The History & Use of

Amulets, Charms and

Talismans

Gary R. Varner
 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Copyright © 2008 by Gary R. Varner

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any
means, without the prior permission of the copyright holder.

ISBN: 978-1-4357-1988-0 (paperback)

978-0-557-00891-9 (hardcover)

An OakChylde Book
Published by Lulu Press, Inc.
Visit the author’s website: www.authorsden.com/garyrvarner

Unless otherwise indicated, all photographs in this work were taken by

the author. The image on the title page is that of an “abraxas” amulet. An
interesting image similar to the serpent-legged Titans is carved upon the
strange “Abrasax gems,” magical amulets introduced in the second
century that mingled early Christian and Pagan themes. Originating in
Alexandria, the images most certainly were inspired by the mystic powers
of the man-serpent as represented by the Titans.

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 Gary R. Varner

Amulet, n. an ornament or small piece of jewelry worn as a

protection against evil. – Oxford Dictionary of Current English,
4th edition.

Charm. n. an object, act, or saying believed to have magic

power. – Oxford Dictionary of Current English, 4th edition.

An amulet…is anything hung around the neck, placed like a

bracelet on the wrist, or otherwise attached to the person, as
an imagined preservative against sickness or other evils; a
charm is exactly the same thing, the only difference being the
word itself contains the notion of some human action
imparting to the article a certain power for good…a talisman
is a special kind of charm on which is engraved a magical
figure, worn to avoid disaster to the wearer.” –T. Sharper
Knowlson, The Origins of Popular Superstitions and Customs
(1930)

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Contents

Introduction 6

I. Amulets & Charms through time 9

II. The use of magic in Christianity 28

III. Amulets in Witchcraft & Sorcery 35

IV. Animal Totems 51

V. Native American use of amulets 104

VI. Charms 111

VII. Stones as Amulets and Charms 119

VIII. Amulets for Health 156

IX. Contemporary use of charms 161

Afterword 173

Bibliography 174

Index 182

About the Author 189

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Introduction

A
mulets and charms have been used since mankind
evolved from its distant ancestry millions of years
ago. They have been used to protect and to harm,
and in both the practice and avoidance of witchcraft and
sorcery. They are made of wood and stone, clay, metal, plants
and dead animals. They are carved into crude shapes and in
the most exquisite forms. They are also comprised entirely of
words, which are believed to have power and magical
properties.
Amulets and charms have been used by pagans,
Christians, Jews and followers of every faith and tradition
known across the world. Some are considered direct links to
the gods, others to local spirits. All are links to the
supernatural.
Unfortunately, the terms “amulets,” “charms” and
“talismans” have been used interchangeably even though
each one stands alone. The best definition that I have seen was
written by Sheila Paine who said “An amulet is a device, the
purpose of which is to protect, but by magical and not
physical means—a lump of meteorite worn against gunfire is
an amulet, a bullet-proof vest is not.
“A charm is something believed to bring good luck, health
and happiness…but protection is not its primary function.
“A talisman is something thought to be imbued with some
magical property. It can both protect, and radiate power, and
is often used in ritual.” 1
Regardless if they are called amulets, charms or talismans,
these objects are credited with cures, evil spells, health and
1
Paine, Sheila. Amulets: Sacred Charms of Power and Protection. Rochester:
Inner Traditions 2004, 10.

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 Gary R. Varner

prosperity. This book will explore the history, use and

folklore concerning amulets and will show that amulets
continue to be an important part of our modern culture.

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I
Amulets & Charms through Time

A
mulets have been worn by men, women and
children for thousands of years and continue to be
a fashion accessory today. One of the most famous
is the “Venus of Willendorf” found in Austria and dated to
30,000 BCE.
However, they have been subject
to Christian disfavor also due to
their ancient pagan history. In 355
CE the Council of Laodicea decreed
that priests and clerks “must be
neither enchanters, mathematicians,
nor astrologers, and they must not
make ‘what are called amulets,’ for
these were fetters of the soul, and all
who wore them should be cast out
of the church.” 2 It should be noted
that mathematics was included not
as a mistake, but as a way to “protect” the Church against
intellectual reason and knowledge, which the Church fairly
accomplished during the Dark Ages.
Amulets, usually short spells written on small pieces of
papyrus and rolled into cylindrical tubes, were commonly
worn around the neck as a form of protection. These tubes
have been found dating from 1100 BCE 3 to 747 BCE, during
the late New Kingdom and the Third Intermediate Period of
Egypt.
2
Kunz , George Frederick. The Curious Lore of Precious Stones. New York:
Dover Publications, Inc. 1971, 42-43.
3
BCE=Before Common Era

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

“The text usually read as if it were a proclamation by a

deity or the gods in general, promising to protect the wearer
and threatening divine retribution to those who endangered
him or her.” 4
Apparently, children were most likely to wear these
amulets to protect them from the Evil Eye, demons, sorcerers,
and other harm.
The sorcerer in Iceland, Kieckhefer tells us, “is a specialist
who performs services for others. She deploys ceremonies and
magically charged objects, but her main source of power is the
spoken and written word…”5 But in Icelandic society magic
and sorcery are considered reprehensible, not, as Kieckhefer
relates, because it is violent but because it is “unfair.”
Disputes were handled by hand-to-hand combat, not by
magic spells from afar.
As in most cultures, the Icelandic witch was usually an old
woman with certain special knowledge but she was not an
outcast of society nor was she viewed as anything other than
an old woman. While magic was considered unsavory, “it is
almost always a means for confronting or evading one’s
enemies.” 6
Spells were cast with caution—especially if a magician
threatened or attempted to coerce a demon or malignant
power through the spell. In these cases, the sorcerer always
attributed the spell to a much higher power or god. “It is Isis
who says it,’ or ‘I am Re in this his mysterious name.” 7

4
Oakes, Lorna and Lucia Gahlin. Ancient Egypt. New York: Barnes & Noble, Inc.
2006, 455.
5
Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press 1989, 50.
6
Ibid.
7
James, E. O. James, E.O. The Ancient Gods. Edison: Castle Books 2004, 239.

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The Evil Eye

The “evil eye” is perhaps the most ancient form of hex that
is still in use today. Thirteenth-century English Franciscan
and scholar Robert Grosseteste wrote:

“’Casting the evil eye’ is when someone who is filled

with envy infects by a glance or by words of praise
someone of tender age, someone born recently, and
changes what is perfect into something which is worse:
like the Devil who first envied Man and by his jealousy
opened the door for death to enter the world.
“But whether the Evil Eye as the common people
understand it is something else or not, I cannot easily say.
For who knows whether an envious person’s sight is
poisonous and infects those of tender years, as the sight of
a basilisk infects the air and anything it looks at, and as the
sight of a menstruating woman infects a new mirror,
freshly cleaned and polished?” 8

Witches and warlocks who practiced the evil eye were

greatly feared in ancient Babylon and there are a few
references to it in the Old Testament. Proverbs 6:12-14
describes such a person:
“…a wicked man walketh with a forward mouth. He
winketh with his eyes, he speaketh with his feet, he teacheth
with his fingers. Forwardness is in his heart, he deviseth
mishief continually, he soweth discord.”
Proverbs 23:6 cautioned, “Eat thou not the bread of him
that hath an evil eye…”

8
“The Evil Eye: Expositio in epistolam Sancti Pauli ad Galatas” in The Occult in
Mediaeval Europe edited and translated by P.G. Maxwell-Stuart. Hampshire:
Palgrave MacMillan 2005, 38

