Unashamedly superstitious

 Okay, so I am a little superstitious. There's nothing wrong with that. After all, I have an Irish heritage so I come by it honestly. Come on, admit it, aren't you the teeniest bit nervous that it's Friday the 13th today? Are you being a bit more cautious today?



If you spilled the salt, wouldn't you be the least bit tempted to pick up a pinchful and throw it over your left shoulder, just in case?




Do you believe in the wee folk? How about the tooth fairy and Santa's elves? Have a leprechaun mess up your house on St. Patrick's Day eve? Read fairytales long into the night when you were little? Look out in wonder at what Jack Frost had done to the windows on a frosty winter morning? Oh, I bet you forgot all that stuff didn't you? Did you grow up and stop believing in magical things?




Well, you can revisit the magical thinking time of childhood by trying my family's tradition of fortune telling charms in birthday cakes. On someone's birthday, four little charms are slipped into the cake (either homemade or from the bakery). When the cake is cut, served, and nibbled on, four guests will have their fortunes predicted!



The traditional meanings are the one who gets the thimble will remain single, the one who gets the ring will get married, the one who gets the baby will have a child, and the one who gets the coin will become rich. These fortunes can cause horror or confusion in this post-modern age or when one is a bit older, however, so alternative interpretations can be applied. How about: the one who gets the thimble will have a happy home and live to pay off their mortgage, the one who gets the ring will remarry and find happiness on the second (or third) try, the person who gets the baby will serve as an awesome mentor to a younger person in their business, and the person who gets the coin will be the most generous of everyone in donating towards the latest natural disaster relief!

It is also fun to add these charms (reusuable after sterilizing, of course) to the mashed potatoes or colcannon on Halloween or St. Patrick's Day. Just be sure and warn your guests to be careful when they bite down! It's easy to put a little kit like this together yourself and start your own little Irish tradition, or you can get one from my etsy shop at
http://www.etsy.com/listing/74026616/fortune-telling-charms

And don't just avoid walking under those ladders, opening umbrellas in the house, or breaking mirrors due to superstition. They're just dumb things to do!

To see a fresh etsy shop called Mymble's Daughter, a Jewellery and Art shop for the Victorian Ornithologist, and run by Peggy Seymour (adorapop) who obviously believes in fortune telling and fairies, go to http://www.etsy.com/shop/adorapop

Don't you love this fortune telling necklace?