Mar 20, 2017 Ellis suggests that the various prescriptions for securing an amulet from a rabbit are all 'backwards elements,' meaning that to create a totem of good luck, you have to basically do everything according to existing norms of bad luck. The person capturing it should be a redhead (bad luck) and cross-eyed (bad luck)! Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Genuine Rabbits Foot 12 Real Rabbit Feet a Dozen Natural Keychains Good Luck at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many.
Superstitions About Rabbits
What does a rabbit mean as a sign or omen? My wife and I were standing together as I was getting ready to leave for a very important business trip. We were waiting for a plane to pick me up to charter off for the meetings. We decided to take a walk next to the small airport. It is very remote with wheat fields and pasture all around. We noticed a jack rabbit in the distance. In a nut shell, while standing together watching the rabbit, he started towards us. He continued until he was only 4 or 5 feet in front us. He sat down and quietly observed us.
It felt as he looked each of us in the eyes… then he quietly left and ran into the pasture. One other important observation…. this jack rabbit had a split ear… His left ear for the entire length was split. Apparently from running under a barb wire fence that cut the ear as he(she) ran under it…
Casino slots online for real money. Both of us felt this an omen… a good omen…. What does it mean? Scott
In the Medicine Card Deck, Rabbit medicine is about fear. He is the Fear Caller. Here is the lesson. If you pulled Rabbit, stop talking about horrible things happening and get rid of 'what if' in your vocabulary. This card may signal a time of worry about the future or of trying to exercise your control over that which is not yet in form – the future. By focusing on your fears so strongly you can create them. STOP NOW! Write your fears down and be willing to feel them. Breathe into them, and feel them running through your body into Mother Earth as a give-away. Let go and allow all the positive things that life has to offer flow to you. Let go and Let God, Laura
The Rabbit means fertility and new life. Look for new things in your life in a 28 hours, days or weeks. If you are drawn by nature a good book to pick up is Animal Speaks. It is written by Ted Andrews and a interesting read. Hope this helps, Barbi
Rabbit's Foot – Lucky or Not?
What are your thoughts on rabbits? Like…. the rabbits foot or other bodily parts of rabbits. I have a reason for asking this. Lynn
Rabbit is known as 'fear caller'… those of us who work closely with energy prefer not to work with such objects… and in general it is unwise to focus one's attention – or 'luck' on any kind of charm because this just represents our fear that we may be unlucky… that said, the superstitions about rabbit's feet go back two centuries at least… when they were also thought to be healing, good for rheumatism. – some thought that rubbing a rabbit's foot on a newborn's face would ward off evil spirits… However, it was also said to be unlucky to kill a rabbit, so… who can say where the truth is… it's all about what you choose to believe. Lotsa LLLove, Danielle
Rabbit superstitions go back a long way….
The first thing to note is that rabbit is primarily referred to as a hare. However, in 1920 comes a little entry that puts the semantics into perspective:
'…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'
From 1922 comes this exerpt from a speech 'Coming on to midnight, gentlemen, he said:
‘I hope everybody here will remember to say ‘Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit' first thing in the morning.'
Hey, I thought rabbit was for night, hare was for morning! Well, we certainly can't leave it that simple – from 1953 comes this published bit of folklore:
'On the first day of the month when you wake up in the morning shout ‘White Rabbit' and when you go to bed at night shout ‘Black Rabbit' and you will have good luck.'
Aha ! – it's the colour that counts! From 1982:
'The first words you say for a lucky month are ‘White Rabbits.' If you can remember to say that twelve times a year, you'll have a very lucky year.' https://rvzp-bonus-deposit-2019-free-betrandom-casino-codes-no.peatix.com.
Notice the plural, rabbits – multiply the good luck?
Rabbits also for Bad Luck…
The superstitions surrounding these creatures are not always benign.
Wicked witches are supposed to be able to turn themselves into hares (or is that rabbits?). I guess they alternate with black cats – keep the villagers guessing. In old times, it was considered quite unclean to eat hares. From 1738:
'…'tis melancholy meat'.
