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Most people have heard of the superstition behind broken mirrors, right? Does anyone here know exactly why it's '7 years' of bad luck? Why is it not 5 or 4..but 7? Can this famous superstition be proven wrong?

Don't know, but it's not something I worry about. Life's such a pain, it seems to me that's simply another hurtle.

its believed that this started in the days when rome was built.
they believed that the mirror captured the soul or parts of it.
and if you broke the mirror your soul would be in dismay or lost ..
and the 7 year part came from that romans also believe the soul was renewed or reborn every 7 years...

Good info, Superstitions are funny. I wonder what the deal with black cats are. And why is one crossing your path such bad luck. They can walk next to you, but not in front of you? And the ladder thing? What's so wrong with going under it? I have no idea but for some reason I still cant bring myslef to go under one.

Really don't know about the length but after reading a post i like the answer for seven years. my family coming from italy strongly believed in the superstions of years past and always thrust them towards us. so many superstitions i still smile remembering my grandparents freaking out when we mocked them.

Even though Minx did a thread on this not too long ago...it istarted with a myth...that led to a superstition.

It is like with Native Amercians and the invention of the camera...they wouldn't allow their pictures to be taken...they thought they captured their souls.

WEll, ive broken two mirrors this year, but my life was in shambles before i broke them LOL, so maybe its true but im not sure. the seven is a common number used, why its used in a superstition is odd to me though, since ive mostly come across the seven in biblical areas.

I looked into it an found this.

Centuries ago many believed that a person's image in a mirror was a reflection of that person's soul. That is why the
legendary vampire, who had no soul, casts no reflection in a mirror. To the people who held this belief, breaking a mirror
meant preventing a part of the soul from reuniting with its body. The absence of a portion of the soul, it was believed,
would certainly lead to ill fortune. But why seven years? This goes back to a Roman belief that a person's health and
fortune changed every seven years.

Thanks RAGMAN.


Yea I've broken mirrors before but not much changed after that. I was just wondering if anyone knew the reason for this superstition.

LOL!



Jokes aside though, many superstitions are told to children/people to stop them from doing things. Such as 'Don't make that ugly face boy! It'll stay that way if you do."

i ve heard of the superstition and i havent broken any mirrors before thank goodness cause i dont need any bad luck

its almost like the crack in the sidewalk if you step on a crack you break your mothers back.. did that all the time but nothing ever happen to my mother..

oh by the way thanks for deleting my post.. who ever who's doing it..

Not picture capturing...soul capturing.

it is a well known supersition among Native Americans...they would not allow their picture to be taken...they thought their souls would be stolen by the camera.

Thats where the phrase "There goes a little peice of my soul" comes from...when they get their pic taken.

Some related myths


MIRROR
To break a mirror means 7 years bad luck.
It is unlucky to see your face in a mirror by candlelight.
A mirror should be covered during a thunderstorm because it attracts lightning.
If a mirror in the house falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will die soon.

Wow, I didn't know those. Thanks Wolfy dude! =)

i heard that it was 7 years bad luck because it would take 7 years to pay back what the mirrior cost, of course this was back when mirriors were rare and cost alot, atleast thats what i heard.

a friend of mine said if you break a mirrior don't worry just put the pieces in a jar and use the pieces as a shield to reflect negative energy and protect your house.

Think about it this way...no matter what the supersition may be...it only works if you really believe it will.Some work in your subconscious...you spill salt...without thinking you throw it over your shoulder.You do something that freaks you out...you knock on wood.

Although I dislike being photographed from the same reason Native Americans believed, I understand as well, that certain things have that much power over me, as much I believe in their meaning.

It is same with broken mirrors, I am sure that I may attract negative unlucky energies if I cultivate such beliefs in my own being.

Therefore I know how to protect my self from accumulating useless energies, useless beliefs, wich get triggered by my own self.

I belive it is same with black magic, the casting toward you gets reflected in you, as long as you believe in it, otherwise, it really has no effect.

yes I do believe the the person who posted that it was the romans was correct. In fact there are a great many superstitions that have their roots in roman culture.

Such as when you spill table salt you toss a bit over your shoulder. Salt was one of the highest priced commodity's of the day. It was highly convented for cooking, cleaning and preserving of pelts for leather clothes and food. If you were to spill some it was seen as a great loss and you were toss toss it over your shoulder to offer it to the Gods as a gift.