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Evil eye was recorded by the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians

and throughout the Greco-Roman world; but it is also found
in every European nation, Mexico, Africa and South America ,
as well as in the mythology of India.
Jacqueline Simpson noted, “There is such similarity
between classical sources and recent folklore about the nature
and effects of the evil eye, and even what amulets, words, and
gestures to use against it, that one can safely assume
continuity of tradition across the centuries.” 9
The evil eye was regarded as a form of “mental fire” in
Indian mythology. According to Hopkins, “There are other
fires, of knowledge…of the curse…and above all of the eye,
which can burn. Even Gändhärī, when she looks at
Yudhişţhira, raises a blister on his finger.” 10
One of the characters in the Indian epics, Nahuşa, a seer
who “always has the poison-look”, was said to possess the
evil eye that “absorbed power from all he saw.” 11 Nahuşa’s
evil eye was so feared by the other gods that they conspired to
do away with him.
C.J.S. Thompson, writing in 1932, said, “the ‘evil eye,’ as it
came to be termed, has ever been the most dreaded vehicle of
spiritual malice.” 12
In 1352, eight individuals accused of killing children with
the evil eye were sent to the stake by the Inquisition in
Toulouse, France. 13 This form of evil magic was recorded
over a thousand years earlier in ancient Mesopotamia but was

9
Simpson, Jacqueline. “Evil eye” in Medieval Folklore. Oxford: Oxford
University Press 2002, 122.
10
Hopkins, E. Washburn. Epic Mythology. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass 1986, 99.
11
Ibid., 131
12
Thompson, C.J.S. The Hand of Destiny: Everyday Folklore and Superstitions.
London: Senate 1995, 65.
13
Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Witchcraft in the Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell
University Press 1972, 185.

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treated somewhat differently. According to Thomsen, “the

evil eye brought rather harmless, everyday accidents; a tool or
pot was broken, clothes were torn, food was spoiled and the
like. This might be serious and annoying…but as a rule it did
not require complicated and expensive rituals or the
assistance of an exorcist…Protection was, for instance, given
by amulets, i.e. certain stones, probably in eye shape.” 14 In
fact, many amulets were easily utilized. Mackenzie tells us
“Shells protected wearers against evil, including the evil eye.”
15

Children and fine livestock were often the victims of evil

eye. Cows would experience a loss of milk and a “frantic
wildness which usually resulted in collapse. Horses afflicted
by the evil eye would sweat and tremble and grow weaker
daily.” 16
Preventative charms used for the protection of cattle and
horses included the use of rowan, juniper, horseshoes,
burning cloth, tar, string charms, and iron among others.
According to Spence, “An Orkney witch, Catherine Grant,
who was alive and mischievous in 1623, was observed to look
over her shoulder and turn up the white of her eye…The
effects were often instantaneous. Ale and milk could be
turned sour by such a glance.” 17
Early historians such as Pliny and Cicero reported that the
evil eye was capable of killing anyone who was stared at.
Thomas Aquinas supposedly referred to old women who
could harm children simply by looking at them.

14
Thomsen, Marie-Louise. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia” in
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press 2001, 42-43.
15
Mackenzie, Donald A. Ancient Man in Britain. London: Senate 1996, 39.
16
Spence, Lewis. The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain. Mineola: Dover Publications,
Inc. 1999, 62.
17
Ibid., 63.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

The infamous sheela-na-gig, a grotesque carving of a

emaciated and bald woman with genitals widely displayed
found on ancient cathedrals, churches and castles may have
been created as a means to avert the evil eye and other black
forces. “As ‘fertility’ symbols they have the power to turn
aside the forces of evil, the maleficent glance of the Evil Eye.”
18

Celtic scholar Anne Ross wrote “Rowan was held to be a

potent talisman against the Evil Eye (in Scotland); and even
today, there are extant, charms and incantations to counter
the effects of the ‘eye.’” Other methods used to counteract the
evil eye malady included hanging iron horseshoes and
utilizing certain plants and stones. In addition, Ross informs
us, “It could also be averted by drinking three mouthfuls of
water which had been poured over silver; each mouthful
must be taken in the name of the Trinity.” 19
A certain illnesses in Spain and Mexico, mal de ojo, or evil
eye, is said to be caused by individuals who have the ability,
even an involuntary ability, to “impose illness merely by
gazing fixedly at another person.” 20 Children are most
susceptible to this magic and if left untreated or not treated
early enough, it is said to turn into a terminal illness.
Only a “curandero” can understand and possibly cure mal
de ojo. A curandero is a witch-healer but contrary to their
European counterparts, the curandero is considered a holy
person in the service of God.

18
Weir, Anthony and James Jerman. Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on
Medieval Churches. London: Routledge 1993, 10.
19
Ross, Anne. Folklore of the Scottish Highlands. Gloucestershire: Tempus
Publishing Ltd.2000, 82.
20
Granger, Byrd Howell. “Some Aspects of Folk Medicine among Spanish-
speaking People in Southern Arizona” in American Folk Medicine A Symposium.
Berkeley: University of California Press 1976, 196.

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To the Ethiopian Qemant the evil eye is certainly

indicative of witchcraft and part of psychic projections that
can be injurious. Usually the evil eye is used by persons
desiring the property of another. “In most instances,” writes
anthropologist Frederick Gamst, “the evil-eyed person is said
to be from an ethnic group other than one’s own, but it is
possible for a witch to be found within one’s own group.” 21
The Qemant claimed that their neighboring group, the
Falasha “are thought to have the evil eye and to turn
nocturnally into hyenas which devour human corpses,
especially victims of evil eye…”22
An age-old practice of Qemant women is to prepare food
in the dark corners of their home in the attempt to avoid evil
eye pollution from strangers.
A particular form of evil eye, called “eye piercing” can be
done by anyone in Qemant society. This is accomplished by
looking at a person with “strong envy”, the envy conveyed by
thought only. Gamst notes, “almost anyone can project
witchlike qualities at times.” 23
William de Blécourt points out that “there is little in the
descriptions of the evil eye that justifies its separation from
witchcraft in general”24 and along with the use of fetishes, evil
eye is a main category of bewitchment.
This is somewhat simplistic, however, as a fair amount of
anecdotal information over the years indicates that many

21
Gamst, Frederick C. The Qemant: A Pagan-Hebraic Peasantry of Ethiopia.
New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology
1969, 53.
22
Ibid.
23
Ibid., 54.
24
Blécourt, William de. “The Witch, her Victim, the Unwitcher and the
Researcher: The Continued Existence of Traditional Witchcraft” in Witchcraft and
Magic in Europe: The Twentieth Century. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press 1999, 196.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

persons capable of the evil eye had no control over it or even

recognized that they could use such a power. While evil eye is
directly associated with envy, it would seem unlikely that
envy would play into the situation if the individual had no
concept that he was directing an evil eye towards another
individual. In addition, there are examples of people with the
evil eye who attempted at least to take great pains not to harm
anyone. Two examples of this are reported in Simpson and
Roud: “there is an account from Yorkshire of a man who kept
his eyes fixed on the ground so as not to harm anyone, and
another who made sure he looked at a pear tree first thing
every morning so that it would take the brunt of his power.”
25

In fact, writers in the 16th and 17th centuries suggested that

the evil eye was the result of “certain harmful properties in
the eye or in other parts of the body of certain types of people.
It could not always be considered a result of ill-will on their
part.” 26
Spanish priest Fray Martin de Castañega wrote in the 16th
century “the ‘evil eye’ is a natural phenomenon and the result
of the foul thoughts and evil designs which shine through
certain people’s eyes—more particularly through those of
elderly spinsters, cripples, and certain types of sick people.” 27
Thompson elaborates this point, saying “hunchbacks, dwarfs,
deformed or people with squinting or different coloured eyes
are also regarded as possessors of the power…” 28 Thompson
also notes that women were considered the most capable of
the evil eye.

