Apotropaic magic: Difference between revisions

[[File:Worlington.jpg|thumb|265px|Medieval apotropaic marking on the inside of a church in Suffolk, England.]]

'''Apotropaic magic''' (from Greek {{translety|grcel|αποτρέπειν{{linktext|αποτρέπω}}, "apotrépō|to ward off"}}) or '''protective magic''' is a type of [[Magic (paranormal)|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 charm]]s (perhaps some token on a [[charm bracelet]]), [[amulets]], or gestures such as [[crossed fingers]] or [[knocking on wood]]. Many different objects and charms were used for protection throughout history.

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 (performed in the home, not in state-run [[Egyptian temple|temples]]) were embodied by the deity who personified magic itself, [[Heka (god)|Heka]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Robert |last=Ritner (|year=1988). ''|title=The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. ''|place=Chicago: |publisher=The Oriental Institute of Chicago, 14-28.|pages=14–28}}</ref> The two gods most frequently invoked in these rituals were the [[hippopotamus]]-formed [[fertility goddess]], [[Taweret]], and the lion-deity, [[Bes]] (who developed from the early apotropaic dwarf god, [[Aha (deity)|Aha]], literally "fighter").<ref>{{cite book |first=James F. |last=Romano (|year=1978), ''|title=The Origin of Aha (also called Bes). ''|place=New York: |publisher=College Art Association, 1978.}}</ref>

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]] ([[birth tusk]]), gained widespread popularity in the [[Middle Kingdom of Egypt|Middle Kingdom]] (cac. 1550 – 1069 BCE).<ref>{{cite book |first=Hartwig |last=Atlenmüller (|year=1965). ''|title=Die Apotopaia und Die Götter Mittelägyptens.'' |place=Munich: |publisher=Ludwig-Maximilians University. |lang=de}}</ref> These wands were used to protect expectant mothers and children from malevolent forces, and were adorned with processions of apotropaic [[solar deities]].

The [[ancient Greeks]] had various protective symbols and objects, with various names, such as ''apotropaia, probaskania, periammata, periapta'' and ''profylaktika''.<ref>{{cite booksfn| author = Lesley A. Beaumont | title = Childhood in Ancient Athens: Iconography and Social History| publisher = Routledge | year = 2013|url p= https://books.google.com/books?id=iXSmuBlH79QC| page = 62|isbn = 978-0415248747}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| author = Louise A Gosbell | title = The Poor, the Crippled, the Blind, and the Lame: Physical and Sensory Disability in the Gospels of the New Testament| publisher = Mohr Siebeck| year = 2018|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_hVnDwAAQBAJ| pages = 105–107|isbn = 978-3161551321}}</ref>

The Greeks made offerings to the "[[Apotropaei|averting gods]]" ({{lang-grc|ἀποτρόπαιοι θεοί|translit=apotropaioi theoi|label=none}}), [[chthonic]] deities and [[Greek hero|hero]]es who grant safety and deflect evil<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.mgilleland.com/averters.htm |editor=Gilleland, Michael |translator=Jones, W.H.S. |title=Averters of Evil |date=26 June 2008 |access-date=3 July 2010 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615171021/http://www.mgilleland.com/averters.htm |archive-date=2013-06-15 |url-status=unfit |quote=[[Hippocrates]], ''Regimen'' 4.89: So with this knowledge about the heavenly bodies, precautions must be taken, with change of regimen and prayers to the gods; in the case of good signs, to the Sun, to Heavenly Zeus, to Zeus, Protector of Home, to Athena, Protectress of Home, to Hermes and to Apollo; in the case of adverse signs, to the Averters of evil [apotropaioi], to Earth and to the Heroes, that all dangers may be averted. <br/>[[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] 2.11.1 (Corinth): Before the altar, a barrow has been raised for Epopeus himself, and near the grave are the gods Averters of evil [''apotropaioi'']. Near them, the Greeks perform such rites as they are wont to do in order to avert misfortunes ({{lang|grc|πρὸ τοῦ βωμοῦ δὲ αὐτῷ μνῆμα Ἐπωπεῖ κέχωσται, καὶ τοῦ τάφου πλησίον εἰσὶν Ἀποτρόπαιοι θεοί: παρὰ τούτοις δρῶσιν ὅσα Ἕλληνες ἐς ἀποτροπὴν κακῶν νομίζουσιν.}})}}</ref> and for the protection of the infants they wore on them amulets with apotropaic powers and committed the child to the care of [[Kourotrophos|kourotrophic]] (child-nurturing) deities.<ref>{{cite booksfn| author = Lesley A. Beaumont | title = Childhood in Ancient Athens: Iconography and Social History| publisher = Routledge | year = 2013|url p= https://books.google.com/books?id=iXSmuBlH79QC| page = 64|isbn = 978-0415248747}}</ref> Greeks placed [[talisman]]s in their houses and wore amulets to protected them from the [[evil eye]].<ref>{{cite book |author= Alan Dundes |date=1992 |title=The Evil Eye: A Casebook |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |page=182 |isbn=9780299133344 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gUDnzAfDleEC}}</ref> [[Peisistratus]] hung the figure of a kind of grasshopper before the [[Acropolis of Athens]] for protection.<ref name="A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities"/>

