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A Dynamic Balance of Opposites

Posted on February 8, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

We all know symbols are everywhere, but how often do we actually stop to think about them? Last week’s posts were about divination symbols. Continuing on with that, today I’ll take a look at the I Ching. The I Ching is all about the dynamic balance of opposites — those forces beyond our control. And where have you heard that before?

Luck.

The symbols of I Ching go way back– long before recorded history. With the trigrams (symbols) involved, the I Ching is considered the oldest book of divination. According to lore, this dynamic balance of opposites was conceived by the first of the Three Sovereigns, Fu Xi. The Three Sovereigns were mythological god-kings or demigods who ruled China from approximately 2852 to 2205 B.C.E. Sovereign Fu Xi is similar to the Egyptian proto-god Thoth, for he too brought writing, etc to his people.

According to legend, Fu Xi received his insight into the I Ching in the arrangement of markings on the back of a mythical dragon-horse living in the river Luo. Some versions of this myth say the I Ching appeared on the back of a turtle. A side note: calligraphy appeared the very same way.

A point to ponder: When so many cultures share striking similarities in their mythology, it shows you just how ancient these stories are. Compare the lives of Jesus to Osiris/Dionysus and Buddha sometime. Same details, different men. I find that fascinating.

The I Ching

Coins with markings are the popular tool for reading I Ching today. Still in use, though less popular, are yarrow staves (dried stalks of the yarrow plant). Modern coins or ancient staves are cast and the symbols, or kua, are read. You start with hexagrams comprised of six stacked horizontal lines. These lines are either a Yang –a solid line, or a Yin — a broken line with a gap in the center. The yin (female energy) and yang (male energy) represent the duality in life. The various combinations of lines in each hexagram represent states of change.

When the lines are stacked, you get 64 possible combinations leading to 64 hexagrams. Like the runes (see previous post), each one means something. Basically, it goes like this: an unbroken line symbolizes the positive/yes and the broken line symbolizes the negative/no and these two primary forces in the universe affect the energy of all living things.

This is an excellent step by step example of I Ching being read:

Just for fun ~ Get your I Ching read.

Tomorrow ~ More!

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The 4th of the month is my blog day at Romance Books ‘4’ Us. I posted part of the 2016 Symbol Series there and it’s still easy to find. The topic is palmistry and a bit more. Come see!

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/2016/02/high-five-by-rose-anderson.html

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Words Worth Mentioning for February

“Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”
~Henry Ward Beecher

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged allegory, apotropaic luck charm, baby names, birth stones, blogging, body language, Cartomancy, cemetery, characters in literature, Descriptive names, Eskimo, Extended Metaphor, Greek mythology, groundhog, Inuit, language, literary characters, luck charms, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, palmistry, Punxsutawney Phil, Romance, Rose Anderson, situational body language, symbology, Tarot, tasseography, Victorian cemetery, Writing | 2 Comments

Your guess is as good as mine #FridayReads

Posted on February 5, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

If you’ve been visiting my blog, you know I’ve been covering symbols and sharing the best of the resources I’ve found. If you’re a writer, I hope you’ve found useful things here. If you’re a reader, I hope you’ve been entertained! There’s a lot more to come.

I just love things that represent things and I tuck them into my stories for fun. I’ll play with names and occupations. Sometimes I’ll tuck things here and there in the decor of a room or symbolically color the weather in a scene. Elements of philosophy sit in the background like patterns on wallpaper, and of course, as is the way of all fiction and fiction authors, my books are peppered with elements of my life and personality. I’ll even play with the food on my character’s plates! It’s a game I’ve created for my readers, but I also do it to amuse myself because I read too and I know I’d love to find things in the stories I read.

Every so often, a reader will write to say they’ve found something and ask did I mean it that way. That brings me such joy. I like being reminded I’m not the only square peg in this world of round holes. 🙂

Things Representing Things

Regarding things representing things, observing natural phenomena for clues goes back to our earliest hunter-gatherer-scavenger days. A certain sky could mean poor or favorable weather. A certain animal or food could poison you. Certain animal behaviors could signal great change like earthquakes. These are just a few. Over time, a mantic method arose that was meant to find prophetic significance in these routine observations of the environment. We’ve all heard the terms omens, portents, signs of the times. All this falls under the heading of Augury.

