Conference vaxcat::friends

>this is a trial

	Can I be one of the jurors?

Lola

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    Birthday snarfffffffff
    
    
    The snarf of the century and this time in
    US format!!!!!!
    
    ;) ;) ;)
    Martina

    no, no US format, but German format. 
    
    ;)
    
    13.9 is 13th of September
    
    ;) ;) ;)

    
    
    
    Martina has left the building!!! :)))))
    
    Chris
    :)

    This is not correct dear Lord and Captain.
    
    ;)

    13.13
    
     The snarfffff at its best !!!
    
    SNARRRRRRFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
    
    ;)

    Would anyone mind if I changed this note title and introduced a subject
    on Superstition??
    
    I'd like to find out the "tales" behind why we throw salt over our left
    shoulder when we spill it, and why do you get 7 years bad luck when you
    break a mirror. So many cultures are represented here and I would like
    to know what is behind the superstitions you were brought up with,
    teach your children, learn from your friends.
    
    I really really think Note 13 is a good place to have it.
    
    Comments??
    
    Serenity   The Goddess of General Nosiness

    Go ahead....
    
    
    	S:*)

    
    
    	I'm game...
    
    

Go for it. I'd love to hear some of them

Me three!!!

Lola

We'll be set hidden for sure. I'm glad I was too busy this morning with all
this carnage.

    
    
    
    So does anyone know why we throw salt over our shoulder if we spill
    some or why we think walking under ladders brings bad luck ?? Why is it
    unlucky to see one magpie ?? 

    I think the salt one (I wish my mother was here, she's a real one for
    these superstitions) is to ward off the devil, who may have been
    sitting on your shoulder when the mis-hap occured.
          
    Jackie

    
    
    
    That rings a bell with me too.. isnt it supposed to be the left
    shoulder too as the Devil is conceived to be on the left of you.
    
    
    
    
    Shelley

Ah, so that's why they use to discourage left-handed children from being
left-handed!  :o)

H - left-hander!!!

    
    
    Yeah thats exactly why - but I wonder who decided the devil was on the
    left ????
    
    
    
    Shell

    
    
     well the Devil can't be on the right!!
    
    besides isn't it because Jesus is on God's right side.
    
    Chris
    :)

    A right-handed parent! ;-)
    
    
    Jackie_also_left-handed

    
    
    	The bible is very clear on the fact that those in God's favor will
    be seated at the right hand of the Lord. Hence, children were (and
    sometimes still are) discouraged from using their left hand.
    
    chico

    
    
    
    
    Arrrr but does the bible say the devil will be on the other side ??? He
    could be just leaving some space ;-)
    
    
    
    
    Shell

    
    
    Col.2 
    
    1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are
    above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 
    
    Heb.12 
    
    2 looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy
    that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
    seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 
    
    

    chico: You seem to be quite the all-around scholar! I'm impressed!
    
    It does appear that the writings in the Bible have inspired quite a bit
    of symbolism - such as the differences between left and right. It's
    amazing how some of these beliefs remain, despite logic and analysis,
    and the depth at which many people still  hold these "superstitions" as
    truths. However, I must also say that I believe that most, if not all,
    of the "old wives' tales" are based upon some level of truth or belief
    that logic and analysis may or may not be able to prove. (As an
    example, allow me to mention the Holistic measures that are being proven
    to work despite years of denial by such groups as the AMA, etc.)
    
    STRETCH 

Silly Superstitions

It's bad luck to walk under a ladder. This came from the early Christian
belief that a leaning ladder formed a triangle with the wall and ground. You
must never violate the Holy Trinity by walking through a triangle, lest you be
considered in league with the devil. (And you all know what good Christians
did to people they suspected of being in league with the devil.) 

Beware of Friday the Thirteenth. Those who know about these things,
inform us that Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden on a
Friday, Noah's flood started on a Friday, and Christ was crucified on a
Friday. Christians also noted that twelve witches plus one devil are present at
Satanic ceremonies so Friday and 13 make a deadly combination. 

