Lucky Horseshoes

Most cultures associate horseshoes with good luck, but the origin of this association is the subject of many competing theories. Some theories posit an association between the horseshoe’s crescent shape and the crescent moon or animal horns, both of which are believed to repel evil. Others suggest that it is the horseshoe’s relation to a sacred animal, the horse, that provides its protective power.

The House will focus on the former, more interesting, explanation.

Crescent Moon > Animal Horns > Horseshoe

This progression from crescent moon to animal horns to horseshoe is illustrated in the gallery of images below.

Let’s start with the crescent moon (image 1), which represents the beginning of the moon’s eternal cycling. The word crescent comes from crescere (to increase). Curving delicately around an empty dark space, the crescent offers promise of future fulfillment. Ancient peoples associated the shape with their deities.

In ancient Egypt, Osiris-Iah (image 2) is a form of Osiris specifically linked to the moon, a feature made explicit in this figure through the crown, which represents the moon disk resting on the crescent moon, thereby encompassing the moon in all of its phases. Osiris is linked to the moon because, as the moon changes from crescent to full from month to month, it recalls Osiris’ continual rebirth and regeneration.

Isis — Osiris’s wife and sister — wears a similar crown, which represents the sun between cow horns (image 3). Interestingly, ancient Greeks and Romans (mis)interpreted the crown as a crescent moon. This powerful symbol was worn by Roman women as a safeguard against witchcraft and to prevent the evil spirits of the moon from afflicting them with…lunacy (derived from luna, moon). They also sought to attract the goodwill of Isis (Fortuna) so they would be lucky in matters of the heart and fortunate in life.

Let’s take a step back and see where we are…

We started with the crescent moon, a feature of the natural world. This powerful, two-pronged symmetrical shape, which was used in the ancient world to symbolize both the moon and animal horns, was associated with powerful deities and acquired protective properties.

Incidentally, some draw parallels between Isis and the Virgin Mary (image 4), both of whom would have been perceived as mothers of god and symbols of maternal devotion. Mary is frequently shown standing atop a crescent moon to symbolize her status as queen of heaven.

Given its prominence in depictions of deities, the crescent moon/animal horns shape was a popular motif in jewelry and personal adornment, where it was used for its protective properties. See, for example, the mummy mask (image 5) below, wearing a crescent-shaped pendant called a lunula, from luna (moon) and the animal horns pendant (image 6).

Because the shape of the horseshoe evoked this ancient, sacred symbolism, horseshoes also acquired apotropaic properties and became “lucky”. No one ever explains exactly HOW this happens, it’s just “horseshoes are roughly the same shape so it’s the same thing” and BOOM, you’ve got your talisman.