In Ireland, it is customary on [[Imbolc|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.<ref>{{sfn|Danaher, Kevin. ''The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs''. Mercier Press, |1972. |pp.=22-25</ref>}} In southern Ireland, 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]].<ref>{{sfn|Danaher, Kevin. ''The Year in Ireland: Irish Calendar Customs''. Mercier Press, |1972. |pp.&nbsp;=207–208</ref>}}

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]].<ref>{{sfn|Harrison, |1908|pp =196ff.</ref>}}

[[File:Gorgon at the Corfu Archaelogical Museum.jpg|thumb|center|500px|The [[Gorgon]], flanked by [[lion]]esses and showing her belt clasp of serpents; the [[pediment]] of the 580 BCE [[Temple of Artemis (Corfu)|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.<ref>{{sfn|Harrison, |1908|pp =187ff |loc="The Ker as Gorgon".</ref>}} Later, on [[church (building)|churches]] and [[castle]]s, [[gargoyle]]s or other [[grotesque]] faces and figures such as ''[[sheela na gig]]s'' and [[hunky punk]]s were carved to frighten away [[witch]]es and other malign influences.<ref name="Tschen-Emmons 2015 p. 72">{{cite book |last=Tschen-Emmons |first=J.B. |title=Artifacts from Medieval Europe |publisher=ABC-CLIO |series=Daily Life through Artifacts |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-61069-622-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K78oBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA72 |access-date=May 11, 2018 |page=72}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Ayres, Domestic interiors">{{cite book |last=Ayres |first=James |title=Domestic interiors: the British tradition, 1500–1850 |isbn=0-300-08445-5 |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2003 |page=24}}</ref>

[[File:Jüdisches Halsgezeig.jpg|upright|thumb|Jewish apotropaic neckband sewn with coins to deflect the evil eye. 1944, [[Basel]], in the [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]]'s collection.]]

In early modern Europe, certain objects were buried in the walls of houses to protect the household from [[witchcraft]]. These included specially-prepared [[witch bottle]]s, [[horse skulls]] and the bodies of [[dried cat]]s,<ref name="Hoggard167">Hoggard, Brian (2004). "The archaeology of counter-witchcraft and popular magic", in ''Beyond the Witch Trials: Witchcraft and Magic in Enlightenment Europe'', Manchester University Press. p.167</ref> as well as shoes (see [[concealed shoes]]).<ref>"[http://www.archaeology.org/issues/236-1611/artifact/4945-artifact-cambridge-magic-shoe Artifact]". [http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1481828 Archaeology Magazine]. November/December 2016. Page 68.</ref>

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 [[overlapping circles grid|flower-like patterns of overlapping circles]].<ref name="Kennedy2016" />{{sfn|Kennedy|2016}} such as [[hexafoil]]s. [[Taper burn mark]]s on thresholds of early modern buildings are also thought to be apotropaic marks.

At the [[Bradford-on-Avon Tithe Barn]], a [[Overlapping circles grid|flower-like pattern of overlapping circles]] is incised into a stone in the wall.<ref name="Kennedy2016" />{{sfn|Kennedy|2016}} 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 mark|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.<ref name="Kennedy2016" />{{sfn|Kennedy|2016}} 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.<ref name="Gresham College">{{cite web |last1=Wright |first1=James |date=19 October 2015 |title=Ritual Protection Marks and Witchcraft at Knole, Kent |url=https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/ritual-protection-marks-and-witchcraft-at-knole-kent |publisher=[[Gresham College]]}}</ref><ref name="Kennedy">{{cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Maev |date=2014-11-05 |title=Witch marks fit for a king beguile archaeologists at Knole |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/nov/05/witch-marks-king-james-i-knole-sevenoaks-national-trust |access-date=2014-11-05 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

