The horseshoe is the most widespread lucky charm in modern North America, and we find a whole range of models represented in the form of jewels, carpets as well as on company logos.

Hanging a horseshoe behind the door as a magical act of protection is encountered nowadays also throughout Europe where one comes across horseshoes nailed in homes, barns and stables.

The folk belief in horseshoes as magical symbols extends from Italy across Germany up to Britain and Scandinavia.

It is also quite common to encounter gates built in the shape of a horseshoe. In the Middle East one can run into blue glazed terracota shaped like a horseshoe. In Turkey the horseshoe symbol has been incorporated into the famous Turkish Eyes to prevent the Evil Eye and bad luck.

There are good reasons to assume that the shape of the horseshoe is linked to the pagan symbol of the Goddess Moon represented across the Old Continent as Artemis and Diana, whether this amulet invokes the protection of the Goddess herself or in a more direct and concrete manner that of her sacred vulva. As such, the horseshoe is related to other protective Divinities such as the Blessed Virgin Mary who is sometimes seen standing on top of a crescent moon and within a vulva-shaped Almond or vesica piscis.

In most part of Europe, the Middle East and the Spanish Colonies of Latin America, the protective horseshoes are usually disposed with the mouth upwards, however in some parts of Ireland and Britain people believe that the horseshoes ought to be disposed with the face towards the sky. Here comes the explanation: In those regions where the horseshoe is disposed mouth up people understand it to act as a receptacle of the Divine, same as the calyx in magical operations, receiving an collecting the divine blessing, fertilising it and leading it to manifestation in our lives. For this reason, it is believed that the placement of the horseshoe with the mouth down causes this blessing to be lost or wasted. This is an essential, most important concept to the world of spiritual development as well as to that magic and other mystical currents, and this is why we support the opinion that a horseshoe should be disposed with its two points facing the sky. Should you wish to learn more about this topic you can join us to study along the course of Kabalah or High Magic.

In the places where the horseshoes are hung facing downwards, people claim exactly the opposite, namely that the horseshoe should pour its content towards you otherwise it has no effect. We maintain that this position is incorrect since the horseshoe is typically a feminine object the meaning of which is to receive and fecundate the divine substance thus bringing new life, force and regeneration wherever it lies. Placing it mouth downwards would do away with its receptive property, and, in fact it would render it incapable of fecundation and of creating anything as it would not be receiving any substance.

In its function as an amulet of magical protection the horseshoe is especially nailed to the gates of barns and stables all across America, in general with the two points facing downwards and it is said that "no witches will pass beyond it". Good luck has been increasingly connected with the horseshoe symbol and there are many motion pictures containing the corresponding reference to it.

There are also other regional and cultural differences between beliefs in the power of horseshoes.

For instance, in Italy when a horseshoe is nailed on one side of the door (not above it) the direction to which it points is not considered important, but surely it is not deemed to be valid as an amulet unless it was actually used by a horse, neither if it was bought instead of being found by chance in some place on the road or in the fields. It is also required that the person coming through the door may be able to touch it. Horseshoes are highly prized in Mexico, but instead of the belief that it is necessary to touch them in order to obtain luck and protection, people there enwrap them in coloured thread and decorate them with fringes and pictures of riding saints or of Saint Martin Knight wrapped up in vinyl and upheld by a dedicated prayer or a magical conjuration known as "The Secret of the Virtuous Horseshoe."

In modern jewelry the horseshoe is used more as a lucky object than for protection. This is due to the natural association of the horseshoe with horse races. Likewise the image of the horseshoe can be seen on the labels of all kinds of products and merchandise as it has acquired a charge of fertility, luck and material development.