God Bless You. During the sixth century, it was customary to congratulate
people who sneezed because they were expelling evil from their bodies. Later,
when a great plague took hold of Europe, and people began sneezing violently,
the Pope passed a law. Since sneezing meant that the person was going to die
of plague, people were required to bless the sneezer. 

Don't spill the salt. Although some people believe that Judas spilt salt
during the last supper, this claim can't be proven. Salt was a very precious
expensive commodity in the middle ages. It was also used for medicinal
purposes. If you spilled any, you must immediately throw it over your left
shoulder to strike the nasty spirits in the eye, thus preventing sickness. 

Wear a St. Christopher Medal when you travel. Historians don't believe
there ever was a Saint Christopher. 

Black cats are evil. In ancient Egypt, the Goddess Bast, was a black female
cat. Christian priests wanted to wipe out all traces of other religions so
convinced their ignorant followers to destroy the evil demons that were black
cats. While they were at it, they destroyed the kindly little old ladies who
cared for the cats believing them to be witches. 

Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home. It is bad luck to kill a ladybug because
it represents the Virgin Mary. 

Pie In The Sky. Of course, this means to search for the impossible dream but
it originated in the early 1900's. A famous labor organizer named Joe Hill was
extremely critical of the clergy's treatment of slaves. He wrote a tune called
'The Preacher and the Slave" accusing the clergy of making false promises of
a better life in heaven while people starved on earth. The song goes: 'Work
and pray, live on hay. You'll get pie in the sky when you die. That's a lie!' 

Skin Of Your Teeth. This saying means to barely escape from a harrowing
situation. It comes from Job 19:20, God inflicts all sorts of terrible things
on one of those who love him. Poor Job had all his animals stolen, his children
die, his house collapses, his body covered with sores. Job has this to say; "My
bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of
my teeth." 

Fleshpot. - Today 'fleshpot' describes decadence. In the time of Moses, it was
a large pot in which to boil meat. Somehow, preachers managed to change the
meaning to scare their flock about 'sins of the flesh'. 

To make a scapegoat. - The poor scapegoat gets the punishment for
everyone else's mistakes. God condoned this cruelty to animals in Leviticus
16:7-10 "And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the Lord,
and the other for the scapegoat." The scapegoat got to escape, and carry the
tribe's sins into the wilderness, to be eaten by some animal instead of being
offered alive as a sacrifice for the Lord. 

Christmas and the Star of Bethlehem. - There is no historical evidence
that Christ was born on December 25th. December 25th was officially adopted
by Bishop Liberius of Rome in 354. December 25th occurs during the rainy
season in the Holy Land, so it is highly unlikely that shepherds would be
outside in their pastures. The Hayden Planetarium in New York recreated
the heavens as they were in the time that Christ was allegedly born. Although
nothing spectacular happened in the skies on the date of Christ's birth, the
Planetarium went back to the year 6 B.C. On that date, there were three stars
in close proximity which created a spectacularly bright beacon, which may
account for the stories of the Star of Bethlehem. The most plausible reason
that December 25 was chosen as a day to celebrate Christ's birth was that the
Christian fathers were trying to compete with another growing religion,
Mithraism - the worship of a sun god - whose holy day was also December
25. 

Easter - The name "Easter' derives from Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon dawn
goddess. She was traditionally honored at the beginning of spring. Easter
wasn't celebrated in North America until after the Civil War when religious
leaders decided that the country needed a holiday which stressed rebirth. 

   

"I have heard that the number 13 is unlucky because of the number of
attendees of the last supper. I don't have a handy reference however." -
pbunt@indiana.edu 

"I read in a book on superstitions some time ago that the reason we are
encouraged to hold our hand over our mouth when we yawn so as not to let
the Devil into our mouth." - Corey Moore4 - cleo@olywa.net 

"Of course I don't have a definite source to cite, but people in my neck of the
wood (So. Cal.) have held that it was once believed that when a person sneezed
their soul might be expelled from their body at the same time. Therefore it
was necessary to bless the sneezer to keep this from happening. Of course, it
doesn't make much sense to bless the sneezer *after* the sneeze, when the
soul has had its opportunity for escape, but who said superstitions were
logical?" - Ken Thompson (MonkeyBoy) kthom@earthlink.net 