There are many others that date back to this time frame I will see what others I may recall and post them if any one is interested..

im only 18 and in the last 6yrs ive broken two mirrors the only really bad thing thats happened is my dad died, so im not sure its a real curse sorta thing, you give it power if you dewl on it

In correlation with the capturing or dissembling of one's soul by breaking a mirror, The number "7" is a divine number in that it represents The Gods or creator. (As mankind is 5, and "the Devil" is defined by 6 or more commonly 666) It was believed that the Gods would punish any who damaged their soul...and if a soul's reflection is or was supposedly captured in a mirror, by breaking it you tarnish the soul as well. Hence the 7 years of "penance" so to speak.

Superstitions.. I tend to test them. I've always been curious why people assume and believe these superstitions. Hence why I like to try it out. Seven years of bad luck for smashing a mirror? I've tried that a while ago, personally nothing bad has come of me but then again, i'd rather be oblivious to bad luck and I take life as it comes.

NocturnalGoddess - Thanks for the info. I didn't know that.


Does anyone know if any other number between 1 - 10 mean anything like 5, 6, and 7 does?

I remember a rare myth to do with mirrors..

When a loved one dies...you place a picture of them facing a mirror...so they can't look upon you and haunt your home.

Vampirika,
Not a problem. Actually its not hard to find books on Numerology....numbers can be interpreted in ways for many many things. Divination is often a commonly used form associated with Numerology.

I can shoot ya a few titles of books you may find interesting in a PM along with the other book ;)

While I do not know the mystery behind it being 7 years as opposed to 6 or 8 or any other number; I was intrigued that it has not been mentioned yet that you can circumvent any bad luck from breaking a mirror.

The superstition of breaking a mirror goes on to say that if you can collect every piece of the broken mirror (down to the last shard) and bury it under the moon light, that your fortune will be instantly restored.

i saw the ladder thing mentioned.. and all I can say, is that walking under a ladder is usually a BAD IDEA.. ladders tend to do things like FALL.. and people working overhead is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS a bad time waiting to happen.. so uhh.. might as well keep that one alive if u can...
D

I believe the broken mirror said it gave people bad luck ,it took them seven years to save up the money to make the mirror

Ok... I have heard about the mirror superstition. I have read allot of good info here. A side bar answer to the numbers check out numerology. Also the answer to the ladder superstition is that it breaks the trinity the same as opening an umbrella in a house. Hope this helps.

7 is a mystical and also considered a cursed number by many cultures just like the number 13. Once numbers had significant meanings not just numeric values. Such as 8 was not just a number but the symbol for eternity.

Well since its believed that everybody's lives change every 7 years why not a person's luck also.

There is an up side to this - if you immediately grind the glass underfoot so fine that you cannot see your reflection in it you will not get the bad luck.

Also - walking under a ladder is bad luck because it symbolizes you being "beneath" others and them having control over you.

I have broken a mirror I ended up having good luck

I heard that the length of seven years stemmed from the fact that mirrors were so expensive that if a family broke it, it would take seven years to earn enough to replace it.

I found this:

While one can find numerous mirrors in a home today, it was not the case in centuries past. Mirrors were incredibly expensive and if you were to break one, you wouldn't have been able to replace it unless you were from a wealthy family. That meant that it was quite likely that you would work for the family for the next seven years to pay for it... fact or fiction?

A broken mirror represents the soul being astray from the body. To break the spell of misfortune you must wait seven hours before picking up the pieces and bury them only in the moonlight.

I was very accident prone as a child. I stress the very. I cannot tell you how many mirrors I have cracked, broken, or shattered, accidentally of course. My mother, being superstitious, used to always throw a little salt over my shoulder to ‘counter act’ the mirror braking-bad luck. I’ve lived a very ‘lucky’ life so far. But I doubt that has anything to do with the salt.

"The origin of the "break a mirror, face seven years of bad luck" superstition can be traced back to the Romans, who were the first to create glass mirrors. Just because your culture invents something totally useful like a mirror doesn't mean you can't still have some irrational beliefs about its use. 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." Read more.

