Superstitions

[Minibit]

Whether you believe there's consequence or not aside, do you keep any superstitions?

Any lucky charms? little rituals or traditions?

for a pragmatist, I have more than I (usually) care to admit

• I always say bless you when someone sneezes. I feel like it's bad karma if I don't, despite the fact that I don't believe in karma
  
  
• I ALWAYS cheers before drinking. if I'm drinking alone I raise my glass/can/bottle in a silent 'cheers' to the universe. Again, I feel like it's bad juju if I don't. Actually, come to think of it when my sister bought me my first drink on my 19th she informed me explicitly that it's bad luck not to cheers.
  
  
• This one's kinda weird, but I SORT OF put stock in dreams? like I don't think they're prophetic or revealing or anything, but if I dream that something bad happened to someone, I find it impossible to relax until I can get in touch with that person and be reassured that they're okay. I dreamed that my little brother was shot once and I was having a slow-mo heart attack the whole morning until the little shit finally woke up and texted me back. Whenever I remember my dreams I look up the meaning; more as a matter of interpreting my subconscious than trying to tell the future or anything. And again, I don't like, believe in it exactly? but these things are designed to apply to as many people as possible, and sometimes interpreting my dreams can open lines of thought that help me address shit that's going on in my life.
  I guess a summary statement would be 'I think dreams are important and my actions are often affected by them'?
  
  
• I have a tiny Travelling Buddha that my friend gave me, and I take him with me when I travel. The rest of the time he stays on my desk, because those are the places I was told a Travelling Buddha is 'effective.' I don't believe that it protects my journey or inspires my spirit or any of that, I just feel like it'd be wrong to put it anywhere else; bad karma.
  
  
• It's "The Scottish Play." Unless I find myself an actress in a performance of it, I will not say "Macbeth" aloud. (typing doesn't count!) because it's cursed. Even though I don't believe in curses.
  
  
• Ouija boards freak me out, even though I don't believe in ghosts or spirits.

What about you guys? What weird little superstitions and traditions do you keep? do you have a reason or is it just kind of a thing you've always done?

 

[Grothnor]

Whenever my friend sneezes and I forget to bless her, she always brings it up, and I always say "Oh no, I forgot to bless you, now your soul has flown out your nose and the devil has taken it." She jokingly replies that she has no soul and I point out that this is the same song and dance we do every time it happens. Then we laugh.

Overall I'm not superstitious. Sometimes when playing the slot machines in Borderlands 2 (or any other game with gambling elements) I'll try to get a little pattern going, but I generally tend to avoid 'gambler's logic'. Also, I'm not much of a gambler either, but I digress.

 

[Hatsune Candy]

Whenever I comment on how well something is going, I feel the overwhelming need to knock on wood so as not to jinx it. It's also worth mentioning that one of my cats is named Jinx, and not without reason.

Generally, though, I'm not all that superstitious anymore. I used to be, so I often do such things out of pure habit and not because I actually believe they mean anything.

 

[Razilin]

After sex, the wife takes a piss to avoid a UTI

does that count?

 

[Minibit]

After sex, the wife takes a piss to avoid a UTI

does that count?

Nope. That's a legit health practice.

 

[Touch of Insanity]

I knock on wood so I don't jinx myself.

If I've lost something, I complain to someone about not being able to find it, within the next five minutes of complaining, I ALWAYS find what I was looking for.

Mom senses, they are a thing. When they don't even have to move and could tell you where something is that your looking for, but even when they tell you and you can't find it, they get up and walk right up to what you were looking for in the spot you just spend ten minutes looking for it in.

When I was younger, I used to hold my breath when driving pass graveyards so the ghosts wont try and steal my soul. My sister and I were so extreme that on the longer graveyards if you told someone holding their breath you can take a quick breath yourself XD

Walking under a ladder will bring you bad luck, totally still go by it. Also if you break a mirror you have seven years of bad luck. If you spill salt you have to throw it over your shoulder (not that I remember why you do it). Sometimes I'll play with my youngest sister if you step on a crack you break your mothers back.

A huuuuge one that scares me to this day >> Bloody Mary at night. I refuse to go into any room at night without the lights on. And I avoid at all possible not to look into mirrors 'just encase' kinda thing.


