The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-02-08
LUCK IN THE HORSESHOE.
People Have Professed to Believe in
II for Many Centuries.
fChicagO Journai.l

of all the emblems for good fortune,
the horseshoe stands among the first
Everybody knows il is uniucky to pass
q horseshoe on the road without picking
it up. IL is luck emblem of the great
est power Again We are indebted for
this statement to old tales. centuries
in age, that have descended from ia
ther TO son. from mother to daughter,
through the years.
It is necessary to notice how the
horseshoe lies before picking it up. If
the ends are away from one, the sign
is that fortune viii be within grasp,
but by extravaganza, csrelessness. or
the operation of rogues, it may depart
almost as soon as it comes A sign
to take care is given, therefore.
The right thing to do is to turn the
horseshoe around, so that the ends are
toward the finder, before picking it up.
And in carrying il home it Is correct to
hold il with the ends upward or the
earth will attract to itself all the prom
Used fortune.
When the shoe is Esiled up on door
or window in its desired place the ends
must be upward, or the whole luck
emblem viii be nullified. Instead of
keeping evil spirits away, the shoe, in
the wrong position, viii attract them,
Instead of bring good fortune, the luck
of the house win be diverted.
1t is supposed that the element of
electricity enters into the matter. From
the shoe proceeds a current of benefit
cent rays that. with the ends upward,
will spread over the house as q pro-
tecting influence; with the ends down
ward. the good rays are drawn into
the ail-receiving. all-giving earth. and
with them many Of the good influences
that are about the place.
A century ago IL was very common
TO see upon a cowshed door the horse
shoe that scared off witches who would
milk the cows or dry them up. Now
adays they are not so common. yet here
and there they are still seen.
The old myths repay research. The
/ luck of the horseshoe has most re-
spectacle beginning. Tt is traced to
the religion of the OLD Greeks and their
sea god Poseidon. who vas identical
with the Roman sea god Neptune
To POseidCn horses were sacred. and
to him they We're sacrificed. Poseidon
was believed to have created the first
horse when he struck the ground with
his trident and a horse sprang from
the hole. which sfterward became a
spring. The sea god was the lord OF
springs To him all springs were as
cTibed. In the shape of a horse ne
sometimes wandered by the shores of
his ocean domain. and where he struck
his hoOfs deeply there the waters gush-
ed out and permanent springs we're
found
This is the reason why horseshoes are
reckOned lucky Going to the root of
the matter. one sees a nature myth as
the root principle. From the sea ali
rain comes, and to the sea al! springs
owe primal origin; and to the rain and
the fresh waters. sea derived. We owe
all fertility on earth.
The old Greeks therefore worshipped
Poseidon as the fortune siver through
his springs They gave him horses.
his precious beasts. and they adored
the footprints Of horses when they
found them. for they might be the very
footprints of the god himself
When horses came to be shod the
transition of the luck emblem from the
FOOTPRINT itself TO the shoe mark-prac-
tjcaiiy the same thing-was easy.
Pegasus, the winged horse. from
whose hoOfs the water springs eushed
copiously when he came to earth. has
been credited with the origin Of the
horseshoe luck.
Some legends called him the son of
Poseidon. and therefore gifted by his
father with power TO call the waters
from the earth. Other legends state
thst Pegasus sprang from the trunk
Of GOrgon Medusa. after Perseus had
cut off her head. He had the power
Of producing famous springs. which
gave him the gift Of poesy. of art. Of
intellectual powers From these springs
the muses. drank yearly
The horseshoe was specific against
earthquakes II would keep a house
safe from harm by earth shaking.
Again. one pereeives the sea myth
Poseidoa vas the shaker of Inc earth.