Augury
noun ~ the art or practice of an augur for divination.

In Ancient Rome, officials known as augurs were charged with observing and interpreting omens for guidance in public affairs. Interpreting the will of the gods was necessary, for whether or not the gods approved upon a course of action determined whether or not you’d do it. You never wanted to displeased the gods. Everyone knew if you did, the gods might hit you with wild weather, or worse, with cataclysmic events like, volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis. After all, look what they did to poor Prometheus.

Augurs often looked to the sky and consulted their charts. It was important to note where an unusual occurrence took place in the dome of the sky because location held significance. A heavy storm with a lot of lightning was naturally a sign from Zeus or Odin. But a heavy storm with lightning in the west or in the southern part of the sky might mean something completely different.

Aside from weather attributes, the gods and goddesses across cultures all had their animal attributes – Zeus and Odin’s animal was the eagle. Apollo and the Norse god Tyr shared the wolf, Artemis the bear, and so on. These were symbolic stand-ins for the gods in person. People believed unusual animal behaviors not only foretold the future, they hinted at which god or goddess might bless or take offense in your governing.
For example: Eagles making particular patterns of flight in a certain quadrant of the sky obviously said something. Wolves or bears too near to the village must hold meaning too. This type of observation might also involve a ritual to get it right. Animals might be sacrificed or simply scrutinized. The examination of scat, entrails, blood spatters etc just might hint at a deity’s mind. Crazy stuff, but when “Your guess is as good as mine” doesn’t tell you much, you have to think of something.

“Again, during a sacrifice, the augur Spurinna warned Caesar that the danger threatening him would not come later than the Ides of March.”
~Suetonius

Monday ~ More!

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The 4th of the month is my blog day at Romance Books ‘4’ Us. I posted part of the 2016 Symbol Series there and it’s still posted. The topic is palmistry and a bit more. Come see!

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/2016/02/high-five-by-rose-anderson.html

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Words Worth Mentioning for February

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”
~William Shakespeare, Mid-Summer Night’s Dream

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Blogging at Romance Books ‘4’ Us today #MFRWAuthor

Posted on February 4, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

It’s the 4th of the month and my blog day at Romance Books ‘4’ Us. I’m continuing the 2016 Symbol Series there with palmistry and more. Come see!

http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/2016/02/high-five-by-rose-anderson.html

Tomorrow ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for February

“Our distrust is very expensive. “
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Hangin’ High #humpday

Posted on February 3, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

If this is your first time here, I’m in the middle of my 2016 Symbol Series. Scroll down for an explanation and previous posts.

In the Old Norse eddic poem, Hávamál (The sayings of the high one), Odin sacrificed himself for knowledge by hanging himself from the world tree, Yggdrasil. Read Odin’s own words about it:

I know that I hung On the wind-blasted tree All of nights nine, Pierced by my spear And given to Odin, Myself sacrificed to myself On that pole Of which none know Where its roots run. No aid I received, Not even a sip from the horn. Peering down, I took up the runes – Screaming I grasped them – Then I fell back from there.

Before I continue, it’s important to note just what the world tree represents. Around the world, cultures (past and present) have symbolic trees said to support or reach the heavens. Among shamans, the tree can be climbed to ascend there. To the ancient Norse, Yggdrasil is a symbol of the nine realms of existence–the roots in the lower realms, the crown in the upper realms, and the trunk where life as we know it exists.

To go after the knowledge flowing through the World Tree is quite the quest. To do this, Odin prepared himself fasting and thirsting for nine days. (Nine plays large in symbolism and I’ll cover it another day.) Odin often speared himself or starved himself in his quest to know, for no sacrifice is too great for knowledge. He even plucked out his own eye in exchange for water holding the wisdom of the ages. On this occasion he hung himself from the tree and, according to the edda, made a sacrifice of himself to himself.

Click here for beautifully made runes of all sorts. The artist is an actual Rune Mage and does personalized rune readings.
Tell him Rose Anderson sent you.
He’ll treat you right. 🙂

In agonizing self-abuse, Odin grew mindless and parched. His suffering was made worse by the fact the Well of Urd lay below the tree. (The same well holding the water he sacrificed his eye for.) In his delirium, he began to notice repeating symbols where twigs crossed in the branches. Before long their meanings became clear. He had found the runes.