25
Simpson, Jacqueline and Steve Roud. Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore.
Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000, 113.
26
Baroja, Julio Caro. The World of the Witches. London: Phoenix Press 2001,
132.
27
Ibid.
28
Thompson, op cit., 66.

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Again we see the common denominator in who was most

likely to be accused of witchcraft—the elderly, the crippled,
women and the sick, all most likely poor.
Various amulets were utilized since ancient times to ward
off the evil eye and its effects. In Egypt, the “Eye of Horus”
symbol was worn by both the living and the dead. This
amulet was also used by the Romans, Etruscans and Greeks.
Others include a sprig of rue, charms in the shape of the
moon, crescent, horns, dogs, pigs, wheels, ladders, hooks,
frogs, snails, lions, lizards, hands, clubs, knives and serpents.
Phallic talismans were used by the ancient Romans to
ward off the evil eye and were worn around the neck by
children who were always more susceptible to the ill-effects of
the evil eye.
“In southern Italy,” wrote Thompson, “where belief in the
‘evil eye’ still persists, the use of garlic or even the word that
signifies that odorous bulb, is considered a sovereign
preventative…” 29
Various folk-medicine preventions and treatments
continue to exist in the United States for the evil eye. In Los
Angeles, it was recorded that “to ward off the evil eye from a
child, make certain to always include some item of red in his
attire.” 30 This was especially effective in protecting a
“beautiful child” from evil. Traditionally children, especially
“beautiful children,” have always been more at risk to suffer
the effects of the evil eye. Thompson believed that this fear
concerning “beautiful children” may have been a result of
strangers noticing “pretty children” more than other children.
While the color red was recommended in Los Angeles, in

29
Ibid., 70.
30
UCLA Folklore Archives Record Number 1_5369

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Ohio in 1955 it was said, “wear blue and the evil eye won’t get
you.” 31
Water also figured into various folk treatments. The
following is a rather complex treatment from California:
“If someone looks at your child with the evil eye, the child
will get feverish and sick. Put a little bit of water in a cup and
break an egg into it. Then put two straws crosswise in the
form of a cross in the cup. Put the cup under the child’s bed
and pray the ‘Credo’. The next day the egg has turned white.
“Go to the crossroads and throw it into the middle. This
will cure the child.” 32
A similar method (recorded in Ohio in 1956) suggests
that one should “put water in a dish and hold it over the
person’s head. Make a cross in the water with oil, and the
curse will go away.” 33
Methods that are even more cumbersome were practiced
in the “northern countries.” “It was customary for a woman,”
wrote Thompson, to ‘take off her shift over her head, turn
herself around three times from right to left, then, while
holding the garment open, to drop a burning coal through it
three times before putting it on again.” 34 This probably was a
boon to the local dry goods merchant.
Folklore also indicates what type of person is the most
likely to utilize the evil eye. A bit of Jewish lore from
California said “Jews are afraid to let a gentile look at a new-
born baby for fear it will receive the ‘evil eye,’ and a tradition
among Italians in 1950s Ohio appears to recall the 16th century
writings of Fray Castañega, “deformed people, usually older
ones, have the evil eye.” 35
31
UCLA Folklore Archives Record Number 1_5140
32
UCLA Folklore Archives Record Number 1_6153
33
UCLA Folklore Archives Record Number 1_5142
34
Thompson, op cit., 74.
35
UCLA Folklore Archives Record Number 1_5137

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Egyptian hand charms used to avert the “Evil Eye.” Circa 1500 BCE. From
The Hand of Destiny by C.J.S. Thompson, published by Rider & Company,
London 1932.

Another tool used to combat the evil eye was the “witch
ball.” Similar to the “disco balls” of the 1980s, these large glass
balls were coated with a glossy reflecting paint of silver, gold
or other bright colors. First created around 1690, they were
hung in the window and were supposed to attract and
neutralize the evil eye and reflect it back on the witch. It was
also referred to as a “watch ball” as it would grow dull “if
there is infection in the air” which served as a warning to the
owner. 36
Strangely enough, many of the folk methods used to
prevent the effects of evil eye imply that anyone and everyone
could cast it. Lady Wilde cautioned, “Never take an infant in

36
Simpson and Roud, op cit., 394.

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your arms, nor turn your head to look at it without saying,

‘God bless it.’ This keeps away the fatal influence of the Evil
Eye.” 37 However, she does seem to fix the real source of the
evil eye on unbaptized children: “such generally grow up evil
and have the evil eye, and bring ill luck, unless the name of
God is instantly invoked when they look at any one fixedly
and in silence.” 38 In addition she states that children born at
Whitsuntide (an English term for Pentacost) “are foredoomed,
they will either have the evil eye, or commit murder, or die a
violent death.” 39
The Evil Eye continues to cause fear and retribution in our
contemporary society. Gang members in particular have
killed individuals for the “hard stares” they believe were
directed toward them.

Charms

Charms have been used around the world for luck,

avoidance of evil, and for prosperity. Many charms take the
form of amulets to be worn or carried on the person. Others
are written, spoken or sung. Luck noted “Magical spells were
often sung or chanted, and it was thought that the music—in
itself a kind of magic, thelxis—added to the power of the
works and acts. In Latin, Carmen means ‘song’ and ‘spell’. The
English words ‘charming’ and enchanting’ still reflect these
ancient beliefs.” 40 In this context charms originally referred to

37
Wilde, Lady. Irish Cures, Mystic Charms & Superstitions. New York: Sterling
Publishing Co., Inc. 1991, 62.
38
Ibid., 104.
39
Ibid., 115.
40
Luck, George. “Witches and Sorcerers in Classical Literature” in Witchcraft and
Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press 1999, 99.

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oral formulas but in modern times the term has come to mean
a variety of things, mostly worn or carried.
As indicated previously, during the early Christian period
magic was a daily practice, not only by the common person,
but also by the priests and administrators of the Church.
“Priests provided amulets and charms,” Luck wrote, “for the
faithful, and a fifth-century Bishop was very familiar with
pagan magic.” 41
As part of Gregory the Greats (590-604 CE) instructions to
his monks and priests to preserve pagan temples and festivals
but to give them Christian names and functions, monks who
traveled about often would find pagan charms. They would
write the formulas and names of any gods that were
contained on them to record their journeys so that Christian
versions of them could be made.
Charms many times took on the form of commands.
Kieckhefer reports one 14th century example used on plants,:
“In the name of Christ, amen, I conjure you, O herb, that I
may conquer by Lord Peter…by the moon and stars…and
may you conquer all my enemies, pontiffs and priests and all
laymen and all women and all lawyers who are working
against me…” 42
Generally speaking, all verbal formulas spoken for good
luck and good health are classified as charms. Healing charms
originating from medieval times were called, by their
practitioners, “blessings.” These charms were normally
whispered and accompanied by the sign of the cross, spitting
or breathing on an ill person, or rubbing him or her with
various colored cloths.
An early ethnological account of charms used in Sri Lanka,
formerly known as Ceylon, illustrates the use of words as a

