Curses

Photo by Laurence Shan

I found three more peacock feathers this morning, and as I danced home with them, feeling cheerful and lucky, I ran into my friend who has chickens. She told me it's molting season, and that her chickens are leaving lots of fancy gifts all over her yard. OK, so maybe it's no big deal that birds lose their tail feathers this time of year, but I still think it's a very big deal that I'm the one who's finding them.

When I got home and checked my email, there was a note from a well-meaning friend who reads my blog all the way from England. She warned me that peacock feathers are Very Bad Luck, and that I should not bring them into my house under any circumstances. What? No way! I instantly rejected that superstition, and went right on feeling fortunate to have found such beautiful things, in the road of all places, and two days in a row. To me, finding one feather, and then three more was like a reminder of the abundance that's all around us. Like the Universe saying, See? There's always MORE! Enjoy!


Superstitions have exactly as much power as we give them, yet we're all at least a little bit susceptible to what others say to us. Why do we do this to each other? Out of concern sometimes, sure, as I know was the case with my English friend. (No hard feelings, honest! Thanks for making me think about this!) But sometimes we don't even realize the damage we can do. I say we all keep our superstitions to ourselves, and stop putting random curses on people we love, because sometimes they stick.

There's a well-known Mother's Curse that is often put in place during our children's teenage years. It goes something like, "I hope you have a daughter/son who's as terrible as you are!" As much as my kids drove me crazy at times, I refused to put that curse on them. I want them to have wonderful kids, not mean teen monsters. And now, of course, after they've grown up, they themselves are kind and wonderful adults. I hope that particular curse is ended here, at least in my family.

I'd like to see us all start placing Reverse Curses on each other. I'll start with one of my own. I heard that peacock feathers in the house are sure to bring good luck and great prosperity. Pass it on!

Comments

  1. And chicken feathers! And turkey feathers! Let me know if you want any of these, as they're plentiful around our house these days. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think any freely given feather is good luck ... be it a crow or raven or chicken or hawk or peacock. :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great post!!!
    My Mom did curse me with the "I hope your children are just like you!!!"
    But at the time I though I was oh so cool!
    Guess what? My children turned out to be oh so cool!!!
    Maybe that was a type of reverse curse... LOL!!!!!!
    m.e. :)

    ReplyDelete

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