Laughing Buddha, Waving Cat: 101 Charms and Beliefs to Turbo-Charge Your Luck

By Jamie Downham

How many times a week do people say ‘good luck’ to you? Probably more than a few.

We might consider ourselves much more sophisticated than the ancient civilisations that practically revolved around lucky charms, but they are still all around us. We bless sneezes, we throw spilt salt over our shoulders, keep statues of St Christopher in our cars, and often have horseshoes in our homes.

One modern building in Hong Kong even has an enormous hole in its side for good fortune. Why? Read on. Each of the 101 lucky charms listed here has a real slice of history behind it, with many symbols and traditions dating back thousands of years.

And with all those good-luck signs on your e-reader, it may even bring you some luck, too. Well fingers crossed (oh, and we’ll explain what that strange saying is all about too).

Good luck!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Apostrophe Books Ltd
• Release date: Jun 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781908556677

Book preview

www.apostrophebooks.com

Contents

Introduction

Albatross

Amber

Angel

Ankh

Anubis

Apple

Archangel Gabriel

Badger

Bamboo

Barnstar

Bat

Beards

Bee

Bell

Bird droppings

Birthday candles

Blarney Stone

Black cat

Blessing a sneeze

Caduceus

Candle

Catching a bouquet

Charm bracelets

Chimney sweep

Christmas pudding

Circle

Coin

Colour red

Coral

Crescent

Cross

Crossed fingers

Dandelion

Dice

Dragon

Dreamcatcher

Dwarves

Endless knot

Eyelash

Eye of Horus

Feng shui

Figurehead

Fortune cookie

Four-leaf clover

Ganesha

Garlic

Goldfish

Groundhog

Hand of power

Horse brass

Horseshoe

Hummingbird

Keys

Knocking on wood

Ladder

Lady luck

Ladybird

Laughing Buddha

Leprechaun

Lightning

Lucky cat

Lucky elephant

Lucky heather

Magpie

Mermaid

Mojo bag

Nazar

Number Seven

Number Eight

Pig

Pot of gold

Rabbit’s foot

Rainbow

Rhinoceros

Robin

Rum

Runestone

Sapphire

Salt

Scarab beetle

Shark teeth

Shooting star

Snake

Spider web

Sky lantern

St Christopher

St Jude

Spitting

Sugar skull

Swastika

Tea

Thumbs up

Tiger

Tiki

Tommyknocker

Tortoise

Totem pole

Wishbone

Wishing tree

Wishing well

Yin-yang

Picture credits

Copyright

Introduction

How many times a week do people say ‘good luck’ to you? Probably more than a few.

We might consider ourselves much more sophisticated than the ancient civilisations that practically revolved around lucky charms, but they are still all around us. We bless sneezes, we throw spilt salt over our shoulders, keep statues of St Christopher in our cars, and often have horseshoes in our homes.

One modern building in Hong Kong even has an enormous hole in its side for good fortune. Why? Read on. Each of the 101 lucky charms listed here has a real slice of history behind it, with many symbols and traditions dating back thousands of years.

And with all those good-luck symbols on your e-reader, it may even bring you some luck, too. Well fingers crossed (oh, and we’ll explain what that strange saying is all about too).

Good luck!

Albatross

Sailors have long considered the albatross good luck, probably because the sight of one suggested they were near land. Unfortunately for superstitious seafarers, the giant bird can last for years at sea. Its fame was cemented by a Coleridge poem about a foolish young sailor who shot one and was forced by shipmates to wear it round his neck – hence the bad-luck phrase albatross around the neck.

Amber

Reviews for Laughing Buddha, Waving Cat

[Alex Lee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it, feel so lucky after reading it and may get the items in the book to enhance my luck.