Lucky symbols

Forward this page to seven of your friends, and it is GUARANTEED not to make the slightest difference to your luck!

It's bad luck to be superstitious

Triple seven winning line on a slot machine

Wedding rings

Four-Leaf Clover

Crossed fingers

Horseshoe Cross

Some people feel blessed with serendipity and see 'luck' as a force that operates for good, or otherwise, in shaping circumstances or offering opportunities. It is a chance happening beyond a person's control yet there is a natural urge to try to control things so we can improve good luck, or at least avoid bad luck. Lucky Charms, Lucky Symbols and Lucky Rituals are used in an attempt to achieve this.

Many of these are mentioned in this website and include:

...and it's rather absurd to believe that any of these things can influence luck.

What is luck?

Some things in life can never be influenced. The place one was born in, for example, is fixed in history. You may feel it was lucky to be born into a wealthy, stable, loving family environment, or unlucky to have been born as a gnat. Or not. But no sane person would expect a lucky charm to change things that have happened in the past.

Accidents happen, good or bad, and certain people are accidentally caught up in those circumstances. That is chance. Or luck, if you prefer that word - it means the same. As irrational as it may be, the accident becomes personal and the person feels lucky (or unlucky).

If a person really does want good luck - and let's be honest, who doesn't? - then we need to find the source of luck and try to understand it. Otherwise, throwing salt over our shoulder is a waste of time. And salt.

Whatever 'luck' is, this cause of accidents that becomes personal, it is certainly not an entity that we can control with mere symbols. We are talking about a spiritual essence that needs a spiritual response from ourselves if we wish to influence its direction. And for a religious person, this obviously points to prayer. 

Aids for improving luck

Prayer can be accompanied by a 'lucky charm', be it a rosary, a cross, location, time of day, etc. But these are merely props or prompts. The prayer must come from the heart of the person. A lucky charm has no supplicating ability to pray on our behalf.

Some argue that certain items (relics for example), or rituals (Holy Communion for example) are blessed. Sceptics dismiss this since such things have no soul to be occupied spiritually. And the debate goes on.

For the simple minded there are the mass-produced 'lucky charms' sold at inflated prices to people who believe such items hold mystical power, without thinking just when and where in the manufacturing process any mystical power might be infused.

An expensive gem encrusted cross is as powerless as one made from straw. Hail Marys will not improve one's fortune, neither will observing Ramadan, Feng shui-ing the furniture arrangement in your bedroom, being vegetarian, being circumcised, teetotal, or following any of the host of other things we feel led to observe. At best they are placebos, encouraging a more positive outlook that helps to recognize and seize good opportunities that present themselves. (See also superstitions)

¶ If, and only if, luck can be influenced, then it is only a similar essence (such as prayer) that can influence it. And if God, or whoever we pray to, does not want such an event to be influenced, then there really is nothing we can do about it.

And if we can't do anything about it then certainly a rabbit's foot has no chance!

Having said that, here's an unlikely story about a very lucky rabbit...

The Rabbit

😄

A man is driving along and sees a rabbit jump out across the middle of the road. He swerves to avoid hitting it, but unfortunately the animal leaps right in front of the car. Smack!

The driver, a sensitive man as well as an animal lover, pulls over and gets out to see what has become of the rabbit.

Much to his dismay, not only is the animal dead but he recognises it as a hispid hare; a protected species listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List. The driver feels so awful that he begins to cry. An angel driving down the road sees him crying and pulls over. She steps out of the car and asks the man what's wrong.

"I feel terrible," he explains, "I accidentally hit this hare and killed it."

The angel says, "Don't worry." She returns to her car and pulls out a spray can. Then she walks over to the limp, dead hare, bends down, and sprays the contents onto the hare.

The hare jumps up, waves its paw at the two of them and hops off down the road. Ten feet away the hare stops, turns around and waves again. He hops down the road waving constantly until he hops out of sight.

The man is astonished; runs over to the angel and demands, "What is in that can? What did you spray on that hare?"

The angel turns the can around so that the man can read the label:

"Hair Spray - Restores life to dead hair, adds permanent wave."

Hair one-liners:

  • Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like.
  • Eclipse (i'klips) n.: What a barber does for a living.
  • Balderdash (boldur'dash) n.: a rapidly receding hairline.

Where a person has no communion with God, then life for them simply appears coloured with good luck and bad luck. Prov. 16:33, Eph. 1:11, Ps. 115 and Isa. 46:9-11 argue that all events in life are controlled by God.

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