Lately, I have been doing some research on a super interesting topic – the evil eye. As I travel to Greece often, I have seen a lot jewelry associated with it, but I haven’t realized how old and deep the meaning behind it is. I hope I can break it down to you in an understandable manner.
The concept is thousands of years old and known in many cultures, religions and countries all over the world. It exists in the middle East, the Balkans, the Mediterranean, in Asia and Latin America., it appears in all sorts of versions. It was mentioned in the Bible and in antique literature, Vergil for example wrote about it in his poetry. Several different symbols are associated with it. There also exist a number of rituals and practices to get rid of it.
What is it exactly?
The evil eye is a result of a curse that was cast by someone with bad intentions. Those bad intentions could come from jealousy, but also malice and wickedness, envy, vengeance, schadenfreude, etc. Some also believe that the evil eye can be cast by giving too much praise or compliments, making it part of witchcraft. When someone is affected by it, they will suffer from misfortune, physical pain, or bad luck. As I said, people have believed in the evil eye – the results of evil intentions – since the prehistoric times. Therefore, there exists a rich fund of rituals, jewelry and proverbs that serve to protect oneself from the evil eye.
The Greek philosopher Plutarch said this about the evil eye: “When those possessed by envy let their glance fall upon a person, their eyes, which are close to the soul, and draw from it the evil influence of the passion, those glances fall upon that person like poisoned arrows.”
Where does the belief come from?
A theory is that the belief in evil eye was used as a way of social control, making people that are more successful nicer and more willing to help others, as a way to neutralize envy from others.
Protection against the Evil Eye?
In terms of jewelry there is the nazar amulet, a blue eye that is supposed to look back at someone giving the evil eye. Similarly, the hamsa (an arab word for the number five, indicating the five fingers of the hand), or also known as the ‘Hand of Fatima’, is a hand shaped amulet with an eye in the middle, it is also supposed to shield one from the evil eye. In Italy they use amulets with a ‘cornicello’, a horn, attached to it. In older times they used glass beads as well.
The ancient Greeks used the motive of an eye, called the much suffering eye (an eye being attacked by animals and weapons), and displayed it in front of their house, for example by painting it to the wall, as an apotropaic way of protection from any envious person entering their house, apotropaic meaning to turn away.
In Islamic countries they use phrases like ‘Masha’Allah’ (God has willed it) to turn away an evil eye. In India – my roommate told me about this 🙂 – they put ugly make up on their babies to ward off unwanted compliments that could release an evil eye. Apparently, the most vulnerable – so, babies – are also the most susceptible to it. In Brazil certain plants are used as protection.
Signs you suffer from Evil Eye
The most common ‘symptoms’ I have found through research are…
- laziness and constant yawning,
- having to cry without really having a reason to / without being sad,
- being more irritated and getting angry than usual,
- hair loss
Hopefully, this topic was as interesting to you as it was to me! Whether you want to believe in its existence is on you of course 🙂
