A Broken Mirror
A Broken Mirror – Oh No, 7 Years of Bad Luck?
Superstitions have always been a part of our lives since very ancient times. Superstitions still rule our lives in spite of the fact that science and technology have made so much progress and development. The ideal example of a common household furnishing related superstitions is the broken mirror.
There are many superstitions revolving around this common household item. Some superstitions have developed due to personal beliefs while a few others are inebriated or passed on by generations before us. Those which come down to us through generations have cultural evidences with them whereas those which are personal have been developed through an individual’s experience.
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Among all other material objects, the mirror has always been a target of superstitions since very old times. It all started when the water was used instead of the mirror to see the image of one. In those days also it was believed that if a distorted image is seen in the water, the person was going to face death very soon. Some people used to gaze at crystal balls to see their image. If the crystal cracked, then it was said that the viewer will be dead. These earlier beliefs led to the development of various superstitions regarding the crashing of a mirror.
The Romans, along with the Greek, Chinese, African and Indian cultures, believed that a person would experience seven years of misfortune or bad luck if they broke a mirror. The Romans are said to have believed that life renewed itself every seven years. Therefore they regarded the reflection of a person to be a part of the person’s soul. So it meant breaking or crashing of anything that was equivalent to the soul meant indirectly causing harm to the soul.
There are other more detailed explanations about harming the soul resulting from mirror breakage. One such explanation says the damaged soul is less capable of protecting a person from misfortune. In other words that person will be subject to even more bad luck in the future. Another explanation is that the unfortunate damaged soul will itself bring down bad luck because it’s revenging against the carelessness of the mirror breaker.
But in spite of that, they came up with a remedy to avoid this type of bad luck. The Romans say the only thing that can be done to avoid such a misfortune to happen is to quickly bury those cracked mirror pieces. But this should be done only after grounding the mirror pieces into a powder like form. There are other related superstitions that say if a mirror falls from the wall, someone in that particular house where the mirror was kept will die.
There are also some good superstitions regarding mirrors:
- The Chinese believe that mirrors act as a protection against evil spirits as they frighten them away from the house. But…if a mirror crashes or breaks, then this protection will no longer be there and hence any haunting of evil spirits cannot be stopped from entering a house.
- Take a piece of the broken mirror and touch it to a tombstone. Supposedly by doing this it lifts the curse of bad luck immediately.
- Throw salt over your shoulder. They say this simple procedure is also a remedy for other types of bad luck-producing accidents, such as spilling salt.
- Immediately spin around three times in a counter-clockwise direction. By doing so it’s said to bring about bad luck in itself; however doing so after breaking a mirror will confuse the spirits and by thus doing so it reverses the bad luck.
- Pick up the broken mirror pieces and submerge them in the waters of a south-running stream. In less than a day doing this will wash away the bad luck after only seven hours rather than seven years of bad luck you’re doomed for.
- Light a fire and use the flames to burn or blacken the mirror fragments. Then bury those fragments a year later. This way by burying the fragments it will lift the hex after only one year.
Mirror-related superstitions are able to strike fear even in the hearts of the bravest of people in many parts of the world even today. It can be truly be said that superstitions play a significant part in the lives of people in some parts of the world today, even after centuries since some of the superstitions are at least that many years old.
The whole idea of the bad luck relating to the breaking of mirrors might also have evolved due to the fact that when mirrors came into existence they were very expensive. They must have developed the superstition to help avoid breaking any mirrors by servants or family members; that they might be more careful while handling mirrors. There is yet another final mirror superstition I will mention which is actually good that says if a broken mirror is tapped over a graveyard seven times; the healing of a soul becomes easier.
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How many of us have heard of the superstition about broken mirrors or break a mirror and have 7 years of bad luck. Probably everyone. Well this was the topic of the people who submitted questions about breaking a mirror to Yahoo Answers. Here are some of the questions submitted along with the best answers selected from those submitted.
Questions about broken Mirrors and Bad Luck
John asks…
What’s the scientific principle behind mirrors giving one bad luck after breaking?
If a mirror breaks due to some other reason, such as drastic, sudden changes in temperature, how/where does that negative energy transfer?
Suzi Q answers:
It is called the Law of Superstition (not to be confused with the Law of Superposition). First proposed in 1743 by Eric Von Blakkat, it really started gaining momentum during the French and Indian War, when both sides started engaging in various attempts to affect the fate of the opposing side through the use of mirrors and man made cracks in the ground. After numerous successes at affecting those people who ran into these traps, news began to travel around the world about Von Blakkat’s unique idea. Scientists began gathering evidence and by 1795, about three years before his death (amazingly, he broke a full size wall mirror three days before dying), he published his official theory. One scientist in the early 1800’s showed reverence towards Von Blakkat when he assigned his name to a newly discovered device for affecting someone’s fate…the black cat. While Von Blakkat’s name has slowly disappeared from common use, his name lives on in that one device.
Now, regarding the mirror. It has to do with the principle of negmirrotic energy, which states that the amount of cracking in a mirror cubed (in millimeters) is equal to the amount time (in days) that you will experience bad luck. This automatic seven days thing isn’t true. In other words:
length of mirror cracks ^ 3 (in millimeters) = days of badluck
Or I could be feeding you false information because the idea of bad luck after a mirror breaks has no scientific validity.
