Part 50

Use either a (1) crystal, (2) a polished object, (3) a bright coin, (4) a sparkling gem, or (5) ordinary glass in the shape of a sphere or ball. There are others, but they are not important.

In conclusion, it will be of interest to know just what you may expect to see when, and if, your spirit eyes open. Probably a misty, fogged appearance will first be seen in the crystal. This will remain for some little time, until finally the scene or person (whatever it may be) will appear. The latter may be faint and dim, or it may be clear-cut like a good photograph.

The clearness or otherwise will depend among other things upon the keenness of sight of the spirit eye. It will also be influenced by the degree of quiet, and upon the absence of anything likely to disturb the searcher in the realms of the future.

THE MOON AND THE LUCK IT BRINGS

People of all ages have looked upon the moon as a provider of good and bad luck, and most of us have probably noticed that it has influenced our actions, at times. Here are some of the beliefs that are centuries old.

If you see a new moon over your right shoulder, it means that you will experience good luck all the month.

If you have money in your pocket and you meet the new moon face to face, turn the money over and you will not run short of money that month.

It is unlucky to see the new moon through glass. If you do, go out of doors, curtsey three times to the moon and turn some silver in your hand. This will break the spell which will be cast over you if you do not do as directed. There is one little point, connected with this superstition, which has set us thinking. What of all those individuals who wear glasses? We do not know the answer.

There is a strongly prevalent idea that everything falling to the lot of man when the moon is waxing will increase or prosper; but things decrease and do not prosper when the moon is on the wane.

Irish colleens were wont to drop on their knees when they first caught sight of the new moon, and say, "Oh, moon, leave us as well as you have found us." And, long ago, Yorkshire maidens "did worship the new moon on their bent knees, kneeling upon the earth-cast stone."

If the full moon known as the Harvest Moon appears watery, it is an ill sign for the harvest. (The Harvest Moon is due about the middle of September.)

If the moon shows a silver shield, be not afraid to reap your field: but if she rises haloed round, soon we'll tread on deluged ground.

If the moon changes on a Sunday there will be a flood before the month is out.

A Saturday moon, if it comes once in seven years, comes too soon.

A fog and a small moon bring an easterly wind soon.

In the waning of the moon, Cloudy morning: fair afternoon. Pale moon doth rain; red moon doth blow, White moon doth neither rain nor snow. When the moon's halo is far, the storm is n'ar (near). When the moon's halo is n'ar, the storm is far.

It has long been a custom for girls to go to the nearest stile, to turn their back on the first new moon after Midsummer and to chant these verses:

All hail, new moon, all hail to thee. I prithee, good moon, reveal to me, This night, who shall my true love be. Who he is and what he wears, And what he does all months and years.

If she were to be married in the course of the next twelve months, the moon answered her questions during her sleep of the same evening.

In many parts of the country it is supposed that, on Christmas Eve, the moon will help maidens to find out when they are to be married. The plan is for a maiden to borrow a silk handkerchief from a male relation and to take it and a mirror to some sheet of water, while the night is dark. She must go quite alone; but the sheet of water may be an unromantic pail, full to the brim, stationed at the bottom of the garden. As soon as the moon shows itself, the maiden places the flimsy piece of silk in front of her eyes, and, by holding the mirror half towards the moon and half towards the water, it is possible for her to see more than a pair of reflections. The number of reflections are the months which will ensue before her wedding bells ring out.

We recently came across the following information in a document quite three hundred years old:

"The first, second and third days of the moon's age are lucky for buying and selling; the seventh, ninth and eleventh are lucky for engagements and marriage; the sixteenth and twenty-first are not lucky for anything."

The same document affirmed that:

"A baby born before the new moon is twenty-four hours old is sure to be lucky. Anything lost during the second twenty-four hours of the moon's age is sure to be found. All things begun on the fifth twenty-four hours will turn out successfully. A dream experienced on the eighth twenty-four hours must come true."

FORTUNETELLING BY MEANS OF PLAYING CARDS

Telling fortunes, by means of playing cards, is one of the oldest amusements indulged in by civilized people. The ancients of the Far East used their Tarot packs for this purpose long before the birth of Christ, and, ever since, it has been recognized that cards can be made to give a surprisingly accurate reading of future events.

It is interesting to note that, until modern times, it was a common practice of men who had to make great and far-reaching decisions for them to consult a pack of cards and to be guided by what was revealed. Napoleon, it may be recalled, never made an important move unless the cards advised him to take the step. Julius Caesar was another great leader who placed his trust in card readings, and even Shakespeare, the shrewdest of all English writers, shows by a number of passages in his plays that he recognized the use of cards for purposes of divination. As for the noted men and women of today, it is rumored that several derive guidance from their packs when they are in doubt.

Whether the science of cartomancy, the name given to telling fortunes by the aid of cards, is taken seriously or not, there is no doubt that it will afford a good deal of merriment when indulged in by a number of pleasure-seeking friends and relations.