Are you superstitious?

One of my earliest memories is rabbit’s foot brooch pinned to the coat of someone I loved dearly. I never remember asking about it, but I studied it a lot. What is a child with an affinity to animals, to make of such a thing? I remember it was encased in silver and has a small yellow stone placed in the centre. Maybe Citrine. This yellow stone from the quartz family was popular in the 1920’s. Is it possible it had been handed down?

In ancient times Citrine was carried for protection against snake bites and evil spirits. In latter times to spark imagination, fresh beginnings and prosperity. Over the years being used against bad luck and today towards the good.

It is incredible how many countries around the world share superstitions, even with varying forms it’s quite extraordinary that similar beliefs are held worldwide. The exact origins of the rabbit’s foot amulet are not clear, at all. With many areas having their own ideas. There are some dark and grim associations but I prefer to look to the light. For instance the slaves of West Africa are recorded as seeing the animal as witty, intelligent and willing to strike back ( Think Mr McGregor’s garden). Others say the fertility aspect of their characteristic to be a lucky thing.

Am I superstitious? I’m certainly interested in all things spooky. A black cat crossing my path, that’s fine by me. ‘ Morning Kat’ I’d probably say. Would I walk under ladders? Why would you? To see if you are unlucky enough to have something fall on you head. Do I count magpies? No. Would I drop coins into a wishing well or throw them into a fountain? Yes.

And yesterday I ‘ touched wood’, to rouse the deities for protection.

Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?

If there are any words in the English language that make me instantaneously mad it’s these ‘ They behave like animals’. (Another utterance ‘We (UK) are a nation of animal lovers.) We are not! We are so not. But that’s a topic for another day)

Considering it is Man who is the cause of all the mess and madness we live in today, it’s a bit rich to bring animals into the equation like this.

I cannot compare myself to any animal, like we have been asked here on WordPress to do this morning. But there are are animal bodies I would like to inhabit for a short time,to get their take on things.

A dog doing the Zoomies, how great must that feel? A cat all cool and aloof, strutting around the neighborhood. Flying high with a birds eye view of the world. A cheeky monkey nimbly lowering itself onto a balcony of a smart hotel, where breakfast is being served and snatching away a juicy slice of watermelon. High jinks. Or maybe the hippopotamus up to the eyes in fresh and cooling water, on a hot summer’s day. Bliss.

And then not so much a magnificent elephant or a slender and graceful giraffe stood stock still eating fresh leaves from branches high up..dead in an instant by a ‘ trophy hunter’. Those oxygen thieves who delight and boast in slaughtering beautiful and innocent souls. These monsters walk amongst us.

In the UK you may hear someone being called a cow or a pig, these are not compliments,but used by man to discredit another human without a moment’s thought to the animal they are alluding to.

The Human Race? No, the Human Disgrace.