Ozark Pagan Mamma

There is a dandy little gem in Ozark folklore about how to lose bad luck.  You simply leave (lose) a black button or a spoon by the side of the road.  Whoever finds it and picks it up, will get all your bad luck.  Whether or not this charm depends on someone finding and carrying off the item may be up to interpretation.  These days, there’s not as many people traveling on foot.

But how to change your luck without handing it off to the next person?   Maybe it’s better not to ruin your luck in the first place…
Concerning clothes and shoes, it’s bad luck to:
~place a hat, shoe or rifle on a bed
~start sewing a dress on a Friday, unless you finish it that same day
~place shoes on a table
~go outside in stocking feet
~walk with one shoe on and one shoe off (my mom used to really get onto me over this one- she said that every step taken this way is a year taken off your life!)
~put on clothes inside out, unless worn that way all day
~wear someone else’s new clothes before that person has worn them

Of course there are many more omens of bad luck to avoid.  One lesser known item is rusty nails- keeping any rusty item in your home is ill luck, but especially nails.  It was also once believed that a person could put a curse on someone by leaving a pin in their house (rusty or otherwise).  A few years ago I had a Jeep that was having some strange problems- it would die out of the blue and wouldn’t restart.  I found a pin in the glove box.  After discarding the pin, I didn’t have problems with that Jeep again for a long time (and not the same problem).

Of course most people would say that this is all superstitions- that it’s all in my head.  I would say that the psychological impact of superstitions does play a big part- but knowing this doesn’t make the results any less real.  Good luck, bad luck, it’s a real phenomenon no matter what the cause.  The same could be said for magic- there are many theories, many books that contemplate the how and the why magic works.  Magic is “prayer with props”- even if said prayer is just a general supplication to the universe.

So beyond avoiding bad luck, my answer to “how to change your luck” would be several things…
~face your demons, and make up for past mistakes
~cleanse body and home (see my article on house purifications)
~change your attitude; keep a positive outlook when bad things happen and take responsibility for your own actions and lifestyle (it’s not always just luck)
~find your spirituality, live it, and live it in community
~use magic to help it along, but firstly use practical actions and real life solutions

Last of all, try some perspective… a great goal for anyone is to have a joyous and meaningful life.  Being poor isn’t the same as being unlucky- as long as you have what you truly need.

For the most part, the magic I will be writing about here is of the folk magic variety.  Folk magic is the magic of the common people.  It is usually pretty simple, lacking any elaborate ceremony.  It has it’s roots in ancient Pagan beliefs, yet this is not always obvious, for folk magic knows no religious boundaries, and has continued to change and evolve.  For example, my mother, who was Christian, taught me a few spells that were handed down from her mother, also a Christian.  They also held many beliefs that were particularly non-Christian, but more about that later.
Historically, that is , up until around the 20th century, people associated the word “witchcraft” with practitioners of malevolent magic.  The term “white witch” is a relatively modern phenomenon.  Way back when, people known for their keen use of benevolent folk magic were called blessers, wise folk, and currens.  But more often than not, they were just common folk using everyday magic that was part of their culture…