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Today I thought we would take a peek at something we all use several times a day, the mirror.

Mirror superstitions usually involve either telling the future or bringing bad luck. In ancient myths even god and goddess sometimes use mirrors or other reflective surfaces to tell the future. Sometimes they were used to talk to gods as well. Because they are connected to the future breaking one was seen as shattering your own future. One way to counter this was my burying all the pieces. Breaking a mirror is also seen as a sign that a family member will die. Another myth is that when you look in a mirror you are seeing your soul. That is why it is common for vampires to not see themselves in mirrors because in these stories they have no soul.It also is used as a reason why breaking one is bad luck because the soul seeks revenge for being broken. If a couples first sight of each other is in a mirror it is said they will have a happy marriage. Another superstition says that the devil uses mirrors to catch the souls of the dead. When someone dies the mirrors in the room are supposed to be covered to prevent this. Mirrors were also covered during sleep for this reason since it was thought a soul could escape then. Children in some places were not allowed to look in mirrors till they were at least a year old since sometimes your soul could get trapped by just looking into a mirror. In Japanese mythology a mirror is said to be the soul of a woman as a sword is the soul of a samurai. Mirrors are used as a symbol of truth since it is said that they cannot tell a lie.