Mythology aside, the runes are very similar to old italic alphabets found throughout the Mediterranean such as Greek, Etruscan, and Roman. This makes sense. Able seamen, the Norse went everywhere and gleaned knowledge from their travels. They were also big on destiny, and believed the runes were an extremely potent means of redirecting one’s charted course. In such divination, each rune represents the forces of nature and the mind, and each has meaning and esoteric properties associated with it.

With slight variations, the oldest form of the runic alphabet is the Elder Futhark that was used by the Germanic tribes of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Northern Germany. The name futhark is derived from the first 6 letters in the runic sequence: F, U, Th, A, R and K. Just like we refer to our alphabet as the ABC’s. And like the alphabet, runes have phonetic values.
Just for fun:
Write your name in runes.

Tomorrow ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for February

“This is the nature of genius, to be able to grasp the knowable even when no one else recognizes that it is present.”
~Deepak Chopra

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged allegory, apotropaic luck charm, baby names, birth stones, blogging, body language, Cartomancy, cemetery, characters in literature, Descriptive names, Eskimo, Extended Metaphor, Greek mythology, groundhog, Inuit, language, literary characters, luck charms, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, Punxsutawney Phil, Romance, Rose Anderson, situational body language, symbology, Tarot, tasseography, Victorian cemetery, Writing | Leave a comment

Big thoughts #TuesdayBookBlog

Posted on February 2, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

Words are symbols for thoughts. I know, I’m a writer. If you’ve been here before, you’ll know I often mention that I love words for the symbols they are. Words have power. This is why they have the ability to soothe or stimulate, to conjure and encourage, to maim and destroy. Words should always be chosen carefully.

I came across a book not long ago–Speeches That Changed the World by Simon Sebag Monteffiore. With their carefully chosen words, these speeches are considered to have changed the course of history. Not all of them come from rational or kind minds but they are powerful nonetheless. Some of those speeches were obviously dangerous in their day, yet they compelled people to act regardless. On this side of those world events, I think they’re worth a read if for no other reason than to remember nationalism and pride of country are two completely different things.

Words as symbols

Did you ever hear the phrase Eskimos have a 1000 words for snow? The statement is only partially true. First off, the indigenous peoples of the icy north are the Inuit and the Yupik and they speak a variety of languages with multiple dialects that fall under the umbrella of “Eskimo–Aleut”. I don’t know about 1000 words for snow, but they have a heck of a lot of words for ice. And the curious thing about it all, there are really just a handful of root words used.

Many Native American languages are polysynthetic, meaning they tend to be long because their root word is added onto with descriptor words and extra bits of nuance.
For example: Picture the word blackberry. It’s a black berry. Blackberry is a polysynthetic word.

So how many roots for snow do the Inuit have? Contrary to the myth, there are basically two: qanik for snow in the air, and aput for snow on the ground. To these add descriptors for fluffy snow, slushy snow, clumping snow, snowdrift snow, igloo-building snow, and so on. Some snow/ice words can be very long when all is said and done.

Linguist K. David Harrison, a leading specialist in the study of endangered languages, has written several books on the subject. The two I’ve read are fascinating reads. In The Last Speakers: The Quest to Save the World’s Most Endangered Languages, he mentions how impressively vast, rich, and complex the Yupik language is. These peoples have words for at least 99 distinct sea ice formations. Yep, 99 words for sea ice! All I can think of is iceberg.

In The Last Speakers, Harrison refers to the Yupik language as packaging. I interpret this as packaging for thought. Imagine root words built up with the added details of experience. By packaging words, you get the whole picture down to minute detail and all presented in a useful and usable form. Where we might say melting ice pack, the Yupik language offers a single built-up word that means something like this: “Crushed ice beginning to spread out; dangerous to walk on. The ice is dissolving, but still has not dispersed in water, although it is vulnerable for one to fall through and to sink. Sometimes seals can even surface on this ice because the water is starting to appear.”

Whew. That’s a mouthful.

Those differences would be ultra important when your environment is that harsh. The slightest difference to the quality and tone of snow/ice/wind/weather could cost you big time. This old “Eskimo” documentary shows you just how harsh.

