Shooting Stars & Knock on Something Hard

Are you superstitious?

Knock on something Hard

Everyone knows the old saying “knock on wood”. Our line is “knock on something hard”. Usually, I knock on my head.

Then there is “Keep your fingers crossed”. With this one,, my line is “I’m keeping my everything crossed”. We often mangle these phrases to be funny, but still use them for superstitious reasons.

Just as catching a shooting star and saying a prayer for a loved one. And birthday wishes as we blow out the candles on a birthday cake. And safeguarding us from bad deeds by carrying a rabbit’s foot. All of which are superstition habits, but why? As far as I know, none of the wishes or prayers have come true.

The Spirits at Bay

Ancient Pagans believed the gods lived in trees, and knocking on wood would summon them for protective spirits.

Christians developed secret codes to communicate with other Christians during times of persecution. One way they did this was painting a fish over their door. Another is to cross their fingers, and later it became a good luck custom.

During Ancient Greek candles were lit to honor the goddess of the moon, “Artemis”. In Germany, the birthday candle meant “Light of Life”. And blowing them out, the smoke would carry their prayers to the gods.

Shooting Stars

Wishing upon a shooting star is from around 127 AD from Greek Astronomer Ptolemy. He believed the shooting stars were from the god peering down on them.

The rabbit’s foot dates back to 600 BC. Rabbits were thought to be magical and with luck. The left hind foot was to capture the rabbit’s luck. Women would wear one around their waist to insure they would become pregnant.

“Astologaster” by Sir John Melton in 1620 is the first literary play in history to reference the four-leaf clover. However, the Druids, Celtic priests thought the three leaf clovers gave them to ability to see evil in time for them to escape. And four-leaf clovers had magical powers. The Christians believed each leaf has a symbolic meaning, Hope, Love, Faith, and Luck.

Although we bastardize some of the phrases in the name of comedic relief, we still believe it will help in some way.

Michelle Wishart

Bell

About The Author

Michelle Wishart, Author-BellsRides

My name is Michelle Wishart, but most of you know me as Bell, a motorcycle enthusiast with Bells Rides. Between careers, I was a Private Investigator for three years. I specialized in locating people who didn’t want to be found or those who were taken against their will. I tapped into my experience with real life investigations and recovering human trafficking victims for my fictional stories in The Russian Hit, Human Cargo, and Human Theft.
After retiring from my formal career as a heavy equipment contractor and later a long haul commercial driver, my husband and I traveled full-time in our RV for two years. Exploring the United States, traveling to motorcycle rallies and riding destination.
In 2022, I became a member of the Guinness World Record Book along with over a hundred and forty fellow riders in the World Record Poker Run. Benefitting Rider Down, a non-profit organization for riders involved in a life altering motorcycle accident.
In that same year, 2022, I formed my publishing company, “Bell’s Publishing Co, LLC”, to publish my work. And I finished writing my first novel in a series of novels, The Roxxy Foxx Series.
Our new adventure is traveling and living on our Sea Ray 500 Sedan Bridge. I’m juggling my time between working on a twenty-year-old boat and working on the second novel in the Roxxy Foxx Series, Monstro, Human Cargo and Human Theft, while traveling on the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) up and down the eastern seaboard.
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