41
Ibid., 158.
42
Kieckhefer, op cit., 84.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

form of powerful medicinal spell-work. As will be seen, the

author is very ethnocentric in his remarks:

No undertaking of any kind is attempted by the

Singalese without invoking the aid of some supernatural
power…This, no doubt, is the result of the teaching of a
religion in itself inert and lifeless. Accordingly, when
assailed by disease, the Singalese resort to supernatural
aid, and hence the treatment of diseases by charms.
“A charm, among the Singalese, is the pronouncing of
a set form of words, either in Sanskrit or any other learned
language, unintelligible to the masses, in which the God or
Yakko, who presides over the particular malady is evoked.
Persons suffering from colic, toothache, fever, snake-bites,
etc., among the lower classes, frequently resort to have a
charm pronounced over them… 43

“Medieval and Elizabethan charms,” noted Simpson and

Roud, “made copious use of names of God, Jesus, and angels,
in garbled Latin, Greek or Hebrew, plus scraps of Biblical
quotations, usually in Latin. Some seemingly gibberish words,
such as AGLA, were acronyms for religious phrases—in this
case, for the Hebrew for ‘Thou art powerful and eternal, O
Lord’—though the users probably did not know it.” 44
Some charms use the “word-square” that utilizes the same
word arranged in a square, the word reading the same
forwards and backwards, vertically and horizontally. While
many of these have been found from Christian times there are
a number as well that have been discovered in Pompeii,
43
Dickman, Henry. “Treatment of Diseases by Charms as practiced by the
Singalese in Ceylon” in Transactions of the Ethnological Society of London, Vol.
II. London: John Murray 1863, 142.
44
Simpson, Jacqueline & Steve Roud. Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore.
Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000, 57.

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Portugal and along the Euphrates dating from the pre-

Christian era.
“There is no doubt,” wrote archeologist Ralph Merrifield,
“that the word-square had a strong appeal as an emblem of
mystery and power, and it was probably used as a magical
spell from the beginning. It has survived in that capacity to
our own times.” 45
Many magical charms were used to counter witchcraft, the
horseshoe is one of these, being a specific antidote to
witchcraft. The continued use of horseshoes as “lucky
charms” is a direct survival of this belief. The intentional
burial of iron tools and knives in house walls is another
practice that is relatively recent.
Other anti-witchcraft charms include the “witch bottle.”
These items were used well into the 18th century and normally
included bent pins, human hair and nail clippings, and pieces
of cloth sometimes in the shape of a heart. These witch bottles
were intended as counter-measures to witchcraft and were
usually buried under the threshold or hearth of a home. 46
That charms and incantations were continually used by
the general populace for such mundane things as cooking is
illustrated in the following item contained in the August 22,
1857 issue of the British journal, Notes and Queries:

A gentleman whose name is well known to the public,

and who has gained a deservedly high reputation in the
photographic and artistic world, told me, that when in
Finland he called with some friends at a roadside cottage,
and desired to be accommodated with some boiled eggs, a
portion of which were to be boiled hard. The damsel who

45
Merrifield, Ralph. The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. New York: New
Amsterdam Books 1987, 143.
46
Ibid., 167.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

superintended the boiling chanted a sing-song charm

during the culinary process. This she repeated twice, and
turned herself round six times; the soft boiled eggs where
then considered to be sufficiently done. She then repeated
her verse for a third time, and turned herself round thrice;
when the hard boiled eggs were deemed to be ready for
eating. They had no clock, dial, clepsydra, hour-glass,
burning of tapers, or any other method of measuring time
necessary for the egg boiling, than this chanting of the
song; and a like kind of formula was repeated for similar
domestic purposes, these ‘household words’ being
supposed to depend for their efficacy upon the full belief
in the charm they were presumed to cause. The
application of this to the incantations of witches over the
concoction of some ‘hell-broth’ is sufficiently obvious. 47

Many old sayings, such as “God bless you” or simply

“bless you” when a person sneezes or “bread and butter”
when two people walk around a tree or pole on opposite sides
are a continuation of the use of “magical words” and charms.
At one time, it was believed that a person who sneezes
actually dies during the duration of the sneeze. Another
person who uses what was believed to be a magical charm,
“God bless you” would ensure that the sneezer’s heart would
start again. 48
Likewise, “bread and butter” was a prescribed verbal
charm to ensure that arguments would not occur between two
persons who happened to walk around an obstruction on

47
Bede, Cuthbert. “Domestic Incantations” in Notes and Queries, Vol. 42 S. (86)
August 22, 1857, 145.
48
Roberts, A.H. “We Aren’t Magicians, But…Verbal Charms Survive in the
Machine Age” in Tennessee Folklore Society Bulletin, number 18, 1952, 83

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 Gary R. Varner

opposite sides. Obviously, these two verbal charms have

continued to survive into modern society.
Charms were often used to avoid evil and bad luck. These
particular charms were, such as the horseshoe, called “lucky
charms.” Healing charms have also been extremely popular
throughout time. One legend speaks of Christ healing his
horse that had suffered a sprain. He reportedly chanted “Bone
to bone, sinew to sinew, vein to vein.” Recorded in an early
German medieval manuscript this same charm was used by
Woden to heal the leg of Balder’s horse. Obviously, a pagan
invocation passed down into Christian folklore.

Magic Wands

Wands are certainly symbolic of the Wiccan practitioner of

today but they were also valued tools in ancient society. The
followers of Dionysus in ancient Greece used them. Historian
J.B. Bury wrote: “The worshippers gathered at night on the
mountains, by torchlight, with deer skins on their shoulders
and long ivy-wreathed wands in their hands, and danced
wildly to the noise of cymbals and flutes.” 49
Likewise, wands or “rods” were utilized in ancient Egypt
for protective reasons. In Egypt, three forms of wands existed.
The snake-shaped, the apotropaic, or protective wand, and
the magic rod.
The snake-shaped wand was normally made of bronze
and was either elongated or coiled. Dating back to 2181 BCE,
these wands may have represented the goddess Weret Hekau
(“Great of Magic”), taking the form of the cobra. If we recall
our Biblical mythology, the priests of the Pharaoh used wands

49
Bury, J.B. A History of Greece to the Death of Alexander the Great. New York:
Modern Library, n.d., 298.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

that turned into serpents when Moses first appeared to ask for
the release of the Hebrews.
Apotropaic wands were usually made of hippopotamus
ivory but could also be constructed of calcite, ebony or
faience. According to Oakes and Gahlin, “All manner of weird
and wonderful magical imagery decorate these wands,
including dancing baboons, snake-breathing lions, winged
quadrupeds, human-headed winged snakes,” and other
fantastical images. 50
Any inscriptions made on these wands were protective in
manner and normally refer to the well-being of women and
children.
Finally, we have the “magic wand” which dates back as
far as 2055 BCE (of course they probably existed earlier but
those found so far date from this period). These “rods” were
made from glazed steatite or from such common materials as
sticks and branches—or, as Oakes and Gahlin referred to
them, the “poor man’s bronze or ivory wand”. 51
Magic rods were often decorated with images of frogs,
turtles, baboons, crocodiles, lions and leopards, and mystical
symbols such as lamps and eyes. The purpose of these wands
may have been to dominate the animals represented on them
and to use the powers of the animals as protective devices.
Additionally, the wands may have been used to command
spirits and demons.
The wand, according to Cooper, is “an attribute of all
magicians, shamans and medicine men….The Gaelic ‘white
wand’ of power was of yew; the Celtic magic wand was
hazel.” 52

50
Oakes and Gahlin, op cit. 453.
51
Ibid.
52
Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols. London:
Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1978, 187.

