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I was reading a thread andI thought I would start one of my own.....

Here goes nothing....

We have the old ways of getting rid of almost any evil spirit...

Ie... Garlic for Vampires
Silver bullets for werewolves

How many of you still actually practice any of these old ways of getting rid of the evils and what are they...

I know this thread may seem stupid.... but as this is a multi cultural site.... some people out there may not concider this as " Old wifes tales "... The romani Way of life is based on these beliefs....

My Granparents had a horseshoe over the door to bring good luck. The cross is still worn to protect from evil. And smudging/cleansing is often done in rooms/homes to clean.

most all these are redundant, the silver bullets, sun light and decapation workbut, thats about it.

i think those are all silly however if you beleve in something enough it becomes real enough to work.

My mother-in-law was big into old wives tales. She had one for everything that happened. Some of them have stuck with me. I never buy a knife without giving a penny to the person who hands it to me.

My family (greek background) has always worn an eye (or evil eye) to protect from evil spirits or from being jinxed by people saying good things about you.

III see this as all superstitions, nothing more, I do not worry aoubt any of them, still I will get rid of the object to which the demon might be attach, since to me all spirits are evil, (no offence intend) so I get rid if the item and I am fine, other then that I am not trap by superstions, like if I drop salt I don't worry I just clean it, if I drop a knif or any unstensil I just pick it up, if I see a ladder well i walk under and od not try to walk around, as for black cat I had many. So on the other hand for horse shoes, gralic, reed, and all this kind of stuff I must admit it was time I had soem at home even a cross and a rosary to protect me until I figure out it was useless and even pointless, so I got rid of all the crap and now I am free and if I need to face any demons then I just face and get the hell out or ride of the item so I am cool, no need for gizmo or tricksters to be safe. Sorry if I sound rude, I am for the freedom of the mind and the poeple, not the slavery of the body and soul over objects.

I am Hungarian...and boy oh boy do we have folk tales and such. Like a three headed dragon always has an older sibling with seven heads..lol...for real! But as for bad luck, curses, demons and such...the hungarian believes that wit will conquer all of this. Belief in yourself so to speak.

In Malta in the old days,people used to ward off evil by burning olive leaves in a pan and go around the house with it and saying some chant,together with someone holding a candle hehehe.I think the olive leaves represent something about the Catholic religion,since the majority of Maltese practice this religion.

Depending on my mood I do tend to alter my direction if a black cat crosses my path. As for the garlic and silver bullets, that's just hollywood talking.

Believe it or not, in England black cats are considered good luck. I remember while growing up my grandmother and my great-grandmother (both on my mom's side) had something called the kitchen witch in their kitchens, which prevent foods from ill matter and grant the kitchens blessings, or I guess that's how it goes. As for banishing evil, I always used blessed bells to drive them away. They say silver bells are twice as powerful.

My friend Lindsey gets scared whenever she sees 666 . If she sees it she runs from it. She didnt even want to go see The Omen when it came out on 6/6/06. She is also afraid of black cats. I find it silly of her to do that but she has her beliefs and i have mine.

I do horseshoes still, and toss salt over my shoulder if I spill any. I do cleansings if I feel a touch uneasy, but thats about it.

i do bindings to keep harmful entities away, or to protect

My family usually smudge if any of us feel uneasy. Or if some one dies in a room.

There are a few little things I don't really think about that could be considered superstitious. I've got a dreamcatcher, I knock on wood sometimes, that sort of thing.

I do none of the above... Every entity on this plane and every other has every right to exist, it is when they attack me and those that I care aobut that I get rid of them, though I have other ways besides the old wives tales...

Heres a good one, we keep Iron rail road spikes in our attic and in our basement to ward off what they said were "Lustful dreams" but what i think is neat about her's is it kinda correlates because i have read and used iron to ward off unwanted feeding or manipulation. and since most psy. vamps are terribly horny, i figure it might have been acctually warding off something along those lines. Or a In/Suc. of some sort.

My mom and countless other family members still wear a mall silver rabbit's foot pendant on their necklaces to ward off evil spirits. I don't know how that came into our tradition seeeing as my mom said it was of Italian origin.... but, nevertheless, they still do it.