Language is truly amazing, even more so when you realize it’s all symbolic representation for thought. I just might do a whole blog series on that sometime.
🙂

Tomorrow ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for January

“People who don’t cherish their elderly have forgotten whence they came and whither they go. “
~Ramsey Clark

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged allegory, apotropaic luck charm, baby names, birth stones, blogging, body language, Cartomancy, cemetery, characters in literature, Descriptive names, Eskimo, Extended Metaphor, Greek mythology, groundhog, Inuit, language, literary characters, luck charms, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, Punxsutawney Phil, Romance, Rose Anderson, situational body language, symbology, Tarot, tasseography, Victorian cemetery, Writing | Leave a comment

Adages & Groundhogs #MondayBlogs

Posted on February 1, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

I saw a breathtaking sunrise full of flaming color this past Saturday. I knew I could never do it justice by snapping a picture of it, so I just stood at the window and watched. And you know what thought went through my head? Uh oh.

As a child, I’d heard the old adage Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Red sky as night, sailor’s delight. Back then, I wondered how the heck old sailors would know something like that without benefit of weathermen and science to tell them what’s what.

There are many sayings based upon observation and they’re found all over the world. Through observation, experience, and the passage of time, these sayings have become general truths which, more times than not, come to pass. Because we look for their symbolic meanings, these adages are divination tools of a different sort.
And so, the 2016 Symbol Series continues!

The few weather adages I know:

A ring around the sun or moon, means rain or snow is coming soon.
When leaves show their undersides, be very sure that rain betides.
Evening red and morning grey, two sure signs of one fine day.

Old farmer adages also ring true…

Plant when the oak leaves are the size of a squirrel’s ear.
The corn should be knee-high by the 4th of July.
Make hay while the sun shines.

A few other observations to divine with:

Few foxes this year mean more rabbits next year.
Gold fish and toads act strange before an earthquake
Thick coats on animals is a sure signal for cold winter.
Some people even look to woolly bear caterpillars for their forecast.

Throughout mankind’s time on earth, and especially with the advent of agriculture, people living close with their environment needed to know things– things like when to plant and harvest, when animals might be leaving their dens, and when weather might turn bad. They watched for subtle signs around them and deduced information from their observations. Example: If winter hibernating animals were suddenly making an appearance, you knew spring was officially in the air.

Funny thing about spring– it has a mind of its own. Sometimes spring is very much underway in March, sometimes winter pushes us all the way to June. That hit or miss observation led to a long-held tradition here in the states.

Hint #1: It originated with German farmers and the first recorded reference of it turns up in 1841.
Hint#2: A movie was made where actor Bill Murray was stuck in it until he became a better person.

Have you guessed it?

Divination by groundhog.

On February 2, 1887, in Punxsutawney Pennsylvania, several businessmen and groundhog hunters met at Gobbler’s Knob. Businessmen and groundhog hunters. Were they business men who also hunted groundhogs, or groundhog hunters meeting up with businessmen on Gobbler’s Knob? The world may never know.
🙂
Anyway…they called themselves the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club and they met because they had a publicity stunt in mind.

To great fanfare, they rudely woke a hibernating groundhog to see if he saw his shadow. The idea was if the little guy did see it, he’d be frightened that winter was still upon him and return to his burrow to sleep until spring. Of course this would mean winter would last as long as winter generally lasts at that point on the calendar — another six weeks.
But, if the groundhog wanted to sniff around and eat, then his hibernation period was ending anyway and winter was officially over. This annual stunt is based upon an old country German observation regarding animals leaving their dens early.

Tomorrow is the big day. In my area we are expecting snow, ice, and rain in the forecast. In Punxsutawney Phil’s neck of the woods, they have clouds slated for February 2nd. I think the groundhog will say we’re going to have an early spring. I say leave the little guy alone. Still, I’m ready for spring.

