I had a ringing in my right ear. Half an hour later I received an email from a student saying that he and his wife were talking about me and decided to organize a mini-seminar for their whole family.
This event got me thinking about grandmas old superstitions. I was told that if my ear rings, someone is talking about me. What if some of these superstitions are based on forgotten truths? What if someone talking while putting attention on you sends a sub-electrical vibration in your direction that can be picked up by the ear? What if some superstitions are merely science waiting to be rediscovered?
I haven’t liked superstitious people because of the fear/worry mixed in. I don’t like following a rigid regimen of rituals to avoid bad luck. Omen-paranoia takes away from a light heart. But stripped of worry, how many superstitions point to valid phenomena of energy and consciousness?
Traditionally, most cultures thought right-ear ringing meant they are talking good and left-ear ringing that they are talking bad. Whether there is any truth to this could be explored in a double-blind experiment. Or it could be investigated using ear-measuring instruments while people bad/good-talk the person.
I sometimes finish my wife’s coffee and joke that “it’s because I want to know your thoughts”. At least I thought it was a joke until I learned it’s an old superstition. If humans are “energy” then it’s not unthinkable that their saliva contains thought-residue. An experiment worth trying would be to practice telepathy. Person A thinks strongly of one color while drinking water. Person B takes a sip of the same water and tells the first color that comes to mind. If this is repeated, say 10 times, and 4 of the times the color is correct, you’re dealing with something that can’t mathematically be a coincidence as are 11 basic colors.
In the southern States of the U.S. some people paint the roofs of their porches in “haint blue”. This is supposed to ward off evil spirits who mistake the roof with the sky instead of seeing a house they could occupy. I doubt this because: How stupid would you have to be to mistake the roof of a porch with a sky? On the other hand, lower-astrals are not known for their intelligence.
The most common superstition is about “evil eye”. They say casting envious, desiring or ill-intended eye can cause damage. I thought about this superstition while driving my new car around the neighborhood. I came upon a group of construction workers and slowed down to avoid an accident. They eyed me with grim envy, I’ve rarely ever felt anything like it. A few minutes later, the engine light came on. I had to take the new car for repairs. The seatbelt buckle broke a day later. Then the tire of the car was torn just three days later. Such a string of bad luck! Was it the envious eye? Is this why I don’t share my life on instagram? I said a prayer with my hands on the car. Superstitious? Yes. No further problems occurred after that.
Attention is energy. I don’t mean that in the vague metaphorical sense. It’s a measurable beam that can be felt. You know when someone is staring at you from behind and turn around. You usually know who is calling before you look at the phone. It’s therefore not too crazy to think that this energy-beam can be charged with ill-will. I don’t think “evil eye” is as strong as believed in some cultures, nor that common. But looks can uplift or downgrade. Appreciation uplifts. That brings me to my problem with many superstitious people: They often place more emphasis on causes of misfortune than fortune. Thus, everyone knows “evil eye” and rarely do we speak of “good eye” – “He’s given me good eye!”. In traditional cultures people were protective of beautiful things, trying to mask it from peering, envious eyes. A beautiful child, a bouquet of flowers, a nice building, etc. – anything was subject to it. Even admiration was considered “evil eye”. In my view, admiration is not “evil eye” it’s “good eye”.
Old superstitions say spitting on an object three times neutralizes evil eye. Why? I don’t know, I’ve never tried it. Maybe there is something in breathe and saliva that disperses bad vibes. Our ancestors thought that spitting on a wound or blister can heal it. Some old cultures tied garlic to the heads of their infants to ward off evil eye.
“Don’t investigate the noise at night” is a popular superstition in the Americas. I practiced this long before I knew about the superstition. It’s true: If you don’t give it attention, it usually leaves. I’m glad I have a cat now. I can blame every knock, creak, scratch and thump at night on the cat and sleep in peace.
In a book on superstition I read that “if an animal doesn’t like a person, it’s a sign there’s something wrong with that person”. I didn’t know this is a “superstition”, I thought it common knowledge. Living beings can sense “bad vibe”. I wouldn’t generalize though- some just don’t like each other. For example, it could be that the animal is “bad” and repelled by a “good” human. But if ALL animals react adversely to that one person, then maybe it’s best you avoid them too.
There’s a superstition that says “if you keep dropping stuff before you go, don’t go”. I ignore the pedantic preoccupations with doom. But I do recall an instance where, prior to going to a speaking event, I hurt my foot three times over the course of a few weeks. The event turned out to be unfortunate for me. I still ignore small warnings, even though some are accurate in hindsight. It’s because we can always change bad vibe into good vibe. Your creative power overrules superstition. For me to stop ignoring omens, they’d have to be much bigger. Such a a bird smashing against my window and dying.
There’s an old superstition to cover food so that it doesn’t invite hungry spirits. Some people take it further by pushing all chairs into the table to avoid inviting spirits to dine with them. I cover my food, but for the reason of keeping it fresh. Too much superstition can attract entities through the very acts that are supposed to prevent them. I know a guy – extremely successful, rational, business-savvy – who always puts food out for spirits so they don’t enter his home. That’s more likely to attract them because he thinks about them every time he puts food out. I was once in the Bahamas and witnessed natives walking into their home backwards. They said it was because it was after midnight and they didn’t want spirits to follow them inside their house. I say, if malevolent spirits were around, give them no attention and they give you none.
