Superstitions XIII - Luck

Good Luck

Luck from a wishbone dates back to the Etruscans, who used chickens to predict the future. They believed the collarbone, or wishbone, of the chicken was sacred and would dry them in the sun to keep for luck. To share the luck they would break them apart. The person who gets the biggest piece gets the bigger share of the luck, or wish.

If you say “rabbit rabbit” on the first day of the month, it ensures good luck for the month. It’s a little unclear why this is a common belief in Britain and North America, but it’s also believed that a rabbit’s foot (the left hind foot) is also lucky.

Crossing your fingers to bring good dates back to early Christianity. Two people would cross index fingers, making a cross, when making a wish, the one in support of the other. Anything associated with the shape of the cross was considered lucky. In time crossing fingers for luck became something someone could do on their own.

While accidentally stepping in dog poop might seem like a bad thing, it’s only bad luck if you step with your right foot. If you step with your left foot it’s considered lucky.

Bird poop is also considered lucky, especially if it lands on you, your home, or your car. It signifies money will be coming your way.

In Spain, instead of kissing someone at midnight on New Year’s, you should eat twelve grapes one after another to bring good luck for the year.

Once upon a time, it was considered extremely lucky to get your hands on a piece of the bride. To keep the dress and veil in one piece, brides began throwing their bouquets in the air to distract the crazed guests. Today it’s believed that whoever catches the bridal bouquet will be lucky in love and the next one to marry.

A belief in beginner’s luck is an example of confirmation bias. This is a psychological condition where a person believes events that fit their world view. If they believe they are going to win because they’re a beginner, they’re more likely to remember all the times this was true in the past and forget the times they lost.

Bad Luck

Bad luck coming in threes is another example of confirmation bias. If something goes wrong, you begin to look for other bad things to happen and ignore the good.

Walking into a room with your left foot is bad luck – you should always enter or leave a room with your right.

You should never wish someone a happy birthday before the day arrives or it will cause bad luck.

Opening an umbrella indoors has been thought to bring bad luck since the time of the pharaohs. The parasols ancient Egyptians used were believed to be magic because they protected them from the sun. When one is opened indoors, out of the sun’s rays, it offends the sun god and incurs bad luck.

A flock of birds going from left to right means that bad luck is on the way.

The Greeks find Tuesday the most unlucky day of the week, but especially Tuesday the 13th. It was on Tuesday 13, 1204 that Constantinople fell to the Crusaders.

But they’re not the only ones who have a thing about Tuesday. Many countries in Latin America believe you shouldn’t get married, go on a trip, or leave your house on a Tuesday because you’re sure to have bad luck.

In Italy it’s considered bad luck to lay bread upside down on a table or in a basket. Bread represents the body of Christ and therefore needs to be treated with respect.

According to Welsh tradition, it is unlucky to cut a baby’s fingernails before they’re six months old. The mother should bite them off instead.

The Japanese believe that sleeping with your head to the north is bad luck because that's how the deceased are laid to rest. The same superstition exists in Africa for sleeping with your head to the west.

Better not take any chances and sleep with your head to the south or east tonight.

Pleasant dreams!

Pandemic Complaints

Well . . . so much for routines and progress and getting things done. Ontario, where I live, is on lockdown again. And not just any old lockdown, this time it’s super duper double lockdown with a state of emergency tacked on just for fun.

This pandemic is getting kind of annoying. And the people who haven’t been follow the rules, like all those out-of-towners from the hot zones that snuck into our town to do their Christmas shopping are really annoying.

I ‘d better stop there before this turns into a rant. You’re welcome. LOL

On top of the lockdown, the weather has been unrelentingly grey and dismal. My solar batteries are completely depleted and according to the long-range forecast, I can’t expect a recharge any time soon. So I’ve got a double whammy I’m having to deal with.

But at least I’m not living in the U.S. where they have the Trumpocalypse to deal with too. So I guess there’s that little bright spot.

All of this is a rather long-winded way of saying I didn’t get a whole lot done last week. It’s a small comfort to know I’m not alone in this. Several of the writing blogs I follow haven’t been updated in a while, and many of the ones that have are variations on a theme – inspiration is at a low ebb these days.

But I’m not without hope. At least I’ve been getting my blog posts done (eventually), and seeing as shockwave is no longer supported, half the mindless games I used to play are gone. There may be hope for me yet. LOL

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Wordage Report

New Words:
None, unless you count the ones I added to Blood Ties during editing, but I didn’t keep track of what I’ve added/deleted.

I did do a couple of the 3-minute freewrites but kept forgetting about it.

Editing:
I did do some editing done on Blood Ties last week, but a little less than 2 hours.

Publishing:
I picked out a story to spiff up, and I’ve even figured out where to send it, but that’s as far as I got.