Tomorrow ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for January

“For some, pleasure is a fever they can’t shake. For others, it’s a disease they cannot seem to catch.”
~Terri Guillemets

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged allegory, apotropaic luck charm, baby names, birth stones, blogging, body language, Cartomancy, cemetery, characters in literature, Descriptive names, Extended Metaphor, Greek mythology, groundhog, literary characters, luck charms, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, Punxsutawney Phil, Romance, Rose Anderson, situational body language, symbology, Tarot, tasseography, Victorian cemetery, Writing | Leave a comment

Luck of the draw #FridayReads

Posted on January 29, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

From lucky rabbit’s foot to a horseshoe nailed over the door, symbols of good fortune come in all shapes and sizes and materials. Some are deeply rooted in culture and represent generic or personal beliefs. Some are there just for fun. For the next few days, I’ll be delving into these interesting and curious symbols of good luck. Today ~ cards. I like cards.

I grew up in a neighborhood full of boys and learned how to play cards. I never learned pinochle, but I did learn blackjack and poker. Our poker games always had outrageous wildcard combinations: Ace-y Duce-y (aces and 2’s), boxcars (6’s), or puppy toes(the 3 of clubs). I still enjoy poker, though my husband teases me about wanting to play wildcard games. In his neighborhood they played cutthroat poker–not a single puppy toe among them. How boring.

Interesting thing about cards, people also use them to divine the future. My husband’s grandmother read fortunes off a deck of regular old playing cards exactly like a Tarot deck. She once told him a person with red hair was going to change his life. Ha! Now that’s an understatement.

Card reading is called Cartomancy or seeing with cards

I have a friend who is an accomplished tarot card reader. One afternoon she spread the cards for me and read them. I had no grand question in mind, but as I was not yet published, I asked if I’d publish my magnum opus (MO) that year. The MO is my unnamed series I’ve been writing for years. The cards said no. I asked about publishing my children’s books. No. I asked about my historical youth novels. No. She said perhaps I’d publish a book I hadn’t written yet. I was knee-deep in the 5th book of the MO. In my mind the only book I’d be writing next was book 6. If I didn’t publish 1 to 5 first, how could I publish 6?

She read the cards again with that new question and they said yes. Ok, even I knew I’d get published eventually. I asked her when. She did a different spread that showed the passage of time. The cards said I’d be contracted with a publisher at the very end of the year, but not for anything I’d written up to that point. Like I said, I only saw book 6 in my future. Several months later, I had a synchronistic week that put me on this romance author’s path (a path I never envisioned for myself). In three days time I’d crafted an edgy novel designed to get noticed and submitted it. On December 29th, I received my contract. A true story and very odd.

The Tarot
When we think of fortunetelling we often go to the Hollywood version where Gypsies turn over the Hanged Man or Death cards and act like you’re doomed. But the history of tarot is much more interesting than that. The tarot, or tarocchi/tarock popped up in Europe in the mid-15th century. The decks themselves were symbols of the Renaissance–the cultural movement that sought to shake off an over-reaching and corrupt church and return to the philosophical glory of classical Greece and Rome. Hidden in the cards were references to the societal ideals of those times. Later, tarot became associated with esoteric groups like the Rosicrucians and Freemasons. And after that, the Victorian era made them popular again and they became the classic tarot cards we recognize today. The Victorians were very much into romanticism, mysticism, occultism, and spiritualism. They were also into death observances and seances. Tarot was one more way to capture a glimpse of the unknown.

When you look at today’s tarot cards, it’s important to remember there are many styles out there and their authors and artists have dreamed up many interpretations –everything from angel decks to animal decks and more. Most have no similarities to the original decks and meanings whatsoever.

The tarot deck has two types of cards in the deck called the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana. Arcana, in case you’ve never heard that word before, comes from the Latin Arcanum meaning things hidden. The 56 cards called the Minor Arcana are divided into four suits that correspond to conventional playing card suits of hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds. Each tarot suit has fourteen cards consisting of four face cards and ten pip cards numbered from ace to ten. The Major Arcana consists of 22 cards rife with symbolism and allegory. Together they make up a 78 card deck. I’ve had a deck known as the Rider-Waite deck since I was a teen. The Rider-Waite was first published in 1910.

There are many ways to read tarot. Simple methods like drawing one card from the deck to complex spreads across a table. I find it as fun as reading tea leaves.
🙂

American Tarot Association
http://www.ata-tarot.com/

The cards and their meanings
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/learn/meanings/

Tarot artist Julie Cuccia-Watts and I were involved in living history together and I must say I’ve never met such a versatile artist. From stitchery to painting, she has astounding creative talent. She’s written several books on the subject as well as created incredibly striking tarot decks. If you’re looking for stunning decks with old meanings or new, try here:
http://www.newmoontradingco.com/home.html
Poke around her website. You can have an online reading somewhere in there.

