It’s a funny thing about salt. We use it so freely for many different things on a daily basis. It makes a very good flavor enhancer for our favorite foods. But salt through the years, including today, has had other purposes.
My ancient Italian great grandmother used to throw salt over her shoulder to ward off evil spirits when she felt threatened by others’ words or deeds. My cousins and I used to fall down laughing at her.
Today, doctors warn us that too much salt upsets the chemical balances in our bodies and put us on salt-free diets; we sprinkle salt on our driveways and walks in the winter to melt ice; and, there are many of us that use salt as a cleansing of negative karma in their lives, and others who use salt as a way to illuminate the spiritual path.
I don’t know why I became so curious about the spirituality of salt, but as for a high school history teacher, I am sure that from before the time that man began to form colonies to the present day, the possession of salt has been an important commodity. We worry about the nuclear bomb! A little white grain has caused a great deal of hardship in the history of the world.
Funny thing about mankind. Even the possession of the littlest things causes the greatest amount of greed.
I am so curious why some faith traditions use salt as a spiritual purification rite. But that’s for another day.
With thoughtful Love and God’s Grace, Russ.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
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