From 1893 edition of Folklore comes this:
'Country people in Kerry don't eat hares; the souls of their grandmothers are supposed to have entered into them.'
Some big ones surround the hare/rabbit as a portender of fire. 1852:
'The running of a hare along the street or mainway of a village portends fire to some house in the immediate vicinity.'
From 1972 comes this retelling:
'I've heard about the hare running and a fire coming afterwards. In fact, an old character out this way used to reckon that they were bad luck to have run through your garden because you'd probably have your house on fire before the end of the year.'
Yikes! So, not to be victimized by this, from 1866 comes this story:
'On Saturday last, a foolish hare ventured from broad field and open pastures, to visit the city of Ely…she was hotly pursued…and when near the Bell Inn, she was laid by the heels by a stout walking stick. The fact being generally known, great consternation prevailed; many persons being certain that Ely was too be visited by a fire.' Good grief – poor rabbit!
Hares were just not good luck. Even just 'meeting' one could really mess up your day. From as far back as 1159 a version of the belief (I'm sure translated) says:
'You may ascertain the outcomes of your journeys from beasts…You are to avoid the hare; that is if it escape, for undoubtedly its fitting place is the table, not the road.' (Didn't they hear it was bad luck to eat the things too.)
1584: 'He that receiveth a mischance, wil consider whether he met not a. hare, when he first went out of his doores in the morning.'
1614 'How superstitiously we mind our evils!…the crossing of a hare of powre to daunt whole man in us.'
1822 'Neither Clawson's boat, nor Peter Grot's are out to the haaf this morning, for a rabbit ran across them as they were going on board, and they came back like wise men.' (Imagine calling that one in to your boss!)
So, we only get so many years of these superstitions left unchallenged. If this was so, then by 1875 we have these remedies:
'It is still bad luck to meet a hare, yet if you are unfortunate enough to do so, you can easily set matters right by spitting over your left shoulder, and saying, ‘Hare before, Trouble behind: Change ye, Cross, and free me,' or else by the still more simple charm which consists in touching each shoulder with your forefinger, and saying, ‘Hare, hare, God send thee care.' I have never heard of more than these two lines being used, and indeed I do not think that the old man who told me of them knew any more.'
By 1883, things began to get a little more specific. The concept of this poor hare/rabbit being lucky, in certain conditions, of course, is introduced.
'It is lucky to meet a hare, but unlucky to see it run across the path. Should it cross the path of a wayfarer from right to left, his journey will be disastrous; if it scuds along the way before him, the issue of his affairs will be doubtful for some time; but if it crosses from left to right it is a lucky token.'
This must have been the start of the lucky rabbits foot, although for the rabbit, maybe not so lucky – I wonder if the hare who lost the foot saw a rabbit cross it's path that day….hmmmm. 1972:
'I was driving out with a man the other day when a hare crossed the road: ‘Had that been my old father driving he'd have turned back and gone straight home,' said the car driver. He didn't. But I noticed that he drove with special care the rest of the way.'
Casino slots online for real money. Both of us felt this an omen… a good omen…. What does it mean? Scott
In the Medicine Card Deck, Rabbit medicine is about fear. He is the Fear Caller. Here is the lesson. If you pulled Rabbit, stop talking about horrible things happening and get rid of 'what if' in your vocabulary. This card may signal a time of worry about the future or of trying to exercise your control over that which is not yet in form – the future. By focusing on your fears so strongly you can create them. STOP NOW! Write your fears down and be willing to feel them. Breathe into them, and feel them running through your body into Mother Earth as a give-away. Let go and allow all the positive things that life has to offer flow to you. Let go and Let God, Laura
The Rabbit means fertility and new life. Look for new things in your life in a 28 hours, days or weeks. If you are drawn by nature a good book to pick up is Animal Speaks. It is written by Ted Andrews and a interesting read. Hope this helps, Barbi
Rabbit's Foot – Lucky or Not?