I think that's all. . . I think.

 

[Minibit]

If you spill salt you have to throw it over your shoulder (not that I remember why you do it).

It's to blind the devil there so he doesn't steal your soul!

A huuuuge one that scares me to this day >> Bloody Mary at night. I refuse to go into any room at night without the lights on. And I avoid at all possible not to look into mirrors 'just encase' kinda thing.

Oooh this for me too. Paranormal Activity fucked me up.

 

[Hatsune Candy]

If you spill salt you have to throw it over your shoulder (not that I remember why you do it)

Every time I hear mention of this, I immediately think of that one episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy with the snail in Billy's brain. Dumb Luck, I think it was called.

 

[Turtle of Doom]

I am very superstitious.

• One cannot simply gift a blade to another. The person receiving the blade must, at the very least, pay a penny for it. Otherwise it'll sever the relationship.
• Sweeping towards/out the door of the house not into the house so as to sweep out any negative energy.
• Hold my breath when driving past a cemetery.
• Tapping the clock face three times when the numbers read the same.
• Never split a pole.
• Many more things that are a bit more in depth than the ones listed above.

 

[Kagayours]

And again, I don't like, believe in it exactly? but these things are designed to apply to as many people as possible, and sometimes interpreting my dreams can open lines of thought that help me address shit that's going on in my life.

This is pretty much exactly how I am with tarot cards. I like to do tarot readings for myself, not because I expect clear answers to my life from some spiritual source, but because they're just great for helping you think about stuff. o3o Pretty much any time I try to ask the cards a serious question, it seems they always manage to give me the answer that I didn't want to hear, but that I sort of knew I needed to hear. >_> It helps me address my problems and acknowledge the things that I previously maybe didn't want to think about. (Or, sometimes the cards affirm that I'm already right about something, which is just really satisfying. XD )

Like, I know that the meaning of each card is really flexible and context-sensitive so that it can match nearly any situation (granted, that really just opens up a whole other slew of reasons why I like tarot cards -- so that knowledge doesn't exactly ruin it for me XD), and there's a very good chance that the only reason the cards seem to address these problems in my life so often is because my own fears and anxieties are sort of subconsciously influencing the way I read and interpret them -- but, none of that changes the fact that they're still really cool and interesting and sometimes really helpful. @_@

I also tend to emphasize all these things whenever I give readings to other people, partially because I like to give the disclaimer that I don't put a ton of stock in the cards, myself (and therefore they don't have to, either), but also because I like it when the people I'm doing the readings for can get more out of it, so that it can help them in the same way that it helps me. ....Not to mention, I doubt many of my friends would even want tarot readings if I couldn't appeal to their rational sides and explain why they don't need to be spiritual or superstitious to get any enjoyment/useful introspection out of it. owo""

All in all, it sort of makes me the most grounded and transparent tarot reader you'll ever meet. XD

 

[Brovo]

Not sure if this counts as superstitious.

I have the inclination that, if I hear a noise or see something move, I tend to investigate it. If I can't identify what it was, I immediately become defensive, cautious, and try to move as silently as I can. If it's somewhere in the dark, I may even grab a makeshift weapon, even if the idea of something being there is utterly absurd. I always try to disprove the ghosts of my own mind. There's a surprising number of times your own brain will betray you with sights and sounds from the corner of your eyes, or from just outside of your perception.

Aside from that? I don't know. I'm a person who holds rationalism and skepticism as core to his way of life.

I guess humanizing the non-human might count as superstitious? Then again, most people don't think that is, so... Rats.

Got'nuffin.

 

[Mu]

• Sleep with my head facing the door so good fortune will go into my head and the negative thoughts will come out of my head out the door. Something to do with feng shui.
• Don't chew gum at night.
• Never stick my chopsticks up right in a bowl because then it turns into the food left out for the dead.