What I’m Reading:
This is the one thing I did well on. I finished book one of Shifter Shenanigans by Shelley Munro on my Kindle, and I’ve started book two. By rights I should have finished that one as well, but like I’ve said I usually read the ebooks on while on the exercise bike and well, you can figure that one out for yourself.

I received about 5 more of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books by J. R. Ward that I ordered from Indigo (before they gave me a 20% off coupon code), so I think I need to start reading a little faster – these are big books. I finished the King and I’m about halfway through the next one, the Shadows.

Goals

Yeah, I know I said last week I wasn’t going to do the goals thing, but I’m thinking maybe it might help me stay focused – I’d really have to report a complete failure at the end of the week. So, here are my goals for next week:

1. 500 words a day.
2. Editing for 1 hour a day.
3. Prepare and submit 1 story or poem.
4. Read for 1 hour a day.

I think that’s a pretty good start, and I can adjust it weekly.

Guardian of the Sea

While I did several daily three minute free-writes this week, none of them really turned my crank enough to turn into a proper flash. Okay, maybe I could have generated enough interest in one or two of them to turn them into stories, but the weather’s been pretty grey and miserable lately and my solar batteries are completely deleted.

I thought you might like something a little different this week, so I looked through some of my older, yet still unfinished, novels and settled on an excerpt from Guardian of the Sea, my NaNo novel from 2014. This is a paranormal romantic suspense and I forgot how much I liked the story. Too bad I already have enough irons in the fire for now. :-D

The except is the opening of chapter one (which I’d forgotten I’d changed) and is pretty self-explanatory.

"Happy Birthday, Tiamat," Samuel Griffin, Griff to his friends, said. He placed a small cake, in the shape of a dolphin, on the table in front of the boy and lit the candle.

"I'm too old for birthday cakes," the boy protested, but any fool could see he was pleased.

"You're never too old for birthday cakes, not even at the ripe old age of sixteen. Now make a wish and blow out the candle."

Grinning, the boy closed his eyes and made his wish, then blew the candle out.

"I'll bet I can guess what you wished for," the old man said shrewdly, eyes twinkling as the boy blushed. "Don't you worry, she'll be here at the end of the month, and they're letting her stay for the whole summer."

"Really?" Tiamat's eyes lit up. "Can I show her the grotto, Griff?"

"I don't see why not. Tavi's almost as good as I am at keeping secrets. In the meantime, she wanted me to give you this from her." He handed Tiamat a flat, square package wrapped in ocean blue paper and tied with a silver ribbon.

Tiamat turned the package carefully around and around in his hands before finally undoing the ribbon. Folding back the paper he rolled his eyes as he uncovered a flat box. Inside the box, beneath a layer of tissue paper, was a picture in a frame.

"I remember that day," the boy murmured. The picture was of him and a dark-haired girl two years younger than him, standing on a beach with an arm around each other's waist. Though the sky behind them was cloudy, a shaft of sunlight spilled over them. They both grinned at the camera, as though knowing they were about to be splashed by the wave behind them. The frame itself was imbedded with hundreds of white seashells - cowries, scallops, limpets.

"These came from the cove," he said, stroking them lightly.

"I've got something for you too." Samuel laid a cloth wrapped object on the table in front of him. Tiamat parted the folds of the cloth, then looked up in surprise.

"It belonged to your father," Samuel said gruffly. "I promised him I'd pass it on to you when I judged you ready."

"And you think I'm ready?"

"Every Guardian needs a good belt knife."

"I'm not a Guardian yet, Griff," Tiamat pointed out. He stroked the carved handle. Unable to resist, he pulled the knife out of its sheath. The hilt was carved from the ivory of a narwhale horn, the blade obsidian. It was older even than the house they were sitting in.

"No," Samuel said with a sigh. "But I don't mind telling you, I'll be glad when I can lay that particular burden at your feet."

"Has it really been that bad?"

"No," Sam admitted. "It hasn't. This coast is pretty quiet. But the changeling blood runs pretty thin in these old veins. The Guardianship would be better off with a full changeling."

"My dad didn't think so, that's why he passed the Guardianship to you."

"Only to keep in trust for you. Now, are we going to eat this cake, or just sit here admiring it?"

Superstitions XII – Ladders

Everybody knows it’s bad luck to walk under a ladder, but do you know why?

The oldest instance of this superstition comes to us from ancient Egypt. When a ladder leans against a wall it creates a triangular shape, like a pyramid. This shape was sacred to the Egyptians as it represented the trinity of the gods. To pass through a triangle was to desecrate it and incur the wrath of the gods.