"Friday the 13th is considered unlucky because of the combination of the day
with the number: Friday is the Goddess' day, (Frida in Norse, Venus in Latin
languages) and 13 is the number of the moon goddess (13 lunations in a solar
year). When originally Saturday was the 7th day (of rest) it was Saturn's day,
who needed the rest after spending the previous day with the goddess." -
Kimberly McCrea - First.M.Last@CI.Eugene.OR.US 

"Don't forget "knock on wood". Supposed to keep the devils living in the wood
from hearing your ill-considered idle comments." - Bob Vincent -
inocent@exis.net 

"I believe the Dec 25th also had something to do with Saturnalia, a popular
Roman Holiday, and the Dec 21st solstace (Celebrated in many ancient
cultures). The Christian fathers were trying to compete with the old pagen
religions and needed to provide holidays  to distract their "flocks" from
their previous pagan celebrations." - Alex Hopmann - hopmann@holonet.net 

"Years ago, someone in school told me you were supposed to hold your breath
when passing a cemetary so as not to make the dead jealous." - Pamela -
myrrdin@interaccess.com 

" Breaking Mirrors = 7 years bad luck. Some time ago (ancient Romans, if
I remember right), people believed that reflections were actually glimpses of
the viewers soul. People had gazing pools in their gardens in which they could
look at themselves. A really mean thing to do was wait until a person was
gazing at their reflection and throw a stone in the water because the
distruption of the reflection affected their soul and brought about bad luck. We
don't have gazing pools anymore, but the mirror breaking superstition still
lives on." - Donald Wilson - dpwilson@ualr.edu 

"When I was a child in Detroit, Michigan, fifty years ago, no one dared open
an umbrella in the house. It was said that doing so would cause a death in the
family. Someone was always around who knew of a case where someone had
opened an umbrella in the house and someone else had died. Surprise! Now I
have been living in California for thirty years and no one thinks about the
open umbrella superstition. In fact, it is common for people (including me) to
leave them open to dry in a corner of a room. Of course, my generation was
the first to have the benefit of antibiotics and other effective treatments to
prevent sudden death from diseases which were always lurking nearby. We
must not forget how different things are today from the way they were when
a superstition was formed." - Roger Zabkie - rzabkie@calweb.com 

"BEFORE WE KNEW ABOUT ELECTRICTY, CHRISTIANS THOUGHT
THAT LIGHTING BOLTS WERE THROWN AT THEM BY DEVILS.
DURING STORMS THE CHRISTIANS HAD PEOPLE RING THE BELLS
IN THE CHURCH TOWERS TO SCARE AWAY THE DEVILS. NOT
SUPRIZINGLY, MANY CHRISTIANS, WHO WERE RINGING THE
BELLS IN THE TOWERS, GOT ELECTRICUTED BY THESE LIGHTING
BOLTS THAT WOULD HIT THE TOWERS. THIS IS BECAUSE IN THOSE
DAYS THE CHURCH TOWER WAS THE TALLEST THING AROUND
AND, IF YOU REMEMBER, LIGHTING LIKES TO HIT THE TALLEST
THINGS. BUT THE CHRISTIANS THOUGHT THE DEVILS WERE
THROWING THESE LIGHTING BOLTS AT THEIR CHURCHES. WHEN
BEN FRANLIN INVENTED THE LIGHTING ROD AND SAID THAT
LIGHTING WAS REALLY ELECTRICITY, NOT SOMETHING SOME
DEVIL CARRIED AROUND, THE CHRISTIANS SCOFFED AT
INSTALLING LIGHTING RODS ON THEIR CHURCHES. BUT LIKE THE
FACT THAT THE CHRISTIANS GOT OVER GALELIO'S ODD THOUGHT
THAT ALL THE PLANETS REVOLVE AROUND THE SUN, NOT LIKE
CHRISTIAN VIEW THAT THE PLANETS AND SUN REVOLVE AROUND
THE EARTH. AND IT TOOK THEM ABOUT 20 YEARS BEFORE IT
BECAME AN ACCEPTED PRACTICE TO INSTALL LIGHTING RODS ON
CHURCHES (AND OF COURSE REMOVE THOSE BELL RINGERS
DURING THE STORMS)." - Frank Becker - fb12990@deere.com 

Omens, Superstitions, and other Oddities.