Next week ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for January

“You know you’re in love when you don’t want to fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams.”
~Dr. Seuss

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged #FridayReads, allegory, apotropaic luck charm, baby names, birth stones, blogging, body language, Cartomancy, cemetery, characters in literature, Descriptive names, Extended Metaphor, Greek mythology, literary characters, luck charms, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, Romance, Rose Anderson, situational body language, symbology, Tarot, tasseography, Victorian cemetery, Writing | Leave a comment

Outrageous Fortune #IndieThursday

Posted on January 28, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

Luck. From lucky rabbit’s foot to a horseshoe nailed over the door, symbols of good fortune come in all shapes and sizes and can be anything really. Some are deeply rooted in culture and represent generic or personal beliefs. Some are there just for fun. For the next few days, I’ll be delving into these interesting and curious symbols of good luck.

What does today’s title mean anyway? Shakespeare coined this bit from Hamlet: Slings & Arrows of Outrageous Fortune. Essentially it means good luck or bad luck, you can’t prevent luck from happening so go with the flow. I prefer good luck.

The origin of the word Luck pops up in old Dutch sometime in the middle of the 1400’s. Back then it was known as luc, gelück, or gelücke. Etymologists believe luck is a gambling term. The interesting thing about luck, to me anyway, is it’s considered a force. Think about that. Forces are the forte of Sir Isaac Newton. They’re gravity and magnetism. Forces are things out of our control. They are the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. They influence good and bad and there’s nothing we can do about it. Except carry a talisman in our pocket and hope for the best!

So how did luck symbols even come into being?
I suppose it’s the same way we figured out which mushrooms were poisonous and which were edible. Experience. Trial and error. I’ll paint you a little story about how it might have began…

Say it’s 10,000 years ago. You’re out foraging and find yourself in a downpour. You decide to take cover under a tree, but a glittering stone on the ground draws your attention and you stop to pick it up. Suddenly, a lightning bolt strikes and explodes the tree right before your eyes. That’s one lucky stone in your hand! From here on out, those glittering stones protect against lighting. And everyone wants one.

I once read a story about a man in Africa whose son lay dying. Feeling hopeless, the father went walking one day and came across a stream filled with water-smoothed pebbles. He stood at the water’s edge and prayed for anything that would help his son. One nondescript pebble caught his eye and he picked it up and brought it home. I don’t know what the son’s illness was, but after receiving the stone, he got better. The man’s neighbors couldn’t believe it and they asked about this miraculous recovery. The man attributed his son’s return to health to the stone he had found. Some people asked him to find them stones for loved ones who were ill. He did, and those people got better. It made the local news, then the regional news. And it eventually made international news (and that’s how I found the story). But get this, people from all over the world send money to this man to go find a pebble just for them. He has a regular cottage industry now — Pebble luck charms. Lucky stones indeed.

Today’s symbol ~ Guiding Stones

Stone of Destiny

The idea that forces are attributed to stones is ancient. I can’t recall the smaller details, but an odd glass-like yellow stone sat in some pharaoh’s headpiece and was considered extraordinarily rare and powerful. The Stone of Scone a.k.a. the Stone of Destiny is the rock upon which the kings of Scotland were crowned. The Black Stone of the Kaaba is a stone set into a tower and devout Muslims circle it in the Hajj pilgrimage. It’s was revered long before Mohamed became a prophet and is considered by some to be a meteorite .

Everyone knows about the Blarney Stone in Cork, Ireland. This awkwardly located (and no doubt germy) stone is set in the battlement of Blarney Castle and kissing it gives you the gift of persuasive speech. In Jerusalem, the Foundation Stone and the site it sits upon under the Dome of the Rock influence three major world religions. Doing research for my magnum opus (my heavy work in progress), I discovered legends that say that huge stone hovers over the Well of Souls and doesn’t touch the ground. All these stones somehow became symbols of force. They guided (and still guide) a lot of people.