Mark asks…
is breaking mirrors bad luck?
Suzi Q answers:
No, just another silly superstition.
Sharon asks…
Do you get bad luck for breaking mirrors?
Suzi Q answers:
Only if you end up cutting yourself on the glass
Jenny asks…
~~ Do you believe in lucky pennies , rabbits feet or broken mirrors & bad luck ?
Your superstition if any ?
BQ :
Ever felt that if you didn’t have bad luck , you’d have no luck at all ? lolHave a great day , all
D 🙂
Suzi Q answers:
Ooooo Mizz♥Dizz,
I believe you make your own luck, so…..you feeling lucky?…..or what?
BDR♥U…..BDRillions
Nancy asks…
Do you believe breaking a mirror brings bad luck?
I broke a small mirror last year and i have never known whether to believe that you get 7 years bad luck with it, but ever since then ive had nothing but bad luck, the partner i was with at the time i found out was sleeping with several other women behind my back, i’ve had debt problems, my fiance who i am now with has been sent to prison, ive got problems at work…. just seems never ending and i feel so low in myself and depressed! Am i being paranoid or is all this because i broke a mirror!
Suzi Q answers:
Why would a mirror have anything to do with your life??? It’s superstition dear…breaking a mirror simply means there’s a chance to get cut on the glass…so, replace the mirror…
Richard asks…
Is it really bad luck breaking mirror ?
I pu my mirror on the ground then step on it it is now in 2 peaces am i really going to get bad luck for 7years is there a way getting rid of bad luck
Suzi Q answers:
It is just a superstition, personally, I don’t believe in it.
I think it is believed to be bad luck if you break a mirror because it is a true reflection of your soul (I think that it why vampires in fiction do not have reflections).
The Romans, along with the Greek, Chinese, African and Indian cultures, believed that a mirror had the power to confiscate part of the user’s soul. If the user’s reflected image became distorted in any way, this could mean a corruption of his or her soul. If the user should break a mirror it would mean his or her soul would be trapped inside the mirror.
The Romans also believed that a person’s physical body renewed itself every seven years, so under that criteria it would take seven years before the user’s soul would be fully restored. Up until then, life for a mirror breaker would be one long string of unfortunate events, since he or she no longer had a healthy soul to ward off spiritual evil-doers.
Since the pieces of the mirror can still reflect the corrupted soul, the entire mirror should be ground into dust. No reflection, no problem. It is also suggested that after you break a mirror, you should invest in a shovel and bury the pieces under a tree during a full moon.
Mandy asks…
is breaking a mirror bad luck ?
i was playing around with my sister mirror is it bad luck .
Suzi Q answers:
Not unless you believe the ancient Romans.
When the Romans invented the mirror they believed that it could take part of your soul- as long as the mirror was intact so was your soul, if it broke however- a piece of your soul was taken from you.
There are similar beliefs about photographs in some cultures.
Personally speaking, I’ve broken heaps of mirrors and if I’ve been plagued by bad luck I haven’t noticed it!
Donald asks…
Do you really get 7 years bad luck from breaking a mirror.?
If that is true i have broke 4 mirrors this year!!!!!!! 28 years bad luck for me.
Suzi Q answers:
No. Because of the superstition you may notice more things as if they where bad luck but breaking a mirror does nothing but break the mirror.
Daniel asks…
how do you get bad luck for real not just breaking mirrors and crap?
my freind said bad luck was real and i wanna prove that its not so hit me with the best u guys got and ill do all of it
Suzi Q answers:
Generally, if you actively disbelieve in spells and such, it’s hard to get them to take hold — the ACTIVE disbelief seems to do it.
(To try to explain active disbelief…. If you just don’t believe but also don’t expect that anything is coming, it might still work on you. Whereas if someone warns “I’m going to cast a spell on you!” you will tend to actively disbelieve in a prepared, defensive way: ‘oh I know your spell won’t work because it’s not real!’ which can be strong enough to send it away. It’s kind of like how Houdini could take a punch to the stomach when he was prepared, but when some guy just ran up and slugged him he died of it. Prepared, you can fight against the spell easily.)
But in any case… If you are actually doing it with a mindset that it might work, as opposed to that you’re proving it won’t, Gopher Dust is the most powerful hexing agent I can think of. Just make sure to use real Gopher Dust, not that colored talc or powdered herb stuff some people sell. It’s supposed to be made from grave dirt, snake skins, crushed insects and so on. Go sprinkle that all over yourself!
Mark asks…
OMG! My superstitious mother-in-law was right! Breaking a mirror DOES bring bad luck!?
About a week ago, I broke a mirror. My mother-in-law informed me it was bad luck. I dismissed her, but guess what? She was right! Today, I was walking around my house, and stepped on a piece of broken glass, out of the blue! Talk about bad luck!
Suzi Q answers:
Our eyes are like projectors as opposed to things that receive signals from the outside world, You can see whatever you wish. It’s just that most people really feel that they should see disagreeable things that make them suffer.
Questions powered by Yahoo! Answers
Do you believe in this superstition? Have you ever had bad luck because you broke a mirror?
