I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Greece this month and was amazed by the sights and culture. My trip started on the beautiful island of Santorini and ended in the historic city of Athens. While both places were night and day different (Santorini being an island and Athens being a gigantic metropolitan city), they both had similarities: great food, kind people, and lots of evil eye talismans! The more I learned about the evil eye and its magical abilities, the more fascinated I became. If you follow my Instagram, you may remember my post about the Italian Corno. Once I connected that the corno and the evil eye talisman work in the same way, I realized that there is an entire form of magic, called Apotropaic magic, that has been practiced for thousands of years by people who didn't consider themselves witches. How can I work more of this into my magic for protection?
What is Apotropaic Magic?
Apotropaic magic (from Greek αποτρέπειν "to ward off") is a type of magic intended to turn away harm or evil influences, as in deflecting misfortune or averting the evil eye. Many of the Apotropaic observances we practice today started from vague superstition or tradition, such as good luck charms, amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood. Imagine a 'Return to Sender' stamp and that is the essence of Apotropaic magic. Most charms in European countries are created to rebound the evil eye.
What exactly is the evil eye?
Imagine a friend at a dinner party innocently saying "I love your new dress!" while secretly thinking "I want a dress like that. It's not fair that she looks prettier than me." Lo and behold, you spill spaghetti sauce on your new dress less than 30 minutes later. That, in essence, is how the evil eye works: someone looks at you with jealousy or malicious intent. The evil eye can be placed on someone with or without you consciously directing it. Like the above example, sometimes we experience thoughts and wishes that are not exactly pure in our minds. We don't mean to curse someone, but we inadvertently do. The curse is even stronger if it was cast with anger or hatred.
The evil eye protection symbol (also known as a Nazar) has many names from different cultures and dates back about 5,000 years. This iconic symbol is present across various religions and cultures, but most importantly Witchcraft. The earliest known use of the evil eye as apotropaic magic is found in the 6th century BC 'eye cups'. Since you are considered most vulnerable when your eyes are closed or your mouth is open, people began drawing eyes on the sides of their drinking cups. In roughly 1500 BC, glass beads were introduced and the evil eye talisman surged into popularity with the Greeks, Ottomans, Phoenicians, Persians, and Romans.
What are some other ways to repel the Evil Eye?
The Hamsa
Originally found in Mesopotamia, the hamsa is characterized by the evil eye embedded in a 5 fingered right hand. It was used to protect against the evil eye, death, or just general unluckiness. Depictions of the hand, the eye, or the number five in Arabic tradition are related to warding off the evil eye. Raising your right hand with the palm showing and the fingers slightly apart is part of this curse meant "to blind the aggressor". This idea of the number five in Arabic is so important that it is also used for magical rites. As the fifth day of the week, Thursday is considered a good day for magic rites and pilgrimages to the tombs of revered saints to counteract the effects of the evil eye.
Perhaps you can use both the hamsa and the number five in your spell workings, such as grouping items into fives or drawing the number five into your candles. Also, performing a 'return to sender' spell on the traditional Thursday may help amp up your magic.
Italian Anti-Malocchio Talismans
Italians have many different talismans against the evil Malocchio (literally means bad eye): the cornicello (corno), cimaruta, and a hand making the sign of horns. It is so important to Italians because the malocchio is believed to harm nursing mothers, babies, fruit trees, milking animals, and the sperm of men - all important for their lives and generations to come. This is also why you can usually find charms in the shape of sexual organs and they also evoke hand gestures in similar shapes.
The Color Blue
In Trinidad & Tobago, not only do they use the traditional Nazar, but they also believe the color blue itself can ward off the 'maljo'. Beads and jars colored a vibrant blue are often placed around the home. The use of blue soap is used in everyday cleaning and using blue soap to anoint your feet is said to cleanse one of the maljo.
So why not add a couple of blue candles along with the traditional black when you are spell-working? It just might help repel negativity on both fronts: from the living world and the other world. Wear something blue (hair ties, bracelets, shoes, etc.) when you're feeling a little under the weather.
Faces
In Greece, doorways and windows were thought to be easy access for evil, so the face of a gorgon was often placed at the entrance to avert the eye. Since gorgons were based on the faces of death (bulging eyes, lips receding, teeth bared) it was a logical tactic. Eventually, more modern cultures also employed this same tactic with the inclusion of gargoyles and grotesques on their churches and castles. We witches may be most familiar with the tradition of carving faces into pumpkins or gourds which began as apotropaic magic against evil spirits wandering on All Hallow's Eve.
To add this to your everyday craft, why not make your very own mask? There are millions of tutorials online for various forms of masks. You can make it as grotesque or as gorgeous as you want. Wear it any time you feel an evil eye is affecting you, or you can use it in your magical workings just to make yourself feel more 'witchy'. Or, you could make or purchase a little gargoyle house protector. Just be sure to give him plenty of pats for being such a hard worker!
Mirrors
Nothing reflects better than a mirror, am I right? So, of course, mirrors are included in apotropaic magic. It's the OG for returning magic. Any time a witch wants to repel spirits or other forms of magic, a mirror is an excellent tool. However, there are extra benefits to using mirrors in your workings: they are connected to the other world and can be used to trap energy or amplify it.
Small mirrors are relatively cheap and can be purchased at thrift stores or money-saving stores such as Dollar Tree or Dollar General. Before using a mirror, I like to draw a small protection sigil somewhere on the back with a sharpie or pen. Then, there are three ways you can use the mirror.
1. Stand the mirror facing away from you while you are working so negative energies trying to reach you get turned away.
2. Place the mirror facing you and your workstation while you craft so that your spell magic becomes amplified.
3. Place your mirror flat on the workstation and create your spell directly on top of it so that your spell becomes a return to sender.
Not all mirror spells need to be negative. If you feel like your ancestors have been doing a great job protecting you lately, place an offering of food on the mirror to gift them. Returning positive for positive works wonders.
Evil eye. (2022, October 11). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_eye
Apotropaic magic. (2022, October 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apotropaic_magic
Hamsa. (2022, October 1). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa
Kommentare