The strangest superstitions - what's bad luck and what's lucky

 A belief is born into a conviction, and although most people consider superstition to be mere superstition, they secretly wonder if there is any spark of truth in it. Fear of various forces, for which it is difficult to find a rational explanation, created beliefs that protected against evil and that produced good. This magical thinking created religion on the one hand and superstition on the other.


While religions have survived, superstition and superstition have been 'invaded' by rational thinking. Meanwhile, paradoxically, many superstitions have a logical justification and even several explanations. As in the case of the unlucky thirteenth, feared by Poles. It was on Friday the thirteenth that the Master of the Templar Order was murdered for money. The last supper was eaten by the twelve apostles and the thirteenth was Judas.
The mysterious nature of the cat has led to supernatural qualities being attributed to it. The cat crossing the road frightens Italians and Poles.  The English, Irish and Japanese conversely, there a black kitten is good luck. And observing the behaviour of this animal, heralds a certain weather. In America, the cat must be white when you meet it in the evening, bad luck. However, when you dream of it, fly straight away to play the money lottery. In Germany, a black cat should run from left to right; when it's the other way around, the German does a U-turn and makes up the road. When in France and coincidentally with a cat under your arm, avoid rivers. Crossing, even over a bridge, is certain death. When the cat suddenly disappears from the house, everyone is about to get sick, even though he had something else on his mind.

Many superstitions are related to numbers; in China, eight is good luck, prosperity, but four is not.
The English count crows; one - mourning, two - good luck, three - life without financial obligations, four - wealth, five - illness, and six - certain death. Meanwhile, in Russia, forty days a distant family must wait to meet a new family member. This is how long it takes for him or her to receive a soul. Only the parents and the midwife have access.

In Japan, four - shi, pronounced to mean death, is in vain on the fourth floor, for example, of any building. For similar reasons, seventeen in Italy, which in the Roman notation, means - I lived, if it appears on a Friday - total disaster, Seventeen in Swedish is a terrible vulgar bluster. But four in Italian is fine, indeed in Polish too - a four-leaf clover. Seven in many countries is a friendly number, only not knowing why it is said - like seven misfortunes.

Many superstitions "apply" in many countries together: watch out for doorsteps, spilled salt, people knock on wood, but Italians, for a change, iron. Beliefs can be inexplicable. In Turkey, if you don't spit out your chewing gum before dusk, it turns into a corpse. A Japanese man captured in a photograph, in the middle, between two people, can expect the worst. There, a samurai doused accidentally by a geisha, with water after washing his hands, will not live to see three years; indeed, few samurai survive even without this.
Russians are careful with gifts, flowers only in odd numbers and not yellow (infidelity). And gifted knives are enemies, scarves - tears alone, clocks - certain divorces. Don't sit on the corner of the table or try to whistle in the house - poverty as nothing.

Europeans don't walk under ladders, don't break mirrors, use church bells to ward off evil spirits, to this day. Evil spirits lurk everywhere, if you leave your wet pants in China overnight, outside, inevitably in the morning the evil spirits are already there. To get rid of them, the Italians escort the deceased to the cemetery by one route and return by another, in order to confuse the ghost cleverly, as there is no going home. The Japanese hide their thumbs in a flash at the sight of a cemetery procession, as their parents may soon depart this world. Evil spirits in Greece have no chance of entering a house unless there is a cactus in front of the entrance. You are in a Polish hospital, if the flowers you receive are white and red and you see them in the same vase, you are dead. Anyway, it's not recommended to take flowers out of the hospital because you might not come back from it next time.  And what's a poor Chinese man who is eating noodles supposed to say. He might choke because if he tries to cut it short, he will cut his life short. English people are not allowed to go bald, because baldness brings home loss, death of a child and total financial collapse. This is probably why toupees (wigs) are so popular.

