SYMPATHETIC MAGIC.

Thames Star, Volume LVII, 23 August 1923, Page 3

SYMPATHETIC MAGIC.

SUPERSTITIONS . AND ORIGINS.

There are, I think., two fairly definite classes into which the believer may divide his superstitions —those over which lie has control, and those over which he has rnone (writes “A.D.” in the Irish Times’. To take the last first. A man cannot help seeing a single ipagpie or a black cat; neither does he smash a mirror on purpose. Such happenings are purely involuntary. Unlike the things one must do or not do, they are merely omens of good or bad luck. On the contrary, if you make a boast without touching wood, or if'you help a friend to salt, you are “asking for trouble.” Most superstitions are probably connected with one or another form of religion; many of them with religions much older than Christianity. It is often very difficult to find the meanings of them, much more so to discover their origin. The breaking of a mirror is an interesting case. Everybody knows that the looking glass is a comparatively modern product, yet the ill-fortune said

l to be attached to the breaker of one is, no doubt, connected with the old theory of sympathetic magic. It was held that to tread upon a man’s shadow, or to destroy his picture, would damage him; hence, if you , broke that which contained your own image you did harm to yourself. Wine and playing cards are both “dealt” from right to left; that habit of “following the sun,” doubtless, comes from sun-worshippers. Everybody is aware of the “13” superstition, and ,of its origin. There are at least two concerning salt which are not so easy to trace. It is unlucky to spill salt, and if you help your neighbour to salt “you help him to sorrow.” Many people perform certain rites without realising in the smallest degree that they are rites. For example, some persons will, after lighting a fire, plant a poker against the top bar of the grate, its handle on the ground, its business end pointing up the chimney. If you ask them why they do it, they will tell you some preposterous rubbish about its “creating a draught!” They might just as well perform a step dance before the fire to create a draught. The reason, though they may not know it, that they put the poker there is that it makes a cross with the bar .of the grate, and so keeps the evil spirits away. In polite society it would be considered a breach of good manners to yawn without placing one’s hand before one’s mouth. Superstition again. Our ancestors did it to prevent any evil spirit from entering their mouths!