Superstitions seem still to be quite prevelant when you are younger, did anyone avioid/do any of these things?

Don't stand on the cracks in the pavement, don't walk under signs or ladders, don't cross on the stairs - all "bad luck" probably because they can be dangeous - saying 'white rabbits' on the first of any month with an R in it (I always forgot this one), crossing your fingers for luck (I believe this is something related to knot magic), throwing spilled salt over your shoulder, carrying a four leaved clover for luck (this is an irish tradition).

well...one alwys works no matter what is in question.if you need to waste somme evil or whatever than you grab a big gun or a big sharp sword and first you do is to cutt or to blow a biiiiig hole in the mfckrs body.so that will ridd you of the problem:)
garlic is for eating and silver is for decoration

Wouldn't that "supersition" depend on where on said evil thing you cut/blow the big hole? On its leg for example, might not kill it.

People haunted by ghosts, memories or mental problems can't simply attack what is bothering them, but there were many superstitions that would deal with kind of thing by putting the persons' mind at rest.

i thow salt over my shoulder and knock on wood... but even though people around here think black cats are evil or bad luck, i find that every black cat i have ever had has been my best friend, so i have a special fondness for them. if a black cat crosses my path i consider it a blessing not a curse...

it doesn't really ward off evil but i got told when i was little that if i ate lots of bread crusts my hair would grow curly. It never did though lol.

I still practice non harmful banishing rituals, my favorites of which include coin protections, if you soak a coin in a capful of vinegar heads up, and vodka haeds down, and place it upon a non friendlies person or property, and damage attempted unto you shall be reversed back to the sender, and to keep bad dream fairies away, place a lock of curly hair over the bed, the fairy will spend all night trying to staighten it and get frustrated and leave at dawn, for a non friendly gnome, scatter grains of rice around your bed and he will pick them all up and forget all about you.

In the area I was raised in most everyone still knocks on wood for good luck
throws salt over shoulder when spilled
will not walk under a ladder
here a couple of odd ones
if a woman marries a man with the same last name as her maiden she can blow in a baby's mouth and cure thrush. Same for the 7th daughter of a 7th daughter.
My aunt did the first and I remember people coming to my grandparents to get her to come do this to their babies. I don't know if it worked.

seems that most are trying to ward of evil...in my mum's...tis where i live we have more symbols of evil and all things genraly forbiden...

such as there is a rats tail above the front door, a crows foot in the kitchen spice cuboard..handcuffs an the candlerba etcthe best one is that there is an upside down cross over the stairs

I'll knock wood as to not jinx myself. LOL Walking under a ladder isn't superstitious it's just good common sense. The odds of having something fall on you when you walk under a ladder increases rather than not. Go figure, but I still don't walk under them even if there is no one on the ladder.

We believe in some wives tales. LoL .....I some times throw a pinch of salt over my shoulder.

Most of the things I do to ward off "evil", or negativity, are Wiccan in nature rather than wives tales.

I don't really believe in the concept of evil. Perhaps I just haven't seen enough of the world, who knows.

In the resteraunt business you never refer to how busy you are as "Dead" it will always bite you in the ass.


Arab houses are commonly painted blue. Arab Evil Spirits are apparantly scared by blue... so if you paint the area arround the window blue...It can't come in, same with doors.

the ladder thing has to do with the things falling on your head thing... also the energy of the triangle being disturbed, and the theoretical practice of the spirit of hanged men haunting the "scaffold" from which they were hung.

The salt over the left shoulder is to ward off the devil who as we all know sits on the left shoulder... it is done when you think the devil has noticed you, because of something you said/did or by clumsyness.

Knocking on wood is to invoke the spirit of the wood to aid you.

i do not have any superstitions
well... I lie.
The resteraunt thing became taboo to me after a car accident that wiped out the entire night staff of a resteraunt and I had been called in to fill in until they could train replacements. I stopped using the term dead pretty quickly. partially because of sensitivity, but also out of respect (not fear) for the dead. I think about this now every time someone says it is dead.

