Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-01-22
LUCK IN THE HORSESHOE.
It's Adherents Have Profcssed to Be-
Iieve in 1t for Many Centuries.

It's Adherents Have Professed to Be-
Iieve in 1t for Many Centuries.
OF al the emblcms for good fortune,
the horseshoe stands among the hrSt.
Everybody knows it is unlllcky TO pass
d horseshoe on the road without pick
ing it I'D. II is Il luck emblem OF the
greatest power. Again, we are lndept-
ed for this statement to old tales, CEN
turtles in age, that have reScended from
father To SON from mother 10 daughter
through the years.
It is necessary to notice how the
horseshoe lies before picking 1t up Ii
the ends are away from one, thu sign
is that fortune will be within grasp, but
by extravaganza, careleSSneSs, or the
operati ton of rogues, it may depart al
most as soon as it comes n sign &c
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 1t up
And in carrying it home it is correct
to- hold it with the ends upward or the
earth will attract to itself all the
promised fortune.
When the shoe is nailed up on door
or window in it's destined place the
ends must be upw ard, or the whole luck
emblem will be nullited. Instead o.
keeping evil spirits away, the shoe, IL
the wrong position, will attract them
misleading Of bringing good fortune,
the luck Of the house will be diverted
1t is supposed that the element OF
electricity enters into the matter From
the shoe proceeds a current of benefl-
cent rays that, with the ends upward,
will spread over the house as a pro-
tccting influence; with the ends down.
ward, the good rays are drawn into the
all-rccciving, all-giving earth, and will
them many of the good influences that
are about the place.
A century ago it was very common IL
see upon a cowshed door the horseshoe
that scared off witches, who woulo
milk the cows or dry them up. Nova
Gays they arc not SO common, yet here
ard there they are still seen.
The old myths repay research. The
luck of the horseshoe has a most re
spectacle beginning. 1t is traced to the
religion of the old Greeks and their sea
god Poseidon, who was identical with
the Roman sea god Neptune.
To Poseidon horses We're sacred, and
to MIN they We're sacrificed. Poseidor
was BIT iieved to have created the first
horse when he struck the ground will
his trident and d horse sprang from
the hole. which afterWard became a
spring. The sea god was the lord o.
springs. 70 him all springs We're as
cribed. In the shape of a horse he
sometimes wandered by the shores o.
his ocean domain. and where he struck
his hoofs deeply there the waters
gushed out and permanent springs
We're found.
This is the reason why horseshoes
are reckoned lucky. Going to the root
of the matter, one secs nature myth
as the root principle From the sea al
rain comes. and to the sea all 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 giver through
his springs. They gave him horses
his precious beasts, and they adorcl
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
practically the same thing-was easy
Pegasus, the winged horse. from
whose hoofs the water springs gushel
copiouslv when he came to earth, has
been credited with the origin OF the
horseshoe luck.
Some legends called him the son of
Posedon. and therefore gifted by his
father with power to call the waters
from the earth. Other legends state
that Pegasus sprapg from the trunk of
Gorgon Mcdusa, after Perseus had Gu,
off her head. He had power of produc-
ing famous springs which gave the
gift of poesy, of art, of intellectual
powers. From these springs the muses.
drank yearly.
The horseshoe was a specific against
1t would Keep house
safe from harm by earth shaking
Again, one perccives the sea myth
Pcseidon was the shaker of the earth
Chicago Journal