The followers of Jesus Christ had a different take on this superstition, linking it to the death of Christ. Because a ladder had rested against the cross Jesus had been hung on, it became a symbol of wickedness, betrayal, and death. To walk under a ladder was to court misfortune.

The Holy Trinity of the Christians is made up of three parts – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – making the number three sacred. The triangle, having three sides, became sacred by association. As with the Egyptians, a ladder leaning up against a wall was seen as a triangle and to walk under the ladder, or through the triangle, was seen as breaking the Holy Trinity. Breaking the Holy Trinity was considered blasphemy and the person who did so was believed to be in league with the devil. This kind of label was a quick path to the witch trials and the hangman’s noose.

Before the creation of the gallows, murderers were hung from the top of a ladder. The ladder was propped up and the person being hung was made to climb up to the rope. After they died it was said that their ghost would remain after the body had fallen. This made the area around the ladder very unlucky.

There are, of course, more pedestrian reasons why walking under a ladder is unlucky. The presence of a ladder suggests someone is standing on it to do some work. You don’t want to walk under a ladder and have something fall on your head, nor would you want to risk jostling it and causing someone to fall.

But as with most superstitions, there are ways to reverse the bad luck:

- make a wish while you’re walking under the ladder.
- spit through the ladder’s rungs three times.
- walk backwards through the ladder again.
- cross your fingers until you see a dog.
- spit on your shoe and continue walking, but don’t look at your shoe again until the spit has dried.
- say “bread and butter” as you walk under the ladder.
- put your thumb between your index and middle fingers as you walk under the ladder (but be warned, this is called the “fig sign” and is sometimes seen as a mildly obscene gesture.

Or better yet, don’t take any chances and just avoid walking under a ladder in the first place.

And Away We Go . . .

I’m still messing around with a routine, trying to find something that works. I’m sure it would help if I spent more time in my office and less time on the couch playing online solitaire or Text Twist, but it is what it is. I’ll get there eventually.

You’re going to notice a bit of difference to the format of my weekly update. Seeing as the goals I’ve set myself for the year are pretty much ongoing, I thought I’d use them as the headers for my report – sort of.

Instead of “write more” I’ll keep “new words” from my old wordage report. This is where I’ll discuss the progress I’m making on my various projects, like Knightsong (which had no progress at all this week, other than an idea I jotted down in the dead of night).

Seeing as editing is going to play a big part of my goals for the year, it’s getting its own heading. This is where I’ll report on my progress (or lack thereof). Having to be accountable for my actions might be the incentive I need to be . . . active in this area.

I’ll also have a heading for publishing, and by publishing I mostly mean what I’m submitting and whether it’s accepted or rejected. Maybe I'll even get to brag at bit. But I also hope at some point to be able to announce Blood Ties is available.

And finally, I’m going to share what I’m reading. Once upon a time, on a different blog, I talked about what I was reading, and gave little reports on the books. This lead to people offering me free books, most of which I wasn’t interested in. Let me make this clear. I am NOT going to be reviewing books. I’ll tell you the name of the book, who wrote it, and just a general “I like it enough to read it to the end” or “it’s not my cup of tea so I switched to something else.”

We’ll try this new format for the month at least and see how it goes. And if it doesn’t feel right, or becomes too tedious, then I guess I’ll have to revisit it again.

Oh, and like I said at the beginning, the goals are kind of an ongoing thing, so I’m not going to bother setting any weekly ones. It seems a little redundant.

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Wordage Report

New Words:
The first part of the week I wrote a 4500 word letter to my sister and updated my journals. Not exactly a great start to fulfilling my goals, but words are words, right? Then I found a market I wanted to try and I took an exercise from the Speculative Fiction course I took a couple of years ago and tried to turn it into a light and fluffy flash story.

It turned out okay, but it didn’t have a lot of substance. But in doing some research for it I came up with a much darker idea and ran with it. I really liked the way the new story turned out, all 850 words of it.

Despite all of my good intentions, I only did the three-minute freewritng twice last week. In the grand scheme of things, three minutes isn’t that long and I actually had fun doing them, so hopefully I’ll do more of them this week.

Editing:
Be still my heart I actually got some editing done on Blood Ties last week. According the TraxTime, the nifty little program I downloaded to keep track of how much time I spend on various projects, I spent 2 hours and 17 minutes. Not as much as I’d like, but you gotta start somewhere, right?

Publishing:
The story I submitted before Christmas was rejected, which didn’t surprise me at all. The story was good, but the timing was at fault. It was about the side effects of the cure for a pandemic virus – not something anyone’s going to want to read currently.

Not to be discouraged, I submitted the flash piece I just finished to an online magazine that had a limited window for submission. I should hear back from them by the end of the month.