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 Gary R. Varner

Today the wand is symbolic of the power and authority of

the magician and is used to command the forces of magic. The
wand is commonly used by the Wiccan practitioner to define
the “magic” circle, a protective space where all natural magic
is performed, which is regarded was a doorway between
worlds and time.
A wand called the “charm wand” manufactured in the 18th
and 19 centuries carried on the tradition of the Egyptian
wands. Made of glass, these objects were shaped liked rolling
pins and contained twisted multicolored beads, threads or
seeds. They may have been used to combat the Evil Eye but
were also said to have the ability to attract sickness from
others thereby protecting the household. These “charm
wands” are still occasionally found in antique stores and have
become quite collectible.

A modern day wand. This handcrafted wand is made of oak with two
crystals at either end to direct power; it is also adorned with protective
runes and feathers that symbolize instinctual power and knowledge. This
wand is approximately twenty years old. (Author’s collection)

27
 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

II
The Use of Magic in Christianity

T
he use of magic is not confined to pagan religions,
Satanists or New Age followers. Magic has been an
accepted part of traditional Christianity since the
Christian religion began. However, it is a matter of
perspective with Christians viewing the use of magic and
spells as works of the Devil rather than as an acceptable
religious act, and so the magic and spells used are classified
and defined as liturgy and acts of God.
“During the first few centuries of our era,” noted George
Luck, “Christians were not expressly forbidden to practice
magic. Priests provided amulets and charms for the faithful,
and a fifth-century Bishop was very familiar with pagan
magic.” 53 During and after the fifth century the Church did
take a more active role to condemn the use of magic and St.
Augustine argued that magic could only be performed with
the help of demons. In fact, much of the Christian liturgy was
used in early “medical” handbooks to cure illness. One such
handbook, the Wolfsthurn book, “recommends not only
Christian prayers but also apparently meaningless
combinations of words or letters for their medical value. At
one point, it says to copy out the letters
‘P.N.B.C.P.X.A.O.P.I.L,’ followed by the Latin for ‘in the name
of the Father, and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.’ For
demonic possession, the book recommends that a priest
should speak into the afflicted person’s ear the following
jumble of Latin, garbled Greek, and gibberish:

53
Luck, George. “Witches and Sorcerers in Classical Literature” in Witchcraft and
Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press 1999, 158.

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 Gary R. Varner

‘Amara Tonta Tyra post hos firabis ficaliri Elypolis starras

polyque lique linarras buccabor uel barton vel Titram celi
massis Metumbor o priczoni Jordan Ciriacus Valenntinus.’” 54
A similar handbook called the Munich manual was
written in Latin by someone who was probably a member of
the Catholic clergy. The book gives instructions on
summoning demons with magic circles, commanding spirits
and forcing them to return to their hellish homes once they
were no longer required. Kiechhefer reports that the author
advisers his readers that they will need wax images of people
that they wish to afflict along with rings, swords and other
ritual items. He also requires, for some spells, a sacrifice be
made to the evil spirits and the use of burning herbs to act as
magical incense. 55
As Keith Thomas notes, the Church was rather possessive
of those things it considered “legitimate” magic:
“So long as theologians permitted the use of, say, holy
water or consecrated bells in order to dispel storms, there was
nothing ‘superstitious’ about such activity; the Church…had
no compunction about licensing its own brand of magical
remedies.” 56
Today many of these “magical remedies” have survived in
the form of prayer, incantation, holy water, sacred incense,
bells, set rituals and holy books.
In Christian theology, notes Keith Thomas, the distinction
between magic and religion “was an impossibly fine one.” 57
In fact it regarded the wearing of amulets and charms as
having “no superstition…provided no non-Christian symbols

54
Kieckhefer, Richard. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press 1989, 4.
55
Ibid., 6.
56
Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. London: Penguin Books
1973, 303.
57
Ibid., 33.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

were also employed.” 58 Of course, most amulets were directly

tied to pagan origins but this was outside the realm of
discussion and still is today.
The various parishes made substantial sums of money
during the Middle Ages in creating and selling amulets and
charms among other religious relics such as pieces of the True
Cross and the head of John the Baptist. It became quite a
wonder when John the Baptist’s head was exhibited, and sold,
in multiple locations around Europe one year.
“While ordinary parish priests may have dabbled in
medicine,” writes Kieckhefer, “they were more likely to
practice other forms of magic.” 59
One form of magic that the priests were called upon to use
was for the fertility of fields. Taking a whole day, the priest,
before sunrise, would dig four clumps of soil from each of the
four sides of the affected field. He would then sprinkle a
mixture of holy water, oil, milk and honey on the clumps of
earth along with herbs and fragments of trees. He would then
recite, in Latin, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.”
Prayers would then be said. After the prayers, the four
clumps of earth were taken back to the parish church where
four masses were sung over them. Before the sun set the
clumps were moved and spread over the field. It was believed
that the clumps of earth had fertile power, which would result
in a good crop. 60
The difference between pagan spell-craft and magic and
that employed by the Christian Church is simply a matter of
terminology. Christian magic is referred to as “ritual power”
and acceptable while perhaps identical rituals by other
peoples are “witchcraft” and “sorcery.”

58
Ibid.
59
Kieckhefer, op cit., 58.
60
Ibid.

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 Gary R. Varner

As the Church struggled to gain a foothold in pagan lands

it used what it could to compete with the wise women and
cunning men by, according to Harvard anthropologist
William Howells, “allowing a certain amount of Christian
magic to be used and sanctioned; holy relics, exorcism, and so
on.” 61
Ancient Christian spells that have been documented
include, among others, healing spells using the Gospel of
Matthew; spells invoking Christ for protection against
illnesses; protective spells that invoke the sun; spells for
healthy childbirth; erotic attraction spells; spells to make a
woman pregnant; spells for men to attract a male lover; curses
to make a man impotent; spells to obtain a good singing voice;
spells to silence a dog, and spells using voodoo dolls. All of
these have long been associated with witchcraft; however,
they are all Christian spells dating from the first to the 12th
century CE. 62
A bowl, dating to from the early 1st century to late 2nd
century CE was discovered by French archaeologists in the
waters of the great harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. The bowl was
engraved in Latin, “Dia Crstou O Goistais” which has been
interpreted to read “by Christ the magician.” Long before
Jesus was regarded as being the Son of God, his followers
believed that he was a great magician. The bowl was most
likey used by a “wiseman”or “Magi” in divination rituals.
The Church’s implements of worship were viewed as
powerful amulets. “Wax blessed on the feast of the
Purification,” notes Kieckhefer, “was thought effective against
thunderbolts. Ringing of church bells could safeguard the