Following are short paragraphs with odd bits and pieces of information
relating one way or another to our industry. Some of these connections may
seem a little oblique in their relationships to jewelry..but I pass them on for,
if nothing else, their informative and entertaining value. That said...

Agate:
The belief exists that evil can be transferred to this stone. So--as an
example--if you were to be bitten by a poisonous creature, let's say a scorpion
or a spider, you would have nothing more to do than place your handy agate
on the spot where you were bitten, and voila, you're cured. Worn around the
neck, they lose their natural color in order to warn the wearer of impending
danger. They also help cool boiling water, sharpen vision, promote fertility in
women, drive away tempests, stop bleeding, and cure epilepsy. It's clearly a
handy stone to have around your neck...just in case.

Ankh:
The Ankh symbolizes eternity and life. In olden times it was usually held in
the hand of a god and applied to the nose of a dead man in order to ensure
his life in the afterworld. It looks somewhat like a key which, some say,
accounts for its symbolism as an insturment to unlock the Gates of Death.
Today, it appears, no one any longer believes it holds any special mystical
powers. Heh heh...poor naive souls.

Coins:
You want some of the realm? Ok. Here's how. Seeing someone with polka-dot
clothing will bring you money. Keep a bent coin in your pocket...you'll have
good luck...as long as you take it out every new moon and spit on it. Place the
first coin of the day you receive in your pocket, it will attract more. Of course,
you have to remember to kiss it first, then spit on it, then put it in your
pocket. Yech!

Jade:
Put it on the eyes of a deceased person, the spirit comes back for another life
on earth. It attracts rain, it encourages plant growth. The moon is the home
of Yu-t'u, the Jade Hare, who, it is said, brews the elixir of life from crushed
jade. In New Zealand, there are jade amulets called "hei-tiki". They are
carved to look like little men. They are considered fertility symbols and
represent the continuing life force.

Opal:
It falls under the planetary rulership of Mercury and contains the power to
lure its possessor into strange and unknown realms. Wonder if Rod Sterling
owned one. If its owner dies of an illness, the opal loses its luster. Black
opals--they're gorgeous by the way--are especially fortunate as good luck
charms. They strengthen sight, cure eyes diseases, and make the wearer
invisible. This last trait is a neat trick, and I, personally, would very much
like to have one work its magic for me.

Ring finger:
Stroke it along any sore or wound, and that sore or wound will be healed.



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    Lola: Allow me to be one of the first to thank you for the preceding
    info! It proved to be a handy source of insight into some commonly held
    beliefs. 
    
    Also, since I'm a cusp between Libra and Scorpio: FMI, What would the
    effects of combining the two gemstones of each sign?
    
    STRETCH

    
    
    	You'd bump into your anti-matter twin and be vaporized.
    
    :)

Hahaha!!!
STRETCH, combining the two stones would give you the properties of both.
When you carry a medicine bag with stones in it you can have any number of 
assorted stones to get whatever qualities they each have.

Lola

    ha!
    
    Paula - if I pulled this elastic band back here between my thumb and
    pinkie, and put a rubber just there then let it go in your direction.........
    
    
    what do ya think would happen?
                                  

    U'd get a black eye as it bounced off the wall when I duck...

    naaaaa - Id have run a mile by that point!!
    
    
    :-P

    But you'd be outta breath...

    yea, cos youd flippin' chase me for miles ye crazed bam!!
    
    
                                             

    And I'm fitter cos I DON'T smoke

    when ya sobre!!!!

    Or sober even...

    Dave
    
    You are outrageous........
    
    Pol_grinning_back

    Why are you Dave 1..??