What I’m Reading:
After an extended hiatus, I’m back on the bike which means my poor neglected Kindle is seeing some action again. This week it’s Shifter Shenanigans by Shelley Munro. It’s a three book set and so far I’ve only finished the first one, which was about a panther shifter, and I’m really enjoying it.

As for tree books, I’ve ventured back into the realm of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a series by J.R. Ward. I read the first 11 books before moving on to other things, but kept buying them as they were published so I was able to pick up where I left off. Right now I’m halfway through the King and while I’m liking what I’m reading, I’m also struggling to remember events from the previous books to keep things in perspective.

And So It Begins . . .

The new year has barely started and I’m already not meeting my own expectations. Yes, I know it’s still early yet, and I’m having a bit of trouble settling into a routine. It might help if I spent more time in my office and less time on the couch (with my lap top, mind you).

But the idea was to do the three minute free write every morning and if I didn’t generate something that inspired me to turn it into flash piece, then I was going to use the best of them as my fiction Friday offerings. Problem is, I only free wrote once this past week.

So once again I’m giving you a snippet from Knightsong. This one will give you a little more insight into the life of Elijah’s neighbor. She’s just returned home after having visited Eli to tell him what happened when she and her husband visited the city.

Shaelynn hurried up the steps to her house. She’d only meant to stay a minute, hopefully Parker was still sleeping.

“Where have you been?” Parker barked, the minute she had the door open. His wheelchair was parked in the middle of the living room.

“I just stepped out for a minute—”

“You were at that fag’s house, weren’t you?” Parker wheeled himself closer. “What if I’d needed you? You’re such a selfish bitch, always thinking of yourself.”

“I’m sorry Parker, I thought you were sleeping.”

“I’m sorry Parker,” he mimicked. “A fat lot of good sorry would have done me if I’d taken a seizure or fallen out of bed.”

Her eyes widened in alarm. “A seizure! Parker, the doctor never said anything about seizures to me. Are you all right?”

“Of course I’m all right! No thanks to you. And the doctor never said anything because I told him not to. I didn’t want to worry you. Not that you worry about me.”

“That’s not true Parker, I do worry about you.”

Parker refused to be mollified. “For all you care I could have just died while you were gone, just like I almost died in that car accident.”

Shaelynn’s face paled. “Parker!”

He realized he’d gone too far and made an effort to calm himself down. “I’m sorry, but I woke up and you were gone. You have no idea how helpless this chair makes me feel. I can’t even make a damned cup of coffee myself.”

“I’m sorry too.” She went over and knelt beside the chair. “I should have at least left you a note.”

“I was afraid you’d left me for good.”

“I promised I would never leave you,” she reminded him. “Now, did you say you wanted a cup of coffee?”

“I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble,” she said, climbing to her feet again. “In fact, I just might join you.”

She hurried into the kitchen to start the coffee maker. Behind her, Parker smiled in satisfaction.

Superstitions XI – Itching Palms

Originally, this series was supposed to end with the New Year’s post. But as usually happens when holidays do not conveniently fall on a weekend, my days got kind of mixed up in my head. Yesterday I suddenly realized it was Tuesday and I needed a post for the next day. Oops!

When I did what I thought was going to be a little research, I was surprised at just how many superstitions about itchy palms there are.

Right to receive and left to leave
rub on wood and it's sure to be good,
rub on brass and it will come fast.

The ancient Saxons and Celts believed an itchy palm brought good luck, but if you scratched it the luck would go away. The only way to keep it is to scratch your palm on a piece of wood.

The roots of the superstition can be traced back to the pre-Christian era. The Saxons believed that rubbing silver on your skin was a cure for many diseases, so they would rub an itchy palm with silver. This eventually became the superstition that silver was coming your way. This belief was later adopted by Roman fortune tellers and turned into the version we know today.

If your left hand itches:
- you’re likely to become rich.
- indicates you’ll be on the receiving end of several opportunities.
- means you’ll be on the receiving end of a fight.
- quickly scratch it on wood and you’ll receive money.

If your right hand itches:
- don’t scratch it or you’ll lose money.
- you’ll meet someone new
- you’ll shake hands with a stranger.
- you should clean house – company’s coming.
- a friend you haven’t seen in a long time is coming to pay a call.
- it means you want to give someone a beating.
- news from afar or a letter is coming your way, but you’ll have to spit in your palm to receive it.
- money is coming, but to get it you’ll have to shove your hand in your pocket. If you don’t, the money will never come.

There is also the belief that itchy palms are an indication of some kind of internal energy. The right hand indicates active energy and the left hand is passive, or receptive. So if your right palm itches it means the energy is moving outward, and if the left one is itchy it means you are receiving energy.

Or an itchy palm might just mean you’ve got a bad case of eczema or you’ve touched something you’re allergic to. Better check with your doctor, just in case.