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Apotropaic magic (from Greek αποτρέπω, apotrépō '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 ...
The Gorgoneion, or Gorgon head, was used in the ancient world as a protective apotropaic symbol. Among the ancient Greeks, it was the most widely used symbol to avert evil. Medusa's head with its goggling eyes, fangs, and protruding tongue was depicted on the shield of Athena herself. [3]
Apotropaei (Greek: Ἀποτρόπαιοι) were in ancient Greece certain divinities, by whose assistance the Greeks believed that they were able to avert any threatening danger or calamity—that is, figures of apotropaic magic. Their statues stood at Sicyon near the tomb of Epopeus. [1]
Disks or balls, consisting of concentric blue and white circles (usually, from inside to outside, dark blue, light blue, white, and dark blue) representing an evil eye are common apotropaic talismans in West Asia and the Balkans, found on the prows of boats and elsewhere; in some forms of the folklore, the staring eyes are supposed to bend the ...
The sounds of bells were believed to keep away evil spirits; compare the apotropaic role of the bell in the "bell, book, and candle" ritual of the earlier Catholic Church. [2] [7] It has also been surmised that oscilla hung on hooks along colonnaded porticoes may have comparable evil-warding intents. [8]
Images which show Perseus, with head turned away, decapitating Medusa (Figs. 1, 7), resemble Mesopotamian depictions of Gilgamesh slaying the wild man Humbaba. Such depictions can show Gilgamesh with head turned away looking behind him for a goddess to pass him a weapon. [ 100 ]
These apotropaic marks were discovered at a Tudor property, once visited by Henry VIII and his then Queen, Catherine Howard, and were meant to provide ritual protection. - English Heritage
Early nineteenth-century witch bottle from Lincolnshire, England, and its contents. A white witch or folk healer would prepare the witch's bottle. Historically, the witch's bottle contained the victim's (the person who believed they had a spell put on them, for example) urine, hair or nail clippings, or red thread from sprite traps.