Post No. 051 - Superstitions

OK, most cultures, and some people, have a range of superstitions – for instance, throwing salt over your shoulder to “ward off evil/devil/bad luck”, not walking under ladders, not crossing the path of a black cat (anyone ever bother to check what happens to the black cat when someone crosses its path?), wearing lucky socks/bling/underwear. Ask most reasonable people what’s behind superstitions, and they’ll often give an explanation about how superstitions have a core of some truth, and some might even talk about examples like one from Africa (which I think I first read about in one of Lyall Watson’s excellent books) where a long, complicated procedure involving virgins, certain types of food, certain exposure conditions, etc for the purpose of fixing certain types of illness just happened to also create the right conditions for growing a particular type of penicillin. Hmmm – willow bark tea and aspirin all over again, eh? And I can hear the scientific/”rational”/Vulcan minded amongst you lot, my readers (both of you – I know who you are! Ahhhh ... must stop eating certain types of food prepared by virgins in another type of way ...) talking about the value of using objective testing to find out what is essential about procedures so you don’t confuse the waffle with what is of real value.

Well, you know what? I agree with you.
So there.

I actually do think there is too much blind faith and desire for things to work in too many metaphysically/spiritually inclined people – which, given the sad, unduly sceptical, materialistic state of our world, is understandable (though actually counter productive, as it leads to what does work being swamped in a sea of shoddy details which feed the sceptics). We would be better off maintaining some objectivity, and lots of true scientific enquiry. But that “true scientific enquiry” does not assume things either work or they don’t: there are rules, contraindications, circumstances/people for whom things will work and others for whom it won’t work.

I always tell people, in my crystal workshops, this won’t work for all people. When we cover dowsing with a crystal pendulum, I then talk about theories that this will not work for a couple of hours each day, and that you have to be very precise in your questions (e.g., don’t ask “can you tell me if ...?”, as the crystal may well answer “yes”, meaning it can tell you, which may be WRONGLY interpreted by you to mean the answer to your 2^nd question was yes), and check how each combination of you + crystal will indicate yes, no or maybe. The rules for communication can change for each combination.

And that, dear readers (both of you :) ), brings me back to superstitions.

MAYBE the reason there seems to be a kernel of truth in these for some people is that they are true for SOME people. MAYBE those people’s guides know they are inclined towards certain types of beliefs, and so they USE those beliefs to frame their communications. For instance, someone close to me has a superstition that seeing magpies has meanings: one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl and four for a boy, five for silvery, six for gold, seven for a story never to be told. That works for her – infallibly (well, the one and two do anyway), but doesn’t for me. However, the superstition that owls are a harbinger of death does work for me (as far as physically seing owls is concerned – that doesn’t apply to psychic visions for me, which is fortunate considering owl is one of my power animals).

Well all is said and done, superstitions are superstitions. They don’t necessarily have a rational basis that can be used universally (but neither do, say, all medicines), but, in this irrational, imperfect world, they may be being used a valid means of communication from those who are busting their guts to try and help us as best they can. Love, light, hugs and blessings

Gnwmythr

This post's photo is yet to posted :)

Tags: communication, correspondences, cross-fertilisation (ideas), daily life, divination, interpersonal interactions, inventiveness, judging others,

First published: Sunday 28th September, 2008
Last edited: Sunday 28th September, 2008