Superstitions around salt: Our ancestors punished people for wasting or stealing salt. They sprinkled salt to protect from spirits. There are superstitions in which salt is thrown over the shoulder or where spilling salt spells disaster. I don’t know the meaning of these. I know that salt is a healthy food (despite modern claims to the contrary). There are many old sayings that put salt in a positive light: Salt of the Earth, Take it with a grain of salt, Worth one’s salt, below/above the salt (referring to social status), a covenant of salt, etc. We owe some of them to the fact of salt having been used as currency. But what properties of salt repel bad energy? I purchased bricks made of himalayan salt and lined my garage-turned-gym with them. Ever since then, I haven’t had problems with spiders there. Is there a connection?
Carving a cross on bread or cake was an ancient way of blessing the food. The especially superstitious said giving cross-carved food out of the house spells doom. My verdict? Nonsense. You’re giving another person a blessed piece of cake. Some ancients avoided using knives to cut bread, breaking it only with the hands because bread was said to be a gift from Heaven. To me, this is taking it too far, but I could be wrong.
In the old days, meeting a beardless man was a bad omen. They were viewed as potential villains. Today almost everyone is beardless. This superstition may have to do with hair storing one’s electricity or collected memories. Shaving hair is then linked to starting anew – something criminals would probably want to do more of. I see fresh starts, even daily, as a good thing and I’m not a criminal.
The hooting of an owl is supposed to be a harbinger of death. I can’t confirm as I have hooting owls in my yard often, but no death follows. Similar is said about howling dogs, hens and roosters. It’s interesting to note that many animals can see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum.
According to ancient lore, a dying person breathes the soul out of the mouth. My verdict? True. I’ve seen it with my own eyes: A man had chosen to die on Christmas Day, when the whole family was gathered in the warm living room. He drew his wife closer, whispered that he loves her and all is well. Then he closed his eyes and drew his last breathe. On the outbreath a white steam-like substance left his mouth and ascended through the ceiling. Others also saw it.
In some old cultures a coin was placed on the deceased person’s tongue so that he or she could pay the ferry boat fare to cross the river Styx in the afterlife. My first inclination is to say “nonsense”, but symbolic behavior does have real-life effects.
The most superstitions we have are around birth, death and marriage. Much has been written about them. I won’t go into them here except to say: Maybe all these superstitious rules and regulations are merely meant to make a person more conscious so that these life-changing events (yes, death is a life-changing event) are given the proper respect.
Vampires are a common feature of superstition. In some of the folklore, Vampires come to be because the rules of proper funeral and burial are neglected. Akin to Zombies, Vampires are often described as “animated corpses” who suck the blood out of the living for their own survival. In some tales, one becomes a vampire because of a deal made with the devil. For example, the devil asks “Do you want to live forever? If you sacrifice a child to me, you can live forever”. After the sacrifice, the person lives forever but in an unpleasant state.”You said you want to live forever, so I gave you eternal hell”. It’s the classic theme of unintended consequences when one doesn’t specify their desire. There’s a superstition that a cat leaping over the grave on the night of the burial, turns the person into a vampire. My verdict? Unlikely. I think there’s some forgotten core truth to this stuff that’s been embellished and sensationalized over time.
There are superstitions about the fate of children born on certain days and at certain times. For example I was born around midnight on the coldest day of the year 1974 and this is supposed to mean I have psychic abilities. It’s true that I have psychic abilities but there’s no way of telling whether it’s because of the time of my birth.
Some superstitions are so strange: The firstborn child in some countries is supposed to have the power to stop hail-storms at command by swallowing a few grains of hail. I bet you’ve never heard that one before!
Most cultures regard sickness and disease as the result of evil spirits or as we say today “bad vibes”. Modern science views this as the primitive, barbaric, backward, uneducated, dumb view – but I agree with it. So far I’ve alleviated every illness in myself and others through prayer, intention and increasing my consciousness-level. I haven’t seen a doctor in decades. And yet, throughout my 50+ years on Earth, not one doctor has shown the slightest interest in my self-recovery methods. How much do they really want to know?
I once witnessed this ritual: Cattle were sick. A shaman drew a circle around the cattle while chanting in an unknown language. He had Bible verses, sewed up in leather and threw them into the Cattle. The animal first hit by the piece of leather was considered the one that is possessed by the evil spirit. The leather piece was hung around his neck. Needless to say, there is nothing in the Bible that recommends this ceremony. Do I think it’s effective? I don’t know. The idea in rituals is often to make an impression on people or in this case on people and animals. If it’s real to the subconscious, it can take effect.
Some people make up their own superstitions and they work because they believe in and act on them. I knew a European soccer-coach who refused to change his clothing as long as his team was winning. “It’s my winning clothing” he claimed.
I don’t follow any superstitions but I do think it’s useful to have a basic understanding of life-as-energy. In a restaurant I prefer to have a wall behind me, I don’t curse people, I enjoy random acts of kindness and I don’t use public restrooms, just to name a few examples.
What superstitions do you know? What superstitions have you invented?
