Protection
Warding off the evil eye, spirits, illness and bad luck: amulets, wards and thresholds.
Protection is the most widespread aim of magic. People hang, wear, bury, burn and recite things to keep out the evil eye, harmful spirits, illness and bad luck. The blue nazar, the hamsa, the horseshoe, the red thread, the Japanese omamori and the Ethiopian protective scroll all serve it. This page covers what is guarded, who is thought to need guarding, and how different societies see the practice. It is a good place to start with the subject.
What is guarded
The most guarded are the vulnerable and the valued: newborns, brides, pregnant women, livestock, new houses and travellers. Doorways, windows and crossroads get special care, since they are where inside meets outside. Practices include hanging a lemon and chillies in India, a horseshoe in Britain and Ireland, an eye-bead in Turkey, a mezuzah on Jewish doorposts and a spirit house in Thailand. Beyond doors, people protect journeys, wells, boats and herds, and the guarded thing is usually whatever the family can least afford to lose.
Against what
The danger named varies. In the Middle East and Mediterranean it is the evil eye, a harm said to come from envy or praise. In sub-Saharan Africa it is often witchcraft or a rival's sorcery. In Europe it was witches, fairies and the devil, and in East Asia hungry ghosts and ill-fortune. Protective practice therefore tells a researcher what a community fears and who it suspects. Some marks are drawn in chalk, paint or henna and renewed each year, and others are made once and left to fade.
Faith and the objects
Religions deal with protective objects in different ways. Many Muslim scholars accept verses of the Quran recited for protection and disapprove of beads or knots believed to work by themselves. Catholic Christians use blessed medals, holy water and the sign of the cross. Sikhism rejects talismans, while Buddhist monks bless protective threads and tattoos in Thailand and Cambodia. Official teaching often differs from practice in the village, where one household may wear a charm quietly and say a prayer at the same time.
Scholars and the market
Psychologists suggest protective objects ease anxiety and give a sense of control. Sceptics note that no test has shown them to prevent harm. Commerce is large: charms are mass-produced, and some sellers charge heavily for items promised to ward off disaster. Anyone in real danger or illness should turn to practical help first. Believers usually say the protection is a matter of trust and care, and many say the object matters less than the intention and the community that stands behind it.
Protection on EveryJaadu
The entries written up so far, best known first.
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreMojo bag
A flannel pouch holding charms for protection and luck in African American Hoodoo traditionCharm 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesFolk healer
An unlicensed community member who provides healing care using local plants and traditional knowledge.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesNavajo medicine
Traditional healing practices of the Navajo people focused on restoring harmonyTradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesHopi mythology
The creation stories and spirit traditions of the Hopi people of the American SouthwestTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Living
馃嚜馃嚜 Estonia and 1 moreEstonian mythologyeesti m眉toloogia
The pre-Christian beliefs and legends of the Estonian peopleTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 1 moreFinnish mythology
The pre-Christian folklore and cosmology of the Finns and KareliansTradition 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Protection Revived
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesHex sign
Pennsylvania Dutch barn symbols that range from folk art to talismansCharm 路 Protection 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesBraucherei
A Pennsylvania German folk healing tradition using prayers and gestures to cure illness and remove curses.Tradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Fading
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 3 moreHoodoo
A spiritual tradition of the African diaspora in the American South using herbs and charms for protection and justice.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚡馃嚨 Japan and 1 moreAinu religion
The animist spiritual beliefs and ritual practices of the Ainu people of Japan and RussiaTradition 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
馃嚠馃嚜 Ireland and 2 moreJack-o'-lantern
A hollowed vegetable carved with a face and lit from within, worn as a Halloween symbolCharm 路 Protection 路 Wonder and entertainment Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreMarie Laveau
A New Orleans priestess and herbalist who led Louisiana Voodoo in the nineteenth centuryTradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚥馃嚱 MexicoAztec religion
The polytheistic and monistic belief system of the Aztec Empire in central MexicoTradition 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesDianic Wicca
A female-only pagan tradition honoring the Goddess and women's experienceTradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 1 moreCalifornian white sage
