SUPERSTITIONS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 15

SUPERSTITIONS.

THEIR ORIGIN AND LORE. CHARMS, TALISMANS, AND AMULETS. MAN’S BELIEF IN SUPERNATURAL. Right back to the birth of humanity, through every known civilisation and *.mong s avage tribes' wherever they are found, may be traced a belief in mysterious powers inherent in inanimate objects. Some are believed to bring luck to their possessors; some avert calamity'; some, have miraculous gifts of healing; while some are the bearers of misfortune and death. It is usually possible to discover a symbolical significance in the charms, talismans, •and amulets of older times, when faith was simpler. Modern supersition, too sophisticated to accept the traditions of folklore and legend, swallows the magic prescribed in skilful advertisements and wears a lucky pig o.n no more respectable authority than that of the jeweller who desires to sell it. Mankind everywhere seems to have cultivated a love of gems for personal adornment and as symbols of wealth and power, and it is probable that this may have been t’no origin of the faith-which afterwards found supernatural powers in rare and beautiful thing*.

Among primitive races the axe was the symbol for the chief, or god, and its origin may be traced back to the admirable common sense these ancestors of ours first tested the powers of their crude implement by using it as a weapon, as a means of” hewing"their way through obstacles, and as the tool with which their dwellings were constructed. Having proved its wbrth, they then adopted it as a symbol of power, and it was therefore with sound reason that it figured in ancient talismans ns a bringer of authority and good fortune. In our modern world it survives as the State sword, which is •carried before the Iking on important ceremoniql occasions; and the auctioneer, when his hammer falls with the inevitability of fate, is .wielding a descendant cf its cousin, the two-head-ed axe.

The swastika, one of the oldest and most universal of talismans known, also dates back to neolithic times. It is met with all over the old world and the new. In Sanscrit its name means nippiness, pleasure, good luck, and in India. China and Japan it is still regarded as offering at least a chance of these benefits. The Jains of India see in it a symbo! of human progress, the ;gbt lower arm of the figure representing the lowest stage of lile, or protoplasm, the left indicating the soul's evolution. The left upper arm’ represents evolution on the physical Plane through plants and animals, and the right.upper arm symbolises that spiritual plane on which the- s/mi is entirely freed from matter by the practice of the three jewels, right belief, right knowledge and right conduct. A comfortable faith in the possibility uji getting something for nothing did not. apparently, appeal to the sense rf justice of these austere pec pie. Jr'remains for modern wearers of the swastika to expect it to work miracles out of sheer beneficence, without any consideration of their deserts. ’ ■

The serpent lias not always had its present unenviable reputation. In India and Egypt it symbolised cternitv and the tradition still survives in the “longevity ring” whose snakv col's a’o supposed to carry the gift of length of days. Invested with various meanings, the serpent entered widely into the primitive mythologies. It typified wisdom, power, duration. It figured in the mythology of every nation.'’ consecrated almost every tom ole. symbolised almost every deity. It was sacred te the great- god of medicine, because of the idea that it had the - iver of renewing its youth by easting its skin. So the wand of Aesculapius is represented as entwined bv two serpents Eiven to-day, though we kill it as a venomous reptile, we s;till v ear the symbol of its ancient powers, The common belief in the luck bestowed by a horseshoe is of unexpectedly ancient origin. In the cout-:e of the amalgamation of beliefs, which took place under the "tclemies, the vmship of Isis spread through ibv llr-man dominions. Her most lreqae.it sjiilql

was a crescent moon, worn by the Roman women on their shoes both as j safeguard against witches and the designs of evil spirits, and also ill order that the goodwill of the goddess wglit be actively exerted oil their behalf. From the similarity of shape, the horseshoe took its significance, and Greeks and Romans nailed it to their houses with the horns up, as a charm against the More recent faith directs, in an old 17th century volume, that a horseshoe should be nailed upon the door of a house to keep luck*in and evil out. A shoo buried among the roots of an ash tree imparted such virtue that 'a twig from -fie tree stroked upon cattle that had been “overlooked” charmed away the evil. The horseshoe is of peculiar efficacy in dealing with the devil. The miners of Devon, and Cornwall understand that this ambulatory personage travels in a circle. They therefore fix a horsesno.e at the entrance to a mine in order that their enemy may find himself entangled between its horns. It is obvious that the. emblem must always be hung with the curve downwards,, whether the object is tb ensnare the eciil or to secure luck, for if it were reversed the contents would run out at the ends.

Tha gorgeous peacock, renewing its splendours every year, denoted immortality. It was the bird.of Juno, and the legendary ill-luck ascribed to its feathers is said to liave its * rigin in the wrath of the imperious goddess when some presumptuous mortal daied to pluck her favourite. She forthwith decreed that uo suitors should eome to the daughters of any house -n winch peacock’s feathers were found, neither should health dwell within its doors. The malignity even of a goddess, however, may be circumvented if one goes about it in the right way, and by combining a rabbit’s foot with the peacock feathers in a hat, immunity may be secured for the wearer • ’

; The modem mind, though emancipated from its old faiths, has not succeeded in escaping from the cruder forms of superstition. Even before the war there was a notable revival of the ancient belief in lucky and protective charms and amulets, which were rebaptised'under the name of “mascots.” This is a Provencal word, popularised by Audran’s comic opera "La Mnscotte,” first nor formed at the end of 1880. The word originally meant a gambler’s fetish, and belongs to the patrols of Marseilles, the birthplace of Audrain A fashion of sham occultism—sham because unaccompanied by any attempt' to study or understand the history of :philosophy of the occultI—has.helped 1 —has.helped the spread of the use of superstitious emblems, and hsf. been of, signal assistance to the purveyors of such, goods, who, with sound business acumen, have ■first created and then supplied a demand for adventitious protection again the slings and arrows ’of outrageous fortune. The up-to-date American seems to lie as credulous as anyone else. Professor Edmund Conklin gives an account of his investigations into the superstitions of the students of the University of Oregon. Out of 557 vvlm gave written answers to a series of searching questions, more than half admitted that tliey still allowed superstition to influence their conduct. Professor Conklin’s questions included one which renuired of the devotees their reasons for the faith that was in them, to which 19 per cent, “seriously state that their belief'is due to a. few apparently verifying experiences,” against which their educated intelligence was cf no avail. There appears to be deeply rooted in our human 'nature a sense of unworthiness—a conviction that we must be eternally propitiating the powers which control, our destinies, if we are to escape punishment. Something, we feel, we must do; and it is surely easier to wear a swastika than to give up a , cherished sin.