william_kent

Well-known member
crossover with the superstitions threads

How did the superstition that broken mirrors cause bad luck start

The Greeks believed that one’s reflection on the surface of a pool of water revealed one’s soul. But it was Roman artisans who actually learned to manufacture mirrors from polished metal surfaces, and believed their gods observed souls through these devices. To damage a mirror was considered so disrespectful that people thought it compelled the gods to rain bad luck on anyone so careless.

Around the third century mirrors were being made from glass, and breakage became a lot more commonplace. But the Romans did not believe that the ensuing bad luck would last forever. They believed that the body renewed itself every seven years.

The belief that good luck would eventually return was surely comforting, and people have always tended to believe things that make them feel good, even when untrue.
 

woops

is not like other people
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anyone heard of an artist called Felix gonzalez torres he made a mirror that reflects everything with a blue tinge
"fear". made a big impression on me aged 19
 

version

Well-known member
Standing next to someone else while they look into a mirror is another strange one re: asymmetries. Their eyes the other way round, nose leans the other direction. Everything just looks a bit off.
 

woops

is not like other people
Standing next to someone else while they look into a mirror is another strange one re: asymmetries. Their eyes the other way round, nose leans the other direction. Everything just looks a bit off.
yes and to make it even weirder your each looking at the version of them there not used to next to the version of yourself you are fuckin mad imo
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
if you want to get into broken mirrors you're into Tennyson followed by Agatha Christie, lol this might be an even better game then the YouTube one.

Out flew the web and floated wide-
The mirror crack'd from side to side;
"The curse is come upon me," cried
The Lady of Shalott.

Amazing, how did you think of that?
 

woops

is not like other people
more Kubrick, since kubrick is all there is, once your done with the daily round of chores, duties, manners, what remains? not your essential self and certainly not

overthinking the Shining

The-Shining_1.jpg


the obsequious grind of living, simply revising, find it's least canny parallel in the people on the other side, doing your living for you

TS9.jpg


i know where you live mr tea bag, I'm going to beat you up and @perversion too
 

version

Well-known member
Did the concept of reflection exist before someone saw theirs? The idea of the double surely did and twins must have been born at times before the invention of the mirror or people really pondering their own image.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
The belief that good luck would eventually return was surely comforting, and people have always tended to believe things that make them feel good, even when untrue.

So it's totally reasonable to believe that breaking a mirror will bring you bad luck - but thinking that the bad luck will only last seven years is irrationally optimistic.
 

woops

is not like other people
Did the concept of reflection exist before someone saw theirs? The idea of the double surely did and twins must have been born at times before the invention of the mirror or people really pondering their own image.
if you look really hard at some very difficult chemistry texts you'll discover that reflection is implicit in certain covalent bonds between elementary subatomic particles or just read some prynne etc
 

WashYourHands

Cat Malogen
When the leather waist-coated barber with a topknot holds up a mirror to the main mirror to show you how he nailed your taper neck, never mind the fact every last one of em do it so fast so you can’t see the fuck ups

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woops

is not like other people
When the leather waist-coated barber with a topknot holds up a mirror to the main mirror to show you how he nailed your taper neck, never mind the fact every last one of em do it so fast so you can’t see the fuck ups

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by that time I've been sat there for so long i don't care about f ups i just wanna get out
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
One of the most popular pieces of art over the past decade has been mirror-based, kasuma's infinity rooms. The popularity is partly insta-driven and partly coz they've managed to create the impression of scarcity around them (eg its impossible to get into the tate modern one without reserving months in advance). but also because infinitely reflecting mirrors are quite an amazing thing to see, if possibly not particularly profound. the first time I saw one exhausted after walking around LA all day really left an impression.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
it's been a while since I bought any clothes but there's a lot going on with those mirrors and the lighting around them. the ones in levis try to make you look good, the ones in h&m try to make you look bad I think
 
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