What are your thoughts on rabbits? Like…. the rabbits foot or other bodily parts of rabbits. I have a reason for asking this. Lynn
Rabbit is known as 'fear caller'… those of us who work closely with energy prefer not to work with such objects… and in general it is unwise to focus one's attention – or 'luck' on any kind of charm because this just represents our fear that we may be unlucky… that said, the superstitions about rabbit's feet go back two centuries at least… when they were also thought to be healing, good for rheumatism. – some thought that rubbing a rabbit's foot on a newborn's face would ward off evil spirits… However, it was also said to be unlucky to kill a rabbit, so… who can say where the truth is… it's all about what you choose to believe. Lotsa LLLove, Danielle
Rabbit superstitions go back a long way….
The first thing to note is that rabbit is primarily referred to as a hare. However, in 1920 comes a little entry that puts the semantics into perspective:
'…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'
From 1922 comes this exerpt from a speech 'Coming on to midnight, gentlemen, he said:
‘I hope everybody here will remember to say ‘Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit' first thing in the morning.'
Hey, I thought rabbit was for night, hare was for morning! Well, we certainly can't leave it that simple – from 1953 comes this published bit of folklore:
'On the first day of the month when you wake up in the morning shout ‘White Rabbit' and when you go to bed at night shout ‘Black Rabbit' and you will have good luck.'
Aha ! – it's the colour that counts! From 1982:
'The first words you say for a lucky month are ‘White Rabbits.' If you can remember to say that twelve times a year, you'll have a very lucky year.' https://rvzp-bonus-deposit-2019-free-betrandom-casino-codes-no.peatix.com.
Notice the plural, rabbits – multiply the good luck?
Rabbits also for Bad Luck…
The superstitions surrounding these creatures are not always benign.
Wicked witches are supposed to be able to turn themselves into hares (or is that rabbits?). I guess they alternate with black cats – keep the villagers guessing. In old times, it was considered quite unclean to eat hares. From 1738:
'…'tis melancholy meat'.
From 1893 edition of Folklore comes this:
'Country people in Kerry don't eat hares; the souls of their grandmothers are supposed to have entered into them.'
Some big ones surround the hare/rabbit as a portender of fire. 1852:
'The running of a hare along the street or mainway of a village portends fire to some house in the immediate vicinity.'
From 1972 comes this retelling:
'I've heard about the hare running and a fire coming afterwards. In fact, an old character out this way used to reckon that they were bad luck to have run through your garden because you'd probably have your house on fire before the end of the year.'
Yikes! So, not to be victimized by this, from 1866 comes this story:
'On Saturday last, a foolish hare ventured from broad field and open pastures, to visit the city of Ely…she was hotly pursued…and when near the Bell Inn, she was laid by the heels by a stout walking stick. The fact being generally known, great consternation prevailed; many persons being certain that Ely was too be visited by a fire.' Good grief – poor rabbit!
Hares were just not good luck. Even just 'meeting' one could really mess up your day. From as far back as 1159 a version of the belief (I'm sure translated) says:
'You may ascertain the outcomes of your journeys from beasts…You are to avoid the hare; that is if it escape, for undoubtedly its fitting place is the table, not the road.' (Didn't they hear it was bad luck to eat the things too.)
1584: 'He that receiveth a mischance, wil consider whether he met not a. hare, when he first went out of his doores in the morning.'
1614 'How superstitiously we mind our evils!…the crossing of a hare of powre to daunt whole man in us.'
1822 'Neither Clawson's boat, nor Peter Grot's are out to the haaf this morning, for a rabbit ran across them as they were going on board, and they came back like wise men.' (Imagine calling that one in to your boss!)
