Talk Thursday: Superstition

I'd like to be able to say that I'm not superstitious.. but I am, within reason. Hey, I was raised with a grandma who knocks on wood and in a house that has a Pie God....  Also, I don't think it's possible to be a borderline pagan and NOT be superstitious. So yes, if I spill salt, I toss some over the left shoulder.

Growing up, if a nose itched I knew it meant "Kiss a fool, meet a stranger, break your neck, or be in danger..." Itchy palms meant the giving or getting of money according to my stepmother. But then I knew it was ridiculous to avoid cracks in the sidewalk and to make the point, I stepped on every one... and my mother's back was never broken. I know cats don't suck the breath out of babies. I don't fear black cats, but I won't walk under a ladder- that just seems to be inviting trouble. 13 isn't an unlucky number at all, but I do a double take when my purchase rings up to $6.66, and I don't even believe in Satan!
I don't believe that a yawn or a cough allows your soul to escape your body or leaves you vulnerable to evil spirits. However, I know the power of salt and have been known to line doorways or windowsills with it to protect the home from evil. I have, more than once, preformed cleansing rituals on homes and people. And though more for my son's well-being, I have hung windows with garlic (but he was having vampire nightmares).

More than anything, I believe in the power of the mind. I believe that if you believe in it, you give it power. Take voodoo or witchcraft... I don't believe that it can be used to harm someone who doesn't believe in it or doesn't believe it can harm them. Interesting note: I have messed with people who know that I have a bit of knowledge in the occult, and fear it. I have made stuff up, just to fuck with them... and though my intent was just to play a prank, their belief that I knew what I was doing and that I had jinxed them seemed to give it life and convinced them that I had really truly put a hex on them. (I know, bad girl!)

I do believe in spirits, ghost, and energies good and bad.... I don't believe that evil demons can come to this plane and do us harm. Others might believe that they can... and therefore, it might possibly give them the power or energy to do so.... People who do not believe in the possibility of ghosts, won't ever see one because they have closed their mind to it, and reduced the flow of energy. I don't think that spirits, or whatever you want to call them, have the energy to manifest on their own, but need to "borrow" energy from a live "receiver"... But, that's just my own perception, who knows...
Hmmmm, should the belief in the supernatural be considered superstition? Because I do, without doubt, believe. But then, by the same token, belief in a god or gods would have to be considered superstition..... and that would just piss a lot of people off.
When I consider superstitions, I am generally playing it safe. I might not REALLY think I'm jinxing myself, but I'll knock on wood just in case. I might not REALLY think it's a bad idea to open an umbrella indoors, but just in case... Why tempt The Fates? I do, very much, believe in Karma, maybe not EVERYTHING comes back three fold, but you certainly reap what you sow. You get what you give. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you....

I suppose, before I wrap this up.... I have to explain The Pie God... who was most certainly NOT born of superstition, but from which superstition was born.
Growing up, mom didn't keep sweets or treats in the house, so if she made a cake, pie, brownies, cookies, whatever..... that was a big deal... and I'm a fat ass.... Not that I would eat a whole, or half, a pie in a day (that was Misery), but I did often eat more than my fair share. My mom would inevitably flip out a week or so after whatever desert was gone, "I never even had one piece." (In my opinion, who makes a desert and waits FOREVER to have even one piece?) So after years of this, we became trained to leave the last piece, and OMG, guess what? 99% of the time it went bad and was eventually thrown away. So it became tradition that the last piece was left for the Pie God, and mom couldn't complain. Of course, when mom married Ducky and Misery came to live with us, the Pie God starved to death because there was no way in Hell Misery would let even a bite of any sweet go to waste. As much as I insisted, they could never be convinced of the necessity of the Pie God. Misery did experience the wrath of mom when she called her dad at work one day and asked if she could have the "last piece" of cheesecake. He said of course she could..... what she failed to mention was that there was half a cheesecake left, just not cut into pieces.

Boy howdy.... let me tell you, they were both in big trouble.