Hanging a horseshoe over your home’s threshold will bring good luck into your home. There is contention about how to hang it. Hanging a horseshoe ends up, like a ‘u’ means it keeps all the good luck inside and from running out of the cup. But hanging a horseshoe ends down means it flows good luck down on anyone who walks underneath it. A medieval blacksmith is credited with making the devil promise to never enter a dwelling that had a horseshoe hanging over its door. Pagan cultures believed that the iron in the horseshoe saved them from witchcraft & evil, and that its crescent moonlike shape was a symbol of fertility and luck. For all the times I’ve handled horseshoes, I never knew that legend has it that witches were so afraid of iron horseshoes, they traveled on broomsticks instead of on horseback.
Kim Fullerton works in drawing, animation and video and has been involved in disability justice work for several years. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.
Posted July 1, 2023