61
Howells, William. The Heathens: Primitive Man and His Religions. New York:
The Natural History Library/Anchor Books 1962, 105
62
Meyer, Marvin W. and Richard Smith, ed. Ancient Christian Magic. Princeton:
Princeton University Press 1994.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

parish from storms. …Long sheets of parchment or paper,

inscribed with prayers and then rolled up, could protect their
bearers against sudden death, wounding by weapons, the
slander of false witnesses, evil spirits, tribulations, illness,
danger in childbirth, and other afflictions.” 63
The spells used by Coptic Christians, according to David
Frankfurter, “demonstrate that the lines between ‘magic,’
medicine, and religion that are customarily assumed in
modern conversation simply did not exist” 64 to the
practitioners during that time.
For the Christian magician and his client it was important
to incorporate as much of the official Church liturgy as
possible “by ritually appealing to powers that are
acknowledged and venerated by the temple or the church,
often doing so with the very gestures, articles, and
language…” 65
The use of magic and spells in Christianity increased
during the Renaissance when “magic was used as a means to
bring higher angelic forces down to the ordinary world.” 66
Magic has always been an integral part of Christianity and
continues today in Catholicism. Protestant sects, however,
have always rallied against magic and this attitude is one of
the basic tenets of the Protestant faith, which resulted in the
Reformation and the attempted destruction of Catholicism.
Under Protestant rule, during the Reformation, Christians
were forbidden to undertake such “magical” practices as
“…casting holy water upon his bed…bearing about him holy
bread, or St. John’s Gospel…ringing of holy bells; or blessing

63
Kieckhefer, op cit. 78.
64
Frankfurter, David. “Healing Spells” in Meyer, Marvin W. and Richard Smith,
ed. Ancient Christian Magic. Princeton: Princeton University Press 1994, 79.
65
Ibid., 80.
66
Greenwood, Susan. The Encyclopedia of Magic & Witchcraft. London: Hermes
House 2005, 28.

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 Gary R. Varner

with the holy candle, to the intent thereby to be discharged of

the burden of sin, or to drive away dreams and fantasies;
or…putting trust and confidence of health and salvation in
the same ceremonies.” 67
It is ironic that the Protestants viewed the Catholic Church
as Satanic when the Catholic Church was responsible for the
witch trials in the first place. A 16th century woodcut of a
Protestant caricature of Pope Alexander VI (below) shows
him as a demon. It is interesting to note, however, that the
Catholic nations had a much less intense witch-hunt than
Protestant nations. Some scholars have suggested that the
belief in witchcraft and the resulting slaughter were due to the
Reformation and the religious struggle that it caused. The
Protestant focus was not so much the removal of evil and
witchcraft but the removal of all “pagan” influences and the
spirituality that paganism represented.

67
Ibid., 140.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

“The Papist Devil” From a Reformation handbill against Pope Alexander

VI, Paris, 15th century. “Ego sum Papa”=I am the Pope.

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 Gary R. Varner

III
Amulets in Witchcraft and Sorcery

W
hile witchcraft has existed throughout history,
unexplained illnesses did not always result in
diagnoses that indicated that witchcraft or sorcery
was the cause. Thomsen noted, “In more than half of the cases
a god was thought responsible for the illness; ghosts account
for about a fifth, and various demons for most of the rest.
Witchcraft, however, is mentioned in less than 5 percent of the
instances, although there are a lot of incantations, rituals and
medical texts to avert evil.” 68
Evil itself was the major fear of people—not necessarily
the witch, and evil was everywhere. Amulets of every kind
were utilized to avert evil, including such simple things as
wearing a string of wool, carrying a stone, which had a
natural hole worn in it, or a ring made of a particular metal or
stone.
It is interesting that some amulets were carvings or
images of demons, which were worn to counteract evil from
other quarters. These amulets were normally worn on
necklaces and were inscribed with various incantations.
Tablets with incantations were often hung up in homes—
these too are amulets. The reasons for hanging these items in
the home are the same as the hanging of crucifixes in
Christian homes—protection from evil by representations of
deity.

68
Thomsen, Marie-Louise. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies, edited by Bengt
Ankarloo and Stuart Clark. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2001,
32.

35
 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Words are perhaps the most potent form of the amulet.

Incantations, metrical and nonsensical words and sounds as
well as written spells or “charms” were very common in the
past.
Written symbols, cryptograms, magic squares and other
combinations, as described previously, were, according to
Merrifield, “not only used for malevolent magic but could
serve as a protective amulet also.” 69 The very act of writing
and the ability to use the written word took on a metaphysical
quality all of its own. Written charms became the “stock-in-
trade of countless magicians, ‘wise men and women’, ‘white
witches and wizards’ and other wonder-workers,” Merrifield
wrote, “whose craft survived in some rural parts of Britain
into the present century.” 70 During the Roman period in
England many of these written charms were made of rolled
up lead tablets.
We know from the number of these lead “curse tablets”
found in the ancient world, from the Mediterranean countries
to Roman occupied Britain, that most everyone at one time or
another practiced spell-craft—and not always for benevolent
purposes.
More than 1600 curse tablets have been discovered so far
and the majority are written in Greek. At least 130 have been
found at the Roman spa known as Bath in England.
Researchers suspect that close to 500 additional tablets may
still be uncovered at Bath. Those that are not written in Greek
are in Latin and have been found in the Western regions of
the Roman Empire.
The oldest tablets date to at least the 5th century BCE and
were concerned with business curses, theatrical competitions,

69
Merrifield, Ralph. The Archeology of Ritual and Magic. New York: New
Amsterdam Books 1987, 142.
70
Ibid.

36
 Gary R. Varner

or erotic-attraction spells. From the 4th century BCE to the 4th

century, CE the focus was on erotic-attraction or those having
to do with athletic contests.71
Luck reports that many curse tablets appear to have been
written by the same person signifying that a professional
sorcerer was producing such tablets. “Some of these
professionals,” he wrote, “probably worked for lawyers
whose clients were desperate to win their cases.”72 Many
people today would agree that lawyers have a similar
relationship with such sorcerers.
Ogden reports that the most important aspect of the curse
tablet was its deposition. “There were five major contexts for
this,” he writes “in a grave, in a chthonic sanctuary, in a body
of water, in a place of specific relevance to the curse or its
victim, or in a non-chthonic sanctuary. A recipe for the
manufacture of a curse tablet recommends that it be deposited
in ‘river, land, sea, stream coffin or well.’” 73
“A variation of the idea of depositing curse tablets in
graves,” noted Ogden, “was to deposit them on a battlefield
or in a place of execution. The 200 or so fragments of tablets
from Amathous in Cyprus were deposited in a particularly
appropriate site…They were found at the bottom of a shaft
under a mass of human bones.” 74
Treated like legal documents and compacts between the
solicitor and the Gods, the tablets were tossed into the water
to obtain justice and love, ensure winnings at the racetrack,

71
Ogden, Daniel. “Binding Spells: Curse Tablets and Voodoo Dolls in the Greek
and Roman Worlds” in Witchcraft and Magic in Europe; Ancient Greece and
Rome. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 1999, 4.
72
Luck, George. “Witches and Sorcerers in Classical Literature” in Witchcraft and
Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press 1999, 108.
73
Ogden, op cit.15.
74
Ibid., 17.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

and to request retribution for perceived wrongs. Curse tablets

and binding spells were so common in antiquity that even
Plato, in his Republic, remarked how cheaply they could be
obtained. While not all curse tablets were left at wells or
springs, during the imperial period at least, water became the
preferred place of deposition. Wells, springs and other
underground water sources were believed to have
“sympathetic significance” and the cold water was an easy
way to “set”, or “bind”, the tablet and the victim. It has been
noted by researchers that one of the tablets from Bath “prays
that its victims should become as liquid as water”. 75
While there were certain “recipes” for the completion of a
curse tablet and many had exotic additions of Egyptian or
Jewish influence, there was no specific “witch” responsible for
them nor were the creators in any way tied to any formal
witchcraft. However, the traditions at the time allowed for
these formalized curses to be created by the general populace
to resolve various personal issues.
Ogden points out that curse tablets were not considered
unusual and in reality were part of the “ordinary religious
practice in the ‘prayers for justice’ category,’ in which tablets
can be phrased as quite normal prayers to mainline deities.” 76
While this practice may seem to embrace witchcraft today, in
the ancient world “any curse tablet that appeals to a mainline
deity, directly or indirectly, cannot be excluded from the
sphere of ‘religion.’” 77
A curse tablet was discovered during the 2005-2006
excavation in Leicester, England (photo on next page).
Archaeologists from the University of Leicester, during an
excavation in the Vine Street area in the city’s historic core,

75
Ibid., 23.
76
Ogden op cit., 85.
77
Ibid.

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 Gary R. Varner

found a lead curse tablet dating to the second or third century

CE.

