Shooting Star Meaning, Spirituality and Superstitions

The word “star” in “shooting star” or “falling star” is a bit misleading. Technically, it’s not a star that “shoots,” but a burning bit of rock and dust (space debris) that shines in the dark sky. When meteors fall, they burn and accelerate toward the earth, thus earning the name of shooting stars.

Shooting stars, also known as fallen stars, send streaks of light across the night sky before burning out into a point of inky blackness. Superstition has it that simply spotting a falling space rock can bring good fortune, though the rationale behind this good omen changes based on who's telling the story.

For many, the celestial spectacle of a shooting star serves as a connection between the physical world and the spiritual world, representing divine guidance or a sign from the universe.

In many different cultures, stars represent souls. Therefore, a shooting star means a soul is on a journey. Different cultures assign different spiritual meanings, whether that’s deceased souls departing purgatory for heaven (France, Germany, Poland and the United States), wandering souls looking for the right path (Chile), new souls of a babies (Britain) or the end of life for old souls (Lithuania).

In North America and Eurasia, it is widely believed that your wish is granted if made upon a falling star. Scholars suggest the practice of making wishes on shooting stars has its origins in the popular belief that shooting stars appeared when the gods opened heaven to peer at earth. If you make your wish before the shooting star disappears, the gods may hear and grant wishes [source: Burke].

Not everyone believes a shooting star is a good sign. In the ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, a shooting star almost always meant a bad omen. In Greek mythology, shooting stars were the result of the god Zeus' throwing stones down from the heavens to Earth when he was angry [source: Burke].

If you want to avoid bad luck, don’t point at a shooting star. In Seneca Native American culture, people believed pointing at a meteor could make the star reveal your hiding place [source: Burke].

The type of luck you end up with could depend on something as random as the evening star’s position in the sky. If you see a shooting star on your right, it means good luck, while one on your left indicates misfortune will follow. If you're quick, you can shift position as the star travels to change your luck [source: Dillon].

Seeing a shooting star may feel special, but they aren't actually a rare occurrence. According to NASA, approximately 48.5 tons of “meteoric material” enter Earth’s atmosphere every day, with most of that space debris getting burned up in the atmosphere as shooting stars. With that much daily meteoric activity, you may be able to see several shooting stars on any given night — barring light pollution [source: NASA].

Your chances of seeing stars falling will increase dramatically during a meteor shower. During yearly meteor showers like the Leonids in November and the Perseids in August, you can see hundreds of meteors per hour as small rocks break off a larger comet [source: National Geographic].

Have you ever seen a blue or green shooting star? Meteors can have different colors, based on the type of metal they contain. Magnesium gives shooting stars a blue-green light, iron can make them look yellow, sodium adds an orange-yellow light and ionized calcium brings violet. Atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen in the air surrounding the meteor can make them look red [source: Nasa].