Charms, Spells, Anti witch craft stuff and other strangeness

[wobs]

Not telling!!

I'm guessing that to do so would be bad luck.

Yesterday I read the following site:

About Magic
If there is one paramount contribution the Judaeo-Christian world-view has made to science it is this: throughout their history both Judaism and Christianity have been implacably opposed to magic. Magic is the ultimate ego-trip. Magic is fundamentally the notion that the individual can shape the universe to his desires; it is the ultimate narcissism. The instinct for magic is a direct offshoot of our inbuilt desire to be God. It includes the notion that individuals can manipulate or bargain with the supernatural world (after all, gods should be able to cut deals with their equals). In pre-technical and polytheistic societies this notion finds expression in well-known occult forms like rituals, sacrifices, magic charms, and so on. We still have plenty of people in our own society who engage in these practices, but even if these expressions disappeared, that wouldn't mean the instinct for magic had. Most nominal religion is fundamentally magic; the idea that perfunctory adherence to periodic rituals is sufficient to placate God. Even today, one of the most common criticisms of the scientific world view is that it robs life of its magic.
Science is the antithesis of narcissism. Alan Cromer in Uncommon Sense: The Heretical Nature Of Science (1993) views the conquest of egocentrism as the indispensable prerequisite of science:
From the work of the Swiss psychologist Jean Piaget, we know that human beings have a fundamentally egocentric conception of the world. Growing up in modern society means learning to accept the existence of an external world separate from oneself. It is hard. Most of humankind, for most of its history, never learned to distinguish the internal world of thoughts and feelings with the external world of objects and events. ... Cutting this connection, which is necessary before science can develop, goes against the grain of human nature. For all the harm it has sometimes caused, it seems clear that the Western world's bias in favor of black and white, right and wrong, was indispensable to the development of science. A culture that views things in terms of black and white can learn to see shades of gray; it is not at all clear that a culture that sees only shades of gray can learn to see black and white. A culture committed to right and wrong answers will eventually see that over-zealous application of that concept sometimes fails to agree with reality; it yields wrong results. But in a culture where differences are routinely explained away as a matter of individual perspective or thoughts influencing reality, how could anyone deduce the existence of invariable laws?
If you think magical thinking is a relic of bygone superstitious ages or yet-uncivilized remote corners of the world, I've got news for you. It's pervasive in American society. It's the oldest of old-time religions, and it may be the most widespread religion in the world. Indeed, probably none of us is entirely free of it because it's hard-wired into us.

And later:

Personal Rituals and Avoiding Bad Luck
Athletes are notorious for having personal rituals to foster success: lucky bats, hats, socks, pre-game ceremonies, and so on, but non-athletes have them too. Valuing an object because it reminds you of a loved one or a happy experience is perfectly rational; fearing bad luck if you lose it is magic. Not stepping in front of a bus because you fear getting hurt is rational; not leaving home without some personal talisman because you fear getting hurt is magic. Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff chronicles how jet pilots cultivate a magical mind-set to cope with the reality that a career as a jet fighter pilot involves about a 25 per cent probability of being killed, and that's not counting combat.
One of the most widespread forms of magic is the idea that not talking about something can prevent it from happening. People avoid talking about death, illness, tax audits, car failure and disasters in the belief that talking about them somehow invites them. People avoid looking at their checkbooks or going to the doctor because they fear what will turn up, as if the overdraft won't happen or the cancer will shrivel up if they don't.

US centric, but an interesting site
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/21CMagic.HTM

http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/pscindx.htm

 

[Moo]

That's a most useful site, Wobs. Many thanks.

 

[Ushy M]

We put in shoes when we repair chimneys, somewhere not too combustible obviously! The Shoe Museum in Northampton has a display of "found" shoes from these sort of locations. One of our thatchers told us he occasionally finds items in old thatch, usually items of clothing he thinks a previous artisan took off on a hot day and forgot! Connie the cat who is sitting on my shoulder and watching me type this, is getting very nervous about the idea of "walling up Tiddles" as there will be work on one of the inglenooks soon!