So, we only get so many years of these superstitions left unchallenged. If this was so, then by 1875 we have these remedies:
'It is still bad luck to meet a hare, yet if you are unfortunate enough to do so, you can easily set matters right by spitting over your left shoulder, and saying, ‘Hare before, Trouble behind: Change ye, Cross, and free me,' or else by the still more simple charm which consists in touching each shoulder with your forefinger, and saying, ‘Hare, hare, God send thee care.' I have never heard of more than these two lines being used, and indeed I do not think that the old man who told me of them knew any more.'
By 1883, things began to get a little more specific. The concept of this poor hare/rabbit being lucky, in certain conditions, of course, is introduced.
'It is lucky to meet a hare, but unlucky to see it run across the path. Should it cross the path of a wayfarer from right to left, his journey will be disastrous; if it scuds along the way before him, the issue of his affairs will be doubtful for some time; but if it crosses from left to right it is a lucky token.'
This must have been the start of the lucky rabbits foot, although for the rabbit, maybe not so lucky – I wonder if the hare who lost the foot saw a rabbit cross it's path that day….hmmmm. 1972:
'I was driving out with a man the other day when a hare crossed the road: ‘Had that been my old father driving he'd have turned back and gone straight home,' said the car driver. He didn't. But I noticed that he drove with special care the rest of the way.'
The rabbit's foot is the only 'really lucky entry' and they all say the same thing. Brush it on a new born babe to ward away evil spirits. The root of the use of the rabbit's foot is to ward off witchcraft.And finally, the sailors have their go here too. Sweet snap camera. No real surprises, not just bad luck but very bad luck should a hare , especially a dead hare show up on a ship, (bad weather). It would be very unlucky to go to sea with any part of a hare or rabbit about. 1939:
'If a fisherman from these places found a hare on his net he would burn it rather than go to sea with it.'
Young boys being what they are, used this particular belief to have a little fun. 1930:
'Stories are told all along the coast of mischievous boys getting hold of rabbit skins, filling them with rubbish and placing them in the sterns of boats, in order to stop the men from going to sea.' (A new take on 'Daddy, Daddy, please don't go…'.)
Those old Brits didn't see much as lucky – no wonder Bugs Bunny was an American invention. Until next time….
Our source, once again, is 'A Dictionary of Superstitions' Oxford press, edited by Iona Opie and Moira Tatem
Opossum – a reminder to use your head
My friend and U have been seeing a possum in the middle of the road, not dead, for the past three days, since she had gotten her license, and we were wondering what does it mean? Amanda
Casino addiction symptoms. In the Medicine Card book it says that opossum medicine is Diversion. You and your friend are being asked to use strategy in some present situation. Rely upon your instincts for the best way out of a tight corner. If you have to pretend to be apathetic or afraid, do it! Oftentimes of you refuse to struggle or show that hurtful words bother you, your taunter will see no further fun in the game. Opossum may be relaying to you that you are to expect the unexpected and be clever in achieving your victory. Opossum is beckoning you to use your brain, your sense of drama, and surprise – to leap over some barrier to your progress. Just be aware of your surroundings and stay on your toes. Love, Laura
And if you're feeling stuck by old patterns, old beliefs and ideas, Get a Reading.
Our psychics may have the insight you've been reaching for….
Raccoon penis bones. Vulture heads. Lucky pennies. A vast and eclectic array of amulets, talismans, and charms meant to bring good fortune to their owners have been put to use as long as humans have walked the planet. To the ancient Egyptians, images of the scarab beetle helped ward off evil. The Romans favored winged phalluses. Go to Turkey and you'll find the ‘evil eye' goggling protectively at you from shop windows, front doors, dashboards, bracelets, you name it. Christians the world over wear crucifixes. Gamblers and athletes are notorious for placing their faith in almost any object or act they feel is imbued with propitious mojo. The desire for divine or mystical protection against the host of harms out there spans all cultures and all times. But why a rabbit's foot? Why not the leg of a frog or the spleen of a porcupine?
In Europe, the tradition of carrying the foot of a rabbit probably stems from ancient totemic beliefs that humans descended from animals, and particular tribes had their origins in specific species. A tribe worshiped its animal ancestor, and carried parts of that animal as protective totems.