The mirror took 7 years because thats how long they took to think of it when they finally thought of how to make the mirror they desided on the 7 year When it breaks or u break it it is bad luck, This is what I was taught but there is numerical meaning also behind the 7 i t is bad luck just like the number 13 as well

7 is one of the most powerfull numbers in Magic. Perhaps this had to do with the reason it is used in the related superstition. Yet, perhaps the one who started the superstition was just looking for a mighty-spooky-number to use and they choose this one... Who knows...
Personally I don't believe in superstitions. What I believe in, though, is that we can kind of "manipulate" our luck this way: When somebody that believes in the superstition of the broken mirror, actually breaks one, they will be so frustrated and concerned and this will result in unpleasant incidents which will be defined as "bad luck"... In the case of someone that does not believe in this superstition (myself included), if they break a mirror, they'll just go and buy another one... End of the story :-)

tome it is nothing more then a old tale that got bigger with time i have broken many a mirror and nothing "bad" has happened to me

Me also if I got bad mojo from broken mirrors.... sheese I wouldn't be able to leave the house ever! lol

I have never really thought about why it is 7 yrs. I just dont like the idea of that many yrs bad luck.

Thanks for that link, salicis. Very informative. Has anyone here at all really had bad luck after breaking a mirror?

I don't know any facts about the superstition, only heard it myself. I've broken at least two mirrors in my time and still have yet to experience 7 years of bad luck. I think that the only way superstitions are real is if you believe them to be or are not sure what you think. I do not believe in them at all and I've had black cat's cross my path, opened umbrella's in the house, broken mirrors, and have probably walked under a ladder. I'm just fine though. I think I actually have fairly good luck.

I believe ones good fortune can nuetralize any such bad luck...

i have broken a mirror and i have had bad luck but isn"t that a part of life

Back a long time ago, people thought that the soul actually projected itself out of the body to form its own reflection in the mirror. So if you broke a mirror, it broke your soul. Your soul would become angry and give you seven years of bad luck as revenge.
The Romans came up with this superstition(as they were also the first who created glass mirrors). It's 7 years because they believed that life renewed itself every 7 years.

the reason is simple, its cause it took 7 years to polish a mirror so breaking it was consider 7 years of bad luck, 7 years of wasted work and effrot.

Simple and true.

I am unsure of why it is 7 years, unless where some people think that the #7 is unlucky.. I don't believe in any of that crap anyway.. LOL

hey guys i have found a link about broken mirrors .. enjoy

broken mirrors

In many religions and in many cultures 7 is a special number.

not to offend just b/c i noticed
well i dont know what it means but i used to be forced to go to a chriatian school and the number 7 is significant in the bible so i believe that its the devils way of saying god is his bad luck

I am not really sure where the superstition came from. I am not real sure of how true it is or if it only works if you beleive in it. I have broken several mirrors and never had any adverse effects of yet. *knock on wood* lol

I don't know but isn't 7 a lucky number???

MademoiselleKira
thanks for that i was wondering about that

do you think that the people in the factories making the mirrors have a miserable life?

i mean, im sure they have broken atleast a dozen mirrors.

Nice thats actually a interesting thought about working in mirror factory as for why it is seven years i have no leads as to tell me why

If the curse is centered around a magical number... why not 7 days or 7 months?

7 years bad luck add 7 3 times, it is all a numeral 7 years to come up with the idea 7 years to make it now 7 years bad luck. 21 you come up with . I was doing some math and came up with some numbers that fit in the pattern of bad luck.

What? I am not understanding how you get the 21 from 7 years of bad luck.

This is some info i had found
And found it interesting to your Broken mirror
Broken Mirrors


An ancient myth our ancestors believed was that the image in a mirror is our actual soul. A broken mirror represented the soul being astray from your body. To break the spell of misfortune, you must wait seven hours (one for each year of bad luck) before picking up the broken pieces, and bury them outside in the moonlight

Please remember that if you copy and paste from another site, that you source it.

"An ancient myth our ancestors believed was that the image in a mirror is our actual soul. A broken mirror represented the soul being astray from your body. To break the spell of misfortune, you must wait seven hours (one for each year of bad luck) before picking up the broken pieces, and bury them outside in the moonlight." Click here for the website.

I hear it said that breaking a glass vase will bring seven years of good luck...go figure

it was an old saying that means
if you break a mirror,
it takes 7 years of wages to replace it

but that was back when income was very low, and mirrors were expensive

Seven seems to be too superstitious a number...

Breaking a mirror could be perceived as an omen... a breaking of one's own image, ones own self

Another one about the mirror ..
If a mirror in the house falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will die soon.

if you believe in superstitions they will come true for you if it happens to you throw some salt over your right shoulder and it will stop the bad luck from happening

Yes, superstitions can have adverse affects on the karma of a person. It truly is mind of matter. If you believe, you will be affected. If you do not believe, you will not be affected. It all depends on your beliefs.

its just dumb superstition.