A California shrub used by Indigenous peoples for food, healing, and ritual cleansingSubstance 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesGhost DanceNanissaanah
A circular movement seeking spiritual renewal and reunion with ancestorsRite 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead 路 Change and initiation Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 5 moreRainmaking rites
Ceremonies performed to call rain through prayer, dance, or symbolic actsRite 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 2 moreLouisiana Voodoo
An African diasporic religion practiced in Louisiana from the 18th to early 20th centuriesTradition 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United States and 4 moreRainmaking
Efforts to induce rain through technology, ritual, or prayer.Tradition 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesThe Long Lost FriendDer lange verborgene Freund
A Pennsylvania German grimoire of folk remedies and magical charms published in 1820.Text 路 Healing 路 Protection Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesThe Gray Man
A coastal ghost from South Carolina said to warn of hurricanesBeing 路 Protection Living
馃嚘馃嚭 Australia and 2 moreTheatrical superstitions
Beliefs and rituals among actors to avoid bad luck and ward off spiritsBelief 路 Protection 路 Luck and prosperity Living
馃嚝馃嚠 Finland and 2 moreHaltija
A supernatural guardian of a specific place or animal species in Finnish and Baltic Finnic mythologyBeing 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesShamanism among Alaska Natives
Traditional spiritual practices of Indigenous peoples in AlaskaTradition 路 Healing 路 Seeing and foretelling Fading
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesBaseball superstition
Rituals and beliefs held by players and fans to influence game outcomesBelief 路 Luck and prosperity 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesNew England vampire panic
A folk response to tuberculosis involving the exhumation and burning of organsBelief 路 Protection 路 Healing Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesChristian views on magic
A spectrum of Christian beliefs about magical practices, ranging from strict condemnation to esoteric integration.Belief 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesWoman in Black
A spectral figure from Appalachian folklore said to punish men for moral failingsBeing 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Legendary
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesMoll Dyer
A Maryland folktale about a woman accused of witchcraft and her cursed stoneFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Legendary
馃嚚馃嚘 CanadaMistapewmist芒p锚w (釖メ悽釕栣悿)
A spirit-being of the Cree peoples, known as the Great Man or Bigfoot.Being 路 Protection 路 Healing Living
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesTsul 'Kalu釓п彄釒︶幊
A Cherokee hunting deity and legendary giant of the Appalachian mountainsFigure 路 Cursing and harm 路 Protection Legendary
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesGhost shirt
A sacred garment of the Ghost Dance believed to protect the wearer from bulletsCharm 路 Protection Historical
馃嚭馃嚫 United StatesJewett City vampires
A 19th-century New England family's belief in undead plague and their violent response to it.Belief 路 Protection Historical
馃嚥馃嚱 Mexico and 1 moreGod's eyeOjo de Dios
A woven yarn cross believed to grant spiritual sight and protectionCharm 路 Protection 路 Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Folk healer: calliopejen, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Mistapew: Alarichall, CC0, source
- Louisiana Voodoo: I cropped, original authors are Ridpath, John Clark, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Rainmaking: George Catlin, Public domain, source
- Halloween: Toby Ord, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Navajo medicine: Edward S. Curtis, Public domain, source
- Hopi mythology: Sailko, CC BY 3.0, source
- Estonian mythology: Jeannette Berkowitz (illustrator), Public domain, source
- Baseball superstition: Johnmaxmena2, CC BY 4.0, source
- Finnish mythology: V盲in枚 Blomstedt, Public domain, source
- Hex sign: Smallbones, CC0, source
- Christian views on magic: Athanasius Kircher, Public domain, source
- Moll Dyer: Dougtone, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- God's eye: Douglas P. Perkins, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Hoodoo: Hoodoowoman, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- The Gray Man: Phoebe, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Ainu religion: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Ghost shirt: Wolfgang Sauber, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Marie Laveau: E. W. Kemble, Public domain, source
- Aztec religion: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Dianic Wicca: Jean-Baptiste Tuby I (Italy, active France, Paris and Versailles, 1635, Public domain, source
- Shamanism among Alaska Natives: Balkanian`s word, Public domain, source
- Californian white sage: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Ghost Dance: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- New England vampire panic: no credited author, Public domain, source
- Rainmaking rites: SJasminum, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Mojo bag: Liza Khomenko, CC BY-SA 4.0, source