails, seven being a lucky number.

As to the question of which way you should hang your horseshoe, hang it open end up to keep the devil away and bring good luck into your home, or hang it open end down to share good luck with anyone passing through the doorway.

The old-wives tale of putting a penny in the shoe of a woman on her wedding day comes courtesy of an old Victorian rhyme. "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a silver sixpence in your shoe." If a sixpence wasn’t available, a penny could be substituted. Over time the saying changed to, "and a lucky penny in the shoe." The penny in the shoe ensured that the newly married couple would always have wealth.

Find a penny, pick it up
All the day you’ll have good luck
See a penny, let it lay
Bad luck will follow you all day

The original phrase was "see a pin and pick it up and all day long you'll have good luck." This was a reference to a pagan ritual in which a pin could be used in a good luck spell. The myth was that a dropped pin might have been used in such a spell and would provide good luck to the person who found it.

As far as pennies are concerned . . . if you lose a penny it’s believed you’re losing your luck – whether you’re losing good luck or bad depends on how the penny lands. If it lands heads up you need to pick it up, otherwise you’re leaving your good luck behind. However, if it lands tails up leave it alone because you’ve just gotten rid of some of your bad luck.

Looking to change your luck? Take ten pennies, find a parking lot, and toss them into the air. Pick up all the pennies that land face up, leaving behind all the pennies that are tails up. Then you have to wait for someone to come along and pick up all the bad luck pennies, taking your bad luck away with them.

Good luck with that.

By the Light of the Moon – Part Three

I’ve talked about the full moon names and phases of the month, today I want to touch on some of the mythology and random facts surrounding the moon.

First up is the blood moon. While the moon can look red because smoke or dust particles in the air, most often it refers to a lunar eclipse. The Incas believed the blood moon was caused by a jaguar attacking and eating the moon. They would make a lot of noise during an eclipse to drive the jaguar away.

Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring to ensure there won’t be an eclipse, which the Christians believed to be the wrath of God.

Almost everyone is familiar with the term “honeymoon.” It refers to the settling in period right after a couple marries. Legend has it that the term was coined because of the custom of drinking mead (a liquor made from honey) for thirty days after every wedding.

When you were a child, did you believe the moon was made of green cheese? I found two interesting sources for this one. The first is a Serbian fable of a fox trying to outwit a wolf. The fox told the wolf that the reflection of the moon in a pool was a delicious cheese. The wolf tried to drink all the water to reach the cheese and burst.

The second source was a proverb by John Heywood in 1546:
“Ye fetch circumquaques to make me beleeve,
Or think, that the moone is made of green cheese.”
Believing the moon to be made of green cheese became a euphemism for someone who’s gullible.

The full moon has long been associated with strange behaviour and incidents. Lunacy and lunatic come from the word luna, which is Latin for moon. Aristotle and Pliny the Elder believed that because the human brain is the moistest organ, this makes it susceptible the influence of the moon, just like the tides.

Many law enforcement agencies have seen a rise in crime during a full moon. More babies are conceived and born during a full moon. There are more traffic fatalities during a full moon, and it can even affect a person’s sleep pattern.

Almost every culture has a belief about the man in the moon, way too many to go into here. The one I like best is the European belief that the man in the moon enjoyed drinking, a view supported by the Middle Ages belief he was the god of drunkards.

Because the moon orbits in perfect sync with the earth’s rotation, we always see the same side of it. The man in the moon is only seen in the northern hemisphere. In the southern hemisphere they see a rabbit.

To be moonstruck is to be showing irrational behaviour, especially of a romantic nature. It can also mean just plain old mentally deranged, brought about by exposure to the moon.

A moonraker refers to one of the peasants of Wiltshire, England. In some stories they were said to have tried to rake the moon out of a shallow pool, and in others they were smugglers caught trying to rake up kegs of smuggled brandy and covered their tracks by acting crazy. It can also mean the sail at the very top of the mast of a sailing ship.