The Celts, by around 600 B.C., are known to have associated rabbits with good fortune- the whole rabbit, not just the foot. According to Celtic folklore, the fact that rabbits lived in burrows deep underground meant that they were in direct communication with the gods and spirits of the underworld.
From here, it isn't clear whether this contributed to the very modern practice of the lucky rabbit's foot that popped up around the turn of the twentieth century in America. These Celtic beliefs did evolve somewhat, carrying over into certain other European cultures. For instance, in the 16th century, there is a work by Reginald Scot that mentions that a good way to ease the pain of arthritis was to carry around a rabbit's foot.
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It's possible this was then blended with aspects of African American folk magic. Or, it may be that the specific lucky rabbit's foot tradition simply came from traditions in the African folk magic that were unrelated to the European traditions associated with the rabbit. We just don't have the hard documented evidence to be able to discern the exact lineage. But, in either case, it is generally thought that African folk magic played a role in the modern tradition, and possibly is the most direct ancestor to the superstition.
Lucky Rabbit's Foot
In hoodoo (note: not voodoo), which was an American mash-up of African folk spirituality and certain European traditions, a rabbit's foot came to be a common item used for various things. Probably from this, around the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, rabbit's feet started being associated among the wider populace more exclusively with luck. Not just any foot would do, however. In an example of counterintuitive magic, what folklorist Bill Ellis terms 'reverse elements,' the more inauspicious the circumstances surrounding the origins of the foot, the better. The left rear foot was favored, left being the ‘evil' side. (Our word 'sinister' derives from the Latin 'sinistra,' meaning 'left'. It was also once believed that left handedness was the result of the Devil and that lefties were predisposed to evil behaviors.)
Ellis quotes an early advertisement that takes these reverse elements to the level of the absurd, purporting that the owner was selling,
'…the left hind foot of a rabbit killed in a country churchyard at midnight, during the dark of the moon, on Friday the 13th of the month, by a cross-eyed, left handed, red-headed, bow-legged Negro riding a white horse.'
All of these elements, of course, were considered ominous if not downright evil, but they made the rabbit's foot even more potent as an agent of good.
Another characteristic of the rabbit that probably made it such a widespread symbol of luck is its well-known and prodigious breeding habits. Indeed, there are references to rabbits feet being carried around to aid in fertility before they were associated so strongly with luck.
And before you start smugly thinking the rabbit's foot is just yet another example of superstitious mumbo-jumbo given credence to by our silly ancestors, remember that even today many buildings skip a 13th floor (or 4th in some East Asian cultures), many airlines don't have a row 13 on their aircraft, and, if possible, a surprising amount of people avoid holding important meetings, events, or trips on Friday the 13th. We're more superstitious than we'd like to admit even today, and that, knock on wood, is unlikely to change any time soon… Humans, right?
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Bonus Fact:
Are Rabbits Good Luck Or Bad Luck
- If you're wondering why rabbits are considered such prolific breeders, it has less to do with them getting it on more than many other animals, necessarily, and more to do with the time frames involved in the process of producing new rabbits. A baby rabbit becomes sexually mature in an average of just about 5-6 months, and sometimes even sooner. They can potentially live up to around 10 years. Further, it takes only around a month from the point of getting pregnant for a female rabbit to give birth. Their litters can include as many as a dozen rabbits! What makes this even more astounding is that the female rabbit can get pregnant as soon as the next day after giving birth. Rabbits are induced ovulators, so the females are pretty much ready to get pregnant anytime they mate (assuming they aren't already pregnant), with the mating triggering the ovulation. Needless to say, even just a single female can give birth to several dozen baby rabbits per year. Given this, combined with the fact that the babies are ready to make babies at the stage when most human offspring are still mostly just poop and drool factories, you can see how rabbits got this reputation.
- The Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, Charles Panati, William Morrow Paperbacks (1989)
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