I guess if you're narcissistic and superstitious you are really screwed.

Well if someone broke a mirror, there's a huge chance that the broken pieces of glass would injure that person...that's bad luck man...but seven years? Well if the wounds won't heal that quickly...lol

I am not sure if it's really 7 years of bad luck. I had really bad luck for about a year after braking a mirror. But things are fine now.

Guessing cause 7 is a lucky number. If you break glass, you get the opposite effect of the luck.

I do not belive in many superstitions but i do belive in some of them.....but i know for a fact-the glass breaking superstition is definatly not one of them........

yeah but if 7 is supposedly a lucky number why would it be assosicated with something very unlucky

knights -

Irony I'd suppose. You pick up a four leaf clover and get good luck, you break a mirror and get bad.

Well you always think about it in the back of your mind, but really, I don't believe in it. Same with other superstitions. Yet, I still get nervous when I see a black cat getting ready to cross the road. ha! Jeez...

I think the whole idea of bad luck with mirrors came about because making mirrors was expensive in days gone by. A broken mirror was expensive to replace. Hey even today, ever price a large mirror? in a frame? mounted?

Same type of thing goes for walking under a ladder. It is not only unlucky it is unsafe. People drop things from ladder. Any one ever drop a bucket of paint, a hammer or a nail? What if you bumped the ladder?

Many of these superstitions were based in simple appropriate actions

Appropriate or in-appropriate?

I do not believe in this superstition. If you choose to believe it, then it becomes true for you and you will have the bad luck.

What you believe, you become...

Rev. Ravyn

i grew up with a very superstitious grandma so a lot has stuck with me..i do believe that about bad luck but to be honest i don't remember ever hearing why it was bad luck.. also learned a lot of other's too..like with the glass breaking by itself, now thats on my mind and kind of freaking me out..lol... but im a believer in such things...

i live in lancashire uk i have found that they are very supersticeos about broken mirrors i dont think that science boffins will ever get around to proving braking a mirror causes 7 years bad luck of not.
my self i dont like mirrors at all

Has anyone ever broken one just to see what happens? I have, and My luck per say is still up and down. I've found the love of my life, but also lost my job, then I got a better one. and I broke two huge mirrors.

I don't believe in this. I'm clumsy by nature..

Kioshi -

I've broken a mirror to see the effects as well. No bad luck, I must say. Just a evil mess to clean up.

ive thrown about maybe 4-7 mirrors and broken them just to see if id get bad luck but ive gotten no bad luck in over 4 months

i think its just an old myth to scare people so that they dont break glass

I have such horrible luck in this life.. that i wonder if in my former life .... I must have broken enough mirrors for 2 life times LOL

Must have been a devious little bugger, eh? =P

broken mirror alway made me think that you lose the part of your life the mirror reflected.

I don't know about this, but i know I'm a klutz i break my share of stuff, mirrors included.

I am not sure as well, but I think the number 7 is used because it is a "lucky number". Perhaps breaking a mirror means the negative aspect of the number?

I'm not sure about the origin of the superstition, but my guess is that it takes 7 years to recuperate the good luck because 7 is a supposed lucky number.
In other words, we see the good luck/bad luck sides of the number 7 in play when we refer to the broken mirror situation.

I am a very superstitious person, I try not to be but when I break a mirror, spill salt, see a magpie as hard as I fight I always end up following the event with the specified reaction. Even though I do these things bad stuff still happens, but isn’t that just life

I think that although superstitions have their place in societies that we are the controllers of our own destiny and it is the individual’s outlook on life and a positive attitude that helps us to deal with life’s crap bits.

After all it is not the events in an individuals life that defines them it is the manner in which that individual deals with the results that is the true indication of the strength of their soul..

everything is possible... a soul of the damned that was trapped by a priest uis letout if your lucky it will leave your side

i didnt no of this eithor DarkWolfman about the candle in the mirror

Never had any worse luck than I already have when breaking a mirror; however, people can use mirrors like a portal or camera, so whenever I travel, I place a mirror up against the wall mirror in bathroom or bedroom if there is one to help reflect back and keep my privacy.

Well I have broken a bunch of mirrors by accident and I always get bad luck too...

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