The Evil Eye and Evil Averting Charms

Apotropaioi 2  16 x 20 . (counterclockwise:) Bull's horn, amber eye,
 hamsa, cimaruta, coral horn and  natural branch, blue eye

As mentioned in a previous post, my maternal great grandmother was said to be a wise woman—a “witch.”  She had about a dozen children, some of which were lost in the 1918 flu pandemic, and she outlived a few husbands. She divined and cast spells, both healing and threatening, but her main teaching was the same as that of other Italian cunning folk: think positive. The positive-thinking bit was not an extension of the New-Thought Positive-Thinking Manifestation-Spirituality scene, though. It was a strategy to keep the malocchio—the evil eye—away.

Apotropaioi 3 10x12 Bulls horn with eye pendants,
coral amulet (horn and natural coral branch) and
cimaruta

Concerns about the evil eye and apotropaic (evil-averting) magic date back to ancient times and are central to Italian folk magic. It at least seemed to be central to the now lost folk magic tradition of my family. When I moved into my grandfather’s house after his death, I found it chock-full of talismans that were groupings of Christian paraphernalia and evil-averting objects. They took the form of rosaries, blessed Easter Sunday palm and/or devotional scapulars bound up with cornos (“Italian horns”) and similar charms, glass eyes, or horseshoes. Curiously, I found many of these curios dangling from rusted spikes driven into the walls in the backs of closets or concrete pillars in the cellar. A bull’s horn in which two small glass amber eyes were beaded hung over the main entrance of the house. Today that same horn  guards the entrance of my present living space.

What is the evil eye? Simply, it is envy—the green-eyed monster.  The act of turning an envious or covetous glance—or thought—at someone was believed to vampirically sap that person’s life juice. Calamities such as illness (especially the illness or death of a child) or impotence are traditionally attributed to the evil eye. 

Why wear an eye to avert the evil eye? The rationale is that its unwanted energy is being deflected or reflected back on its source, as an image bouncing off a mirror.

In homage to my great grandmother, I went through a period in which I was making eye amulets out of polymer clay and glass. They weren’t really polished enough to market but I used them in these photo still lives celebrating apotropaic charms.

Apotropaioi 1  18 x 24

What have we got here....

Grimoire/spell books.  Modern folk magic practitioners/witches are told to keep grimoire or "Books of Shadows." Historians tell us that some folk practitioners--if they were literate--kept spell books or journals of their magical practice. These journals may have been handed down to an apprentice. "Grimoire" more refer to spell books and journals of ceremonial magicians and sorcerers. A "Book of Shadows" was the name given to a witch's journal by Gerald Gardner (founder of Wicca). It was a term he picked up from a science fiction novel.

Bowl of oil and water. To identify whether the evil eye was afoot and who cast it and to remove the evil eye, the mago or maga would study the patterns of oil dropped in water.

Hamsa hand. An evil-averting charm common to the Judaic tradition. It is said to be of more ancient and ubiquitous Middle Eastern origin and represents the hand/eye of God (or Goddess/Holy Woman).

Nazar.  A Slavic and Middle Eastern version of the evil-averting eye amulet. Why blue? Because blue eyes were uncommon in darker-skinned, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cultures and symbolized being sapped of color. Amber eyes also are  used as evil-eye averting charms in Italian folk culture. (The bull's horn in the image has an amber eye affixed to it. See the other images in this photo montage. It used to have 2 eyes but one is now lost :-(  ).

Hag stone. Stones with natural holes through them are revered in European folk magic for averting the evil eye and witchcraft. In Italian folk magic, such stones are said to help a person connect with the Fairy realm.

Red coral. Red coral has been used as an evil-averting, health-attracting charm since Roman times. Amulets of coral carved into horns (corno) are meant to protect boys and men from the evil eye. Amulets of natural branches of coral protect girls and women.

Scapular. A tie or fabric necklace of sorts that has lapels with an image of the Madonna or a saint and a short prayer of dedication and protection.

Rosaries. Catholic artifacts used for meditation and prayer that also are used for protection combined with cultural superstitious and magical accouterments in common folk culture.

Blessed palm. On Palm Sunday--a Catholic holy day that precedes Easter, parishioners commemorate the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, where he was greeted like a rock star. His path was strewn with palm fronds in reverence, and so fresh palm fronds are handed to parishioners on that day. Some folks hang the palm in their homes for blessing and protection (sometimes cutting the pieces to make crosses or other symbols). 

Bull's horn. Another evil-averting items that dates back to very ancient times. The horn represents virility and plenty and is the prototype of the "horn of plenty."

Candle.  A ubiquitous symbol of illumination.

Missing from this image, but seen in the others in this series is the cimaruta. The cimaruta (the "c" is pronounced as "ch") is an amulet meant to represent a sprig of rue. The rue plant is thought to have evil-averting properties in Italian folklore. On each branch of the cimaruta sprig is a magical symbol also meant to avert evil and provide vitality to the wearer.

#evileye