Moonlighting is to have a second job, usually without the boss of your first one knowing about it. The term came from the fact that regular jobs are usually during the day, while the second job was held during the night when the moon was out.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, moonshine is defined as “whiskey or other strong alcoholic drinks made and sold illegally.” Moonshine is not limited to the Deep South or the Ozarks of America, the term originated in 15th century Britain.

When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s not amore, that’s the supermoon. A supermoon occurs when the full moon is at the point in its orbit where it’s closest to the earth making it appear brighter and bigger than normal. This causes higher tides and the risk of coastal flooding.

Join me here next week when I start a new, fun series.

A Little Levity

Seeing as I wasn’t prepared to start my new non-fiction series, I was just going skip today’s post altogether. But then I got this in my email and decided to share. We could all use a laugh these days, right?

CANADIAN JOKE #1

After the North American Beer Festival, all the brewery presidents decided to go out for a beer. The guy from Corona sits down and says, 'Hey Senor, I would like the world's best beer, a Corona .' The bartender dusts off a bottle from the shelf and gives it to him.

The guy from Budweiser says, 'I'd like the best beer in the world, give me 'The King Of Beers', a Budweiser.' The bartender gives him one.

The guy from Coors says, 'I'd like the only beer made with Rocky Mountain spring water, give me a Coors.' He gets it.

The guy from Molson Canadian sits down and says, 'Give me a Coke.' The bartender is a little taken aback, but gives him what he ordered. The other brewery presidents look over at him and ask, 'Why aren't you drinking a Molson's?'

The Molson Canadian president replies, 'Well, I figured if you guys aren't drinking beer, neither would I.'

CANADIAN JOKE #2

A Canadian is walking down the street with a case of beer under his arm. His friend Doug stops him and asks, 'Hey Bob! Whacha get the case of beer for?'

'I got it for my wife, eh.' answers Bob.

'Oh!' exclaims Doug, 'Good trade.'

CANADIAN JOKE #3

An American, a Scot and a Canadian were in a terrible car accident. They were all brought to the same emergency room, but all three of them died before they arrived.. Just as they were about to put the toe tag on the American, he stirred and opened his eyes. Astonished, the doctors and nurses present asked him what happened.

'Well,' said the American, 'I remember the crash, and then there was a beautiful light, and then the Canadian and the Scot and I were standing at the gates of heaven. St. Peter approached us and said that we were all too young to die, and said that for a donation of $50, we could return to earth. So of course I pulled out my wallet and gave him the $50, and the next thing I knew I was back here'

'That's amazing!' said the one of the doctors, 'But what happened to the other two?'

'Last I saw them,' replied the American, 'the Scot was haggling over the price and the Canadian was waiting for the government to pay his.'

CANADIAN JOKE #4

Did you hear about the war between Newfoundland and Nova Scotia ?

The Newfies were lobbing hand grenades; the Nova Scotians were pulling the pins and throwing them back.

CANADIAN JOKE #5

In Canada , we have two seasons...six months of winter and six months of poor snowmobiling.

CANADIAN JOKE #6

One day an Englishman, an American, and a Canadian walked into a pub together. They proceeded to each buy a pint of Labatt Blue. Just as they were about to enjoy their beverages, three flies landed in each of their pints.

The Englishman pushed his beer away from him in disgust. The American fished the offending fly out of his beer and continued drinking it as if nothing happened. The Canadian picked the fly out of his drink and started shaking it over the pint, yelling, 'SPIT IT OUT, SPIT IT OUT!'

Astrology Part Three - Gemini

Quick facts for Gemini:
You were born between May 21 and June 21
Your sign is the Twins
Your planet is Mercury
Your element is Air
Your metal is mercury
Your birthstone is the pearl
Your flower is the lily of the valley
Your color is bright yellow
Your body part is the arms
Your Tarot card is The Lovers

Strengths:
Gentle, affectionate, curious, adaptable, ability to learn quickly and exchange ideas

Weaknesses:
Nervous, inconsistent, indecisive

Likes:
Music, books, magazines, chats with nearly anyone, short trips around the town

Dislikes:
Being alone, being confined, repetition and routine

Your best matches are those born under the sign of Aquarius and Libra, and to a lesser degree those born under Aries and Leo.

* ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ *

Gemini is often misrepresented as two-faced, however this is rarely true. They’re able to juggle a variety of passions, hobbies, careers, and friends. They’re social butterflies and love to talk to anyone about anything, often using their hands to communicate as well. They love texting and tweeting almost as much as talking face-to-face. It’s a good thing they recover quickly from embarrassing missteps because often they move to fast with their words to take care with them.

They are sociable, communicative and ready for fun, with a tendency to suddenly get serious, thoughtful and restless. Gemini needs excitement, variety, and passion, which makes them inquisitive and always ready to flirt. They often spend time with different lovers until they find just the right one. But once they do they’ll be faithful and always treasure their partner.

A fearless thinker, Gemini is always ready to try something new. Unfortunately, they have short attention spans and are happiest when they can move from one idea to another. They are expressive and quick witted, fascinated with the world around them, feeling there’s not enough time to see and do everything they want. With their changeable mind and fun loving ways, Gemini is never boring.

Famous Gemini include: Queen Victoria, John F. Kennedy, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Prince Philip of England, Kayne West, Chris Pratt, Colin Farrell, Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Natalie Portman, Brooke Shields, and Bob Hope.

Cookies and Ghosts

Well, what do you know. I managed to come up with something for both prompts this week. Not only that, I had fun doing it. How about you? Anything you’d like to share?

And just so you know . . . these pieces are un-edited. So don’t expect any deathless prose. :-D

Prompt 1: One day you come into work and find a cookie mysteriously place on your desk. Grateful to whoever left this anonymous cookie, you eat it. The next morning you come in and find another cookie. This continues for months until one day a different object is left – and this time there’s a note.

Julia hurried into work, late again, with the words of last night’s argument still ringing in her ears. Maybe she’d been a little hasty, giving Geoffrey the heave-ho, but what was the point in staying in a relationship if it wasn’t going anywhere? She was tired of being someone’s “plus one.”

The cookie, centered carefully on the blotter on her desk, was a surprise – a welcome one. She loved cookies and this one was a rich, dark chocolate. Just what she needed to start her day off right.

The next day there was another one, this time a pecan cookie with buttercream frosting. It melted in her mouth and put a smile on her face for the whole day.

Julia never thought to question where these mysterious cookies came from. Perhaps everyone in the office received one for a job well done, or maybe it was just her. She didn’t really care, she’d just enjoy them while they lasted.

Every day it was a different cookie – shortbread, chocolate chip, macaroon – she never realized there were so many different kinds. She looked forward to going to work, just to see what cookie was waiting for her.

After several weeks of this she arrived at work one morning and instead of a cookie there was a flat, white bakery box. Opening it slowly she let out a gasp.

Nestled in a layer of tissue paper was a large, heart shaped sugar cookie. There was a diamond ring embedded in the point of the heart and the words, “Will you marry me?” written across it in pink icing. Smiling, Julia reached for her phone.

Prompt 2:Writing as yourself or a character, tell the following tale: A ghost appears before you one night and tells you to expect a visitation by three spirits who will each transport you to significant moments from your past, present, and future. However, you soon discover that the three spirits aren’t quite like the ones who visited Ebenezer Scrooge . . .

The first spirit that came to her was a shock. “Buttons!” Gracie exclaimed.

The grey and white tabby wove around her feet, rubbing up against her legs before jumping up on the counter.

“Okay, so here’s the deal,” the cat told her in a no-nonsense tone of voice.

“But you died when I was just a little kid.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“And you can talk!”

Buttons puffed out her fur and hissed. “Yes. I’m dead and I can talk. Get over it.”

“The Buttons I knew was never so rude,” Gracie muttered

“Pay attention. We don’t have all night. I’m here to take you into the past, to where your problems all started.”

“What problems? I—”

“Pfft!” The cat cut her off and suddenly they were in her grandmother’s kitchen.

Four year old Gracie was sitting at the table with a plate of cookies in front of her while her grandmother poured her a glass of milk.

“Wow, I forgot how stern grandma always looked,” Gracie said.

“Shh!” said Buttons. “Listen.”