We could go on forever with these examples. If one were to collect them, it would make a book bigger than the Bible.
Sometimes it is easier to grab a button at the sight of a chimney sweep than to think rationally. The success of these superstitions and superstitions, lies in the power of faith. For further on man, encounters problems he cannot, cannot, does not want to understand. Witchcraft works, it allows the status quo to be preserved as such in the struggle against bad luck. Superstition is innocent as long as it does not affect the lives of others; this is not always the case. Superstition's big sister, religion, still divides people, causes tension and unrest.

What colour is your aura?

 Is the aura an image of a bioelectric field that can be seen felt, controlled? Or is it just a bizarre invention?
What colour is your aura?

And what is it? You didn't even suppose you had one? Not surprisingly, for most people the aura is invisible...if it exists at all. Those who believe in its existence claim that it is a kind of electromagnetic or bioelectric field surrounding every living organism. According to proponents of the existence of the aura, its colour or otherwise power can reflect one's personality, mood or state of health. There is no scientific evidence conclusively confirming or denying the aura. But it seems that the group of people who believe in the existence of the aura is slowly growing. The most commonly cited evidence for its existence is the Kirlian experiment and the photograph of the aura itself. However, any conclusions from such photographs are still an open question.

Here are links to websites with a wealth of information that may help you form your own opinion about the aura:

On the website How To See and Read the Aura,( How to See and Read the Aura) Dr. Tom J. Chalko maintains a rather comprehensive website. Through it, he explains that one can learn to consciously influence the human bioelectric field, or in other words, one's aura by means of meditation and concentration exercises. According to Dr Chalko, in this way - by controlling the aura - one can influence the body's self-healing process. In another tab of the website, Dr Chalko presents examples of bioelectrography (which is very reminiscent of Kirlian photography). In his view, it shows the 'intelligent and coherent exchange of electrical information' from which life is built.

There are websites of small companies offering to photograph a client's aura for a fee (so-called aura imaging - 'aura imagining') using a special camera. One such company is Aura Imagining (link does not work). According to the company, their camera works on the level of the chakras, and the picture would have to be taken two or three times a year. This is probably due to the fact that they paid dearly for their camera, in addition to offering models for sale on their website for as little as ten thousand dollars apiece. Their photos are not Kirlian photographs, however, they show a portrait of the photographed person surrounded by a rainbow cloud. True Kirlian photographs are created without the use of a camera. However, even Dr Chalko, in broadcasts and programmes, strongly questions the reliability of the aura cameras mentioned. Dr Chalko claims that they will take a picture of the aura even if the person who is supposed to produce the aura is not in the picture.

A company called Auras and Energy ('Auras and Energy') analyses the colours of the aura, explaining the meaning of each colour. The company will also advise on how to sense one's own aura with one's (previously sensitised) hands and how to cleanse one's energy field using salt, water, baking soda and Epsom salt. Why all the fuss? On his page "The Importance of a Healthy Aura", Dr Dee explains that "the aura is the simplest and most effective way to draw and accumulate energy, which can then be used". The site provided also offers information on how to heal one's own aura through proper nutrition or some type of laser therapy.

On Robert Bruce's SpiritWeb site, one can come across a lot of precise information regarding the aura. As Bruce states, the aura "is both an energy field and a representation of the subtle life energy located in the body". In addition, he explains why most people do not see the aura and presents methods that will enable you to see it. Exercises from the See Auras website ('see auras', link does not work) show two steps to discover the 'human energy field', made up of seven layers. As stated, the exercises require some practice, but you can do it yourself.

As for the sceptical approach, it is worth reading the entry on auras in the Skeptic's Dictionary. There you will find not only a lot of introductory information on the subject, but also a challenge to the assumption that the aura is supposed to reflect health. Furthermore, it is highlighted that even among proponents of the aura theory, there is no consensus on what colour would correspond to a particular health condition. Another website that questions the issue of auras is Human Auras and Energy Fields, where the validity of Kirlian's photograph (experiment) and other attempts to photograph auras are questioned, as well as the testimony of those who claim to be able to sense or see auras.

What do you think? Is the aura merely an invention? Is it an actual bioelectric field that can be seen, felt, controlled? Just as we go to a chiropractor today to have us adjusted, will we one day go to an aura therapist to have it fixed?