I'm the one, I'm the one...

Posted by ESC on January 23, 2005

In Reply to: I'm the one, I'm the one... posted by Jean on January 23, 2005

: : : : : This just might be Biblical, but I cannot find it. Help appreciated.

: : : :
: : : : Don't know the origin, but the seventh son of a seventh son is traditionally (at least in the UK) supposed to have special powers - of the psychic, mediumistic and healing sort.

: : : : DFG

: : : I'll look in my superstition books. But first, a little song:

: : : THE SEVENTH SON
: : : (W. Dixon)
: : : Sung by Johnny Rivers

: : : Everybody talkin' 'bout the seventh son
: : : In the whole wide world there is only one

: : : And I'm the one, I'm the one
: : : I'm the one, I'm the one
: : : The one they call the seventh son

: : : I can tell your future, it will come to pass
: : : I can do things to you make your heart feel glad
: : : Look in the sky, predict the rain
: : : Tell when a woman's got another man.

: : :

: : "If the seventh child of a seventh child becomes a doctor, he or she will be extremely successful and achieve many striking cures." Page 135.

: : "A seventh child has gifts denied to others." Page 249.

: : "Seventh child - The seventh son of a seventh son, or the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, is commonly said to have magical gifts, particularly the gift of healing. This old and very widespread belief is sometimes stretched to include any seventh child of a family, whether the parent of the same sex was similarly born or not. More usually, however, the magical gifts are looked for only in the second generation of sevens. In some districts, it is thought necessary for the child's birth to be preceded by those of six brothers (or sisters) in an unbroken line, with no child of opposite sex intervening." Page 301-302.

: : Several more paragraphs follow with details about healing rituals, etc. Let me know if there's something specific you need to know.

: : From a book on English folklore: Encyclopedia of Superstitions by E. and M.A. Radford, edited and revised by Christina Hole, Barnes and Noble Books, 1996. First published in 1948.

: Thank you all, that is the way I have always heard it used, as referring to one with mystical powers. The Superstitions book by Radford sounded so interesting I have ordered it.

Great!