I burn a white candel to warn off evil things but I have my two black cats to protect me....LOL

The garlic myth to keep away vampires is kinda true. The legend is not for vampires stricktly but for all evil. And it is a couple strands braided together. We have one hanging over our door

my dad planted geraniums and junipers in the front yard to ward off something but i don't know what.

his aunt was a voodoo queen in New Orleans with great power and had a lot of people who feared her all over the country.

she didn't like my dad one bit. he did it for protection for his family.

I'm wondering why we do these, superstisions or does it really work? any examples?

I lght white candles, smudge and cleanse.. throw salt over my shoulder and dont do anywhere near ladders...

I think we do these things because its almost become a part of who we are (superstitions go wayyyy back) it helps us not be so afraid of what we do not know..

I will light white candles, I also believe in cleansing of the home. I wear a cross, also. However, you won't catch me walking under a ladder, or opening an umbrella inside, either!

I could just be lucky, if there is a thing, but i've broken alot of mirrors and walked under ladders, i think it depends on the person, if you believe it will happen. i believe im just gona always be ok

My grandmother used to keep a four leaf clover with her... My grandfather used to keep rabbits foots... Also if i spill salt i`ll picth some over my shoulder ..
I have always been told if your palm of your hand itches rub it on wood quick, for money will come to you soon..

to ward off evil, my family has passed down many different things to do. Even ridding evil from the human body. But mostly what I do is for when moving into a new home. You bless all the entrance ways and windows as well as the perimeters of the property with chants and incense as well as leaving some small offering or token behind for the entity. They are Native American blessing chants that I use.

When I was a child I was raised, don't walk on crack you'll break your mothers back, don't let black cats crossing your path(bad luck), don't walk under ladders(same), oh and don't break any mirrors cause that's sevon years of bad luck. Which are comon in childhood, but with my with my Native and Mexican culture I was also raised with the cocui, and the Llerona(which is basicly a boggieman and banchis). Smuging the evil sprits away with sage. Placeing medicine bundles in the house, and pouring salt around the house to protect you. Personaly I try to face my demons head on but I don't go looking for it. I've already seen to much in the world.

Wives tales are a way of amusing the greater beings. As for warding off undesirable beings, one must never be above spiritual cannibalism and predation.

crosses are out of the question, so is silver in my opinion, sunlight I believe though at least to a degree. No bursting bodies or ash that is.

i heard that if ur foot falls asleep then an old lady is cursing u and that u have to lick ur finger and make the sign of the cross on ur foot...my brother tried this and said it worked but i don't know if i believe him

theres got to be sumthing behind it all probly most goes back to gypsies tales

My sister put a penny in her shoe when she got married. Supposedly it is for good luck.

I am not very superstitious I think most of them silly. Like several have mentioned I have never had bad luck by having a black cat cross my path. I will open an umbrella inside with out even thinking about it being something not to do. I do sometimes find my self looking for some wood to knock on if I have said something like I don't get speeding tickets. Oh and on New Years day I will eat black eyed peas for luck and cabbage for money not sure if either really helps.

As you said, it's an old ways, I saw it now only in movies *Smiles*

lol this thread is great. I really hope it works, but my willpower alone, strength, etc. is enough to keep things intact :P If I had to rely on other means that would be the day I killed myself since life was too out of my hands to exist/control :P
I hate to sound arrogant, but demons and the like should fear me, and not the other way around :P

I'm not sure if I believe in superstitions; I mean, I've broken a few mirrors - two were accidental the rest on purpose - and so far no worse luck than I already had had. Also, what is smudging exactly? Just curious...

I don't belive in super natural ways of getting rid of vam, wolfs, chosts/etc etc i belive in the individual karma held with in it self

I believe it is faith that carries people through a supernatural event. I don't think making a salad of a vamp would work.

I am with TCD faith will take you far.. I know at least two of my members are Native Americans and they use their faith and healing arts of their people.

Faith is in a sense a form of getting rid of evil isn't it.... it is a belief in something that will protect you.. or a belief in yourself...