“Always remember the golden rule Gracie,” her grandmother was saying as she set the glass of milk in front of her.

“What’s that grandma?”

“Do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” her grandma said solemnly.

“I’ll remember,” little Gracie said.

“Only you never quite got it right, did you?” Buttons said.

“I don’t know what you mean,” big Gracie protested.

“You took the rule at face value. You thought that all you had to do was be nice to people and they’d be nice back. But it didn’t work out that way, did it?”

“Well, I—”

“How many times did people disappoint you?”

Gracie was silent. Suddenly she was back in her own kitchen again. There was no sign of Buttons.

“That was just weird,” Gracie said.

“It’s about to get weirder,” a voice behind her said.


And that’s as far as I got before I ran out of time. Looks like it’s going to turn into a short story and I’m going to have to finish it because I wrote it out long hand in my journal and I don’t know how much of a gap to leave, so I’ll have to finish it before I can move on.

But that’ll be a story for another day. LOL

The List of Fours

I wanted to do something different for my Friday posts, so I’m starting with a meme I did about 10 years ago. But just so you don’t think all I’m doing is copy/pasting, most of the answers have changed over the years. :-)

1. Four shows that you watch (only four??):
NCIS – NCIS and NCIS: New Orleans
Scorpion
Criminal Minds
Big Bang Theory

2. Four things you are passionate about:
Writing
Reading
Privacy
Honesty

3. Four phrases you say a lot:
Seriously?
Shut the f**k up! (to Taz when he starts howling at me – so annoying!)
Crappy doodles!
Get the @#*& out of my way you dumb ass! (this is usually said while driving)

4. Four things you’ve learned from the past:
He who hesitates is lost
Life’s seldom fair, you just have to deal with it and move on
If at first you don’t succeed…keep trying.
It is better to be pissed off than on (yes, I know this from experience – don’t ask)

5. Four places you would like to go:
Iceland
New Orleans
British Columbia
Isle of Man

6. Four things you did yesterday:
Wrote
Walked
Made tomato chowder for the grandbaby and I
Gathered up stuff to be donated to charity

7. Four things you are looking forward to:
Watching the grandbaby as she grows
Making money from my writing
The crisp autumn weather
Lowering my blood sugar

8. Four things you love about winter:
Snow, and lots of it!
Hot chocolate with a splash of Bailey’s in it.
Seeing the Christmas lights
Stew in the crock pot

9. Four bloggers who should share their list of fours:
Rather than single out four people who may, or may not do this, I’d like to invite anyone who wants to give it a shot to . . . um . . . give it a shot. :-)

Write On!

So last week, on my other blog, I made some sort of rash promise that I'd start blogging more often. Specifically, that I'd blog here try to blog here once at least once a week. Obviously I'm not off to a great start, but in my defense, I was still recovering from my life de-railment courtesy of the holidays. You can read about it HERE.

Anyway, I'm finally getting back on track - a whole new track, but a track nonetheless - and this morning I was looking for something to read online while I ate my oatmeal (breakfast of champions when it's snowing outside) and I started going through my bookmarks on my laptop.

I have this bad habit of seeing something interesting and then just bookmarking it for later instead of reading it as I see it, which leads to a plethora of bookmarks. I try to have at least a semblance of order to them, so I save them to folders with names like Recipes, Crafts, Cool Stuff, Useful Stuff, Interesting Stuff ... In the Miscellaneous folder, which is a sub-folder to the Writing folder, I found a fun little link that analyzes your writing to see who you write like. Naturally, I had to try it out.

I write like
Rudyard Kipling

I Write Like. Analyze your writing!

I have to confess though, the first passage I tried it told me I write like Stephanie Meyers. Really?? Good thing I was still editing that piece. Although I wouldn't mind her kind of popularity. Of course I'd take the longevity of Rudyard Kipling over the popularity of Stephanie Meyers any day.

So then I tried it a third time and got this:

I write like
Oscar Wilde

I Write Like. Analyze your writing!

If you haven't tried it yourself, give it a try. And let me know who you write like. I'll even make it easy for you. Here's the link HERE