Apotropaic magic
Apotropaic magic 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, amulets, or gestures such as crossed fingers or knocking on wood, or as part of complex rituals of social transformation such as migration. Many different objects and charms are used for protection by many peoples throughout history.
Symbols and objects
Ancient Egypt
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 were embodied by the deity who personified magic itself, Heka. The two gods most frequently invoked in these rituals were the hippopotamus-formed fertility goddess, Taweret, and the lion-deity, Bes.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, gained widespread popularity in the Middle Kingdom. These wands were used to protect expectant mothers and children from malevolent forces, and were adorned with processions of apotropaic solar deities. The cowroid amulet was also used to protect pregnant mothers and children, and was typically incorporated into a woman's girdle.
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, 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
The ancient Greeks had various protective symbols and objects, with various names, such as apotropaia, probaskania, periammata, periapta, profylaktika and phylaktiria. The Greeks made offerings to the "averting gods", chthonic deities and heroes who grant safety and deflect evil and for the protection of the infants they wore on them amulets with apotropaic powers and committed the child to the care of kourotrophic deities. The Greeks gave the epithet Alexicacus, meaning "averter of evil", to several deities, including Zeus and Apollo. Greeks placed talismans in their houses and wore amulets to protect them from the evil eye. They also attached charms on the animals. Peisistratus hung the figure of a kind of grasshopper before the Acropolis of Athens for protection.Another way for protection from enchantment used by the ancient Greeks was by spitting into the folds of the clothes.
Ancient Greeks also had an old custom of dressing boys as girls in order to avert the evil eye.
Crosses
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. In ancient Ireland and even up to relatively modern times, 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.Eyes
s 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 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. 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 on the vertical stabilizer of its aeroplanes. The apotropaic Yiddish expression, , is somewhat equivalent to the expression, "knock on wood."Faces
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.File:Gorgon at the Corfu Archaelogical Museum.jpg|thumb|center|500px|The Gorgon, flanked by lionesses and showing her belt clasp of serpents; the pediment of the 580 BCE temple of Artemis in Corfu. Archaeological Museum of Corfu.People believed that the doorways and windows of buildings were particularly vulnerable to the entry or passage of evil. In ancient Greece, grotesque, satyr-like bearded faces, sometimes with the pointed cap of the workman, were carved over the doors of ovens and kilns, to protect the work from fire and mishap. Later, on churches and castles, gargoyles or other grotesque faces and figures such as sheela na gigs and hunky punks were carved to frighten away witches and other malign influences. Figures may also have been carved at fireplaces or chimneys; in some cases, simple geometric or letter carvings were used for these. When a wooden post was used to support a chimney opening, this was often an easier material for amateur carving. To discourage witchcraft, rowan wood may have been chosen for the post or mantel.
Similarly the grotesque faces carved into pumpkin lanterns at Halloween are meant to avert evil: this season was Samhain, the Celtic new year. As a "time between times", it was believed to be a period when souls of the dead and other dangerous spirits walked the earth. Many European peoples had such associations with the period following the harvest in the fall.
Phalluses
In Ancient Greece, phalloi were believed to have apotropaic qualities. Often stone reliefs would be placed above doorways, and three-dimensional versions were built across the Greek world. Most notable of these were the urban monuments found on the island of Delos. The phallus was also an apotropaic symbol for the ancient Romans. These are known as fascinum.A similar use of phallic representations to ward off the evil eye remains popular in modern Bhutan. It is associated with the 500-year-old Buddhist tradition of Drukpa Kunley.
Reflective items and prisms
s and other shiny reflective objects were believed to deflect the evil eye. Traditional English "Plough Jags" sometimes decorated their costumes with shiny items, to the extent of borrowing silver plate for the purpose. "Witch balls" are shiny blown glass ornaments, such as Christmas baubles, that were hung in windows. Similarly, the Chinese Bagua mirror is usually installed to ward off negative energy and protect the entryways of residences.An example of the use of shiny apotropaic objects in Judaism can be found in the so-called "Halsgezeige" or textile neckbands used in the birthing customs of the Franco-German border region. Shiny coins or colourful stones would be sewn onto the neckband or on a central amulet in order to distract the evil eye. These neckbands were worn by women in childbirth and by young boys during their Brit Milah ceremony. This custom continued until the early 20th century.
In the American Southwest, crystals, due to their semitransparency, are used by shamans to practice clairvoyance, identify objects created or enchanted by witches, and distinguish diseases.
Horseshoes
In Western culture, a horseshoe was often nailed up over, or close by, doorways. Model horseshoes are given as good-luck tokens, particularly at weddings, and small paper horseshoes feature in confetti.Objects buried in walls
In early modern Europe, certain objects were buried in the walls of houses to protect the household from witchcraft. These included specially-prepared witch bottles, horse skulls and the bodies of dried cats, as well as shoes.In the American Southwest, to fortify buildings in Acoma residences for future battles, priests embed projectile points into walls to impart their lightning energy, or anima, into the structures.
Markings on buildings
Apotropaic marks, also called 'witch marks' or 'anti-witch marks' in Europe, are symbols or patterns scratched on the walls, beams and thresholds of buildings to protect them from witchcraft or evil spirits. They have many forms; in Britain they are often flower-like patterns of overlapping circles. such as hexafoils. Taper burn marks on thresholds of early modern buildings are also thought to be apotropaic marks.Other types of mark include the intertwined letters V and M or a double V, and crisscrossing lines to confuse any spirits that might try to follow them.
At the Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn, a flower-like pattern of overlapping circles is incised into a stone in the wall. Similar marks of overlapping circles have been found on a window sill dated about 1616 at Owlpen Manor in Gloucestershire, as well as taper burn marks on the jambs of a medieval door frame.
The marks are most common near places where witches were thought to be able to enter, whether doors, windows or chimneys. For example, during works at Knole, near Sevenoaks in Kent, in 1609, oak beams beneath floors, particularly near fireplaces, were scorched and carved with scratched witch marks to prevent witches and demons from coming down the chimney.
Marks have been found in buildings including Knole House, Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Tower of London, and many churches. A collection of over 100 marks – previously thought to be graffiti – was discovered in 2019 on the walls of a cave network at Creswell Crags in Nottinghamshire. Gainsborough Old Hall has 20, the most of any English Heritage property, concentrated in the servant's quarters alongside curses about the owner William Hickman.