Marks have been found in buildings including [[Knole House]], [[Shakespeare's Birthplace]] in [[Stratford-upon-Avon]], the [[Tower of London]],<ref>{{cite web |date=16 October 2015 |title=Tower of London staff 'used magic to repel the forces of the Devil' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/tower-of-london-staff-used-magic-to-repel-the-forces-of-the-devil-a6697476.html |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220508/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/tower-of-london-staff-used-magic-to-repel-the-forces-of-the-devil-a6697476.html |archive-date=2022-05-08 |access-date=31 October 2016 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> and many churches.<ref name="Kennedy2016" />{{sfn|Kennedy|2016}} 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.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news |date=15 February 2019 |title=Cresswell Crags: Witches Marks Found In Cave Network |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-47242603}}</ref>

[[File:Egyptian - Magic Wand Depicting a Procession of Deities - Walters 71510.jpg|thumb|An ancient Egyptian [[apotropaic wand]] shows a procession of protective deities. It was used in birth rituals, perhaps to draw a [[magic circle]] around the mother and child.]]

Apotropaic marks such as the initials of the [[Virgin Mary]] were scratched near the openings of buildings in England to ward off witches.<ref name="Kennedy2016">{{cite web sfn|last1=Kennedy |first1=Maev |title=Witches' marks: public asked to seek ancient scratchings in buildings |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/31/witches-marks-historic-england-evil-spirits |work=The Guardian |access-date=31 October 2016 |date=31 October 2016}}</ref>

[[File:Eye-cup Staatliche Antikensammlungen 589.jpg|thumb|[[Chalcis|Chalcidian]] black-figured [[eye-cup]], circa 530 BCE. [[Staatliche Antikensammlungen]].]]

Fire was used in rituals of protection in many parts of Europe up to the early modern era. The [[need-fire]] or [[force-fire]] was a special fire kindled to ward off plague and [[murrain]] (infectious diseases affecting livestock) in parts of western, northern and eastern Europe. It could only be kindled by friction between wood, by a group of certain people, after all other fires in the area were doused. The livestock would be driven around the need-fire or over its embers, and all other fires would be re-lit from it.<ref>[[James George {{sfn|Frazer|Frazer, James George]] (1922). ''[[The Golden Bough|The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion]]''. loc=[https://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/frazer/gb06208.htm Chapter 62, Section 8: The Need-fire]. [[Internet Sacred Text Archive]].</ref>}} Two early medieval Irish texts say that [[druid]]s used to drive cattle between two bonfires "with great incantations", to protect them from disease. Almost 1,000 years later, in the 19th century, the custom of driving cattle between two fires was still practiced across most of Ireland and parts of Scotland.<ref>{{sfn|Hutton, Ronald. ''The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain''. Oxford University Press, |1996. |pp.=218–225</ref>}}

Also in Ireland and Scotland, bonfires were lit for the festivals [[Beltane]] and [[Samhain]], and 18th–19th century accounts suggest the fires, smoke and ashes were deemed to have protective powers. In some areas, torches of burning [[Scots pine|fir]] or turf from the bonfire were carried [[sunwise]] around homes and fields to protect them.<ref>[[Ronald Hutton{{sfn|Hutton, Ronald]]. ''The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain''. Oxford University Press, |1996. |pp.=365–369</ref>}} In central and northern Europe, bonfires lit on [[Walpurgis Night]] and at [[Midsummer]] were also believed to ward off evil.

[[Ashkenazi Jews]]' apotropaic names were often given not at birth but during serious illness. In the case of a family who had already lost a child, the parents may name the next child [[Alter (name)|Alter]] and Alte (both meaning "old" in Yiddish)<ref name="Beider2015">{{cite book |author=Alexander Beider |title=Origins of Yiddish Dialects |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XmK8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA183 |date=29 October 2015 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-105981-0 |pages=183–}}</ref> in an effort to confuse the Angel of Death.<ref>{{cite book |last1first1=Joseph |first1last1=Jacobs |title=The Jewish Encyclopedia |date=1908 |url=https://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/6352-freudline |access-date=24 December 2022}}</ref> Another example is Nekras (''Некрас'', "not handsome" in Russian) which was given with the hope the child would be handsome.<ref name="Beider2009">{{cite book |author=Alexander Beider |title=Handbook of Ashkenazic Given Names and Their Variants |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EEYrAQAAIAAJ |year=2009 |publisher=Avotaynu |isbn=978-1-886223-43-1}}</ref>

* [[Robert Graves|Graves, Robert]], (1948). ''[[The White Goddess]]'',.