Magical Belief Systems #45 - 11th Dec 2024

When we think about magical belief systems, so think of witchcraft, magicians or religion and others think about the more mundane such as folklore and old stories passed on over the generations to keep fact alive. Some may think fairy tales are myths, but more often than not the story line comes from fact and from many many 100’s of years ago.

Do you believe you can cause an event or effect to happen? Can you stop something from happening by doing a particular thing?

These magical events cannot be explained by science, evidence or experience, they just are.

When did we start believing these saying or following this little rituals? and why do we still do it? The answer simply is because they work.

• Knocking on wood to prevent misfortune

• Touch wood for the same reason.

• Wearing a lucky item of clothing

• Making a wish on a dandelion, a wishbone, or birthday candles

• Skipping the 13th floor or room number in building design 

• Not having a number 13 in a new build housing estate

• Not walking under a ladder

• Looking for 4 leaf clover for added luck

• Only hanging old horseshoes the right way. u keeps all the money from falling out and rolling away hence good luck. n allows your money to roll away, hence bad luck.

The list goes on, I’m sure you can think of loads you follow all the time.