 

[Merlin]

I agree with the view that magic and superstitions make life far more interesting.

Can you imagine being a child without the Easter Bunny, Father Christmas, The Tooth Fairy, The Loch Ness Monster, Fairies living under the hawthorn, and magic? Elves, Goblins, Princesses, Frogs and Princes, black cats, witches, broomsticks, ghosts, Fairy Godmothers, all give such a variety to young minds (and older one's alike) because they are all fun, and sometimes magic!

Superstitions add spice to life, walking under ladders, number 13, black cats, magpies, broken mirrors, spilt salt, all define our characters and who we are. There are those who don't believe in any, and those who believe in them all. Doesn't this make us all different and unique?

I am more interested in the history of some superstitions, as well as the background of words and phrases and how we have adapted our language to where we are today. Things like:

Raining cats and dogs
Four poster beds
Thresholds

all have meanings from the past that we risk losing. But they are our history as well as the buildings that we live in. Perhaps the internet will ensure that some of these meanings now have less risk of being lost forever; but what of all that was learnt in the past and have long since been forgotten?

Interesting debate.....

p.s. We found a penny in our house when we moved in, and it was kept at the bottom of the stairs on the skirting board, until someone "borrowed" it. When I decorate the hall and landing I will replace it with a 2009 penny, which was the year that we moved in. Why? I don't know, I just feel that I should.

 

[Penners]

I am more interested in the history of some superstitions, as well as the background of words and phrases and how we have adapted our language to where we are today. Things like:

Raining cats and dogs
Four poster beds
Thresholds

The latter two are surely self-explanatory, aren't they?

A four-poster bed has... er... four posts.

The threshold exists/existed to hold back the threshed grain on the floor of a barn.

 

[LadyArowana]

p.s. We found a penny in our house when we moved in, and it was kept at the bottom of the stairs on the skirting board, until someone "borrowed" it. When I decorate the hall and landing I will replace it with a 2009 penny, which was the year that we moved in. Why? I don't know, I just feel that I should.

I bet Mr Vacuum-Cleaner took it! A lovely idea that you will replace it with another one.

 

[wobs]

I am more interested in the history of some superstitions, as well as the background of words and phrases and how we have adapted our language to where we are today. Things like:

Raining cats and dogs
Four poster beds
Thresholds

all have meanings from the past that we risk losing. But they are our history as well as the buildings that we live in. Perhaps the internet will ensure that some of these meanings now have less risk of being lost forever; but what of all that was learnt in the past and have long since been forgotten?

One of the best sources for the meanings of phrases etc is:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/genindex.htm

Author of Port Out Starboard Home
http://www.worldwidewords.org/posh.htm

 

[MdB]

I am more interested in the history of some superstitions, as well as the background of words and phrases and how we have adapted our language to where we are today. Things like:

Raining cats and dogs
Four poster beds
Thresholds

You haven't been on the receiving end of a dodgy email have you?

I received this recently which is all made up! so don't go forwarding it as fact.

Where did "Piss Poor" come from?

Interesting History

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & Sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . ..... .

Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor.

Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting Married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it.. Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof...

Hence the saying "It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would Sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by the bell or was considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History was boring!!!

So...get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a friend.

I'll repeat - All the above is made up! so ignore the last line and don't forward it.

How do I know it is made up? Snopes of course. http://www.snopes.com/language/phrases/1500.asp

 

[Flyfisher]

I agree with the view that magic and superstitions make life far more interesting.

I should hope so too, with a name like Merlin. :wink:

 

[robgil]

''Sleep Tight'' apparently became a common saying when beds were sprung with rope, you would pull the ropes tight to have a comfortable night, according to the well informed people in the Weald and Downland museum.
Turns out they may be wrong.

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/sleep%20tight.html