Also called itching palm, right hand itching, left hand itching
The itchy palm superstition says an itch in the hand predicts money. In the most common version, a right palm itch means money coming in and a left palm itch means money going out, though many regions and families reverse it.
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Take care: Persistent itching palms can come from eczema, contact dermatitis, allergies or other conditions. See a doctor if it lasts, spreads or comes with a rash.
Brutus accuses Cassius of having an itching palm, meaning greed for bribes. The phrase still means a love of money, separate from the luck belief.
Some families say the left hand receives and the right pays out, or switch the meaning by gender. Folklore collections record both readings.
Brewer's dictionary notes an itching right palm foretelling money in the writings of the 17th-century author Melton. Itchy noses (a visitor or a quarrel), ears (someone talking about you) and feet (a journey) form part of the same family of beliefs.
Itches were read as signs in many parts of Europe, and the hand naturally became linked to giving and receiving. The phrase 'itching palm' appears in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar around 1599, as an insult for someone greedy for bribes. By the 17th century English writers recorded the belief that an itching right palm foretold money, as Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable later noted.
Which hand means gain is not fixed. The common modern rule, right for receiving and left for paying, follows the old idea of the right hand as active and the left as passive, but folklore archives from the US, Ireland and the Caribbean record the reverse too. The customs to 'seal' the luck, such as rubbing the palm on wood or pocketing a closed fist, are informal and vary by family.
Knocking on wood, or touching wood in Britain, is a quick ritual done after praising your own luck or mentioning something you hope will continue, to keep from 'tempting fate'. Its origin is disputed: tree spirits and the Christian cross are popular theories, but folklorists find the custom recorded only from the 1800s.
A green candle is dressed with oil and herbs, marked with what you need, and burned over coins to draw money. It is a 20th-century form that grew out of Hoodoo and mail-order candle magic, now common in modern witchcraft.
A small flannel bag holding a lodestone fed with magnetic sand and a John the Conqueror root, carried to draw money, work and luck. It is a classic charm of African American Hoodoo.
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