Welcome TO Evil Eye
The evil
eye is a belief that the envy elicited by the good luck of
fortunate people may result in their misfortune, whether it is
envy of material possessions including livestock, or of beauty,
health, or offspring. The perception of the nature of the
phenomenon, its causes, and possible protective measures, varies
between different cultures.
Forms of belief
In some forms, it is the belief that some people can bestow a
curse on victims by the malevolent gaze of their magical eye.
The most common form, however, attributes the cause to envy,
with the envious person casting the evil eye doing so
unintentionally. Also the effects on victims vary. Some cultures
report afflictions with bad luck; others believe the evil eye
can cause disease, wasting away, and even death. In most
cultures, the primary victims are thought to be babies and young
children, because they are so often praised and commented upon
by strangers or by childless women.
History
The amount of literary and archaeological evidence attests to
the belief in the evil eye in the eastern Mediterranean for more
than a millennium starting with Hesiod, Callimachus, Plato,
Diodorus Siculus, Theocritus, Plutarch, Heliodorus, Pliny the
Elder, and Aulus Gellius. In Peter Walcot's Envy and the Greeks
(1978) he referenced more than one hundred of these authors
works related to the evil eye. Studying these written sources in
order to write on the evil eye only gives a fragmented view of
the subject whether it presents a folkloric, theological,
classical or anthropological approach to the evil eye.
While these different approaches tend to reference similar
sources each presents a different yet similar usage of the evil
eye, that the fear of the evil eye is based on the belief that
certain people have eyes whose glance has the power to injure or
even kill and that it can be intentional or unintentional. The
origin of the belief can only be guessed, but it can be traced
back to the earliest of human records and the references in
Deuteronomy indicate that the evil eye was known in the Hebraic
world.
The Classical Evil Eye
Belief in the evil eye during antiquity is based on the evidence
in ancient sources like Aristophanes, Athenaeus, Plutarch and
Heliodorus. There are also speculations that claim Socrates
possessed the evil eye and that his disciples and admirers were
fascinated by Socrates' insistently glaring eyes. His followers
were called Blepedaimones, which translates into demon look, not
because they were possessors and transmitters of the evil eye,
but because they were suspected of being under the hypnotic and
dangerous spell of Socrates.
Distribution of the belief
Belief in the evil eye is strongest in the Middle East, East and
West Africa, South Asia, Central Asia and Europe, especially the
Mediterranean region; it has also spread to other areas,
including northern Europe, particularly in the Celtic regions,
and the Americas, where it was brought by European colonists and
Middle Eastern immigrants.
Protective talismans and cures
Attempts to ward off the curse of the evil eye have resulted in
a number of talismans in many cultures. As a class, they are
called "apotropaic" (Greek for "prophylactic" or "protective",
literally: "turns away") talismans, meaning that they turn away
or turn back harm.
Rome
In ancient Rome, people believed that phallic charms and
ornaments offered proof against the evil eye. Such a charm was
called fascinum in Latin, from the verb fascinare (the origin of
the English word "to fascinate"), "to cast a spell", such as
that of the evil eye.
Judaism
Among Jews, fish are considered to be immune to the evil eye, so
their images are often found on hamsa hand amulets. A red thread
is also said to protect babies against the evil eye, and
according to folkloric custom it is placed on the pillow upon
which a newborn baby is presented for the first time at a
viewing by family and friends. In the late 20th century it
became the custom to wind a red string around the tomb of the
great Matriarch, Rachel, located near Bethlehem, in the West
Bank, then to cut the string into pieces and give them out to be
worn on the left wrist as an effective protection against the
evil eye. According to this custom, the left hand is considered
to be the receiving side for the body and soul, and by wearing
the red string on the left wrist, believers receive a vital
connection to the protective energies surrounding the tomb of
Rachel, carrying her protective energy with them and drawing
from it any time there is need. The Kabbalah Centre and the
teachings of kabbalah put much emphasis on this custom.
India
In India the evil eye, called "drishti" (literally view) or "nazar",
is removed through "Aarthi". The actual removal involves
different means as per the subject involved. In case of removing
human evil eye, a traditional Hindu ritual of holy flame (on a
plate) is carried out in which the plate is moved in a circular
motion around the person's face so as to absorb the evil
effects. Sometimes people will also be asked to spit into a
handful of chillies kept in that plate, which are then thrown
into fire. For vehicles too, this process is followed with limes
or lemons being used instead of chillies. These lemons are
crushed by the vehicle and a new lemon is hung with chillies in
a bead to ward off any future evil eyes. The use of kumkum on
cheeks of newly weds or babies is also a method of thwarting the
"evil eye". Toddlers and young children are traditionally
regarded as perfect and are likely to attract the evil eye.
Often mothers apply a spot of kohl on their children's cheeks or
on the forehead to make the child imperfect and ward off evil
eyes.
Central America
In Mexico and Central America, infants are considered at special
risk for evil eye (see mal de ojo, above) and are often given an
amulet bracelet as protection, typically with an eye-like spot
painted on the amulet. Another preventive measure is allowing
admirers to touch the infant or child; in a similar manner, a
person wearing an item of clothing that might induce envy may
suggest to others that they touch it or some other way dispel
envy.
USA
In 1946, the American magician Henri Gamache published a text
called Terrors of the Evil Eye Exposed! (later reprinted as
Protection against Evil), which offers directions to defend
oneself against the evil eye. Gamache's work brought evil eye
beliefs to the attention of African American hoodoo
practitioners in the southern United States. |
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