Uh?
Honestly, I don't know anyone who wears a garlic necklace to ward off vampires, or keeps a gun full of silver bullets 'just in case'.

But as for other, less crazy things that are still crazy...sure...every time I spill salt, I have to throw it over my left shoulder.

Why yes, I keep plenty of garlic in the kitchen and I can say that the vampires are kept away

Well, there are a lot of magical rituals to cast evil and a lot of symbols and magic objects used around my area, but I personally don't use any of them... but, I must admit that I used sometimes a prey and an incantation taken from "Dune"... the incantation against fear... and it worked...

as i always say evil is a point of view, not what is morally right or wrong

I've never really practiced most of these things. I guess I'm just not a very supersticious person. Also, I haven't had a whole lot of problems that I would really trace back to evil spirits. Then again, part of that could just be a lack of knowledge on my part about evil spirits.

Many people do these things on a daily basis and don't ever think about them. Myself, I knock on wood and will never utter the name Macbeth in a theatre, other than that, i suppose that is all i really do regularly. Although I do believe in the art of Hoodoo, and the wiccan ways.

well where i live if u smoke with like a white lighter that is the worst thing u can possably do

evil in it's truest form can not be dispelled so easily by an incantation or burning candles or even making sacrafices.You can't get "rid" of evil, you can't even contain it for very long.Look at some of the most notorious serial killers ever documented(and I'm not talking about the one's that are psychotic and not in sane control of their actions, I mean the REAL baddest of the bad.There will always be evil so long as there is good, night for dark.It's a balance.We can't change it.

The builders working on my parents house found some children's shoes bricked into the wall.

They laughed it off as stupid folklore but I noticed they were really careful to put them back.

I think there used to be an old wives tale that if you put a witch in water they wouldn't drown. In trials if the person drowned they were innocent, if they didn't they were guilty and burned at the stake - must have made sense in those days

we always kept a cross above the door and there was always garlic in the house, mom cooked with it all the time.

My family has long lived in the Southern States we have a lot of Voo-doo pactices as well as many Druidic.
My family is very old and old habits die hard. But they work so why stop?

In England, black cats are considered lucky in general. But if they cross you're path it brings you bad luck. I have 3 black cats & they have never brought me unfortunate luck ;p

In reply to:

I think there used to be an old wives tale that if you put a witch in water they wouldn't drown. In trials if the person drowned they were innocent, if they didn't they were guilty and burned at the stake - must have made sense in those days

- Actually, that isn't a tale, it is true & happened daily in medi-evil England.

The various superstitions that yu mention do have some foundation in reallity. The problem with most of them is that we have forgotten the real practices and original ideas behind those practices. The silver bullet idea is because (depending on what your vanquishing) silver prohibites the growth of certain bacterias thus it was thrown into wells to keep the water pure, from this idea of purity is where the superstition unfolds. As for crosses, it was not the cross persay but the idea of a holy symbol hat has been specially consecrated and therefore has power over all that would cause harm. The salt issue is similar to the silver with the idea of purity. Also, because salt was a currency it was thought of as a gift from beings therefore if you spilt it you offer it to the spirits to ward off poverty.

This could off course go on and on, but if we really want to explore this we must have a firm grasp of history and the articles involved.

i have given this much thought and still cant find a real reason for it. a penny over a door of new home is to ward off any evil spirits, my aunt always did that when she came to visit a new home. me, i carry a loaded gun, but there metal jacketed not silver, and i do believe that they will stop anything that crosses its path. human or otherwise.

well my family is american native Indian and we strongly believe in the spiritworld to help us and led us toward our true paths of life, well as long as you do believe and follow the ways.....

I think that the things that we've heard and believe in is part of our history and how you take it.

Things work because a person believes in them. Though, this isn't true to everything that one uses or sees. I've been told many things that will happen if you do this or that. Those consequences I have not experience.

Salt for sanctifying a space.

hm.....let's see

I knock on wood, throw salt over my left shoulder, and give the evil eye, hey I'm european it's normal!!

I use salt for cursing a place.

