Lucky Charms: Beyond the Cereal Kind
This week's column from the really real housewife, Jessica Sieghart.
When my husband and I first became engaged, he warned me that a mysterious force called “The Sieghart Luck” followed him everywhere. Not being a natural born Sieghart, I was unfamiliar with this phenomenon, but after an explanation, I determined that “Murphy’s Law” had undergone a simple name change.
You know Murphy. He the one who makes sure that if anything can go wrong, it will.
I was raised somewhat superstitiously. We didn’t have to go as far as avoiding sidewalk cracks or midnight black cats, but my mom does have a list of bizarre happenings that are rumored to cause ill fortune. My mom and her friend used to be quite interested in psychics and having their fortunes told and once, when helping to clean out the “gone out of business” bookstore where I worked, I came across a box of tarot cards on the back of a shelf. The box was quite damaged, but the cards were intact and quite pretty, I thought and my boss told me to just take them home. I thought my mother would like them.
She didn’t.
After an inquisition as to how exactly I obtained them, she went fleeing into the night in her pajamas to remove the cards from our home. What she did with them, I don’t know, but I was told never to touch tarot cards that have “found” me. In order to avoid similar curses, we we were never allowed to play with Ouija boards, either.
With the exception of the Ouija board thing that I just can’t seem to shake, I prefer to live on the wild side of superstitions. I don’t believe that a broken mirror will bring you any more misfortune than “The Sieghart Luck” or that the stem of a four leaf clover will point you to a magical, gleaming pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
Still, I do have to admit that “The Sieghart Luck” has been quite present, generally causing such harmless shenanigans as breaking the oven on a major holiday when twenty hungry people are sitting in my living room or taunting us with a quick pick lottery ticket bearing six numbers with each a single number away from the winning digits. I didn’t think much of it until “it” happened a few months back.
I was out with friends one night, having a good time dancing when I caught the eye of an acquaintance. She had an eerie stare and an unexpected, indescribable feeling of dread seemed to overtake me for a second.
Along with tarot card curses, I had heard stories of something that could cause one great harm...The Evil Eye. Some people, I suppose, were rumored to have this power and able to give a look that was capable of inflicting injury or bad luck for the person to whom it was directed. My Mexican relatives would call this “mal do ojo” and it’s serious business.
I chose to forget about it, particularly since I don’t know any curanderos who could perform the appropriate elimination sweep, but since that time, even I have to admit that “The Sieghart Luck” has taken a turn for the worst.
My daughter’s eating disorder had suddenly gained a tremendous amount of strength. While still emotionally reeling from having to take her to another treatment facility just the night before, I received a phone call that my son had been knocked unconscious in gym class and appeared to have sustained a pretty significant concussion. We came home from the hospital to find my dishwasher once again refusing to cooperate, my clothes dryer making a screeching noise and a pictureless TV.
My world was out of control and since I don’t have time for a real one, I had a mini-nervous breakdown. This prompted my mother to purchase a lucky eye bracelet from the Home Shopping Network guaranteed to banish the Evil Eye curse that was bestowed upon me.
Oddly, despite my non-belief in lucky amulets, it seemed to work the second I put it on. My daughter is doing quite well in treatment this time around and my son not only recovered from his head injury, his first diving meet of the season proved to be a record breaking one for him. Neither my husband nor I are what anyone would call “handy”, but we actually repaired all of the tag teaming appliances ourselves.
I may have to re-think my position on superstitions. Either way, this bracelet isn’t coming off.
Are you superstitious? What kinds of events or objects do you avoid? Have you ever seen “The Evil Eye”? (I’m still not certain that’s what it was, but it sure wasn’t pretty, I’ll tell you that.) Do you have a lucky charm?
Grace Fernandez
5:05 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
Hi Jessica- having come up in a hispanic household I know about the evil eye and remember as a kid my dad "curing" us by rubbing a cold egg on us while saying prayer then breaking the egg into a cup of water and covering to glass and placing it under the bed and in the morning waking up feeling all better! We still joke about it today! Another supersticion I remember is my mom always telling us not to ever put our purses on the floor cause it brings evil spirits to take your money so I always always put my purse on a table or counter or chair.....never on the floor.
Jessica Sieghart
8:59 pm on Monday, December 5, 2011
Hi Grace! I didn't know your dad is a curandero! I knew the cure had something to do with eggs, but I wasn't sure exactly what. That's fascinating to me. I'll have to do some reading to find out how that works. It's funny how these things stick with you-like your purse story. I've never heard that one before. Love it. My grandmother used to say that if you sang at the table, you'd get a crazy husband. I know firsthand that one isn't true! Lol thanks for sharing, Grace! Great stories!
Lesley A Plage-rohrman
3:13 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Superstition-a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation. Superstition don't believe in it .life is what it is.Sometimes the road is smooth sometimes it has giant potholes.How we handle the road we are on is what matters.
Jessica Sieghart
7:57 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Lesley-very true. My logical mind knows it and overall, I'd have to say I'm not really superstitious, but every once in a while, too much stuff happens and I start trying to remember the last time I broke a mirror or something. LOL. Maybe my lucky eye is just a reminder to look at the bright side. Even so, it still works, right? Thanks Lesley!