 

[Hana]

I'm not a superstitious person, but these are Filipino superstitions I've heard about or encountered:

• It is bad to sweep the floor at six o'clock in the evening for it means driving away good fortune and graces.
• Black butterflies or moths visiting a house... I think that means something like the butterfly is someone deceased that you know, visiting you??
• ... Slightly related to the above: A black butterfly flitting inside the house will bring death in the household.
• A picture falling from the wall on its own is an omen of the death of the person in the picture.
• You should try to jump really high on New Year because that will help you grow taller. Or something.
• Wear a polka-dot shirt or dress to prosperity on New Year's Eve to attract prosperity the whole year round.
• Smelling the fragrance of flowers for the dead means someone will die. - Now this is related to a certain creepy experience I had... I was walking home alone (well, it was a short walk back to the house) when I suddenly did smell... You know, flowers associated with funerals. Turns out someone in the family (or a distant relative or uncle, was it?) did die.
• A dog barking or howling continuously signifies the impending death of its master - it's just plain bad luck in general if they howl at night.
• A baby greeted and kissed by a stranger will get sick.

 

[Brovo]

A baby greeted and kissed by a stranger will get sick.

This actually holds legitimate grounds from the ancient times it came from. People didn't bathe and had extraordinarily poor hygiene, so, a stranger touching an infant had a good chance of passing along diseases the infant is not ready to try and combat yet. Several hundred years later, we finally understood why and applied it to the concept of Herd Immunity. Ironically though, you can rest assured that with modern hygiene standards, the odds are extremely favourable that a stranger won't actually be carrying any sort of super virus that will murder your adorable mini-human.

Sometimes, ancient superstitions actually did do positive things, we just didn't understand why. Just figured I would share in my love of history, and science.

 

[Hana]

This actually holds legitimate grounds from the ancient times it came from. People didn't bathe and had extraordinarily poor hygiene, so, a stranger touching an infant had a good chance of passing along diseases the infant is not ready to try and combat yet. Several hundred years later, we finally understood why and applied it to the concept of Herd Immunity. Ironically though, you can rest assured that with modern hygiene standards, the odds are extremely favourable that a stranger won't actually be carrying any sort of super virus that will murder your adorable mini-human.

Sometimes, ancient superstitions actually did do positive things, we just didn't understand why. Just figured I would share in my love of history, and science.

I figured it was something like that, since babies are very vulnerable to diseases (weak immune systems and all that). xD And yep, superstitions do have a basis behind them - otherwise, why would people pass them around? It was useful to our ancestors or our forebears back then, even though they weren't very scientific they were still on to something. And that must count for something to their credit, I guess.

Superstitions still creep me out sometimes, but knowing the reasons behind why people have them is really neat.

 

[Gwazi Magnum]

I don't think there's any action I do founded on superstition, mainly cause I don't believe any of that stuff.
But there are still some odd habits I do for other reasons.

• I knock four times like the Master in Doctor Who.

This is just because I love the beat (and the character) so much it got burned into habitual memory.

• If I'm letting the Dog out at night I bang on the window loud enough I usually wake up the rest of the house.

This is for safety reasons though, we got recent warnings of Coyote's showing up in back yards. So now when Rocky (our dog) needs out at night I make a loud noise to scare such predators off, and then follow him out with a shovel in hand in case one decided to be a dick and stick around. So far we only had a run in with a Skunk though.
"But Gwazi, shouldn't be considerate of the family sleeping?".
I would, but Rocky staying alive > family not needing to deal with being woken up once.

• One does not simply prepare 'part' of a food package.

Box of Chicken Wings? Heat up the whole thing. Bag of French Fries? Turn the whole thing into a Poutine.
This is done for two reasons, sometimes I am able to eat the whole thing, and if I'm not able to I'm too lazy to cook it twice. So I make it all at once and refrigerate leftovers for later.

I could try to think of more.
But since this is a superstition thread, and I'm just listing odd habits...
This could potential be seen as off-topic/derailing so I'll drop it here.

I have the inclination that, if I hear a noise or see something move, I tend to investigate it. If I can't identify what it was, I immediately become defensive, cautious, and try to move as silently as I can. If it's somewhere in the dark, I may even grab a makeshift weapon, even if the idea of something being there is utterly absurd.

This just sounds like basic caution depending on the kind of neighbourhood your in.
Or hell, even just the time of night if wildlife is a concern.