Today The
evil eye is an increasingly popular symbol.
Used For warding
off the mystical evil forces of this world, no charm is more powerful or recognizable.
In this
video we look into the who, what, and why of the evil eye.
The cobalt-blue eye strikes a bold image, this
image has been seen in many places, from the pyramids of Egypt to movies and
recently with Dr. Strange who uses its power in the pages of the Marvel comic
and movie.
In modern
times the evil eye imagery has been seen almost everywhere, frequently
appearing in music videos and film it would seem this iconic symbol has been
endorsed and embraced by A-list celebrities.
This has
made the symbol very popular and this has resulted in countless pages of online
content teaching people how to make their own evil eye bracelets, necklaces and
keychains.
This recent popularity
is not new, for thousands of years the symbol has maintained a steady hold on
human imagination.
So what are
the evil eye’s origins?
There are some important distinctions we must first
make between these charms and amulets and the actual evil eye.
The amulets
have been around for as long as the symbol and are meant to ward off the powers
of the eye.
Known as a
nazar the object is created to counter a curse.
This curse
often indicated by a malicious glare, usually inspired by envy.
So these
curses are quite simple in nature, stemming from the belief that anyone who
achieves some modicum of success will attract envious stares.
Heliodorus
of ancient Greece, wrote, “When any one looks at what is excellent with an
envious eye he fills the surrounding atmosphere with a pernicious quality, and
transmits his own envenomed exhalations into whatever is nearest to him.”
The evil eye
and its gaze is cast across many cultures. Frederick Thomas Elworthy compiled a
comprehensive list of the legends that refer to the evil eye.
His writings
in “The Evil Eye: The Classic Account of an Ancient Superstition” provide great
insight into how the symbol is viewed across these cultures.
From the
beliefs of Greeks and the tales of Gorgons whose look could turn a man to stone
to Irish folklore and even the Quran and the bible refer to the eye and its
power.
The power attributed
to eye the goes beyond biblical tales and folklore many great thinkers
considered the eyes power to be real.
The Greek
philosopher Plutarch offered a scientific explanation for his time, he thought
that
The human
eye had the power of releasing invisible rays of energy that were in some cases
potent enough to kill children and small animals.
Plutarch added
to his claims by saying that certain people possessed a stronger ability,
citing groups of people to the south of the Black Sea as being uncannily
proficient at bestowing the curse.
Could these
people be the ancient ancestors of the Romani Gypsies and explain their
association with curses?
Plutarch
warned the most skilled at delivering a curse are those with blue-eyes.
Others see
the ability to curse others as a curse itself.
Polish folk
tale tells of a man whose gaze was such a potent carrier of the curse that he
resorted to cutting out his own eyes rather than continuing to spread
misfortune to his loved ones.
With so many
people fearful of the evil eye and its terrible stare it’s not surprising that
efforts were made to negate its power. This brings us back to the nazar.
The first
nazar amulets can be traced back to 3300 bc.
Ancient amulets
have been excavated in Tell Brak, one of the oldest cities of Mesopotamia. What
is now modern day Syria a country currently living under the curse of War.
While the
alabaster idols of Tell Brak seem to be one of the oldest eye amulets
discovered, they are a far cry from the typical blue glass we know today.
The earliest iterations of these didn’t begin
appearing until around 1500 BCE.
How were
these early prototypes of Tell Brak distilled into the more modern versions?
These nazar
were a little different to those that we see today, made from alabaster they
did not have the familiar blue of today’s charms.
The blue
charms did not start to appear until 1500 BCE, and mostly came from the Mediterranean
regions.
Several blue
‘Eye of Horus’ pendants have been discovered in Egypt.
Egypt being
such a powerhouse of a culture at the time could explain the popularity of the
colour blue becoming associated with the evil eye.
Phoenicians,
Assyrians, Greeks, Romans and, the Ottomans all feared the evil eye and as they
traveled the globe they took their fear with them.
Spreading the
belief along with trinkets and charms to ward away the evil.
The belief
became so ingrained into so many cultures to this very day it remains largely unchanged,
we still see the image being painted on modern machinery from planes to tanks
much in the same way as the ancients adorned their ships.
An effort to
ward away bad luck that has not changed over millennia.
The eye is
not immune to change and as we said at the start, today its use is common but what
the symbol represents is a little different.
Often
thought of as a secret sign shown by those that have joined satanic cults, or
maybe more famously tied to that ultimate of secret societies the illuminati.
The evil eye
and its meaning are morphing into something else.
A symbol that
means awake, those that cast it indicating that see the truth behind todays
modern world.
To use the
symbol or wear an amulet flippantly without such knowledge might not only
render its protective abilities useless, but could incur an even more potent
curse.
– If that’s
something you believe?
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