On a smaller scale, precious or semi-precious stones have long been considered symbols of wealth and power. Crowns and sword hilts alike were studded with them. Eggs and other trinkets encrusted with them. And peoples around the world conquered for them. The more rare, the more coveted. Giving rare stones was long considered a token of high esteem. A rare gem for a unique person is a symbol of the unique sentiment that person arouses in the giver. Example: It’s thought that when Archduke Maximilian of Austria gave a love token of a diamond-studded ring to Mary of Burgundy, he started the “diamonds are forever” symbology that connect diamonds to one’s fiancé today.

Do you know what your birthstone is? Some of the following are more rare than others. The list has me wondering if it goes back to the days of alchemy. I’m curious now so one of these days I’ll do more research.

January: Garnet
February: Amethyst
March: Aquamarine
April: Diamond
May: Emerald
June: Pearl (does not apply)
July: Ruby
August: Peridot
September: Sapphire
October: Opal
November: Topaz
December: Turquoise

Mine is the diamond. It’s supposed to be a stone that brings me luck and good fortune. The person of conscience I am wonders about those child slaves toiling in the world’s diamond mines so someone’s fiancé can have a rock on her finger. I don’t think that sad fact makes for a lucky stone. In the same vein, the rabbit foot may be lucky to the person who owns one, but I’m certain the rabbit had his own opinion on that.

The following link leads to a very interesting site if you’d like to know more about some of the world’s most famous stones. Some are very unlucky. And that’s a post for another day. 🙂

http://www.internetstones.com/famous-gemstones-of-the-world.html

Tomorrow ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for January

“In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.”
~Albert Schweitzer

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged allegory, apotropaic luck charm, baby names, birth stones, blogging, body language, cemetery, characters in literature, color, Descriptive names, Dr. Martin Luther King, Extended Metaphor, F. Scot Fitzgerald, Greek mythology, language, literary characters, luck charms, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, Predators & Editors Top 10 Reader's Poll for Best Author of 2015, race, racial bigotry, Romance, Rose Anderson, Sherlock, situational body language, symbology, tasseography, The Great Gatsby, Victorian cemetery, Writing | Leave a comment

Feelin’ Lucky? #WriterWednesday

Posted on January 27, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

Who hasn’t heard of luck charms? Mention a rabbit’s foot or a horseshoe nailed over the door and our minds make an immediate association to luck. Symbols of good fortune represent generic or personal beliefs and come in all shapes and sizes. From simple to wacky, I’ll be delving into these interesting and curious talismans over the next few days.

Once just for fun, my husband and I went to a local bingo game. It was our first and only time at the bingo table. Everywhere we looked, seasoned bingo players surrounded themselves with luck charms– everything from bobble-headed devils and rabbit feet to Smurfs and angels. People take it far too seriously! lol

Why do people like luck charms? I suspect because our existence is filled with curve balls. Who wouldn’t want to believe good forces are working on our side? I enjoy them for the symbols they are. My mother went to Italy when I was a teen, and I asked her to bring back a cornicello for me. The cornicello is a popular luck talisman in southern Italy. My grandfather came from Sicily so I figured the charm was a nice nod to the old country. I still have it.

Thousands of years before the onset of Christianity, the horn was associated with the Goddess in all her aspects. It was worn on her behalf with the hope she’d shine a little good fortune on the wearer. My little horn-shaped luck charm is made of red coral but they also come in bone, silver, and gold. The cornicello, also known as a cornuto or corno, has ties to the Celts who weren’t just located in the British Isles. They were all over Europe as well as parts of Asia and Africa.

As teen, I used to wear mine on a silver chain strung alongside my mano cornuto — another Italian charm. Those curious little charms come in a range of styles. Mine is basically a small silver fist with the first and pinky fingers extended. In Italy they’re also known as a malocchio or mal occhio (from the Latin for bad eye. In other words evil eye) The evil eye equals every negative or malicious thought anyone can glare your way from envy to death wishes. Upright, this little hand is supposed to look like a devil’s head with horns sticking up.

Now before you peg me as an Illuminati or witch or some such thing, I’m not. The little hand is worn upside down and therefore works as an apotropaic luck charm (from the Greek apotropaios meaning averting evil.) Symbolically, upside-down is interpreted as the opposite of something.

