Apotropaic magic
Apotropaic magic (from Greek αποτρέπειν "to ward off") or protective magic is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Apotropaic observances may also be practiced out of superstition or out of tradition, as in good luck charms (perhaps some token on a charm bracelet), amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood. Many different objects and charms were used for protection throughout history.
Symbols and objects[edit]
Ancient Egypt[edit]
Apotropaic magical rituals were practiced throughout the ancient Near East and ancient Egypt. Fearsome deities were invoked via ritual in order to protect individuals by warding away evil spirits. In ancient Egypt, these household rituals (performed in the home, not in state-run temples) were embodied by the deity who personified magic itself, Heka.[1] The two gods most frequently invoked in these rituals were the hippopotamus-formed fertility goddess, Taweret, and the lion-deity, Bes (who developed from the early apotropaic dwarf god, Aha, literally "fighter").[2]
Objects were often used in these rituals in order to facilitate communication with the gods. One of the most commonly found magical objects, the ivory apotropaic wand (birth tusk), gained widespread popularity in the Middle Kingdom (ca. 1550 – 1069 BCE).[3] These wands were used to protect expectant mothers and children from malevolent forces, and were adorned with processions of apotropaic solar deities.
Likewise, protective amulets bearing the likenesses of gods and goddesses such as Taweret were commonly worn. Water came to be used frequently in ritual as well, wherein libation vessels in the shape of Taweret were used to pour healing water over an individual. In much later periods (when Egypt came under the Greek Ptolemies), stele featuring the god Horus were used in similar rituals; water would be poured over the stele and—after ritually acquiring healing powers—was collected in a basin for an afflicted person to drink.
Ancient Greece[edit]
The ancient Greeks had various protective symbols and objects, with various names, such as apotropaia, probaskania, periammata, periapta and profylaktika.[4][5]
The Greeks made offerings to the "averting gods" (ἀποτρόπαιοι θεοί, apotropaioi theoi), chthonic deities and heroes who grant safety and deflect evil[6] and for the protection of the infants they wore on them amulets with apotropaic powers and committed the child to the care of kourotrophic (child-nurturing) deities.[7] Greeks placed talismans in their houses and wore amulets to protected them from the evil eye.[8] Peisistratus hung the figure of a kind of grasshopper before the Acropolis of Athens for protection.[9]
Another way for protection from enchantment used by the ancient Greeks was by spitting into the folds of the clothes.[9]
Ancient Greeks also had an old custom of dressing boys as girls in order to avert the evil eye.[10]
Crosses[edit]
In Ireland, it is customary on St Brigid's Day to weave a Brigid's cross from rushes, which is hung over doors and windows to protect the household from fire, lightning, illness and evil spirits.[11] In southern Ireland, it was formerly the custom at Samhain to weave a cross of sticks and straw called a 'parshell' or 'parshall', which was fixed over the doorway to ward off bad luck, illness, and witchcraft.[12]
Eyes[edit]
Eyes were often painted to ward off the evil eye. An exaggerated apotropaic eye or a pair of eyes were painted on Greek drinking vessels called kylikes (eye-cups) from the 6th century BCE up until the end of the end of the classical period. The exaggerated eyes may have been intended to prevent evil spirits from entering the mouth while drinking.[13][14] Fishing boats in some parts of the Mediterranean region still have stylised eyes painted on the bows. The defunct Turkish budget airline, Fly Air, adopted the symbol nazar boncuğu (nazar bonjuk) on the vertical stabilizer (fin) of its aeroplanes. The apotropaic Yiddish expression, קיין עין הרע, kain ein horeh, 'no evil eye' (in modern Hebrew, בלי עין הרע, bli ein ha'ra), is somewhat equivalent to the expression, "knock on wood."[15]
Faces[edit]
Among the ancient Greeks, the most widely used image intended to avert evil was that of the Gorgon, the head of which now may be called the Gorgoneion, which features wild eyes, fangs, and protruding tongue. The full figure of the Gorgon holds the apex of the oldest remaining Greek temple where she is flanked by two lionesses. The Gorgon head was mounted on the aegis and shield of Athena.[16]