*ahem*

I knw that most native americans use sage and other herbs for the protection of our dwellings as well as dreamcatchers... yeah they aren't just pretty to look at they serve a purpose....

I was just a kid when my aunt moved but I had to dig the hole for her to bury a cross in her front and back yards.
When she painted the house, she took a ballpoint pen and wrote out John 3:16 on each wall. Then she painted over it.
She kept an open bible in the kitchen at all times and a cross over her bed.
On Halloween she made sure that all the doors and windows had a small trail of salt across the threshhold.
When her husband died, she stopped the clocks for that day, covered the mirrors and turned the pictures around.
My family is a little bit of everything so we have a lot of beliefs and superstitions.

I am from the southern states and my family strongly believe in Voo-Doo and alot of the old ways to protect and ward off evil spirits..etc.

I know that my mother cooks certain things at each holiday fo rgood luck and for peace in the family according to the way her family has been doing it for centuries.

I actually use salt at al entrances to keep evil and or harmful spirits or beings out of my home.

There are many differnt things that can be used as talismans or charms for either protection and inflicting harm of some kind. If placed into the hands of certain people, certain effects will result. Like crystals and gems are good for focusing energy as well as protection. Herbs can be used for protection or used to cause harm. Even a broom used for magic can be used as a form of protection or harm.

my grandmother is a very superstitous person. she still holds her breath as she passes a graveyard. she won't even allow peacock feathers in her house either. as for stakes in the heart and decapitations that would basically kill anything ;P

In regards to the original question..."how many still practice old wives tales to ward off evil?"

There are superstitions that have been so ingrained into our culture that the original reason no longer even registers. When you sneeze and I say "Bless you" we're practicing an old superstition...the belief that if you sneezed, you were expelling a demon or about to die or that satan could grab your soul if you sneezed it.

one of my friends wheres a cross everyday

I know that I have catholic friends that carry rosary beads everywherre they go.

Along with crosses and or some Saint or the Virgin Mary, as daily protection.

whell for me i dont pratice any of that at all because i beleave their are other ways.

a lot of practice the old wives tales but just dont realize that is what they are....just like the sneeze thing. I do nothing intentionaly to ward off evil...espeically when i consider myself to be evil.

I have a lucky charm (three in fact) that I always keep with me on a chain around my neck wherever I go. My friends and I also carve crosses into the bark of trees when we go camping, due to a REALLY bad experience that I don't ever want to have to bring up again involving a Oujai (sic) board.

You know I was think that there is an old wives tales about garlic in your diet. If you keep a strong dose of garlic in your diet you do not have to worry about fleas and ticks, or mosquitos.

that is good to know about garlic

"good" and "evil" are esential parts of existence without one the other cant exist yet both sides still try to over power the other

that is true good and evil are = and it is said that good is alway better then evil

Haven't really belived in some.. though you would think that i did,being the background i come from.If i see a ladder though.. for some reason i just can't go under it.. If i pass a pole walking with a freind.. and it spilts us.. I say bread and butter.. Heck i got that from a loony tunes cartoon.. But it sticks with me.. Others.. I do place salt on the outside of a circle when i pratice.I don't wear crosses.. One would have to belive in the repasention of the being for the cross"to work"

one old wives tale around where i live is concerning magpies. if you se a lone magoie, it is unlucky, but you can counter the bad luck by saying "good morning Mr Magpie, how's your wife and children" three times. some people just say it once, or some say "good morning Mr Magpie" three times. i do it, and i know a lot of other people who do it. perhaps its just a Lancashire thing.

the old wise tales about garlic is one and the one about silver i would rather about you not mentioned it. That brings up old memories. But old wise tales here is one for you. a holy cross that is made out of silver can repel evil spirits out of the body.

it is amazing to read this thread and see how many of the old wives tales that have been voiced here has crossed cultures. Has anyone noted that there are those that are in different parts of the world but, grew up with a lot of the same superstitions as someone who is from a completely different culture and continent?

do you think that the reason for that is that a hint of truth is in these old superstious rituals we were raise to perform?

Totaly agree with you sis, kind of ironic isnt it all the similairitys in the different cultures.

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