The maloccio comes from today’s Italy, but it was known as oculus malus among the Ancient Romans. The evil eye belief is found all over the world. In Scotland it’s known as the droch shuil. In France it’s the mauvais oeil. In Germany, the evil eye is called the bösen Blick. And it’s known as ayin harsha in Arabic, and ayin horeh in Hebrew. If you’ve ever seen blue bulls eyes made of glass on pendants, beads, rings, etc, you’re looking at an apotropaic luck charm.

Each Christmas I give an apotropaic luck charm to my friends. It comes on a card explaining its history and where it comes from in the world as well as what it symbolizes. I call them wishes — an intentional wish for my friends to have good health, prosperity, vitality, happiness… You get the picture.

Authors, imagine the fun you can have with this. 😀

Tomorrow ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for January

“Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience.”
~George-Louis de Buffon

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged allegory, apotropaic luck charm, baby names, blogging, body language, cemetery, characters in literature, color, Descriptive names, Dr. Martin Luther King, Extended Metaphor, F. Scot Fitzgerald, Greek mythology, language, literary characters, luck charms, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, Predators & Editors Top 10 Reader's Poll for Best Author of 2015, race, racial bigotry, Romance, Rose Anderson, Sherlock, situational body language, symbology, tasseography, The Great Gatsby, Victorian cemetery, Writing | Leave a comment

Finding fortune in a china cup

Posted on January 26, 2016 by ~RoseAnderson

I’ve mentioned before that I was once involved with living history. Our odd hobby began in 1984 and we raised our family in it. At one point, from April to October and just about every weekend we participated in living history events across five states. Oh to have that stamina again!

One of my fondest memories was tea time. I’d set out my linen and china, my silver spoons and silver service, then invite my colonial lady friends and the occasional colonial gentleman to our camp. I’d brew tea to go with fire-baked shortbread, cobbler, and dried fruits. Our accouterments were the genuine article. You have to have antiques or fine reproductions to portray living history with any degree of authenticity. The goal was always the suspension of disbelief for the public as well as ourselves. I used a special tea called Lapsang souchong — the first black tea in history. And I did more than pour. I read the tea leaves between refills–divining our fortunes in the bottom of our china cups.

For the next few days my symbol series will cover symbols for divination and luck charms.

Mention tea leaves and the first thought that often comes to mind is the Gypsy fortuneteller of old. Scrutinizing sediment in the bottom of drinking vessels is actually an ancient practice that occurred all over the world. This wasn’t done by tea leaves alone. People hunted for patterns in coffee grounds and wine sediments left in their cups too. Why? For the same reason people read horoscopes. I suppose man always wants to know what’s around the bend.

The only things I have left from our living history days are my silver spoons and the old book I learned from. I still read leaves for fun, and to set the mood, use my small collection of vintage bone china teacups specially made for that purpose.

Tea leaf reading is known as tasseography.
Tasse = cup
Graphy = drawing

When the last small sip is left in the teacup, the leaves clump up and form patterns. The patterns have meanings. Example: if the pattern looks like a chicken, expect a chatty visitor.
If you’d like to give tasseography a try you don’t need Lapsang souchong tea. Some tea readers just open regular old black tea teabags and brew their tea as usual. Here are two nice sites with pattern info.
http://readingtealeaves.info/symbols_significations.html

http://readingtealeaves.info/

Tomorrow ~ More!

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Words Worth Mentioning for January

“The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another. “
~James Matthew Barrie

Authors and Industry representatives all month long.
http://romancebooks4us.blogspot.com/

Our January contest is on! Prizes often include $100 in gift cards for Amazon/B&N, ebooks, print books, audiobooks, additional gift cards, and non-book items. http://www.romancebooks4us.com/

Posted in Past Posts - you'll never know what you'll find | Tagged allegory, baby names, blogging, body language, cemetery, characters in literature, color, Descriptive names, Dr. Martin Luther King, Extended Metaphor, F. Scot Fitzgerald, Greek mythology, language, literary characters, Madeline Archer, nonverbal gestures, onomastics, Predators & Editors Top 10 Reader's Poll for Best Author of 2015, race, racial bigotry, Romance, Rose Anderson, Sherlock, situational body language, symbology, tasseography, The Great Gatsby, Victorian cemetery, Writing | 2 Comments

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