Leicester Lead Curse Tablet (Photo courtesy University of Leicester)

The handwritten Latin script has been translated to read as

follows:
“To the god Maglus, 78 I give the wrongdoer who stole the
cloak of Servandus. Silvester, Riomandus (etc.)…that he
destroy him before the ninth day, the person who stole the
cloak of Servandus…”79 The tablet then lists 19 possible
suspects. According to Richard Buckley, co-director of the
University’s Archaeological Services, “most curses seem to
relate to thefts and typically the chosen god is asked to do
harm to the perpetrator. It has been suggested, on the basis of
name forms and the value of items stolen, that the curses

78
“Maglus” is believed to be a title such as “prince” in Gaelic.
79
“University of Leicester archaeologists unearth ancient curse.” Press
release from University of Leicester, November 30, 2006.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

relate to the lives of ordinary people, rather than the wealthy,

and that they were perhaps commissioned by the dedicator
from a professional writer.” 80
More recently, a lead tablet written in Greek was
discovered at the old city kingdom of Amathus on the island
of Cyprus. Part of the text reads: “May your penis hurt when
you make love.” Dating to the 7th century CE, long after
Christianity had been established on Cyprus, archaeologists
believe that it was a survival of pagan shamanism or
witchcraft. 81
Graf notes that the texts written on the lead or papyri “are
prayers, ritualistic utterances to which writing gives
unalterable permanence. At the same time that the spell was
engraved on lead, it was spoken.” 82 The vocalization was
performed as an act to “accompany and describe the ritual
action.” 83
Water acts as an energy source, to “electrify” objects, and
plays an important part in both magic and religion. Water is a
conductor of information, including spells and curses. One
curse found in a well in Attic was addressed: “I am sending
this letter to Hermes and Persephone…”. 84 The sender was
relying on the water’s ability to transport the request to the
underworld.
Curses were commonly inscribed on papyrus, paper, wax
or lead tablets and slate. “Cursing wells” were not uncommon

80
Ibid.
81
“Sex Curse found at ancient Cyprus site: report” Agence France-Presse,
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gs7KYHLwaf0TeF4bnNkYp1xS6ZvQ,
7/12/2008.
82
Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World. trans. by Franklin Philip.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1997, 207.
83
Ibid.
84
Graf, op cit, 131.

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 Gary R. Varner

in Wales. To be effective, the well had to have a northern

exposure.
Merrifield reports that, at least in Anglesey, Wales, “slate
seems to have been considered a specially appropriate
material for cursing…Perhaps because of its leaden colour.” 85
A specific ritual was also required to place curses at the
Anglesey “cursing well”:

Martin Shore, senior site supervisor, with the curse tablet he excavated at
Leicester. (Photo courtesy University of Leicester)

“A slate with the name of the person to be cursed

scratched upon it, or a wretched frog pierced with pins, was
thrown into the well by the curser, who then crawled round
the well against the path of the sun, uttering appropriate

85
Merrifield, op cit. 155.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

curses. This was called ‘well-wishing’, signifying the exact

opposite of the ordinary meaning of that term.” 86
Rhys wrote about this Welsh cursing well, called Ffynnon
Elian, in his book Celtic Folklore Welsh and Manx:
(The priestess of the well) “kept a book in which she
registered the name of each evil wisher for a trifling sum
of money. When this had been done, a pin was dropped
into the well in the name of the victim. …the trade in
curses seems to have been a very thriving one: its
influence was powerful and widespread.” 87
Those who had been named as victims could also pay a
small sum and have their names removed from the book.
In ancient Greece, even the State instituted formal curses
to defend itself. One was all-inclusive, defending Greece from
harmful spells or poisons, obstruction of the transportation of
corn in Greek territory, rebellion, and the betrayal of public
officials. The curse, inscribed in stone, read, “If anyone in
office does not perform this curse at the statue of Dynamis
when the games are convened at the Anthesteria or the
festival of Heracles or that of Zeus, he is to be the object of the
curse.” In addition, it cautions, “If anyone breaks the
inscription on which this curse has been written, or chips off
the letters, or rubs them smooth, he is to die, himself and his
family with him.” 88
Similar devices to avoid evil spirits and witchcraft
continue to be used into contemporary times around the
world. The photograph on page 44 is that of a “nail figure,”
Nkisi Nkondi, from the Congo. Carved between 1880 and 1920,
this voodoo doll-type wooden figure, or “fetish”, was used by
86
Ibid.
87
Rhys, John. Celtic Folklore: Welsh and Manx. New York: Gordon Press 1973,
397.
88
Ogden, Daniel. Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds.
Oxford: Oxford University Press 2002, 275-276.

42
 Gary R. Varner

families and whole communities to prevent illness, weaken

evil spirits, and repel evil deeds. The shaman would
“activate” this powerful and protective figure by exploding
gunpowder in front of it or driving nails into it. Since the
figure was often used to seal agreements between people, the
phase “to hammer out a deal” resulted from the act of driving
nails into it at the end of the bargaining session.
These nail figures were used to identify and hunt down
unknown wrongdoers such as thieves, and people who were
believed to cause sickness through witchcraft. They were also
used to punish people who swore false oaths and villages
which broke treaties.
While the Nikisi Nkondi was a “white magic” object it
was no less a tool of witchcraft. Hostile to outsiders, the figure
was imbued with magical powers by the shaman who placed
special herbs and medicines in the chest cavity. Nails were
usually personalized in some way before they were driven in
- for example, by being kissed or licked or having hair or
other distinctive materials tied to them. Should the user break
the oath, the spirit in the image would know from the saliva
or other bodily traces on the nail whom to annihilate or
punish. The many nails covering the torso of this figure attest
to the large number of individuals who sought its powers.
In tribal society, amulets and charms are very important
and worn by anyone concerned with safety and survival.
Many times these amulets turn up in relatively unexpected
places.
In Africa, knives and daggers continue to be important
pieces of any man’s wardrobe. Many of these weapons have
carvings of symbols made into the blade or handles that have
supernatural meaning. The photograph below shows one
such example from the Sudan. The “S” carving on the blade is
believed to represent a wicked double bladed hand weapon

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

intended to combat any evil spirit or force that may attempt to

endanger the wearer. This double bladed weapon is a ritual
knife still reportedly used in Syria in the 20th century. Because
the markings represent significant material objects this
particular dagger may have been a status symbol as well. The
owner most likely was an important man in the tribal
structure.

Nkisi Nkondi, or “nail figure” from the Congo. Photograph by the author
and courtesy Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania.

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 Gary R. Varner

Sudanese dagger.

