Good Luck!

It was her last hope. She had tried everything, over a number of years and nothing had helped at all. Until she ordered the Good Luck & Money Talisman, and within three months she inherited over $100,000! And I can get this amazing talisman for free. And it won't cost me one cent! Why hasn't anyone told me of this before? My life could have been a rocket ride to riches years ago! And that was only the first thing that came up when I slapped Good Luck into the old search engine. The next was a feng shui site that, at deeply discounted prices of course, could completely turn my life around! I'd better what for that talisman before I start blowing bucks on feng shui. That stuff is expensive and some of it is hideous. My sister wants to buy a fighting fish for her place for good feng shui. My problem with that is if you are relying on living things to provide you with luck, what does it mean when they die? And, they do die. Fish are notorious for their ability to die. At that point, they make great compost for the garden. Let's see, what else is there. Oh, they have wish boxes, four leaf clovers (real ones!) and good luck bracelets. I'm going to be the luckiest girl in the whole wide world! I think that warrants my excessive use of exclamation points, don't you? Holy cow, what's this? A lucky Angel coin? Ooooo! This comes from a company that has studied voodoo, Buddhist prayer wheels and Chinese gold coins. Augustine Dupre, a huge believer of the power of guardian angels, first minted this particular coin in France in 1792. When he fell out of favor with the king and was condemned to death, the sun glinting off the celestial image of this wonderful coin brought tears to the eyes of a guard and Dupre was freed! For the holiday seasons, tow coins are available for the discounted price of only $30.00! Gee whiz! The insidious music in the background of this website incited a frantic back click that kept me from learning of the rest of the wonders this coin had to offer. The California Astrology Association offers charms the like of which I'd never heard of before in all my days of needing good luck. The usual Celtic knots, Mystic Stars, astrology readings, spell kits and voodoo dolls were offered. But among them was the wanga doll. Not the most aesthetically pleasing little cloth confections but, oh the power! They can bring love, money, success and even revenge. They following wangas are available: Love Wanga, Money Wanga, Luck Wanga, Success Wanga, Protection Wanga, Hex Wanga, Power Wanga, Jinx Remover Wanga, Attraction Wanga, Controlling Wanga, Breakup Wanga, Weight-Loss Wanga and my favorite, the Exorcist Wanga. A woman from Ohio testifies that after a lifetime of one wrong man after another, she has finally found the man of her dreams with the help of her Love Wanga! Danga! One site I went to did the snotty click the back button and you will be in an endless loop of our products, but I thwarted them. My good luck talisman has been ordered and the power has already granted me the ability to overcome silly Internet tricks!

Humankind has a long history with luck and lucky charms. Gamblers have used badger teeth and bat hearts in conjure bags for their monetary magic. St. Christopher medals are still worn by travelers as a form of protection. We've all had a rabbit foot at some point in our lives and most of us have broken a wishbone. There are evil eye charms, god's eye charms and eye in the palm charms. There is a British/Scottish tradition of eating black-eyed peas of New Years Day. These peas must be the first thing eaten on New Years Day and is often consumed right after the champagne is swallowed. Rice is eaten for riches, peas for peace and cabbage to represent paper money. In the South, the peas are eaten for pennies, greens for dollars and cornbread for gold. The most prevalent dish was called Hoppin' John. Here's the recipe:

1 cup (250 mg) dried black-eyed peas, chick peas, or white 'Navy' beans
4 cups (1 liter) of boiling water
3 medium onions diced coarsely
1/2 pound (225 gms) each salt pork and spicy sausage, sliced into thumbnail sized cubes
1 cup (250mg) mixed rice and barley
Salt, pepper and hot cayenne sauce to taste
Optional: 1/2 cup (125 ml) molasses and 1 cup (250 ml) stewed tomatoes Pour boiling water over the peas, let sit for 1 hour. Place on the stove on low heat or in the crock-pot/slow-cooker. Throw in onions, meat, rice/barley, tomatoes and molasses. Simmer until the beans have gone so soft they are falling apart, usually around 18-24 hours. Add hot sauce, salt, and pepper in the last half hour before
serving.
Serve -- immediately after every window and door in the place is opened (to let out any left-over bad luck) and a particularly "lucky" person walks over the threshold to set tone of the luck for the New Year -- with cornbread, honey, and wishes for each person's New Year luck.

This is tied in with the tradition of First Footing. Dead coals are brought to the home on New Year's Eve by the first foot. The woman of the house would keep the coal for the following year when it was burned. The first foot gets a kiss, a drink and food; a more than fair exchange. Oddly, in Japan, Shintoists and Shinto-influenced Buddhists go to the local shrine on New Years Day, where the priests throw uncooked red beans on the entire congregation.

A luck inducing tradition/superstition that has been passed down in my family has everyone saying "Rabbit, rabbit" on the first of every month. Why? My research led me to this explanation written in 1920: "…the following belief is common in many parts of Great Britain, with local variants: To secure good luck of some kind, usually a present, one should say 'Rabbits' three times just before going to sleep on the last day of the month, and then 'Hares' three times on waking the next morning" Three times? Well, that explains a lot. We also participated in the if you spill salt; throw salt over the left shoulder to strike the nasty evil spirits in the eye ritual. I spent a great deal of my life having an unnatural compulsion to pick up all pennies I found in fear of losing out on the luck to be had. If you find a penny face up, it's good luck if it's tails up, that's strange luck. I still knock on wood. That goes way back to my ancestors thinking that the gods lived in trees and knocking would wake them. Of course, upon being rudely awoken, the first thing they would want to do is lay some good luck on the awakener. I wood er, I mean I would. You'd really be pushing your luck with them. Then, you'd have quite a hard luck story. Better luck next time.

Where does luck come from? What does it want? Does it laugh at us when things become desperately stupid? I can only hope that if I make my own luck, I'll get better at it. As luck would have it, I've been practicing. With any luck, my talisman will arrive in the mail and my life will become a luck festival. Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!

Jennifer Jordan