A Few Good Luck Rituals

By Twinty Karat adapted from an original article by Chitraparna Sinha

Blow it out – you can do it!

There are many good luck rituals around the world. What you might consider good luck, others may laugh at. There is no right or wrong “good luck.” It is whatever you want to believe in. That is what makes it the good luck. Here are some things that people consider good luck in one way or the other.

Baby’s Hair

When a mother cuts a lock of her baby’s first hair and puts it up for safekeeping, she is creating a good luck charm. From ancient times to now, as long as the lock of hair was kept safe, many cultures believed that memento would ensure a long and healthy life.

Another custom regarding baby’s hair says that cutting baby’s hair before it is one year old is bad luck. Some say it’s just an old wives tale, while others hold credence to it. Another version of this is don’t cut the baby’s hair before its first birthday, or the baby will be very sickly.

Birthday Candles

Blowing out the candles is an ancient worship ritual of the Greek goddess Artemis. On her birthday, they made her little cakes in the shape of a moon and the people placed candles on the temple altar.

If the people could blow out the candles in one breath, Artemis would make their wish come true, bring them good luck, and watch over them. In the Middle Ages, a similar custom was started in Germany. They place the cake in the middle of the table surrounded by a ring of candles.

The candles burned all day to ward off evil spirits. The people of Germany felt the candles were a reminder that life is transitory and one day the candles would be lit at their funeral.

If the person who was having a birthday blew out the candles in one breath, it would signify they would enjoy good luck in the coming year and their wish would come true.

By blowing out the candles, the person showed they had the ability to control their destiny. If they were able to blow them all out, the person was considered lucky and had mastery over one’s fate.

Cornerstone

In every building, there is a cornerstone that has the date the construction was started on the building. It was filled with things associated with the building’s original owner. This was done to bring luck during the construction of the building and throughout the life of the building. This custom was started in prehistoric times when the people thought the gods had to be compensated for the land that had a building constructed on it.

Crossing fingers

When you do not have a lucky charm with you, crossing your fingers is the best way to ward off evil spirits. This dates back to the early Christians when they were forced to worship in secret. Although they could not have a cross to inspire them, they created a reminder of Christ’s passion by making a cross of their index and middle fingers.

Knock on wood

It is almost a universal thing to knock on wood. Some even call it touching wood. It was started in prehistoric times when the people thought gods lived in trees and touching wood secured their favor. The people thought the air was full of demon spirits out to cancel out the good luck. If you accidentally talked about good luck, you knocked on the tree to get the attention of the good sprits.

Knocking on wood, and the spoken expression “knock on wood,” are both used to express a desire to avoid “tempting fate” after boasting about something. In the UK, Egypt, Ireland, India and Australia, the term “touch wood” is used. This fairly common expression is usually used in the hope that a good thing will continue to occur after it has been acknowledged.

Questions about Good Luck Rituals

So many kinds of rituals are a feature of almost all human societies, past or present. They include not only the various worship rites and sacraments of organized religions and cults, but also the rites of passage of certain societies. Rituals also include atonement and purification rites, oaths of allegiance, dedication ceremonies, coronations and presidential inaugurations, marriages, funerals, school graduations, sports events, veterans parades and many more activities. Many activities that are performed such as jury trials, execution of criminals, and scientific symposia, are loaded with purely symbolic actions prescribed by regulations or tradition, and as such are partly ritualistic in nature.

Because of the unusually large scope of activities that rituals can encompass practically all of us engage in some type of ritual whether we realize it or not. Even common actions like hand-shaking and saying hello may be termed rituals.

Here are some questions submitted to Yahoo Answers related to rituals. Note that the questions and answers submitted are from anyone that wanted to submit them and answers were selected by the person that asked the question as the best answers of those submitted. They may or may not reflect reality or correctness.

Sandy asks…

pagans? do you practice? rituals or magic spells?

I mean magick or what is the right spell? I mean rituals or spells for good things.. like good luck or fortunate or tell me where to find some spells for good things? btw I mean good things… like recovering your health..thanks I am curious about paganism or wiccans..
I am serious..

Suzi Q answers:

I do rituals on sabbats and esbats usually. The spells I perform are more to the tune of world peace, harmony, heal the earth type stuff. Also, I attend a healing drum circle most Monday nights in Norfolk VA. They make a list of everyone who needs healing energy (everyone who goes can put a name down, or people can call the store and have a name put down), and this list is read then burned to send out the energy.

Laura asks…

What is a ekuaba (Akuaba)?

Akuaba
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia – Cite This Source
Akuaba are wooden ritual fertility dolls from Ghana and nearby areas. The best known akuaba are those of the Ashanti people, whose akuaba have large, disc-like heads. Other tribes in the region have their own distinctive style of akuaba.

Traditionally, these dolls are carried on the back of women either hoping to conceive a child, or to ensure the attractiveness of the child being carried. When not in active use, the akuaba would be ritually washed and cared for.

Today, one is more likely to see a mass-produced akuaba for sale as a souvenir than an heirloom in ritual use. Traditional use does, however, continue in some areas. The form of the akuaba has also gained currency as a general symbol of good luck.

External links

An akuaba from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection, with description

Suzi Q answers:

I own one myself. I just happened to buy it in nyc somewhere. Its made of wood, has a round head and tiny face. Has a stick like body and two knobs sticking out for arms.

I dont use it for anything …it just looks cool. But your definition above seems to answer everything. I dont know what ur questions really was?

If you watch the tv series Will and Grace you will see one standing right over their fireplace..seriously.

Nancy asks…

Would you volunteer, and agree to engage in ritual to “exchange bodies” with another person?

If you can prove that your desire to experience this sorcery is genuine; I will provide you with authentic material for inducing a switch.

No one under age 25.

Are you looking for someone to experience a switch with? It is advised that one should possess sufficient experience with out of body practices, otherwise, good luck with grabbing my attention.

Convince me to surrender the knowledge!!!

All that I will reveal here is that a switch of vessels involves an exchange of lifelines.

Why should I just give the information away?
Convince me to give it to you first. Mere interest alone will not suffice enough to convince me to surrender the information. You must WANT to experience it.

I could care less about proving the authenticity of what I know to the world, it is very personal knowledge.

This is an invitation to those who have genuine interest.. I invite you to chat with me on yahoo messenger. Contact me if You (are truly fascinated).

well?
Namaste

Suzi Q answers:

That is some really good LSD you are using. Maybe you can even use your knowledge to exchange bodies and lifelines with a monkey. Then you could swing from the trees without anyone thinking you are an idiot.

I think the Enquirer did a story on this in the 70’s.

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