Leslie
4:46 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
That's a yiddish superstition as well, called a kinahorra (sp?) I have the protective hand of Fatima with an eye on it just like your bracelet, hung on the wall of the kitchen. There are some childhood lessons we just can't shake, no matter how much college they put in us. : )
Jessica Sieghart
8:00 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Leslie, you're 100% right. It's ridiculous to be fearful of an Ouija board; it's a toy, after all. Still, my mom is so frightened of them that it's contagious. The kids got one as a present one time and I made them get rid of it :) I love the protective hand. I have to get one of those. Beautiful! Thank you, Leslie!
Sharon Kagen
6:44 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Jessica, I live my life knocking on my head instead of wood, refusing to talk about traffic for fear of getting stuck in it, and truly believe my marriage was meant to be. Yes, I believe in superstitions. Here in Arizona we even have a mountain range named for one. :)
Jessica Sieghart
8:03 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Hi Sharon! I haven't heard the refusal to talk about traffic thing before! I love these stories. When I worked at the police department, we were forbidden from saying the word "quiet" because as soon as someone did, well, all heck broke loose. To this day I still say "the Q word". :) marriage is meant to be! That's not superstition; that's a blessing :) thank you, Sharon. Knock knock :)
Sheri
8:48 pm on Tuesday, December 6, 2011
My Grandmother was the Queen of Superstitions - she had so many, I couldn't even count them. My mom told me that when she was pregnant with me, she went to the zoo. When she told my grandmother, she went crazy - apparently if you look at a monkey when you are pregnant, the baby will look like a monkey - you be the judge on that one :) The only one my mom kept was that you aren't supposed to step over someone because you only step over dead people. If we were on the floor and someone stepped over us, mom made them step back. I still go through all kinds of contortions to avoid stepping over people. I think my only "real" superstitions relate to watching sports. One season, I found that the Cubs played great, as long as I didn't watch. I could have the TV on and listen, but as soon as I looked at the TV, bad things would happen. Or if I sat a certain way, the (fill in the blank of the team I am watching) would score so I would sit that way - really stupid, but what are you going to do? My husband always says his strategy in life is to be lucky. So far it seems to be working for him, whether it is ALWAYS getting a parking space right in front, procrastinating the planning of our honeymoon so that we had to change our plans - thus avoiding a major hurricane, or waiting to make a business deal that turned out much better because he waited - he is just lucky. Fun to think about.
Jessica Sieghart
9:11 am on Wednesday, December 7, 2011
HI Sheri-well, I think we can all safely eliminate the going to the zoo and having a baby that looks like a monkey superstition :) I find it amusing as to how these tales even begin! I haven't heard the stepping over people superstition, either. Wow! You guys have all really brought some good ones to the table this week. Don't put purse or kids on the floor! LOL I don't care much for sports, but I did notice that I do happen to sit and watch a Hawks game with my husband, they lose. (I'm using that as an excuse not to sit and watch them LOL). Hmmmm...your husband has an interesting notion there. I wonder if we subconsciously sabotage ourselves with superstitions and supposed bad luck. Maybe if I buy my lottery ticket thinking I'm going to win instead of the opposite, something different will happen. I will admit, though, some people do seem luckier than others. I'm going to try being lucky today and see what happens :) Thank you, Sheri!
Charles Gulotta
8:07 am on Thursday, December 8, 2011
I met my grandmother's sister in Sicily in 2003. She was 98 at the time. My plan was to return in 2005 for her 100th birthday, but she died shortly after my first visit. I was sure my cousins would never want to see me again. This woman had lived ninety-nine years, and then I show up, like the Angel of Death. But they welcomed me back. Maybe I'm the superstitious one. I try to appear logical to everyone around me, but inside, I'm a mess of weird ideas, including most of the ones you and your other readers have mentioned. That game in 2003 when the Cubs were one inning away from the World Series, and the fan prevented the outfielder from catching the ball and the Marlins scored eight runs? I had just turned the game on. Please don't tell anyone.
I'm so glad to hear the good news about your son and daughter, Jessica. And the appliances, too.
Jessica Sieghart
2:43 pm on Thursday, December 8, 2011
Ohhh Charles, is it a comfort to know that your just as superstitiously disturbed and damaged as the rest of us or not? LOL I never used to be a believer, but I'm telling you, my lucky charm bracelets works. And, of course, doesn't work when I forget to wear it, like today. I forgot to put it on and now I have to type one-eyed because my grandson poked me in the eye and it hurts.
So that was you with the World Series? Interesting. I know a lot of people believe it's still that old goat story. I won't tell anyone, but it's nice to know that superstition isn't true, either :)
READERS: My friend, Charles Gulotta, is a brilliant writer. If you enjoy posts like mine, you will love his work. Check out his blog at http://mostlybrightideas.wordpress.com. He is also the author of the newly published book, "Who Knew?". A GREAT gift idea and it's available at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Who-Knew-reluctant-blogging-addiction/dp/0965326381/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1323376975&sr=8-7
Alfred Vincent
11:41 am on Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Hello Jessica. Fun article to read! :)
Some of charms are really kind of scary especially the ones that really do look like real eyes. Even those creep me out. But there are also other more subtle and fashionable designs out there and these are what we try to carry in our store selections.
By the way, we also have a page dedicated to the Evil Eye. Would love to have you as a member too so you can share and connect. Here's the link:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Evil-Eye-Jewelry-by-AlfredAndVincentcom/163822920311406
Evil Eye Jewelry by AlfredAndVincent.com