Other symbols incorporated into weapons include those in

the Ngbondi spear from the Congo. The design, which
appears to represent a solar/planetary symbol has an
unknown meaning but is present on all Ngbondi spears and
may be of some magical purpose. This example is probably
well over 100 years in age. According to researchers, the
Ngbondi spear was also used as a way to purchase items of
need. Five such spears could buy a slave while it took 50 to
purchase a wife.

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 Gary R. Varner

Ngbondi spear shaft.

Engraved blades are commonly found on ethnic weapons

such as the Sudanese knife shown on the following page. The
blade has been etched in colored designs of an apparent solar
representation. The true meanings are, again, unknown but
probably served more than a pleasing artistic rendering of an
abstract idea. Some have theorized that many of these designs
have been taken from ancient rock art, which is then
duplicated as adopted symbolism for animal brands and
other purposes.
Swords have been used as protective and healing
instruments as well in some parts of the world. Among
German and East European Jews, a bronze or steel sword was

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

suspended over the head of women in childbirth to ensure a

successful birth. In China swords are hung above the bed to
protect against evil.
War amulets such as these were made to protect the owner
from being wounded or killed, to give him strength and
courage and to invoke the gods in his favor.

Sudanese dagger.

The Indonesian kris is a magical implement itself and each

blade is said to be inhabited by a spirit which often moves on
its own volition.
Kris blades are still commonly used and made in Malaysia
and Indonesia. Each kris is considered a living thing with its
own soul, capable of bringing either good or bad luck. They
were also thought to have the capability to act on their own,
jumping out of their scabbards to engage a perceived enemy.
The kris, originating in the 14th century, is always formed
of three layers of steel or iron with thinner layers fitted
between and then twisted or beaten into shape. Most often,
the kris was decorated with engravings of demons or
dragons.

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 Gary R. Varner

The Indonesian kris.

The kris was intended for three purposes:

1. A thrusting weapon
2. A religious cult object, and
3. An executioner’s weapon.
However, it also became an item of apparel and most
every Indonesian/Malayan male would wear on at his side.
According to martial arts expert, Ramon Villardo 89 the
kris “is regarded as man’s tutelary spirit and a means of
communicating with one’s ancestors.”
Some of the mythology and folklore associated with the
kris indicates that people have said that they have seen water
drawn from the blade—more than likely due to the curved or
“wavy” nature of the blade itself. Villard also writes “The

89
Villardo, Ramon. “Kris daggers and swords of Indonesia and the Philippines.”
http://www.bakbakan.com/kris.htm. 3/7/07

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

very act of death could be performed by merely pointing the

weapon at the intended victim…It is also believed to be able
to rattle its own scabbard to call notice and warn its owner of
an impending danger…” 90
While others have said the kris is capable of bringing
either good or bad, Villardo states “It is a firm belief that the
powers of religion and of the kris could only be manifested
for good purposes.”
However, anecdotal information would appear to present
a different picture. Some have been linked to a series of
violent deaths, failed businesses and the ability to grant
prophetic powers. Extreme care is warranted for those
possessing the kris and unusual preservation measures have
been taken by some to ensure that the knife remains docile
and protected.
Additional anecdotal information is that the kris will move
on its own from place to place in the house—it is a truly living
being to those familiar with the weapon.
Swords have been the subject of myth for centuries, mostly
because of its manufacture. Iron especially is effective against
evil spirits, demons, trolls, witches and fairies.

90
Ibid.

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 Gary R. Varner

IV
Animal Totems

T
otem animals are have been an important part of
indigenous religions and traditions for thousands of
years. Certain animals become linked to tribal groups
and clans and are regarded as protectors, as divine mediators
and as ancestors. In many cultures, illnesses are believed to be
caused by an injury or insult to a totemic animal. Among the
Balakai, in Western Equatorial Africa, abnormal births are
believed to be caused when their women give birth to a totem
animal or animals. The Dinka people of the Upper Nile
believe that twins are the result of a woman giving birth to a
totem animal and to a human ancestor at the same time.
Totem animals can be any form with cats, frogs and large
and dangerous game animals being the most favored.
Perhaps the bear is the most ancient of the sacred animals.
Cave paintings dating to 32,000-75,000 BP91 in France and
discovery of the intentional arrangement of bear skulls on
rock altars, also in caves, indicates that the bear cult was
active at least 32 millennia ago in Europe. The bear cult has
continued as an important part of the indigenous Ainu
culture in Japan. The Ainu, direct decendents of the ancient
Jomōn culture, are possibly related to the Tlingit Indians of
Alaska who are well known for their artistic renderings of the
bear in their tribal art. The bear in Ainu belief is the god of the
mountain, a sacred messenger and culture hero. During one
of the Ainu ceremonies, called the iyomante, a bear is ritually
slain so that its soul is sent back to the land of the gods. There
are many legends among indigenous people around the

91
BP=Before Present

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

world that tell of a human woman mating with a bear and

producing offspring. The Ainu have a similar story. Sir James
Frazer wrote, “they have a legend of a woman who had a son
by a bear; and many of them who dwell in the mountains
pride themselves on being descended from a bear. Such
people are called ‘Descendents of the bear’…, and in the pride
of their heart they will say, ‘As for me, I am a child of the god
of the mountains…’” 92
The bear as a sacrificial animal is not only important to the
Ainu but to the Delaware Indians living in Ontario, Canada.
During the Big House ceremony, which is held at Hagersville,
Ontario on the first full moon in January, a hibernating bear is
driven from its den, brought to the Big House and killed with
a blow to the head. The bear is eaten in a ceremonial meal and
its spirit “rises to Patamawas (‘to whom prayers are offered’),
bearing with it the prayers of mankind.”93 The bear is viewed
as a lunar power around the world and the astronomical signs
of the Big House ceremony indicate this is true to North
American Indians as well.
The bear is associated with resurrection (due to its
hibernating ability), and thus with rebirth and renewal. It also
is known for its supernatural powers, strength, bravery and
stamina. It was sacred to Artemis and Diana—both goddesses
of nature. Young Greek girls used to dance to Artemis in the
guise of bears, wearing both bear masks and bear costumes
and were called “Arktoi”, meaning “she-bears”. 94 Norse
warriors also dressed in bear skins for battle and were so

92
Frazer, Sir James. The Golden Bough: A study in magic and religion.
Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions 1993, 505-506.
93
Krickeberg, Walter & et al. Pre-Columbian American Religions. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston 1968, 166.
94
Baring, Anne and Jules Cashford. The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an
Image. London: Arkana/Penguin Books 1991, 326.

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 Gary R. Varner

fierce and impervious to sword and fire that they became

known as “berserkers.”
In Mongolian shamanism, the bear is regarded as lord of
the animals and is revered as an ancestor. The bear is called
baabgai, which means “father”. Stewart tells us that the
Mongolians regard the literal name for the bear as taboo,
“given that the bear is recognized as an ancestor by almost all
Siberian peoples”. 95 While the bear is hunted at times, it is
treated with great respect and the skulls are placed on poles
or in trees or placed on a platform as shamans are after death.
Like the dog in other cultures, the bear is believed by some
Siberian people to oversee the journey of the soul to the
underworld.
The bear is a messenger of forest spirits in shamanism and
this concept carried over to the Slavic traditions. The Leshii,
that Faery-like shape-changer who was master of the forest
and protector of animals, used both the wolf and the bear as
special servants. The bear would not only serve the Leshii but
protect him.
Inuit and Lapp shamans will shape-shift into bear form for
their spirit journeys.
Like the Mongolians, the use of the “regular” name for the
bear in Apache culture was also prohibited. According to
ethnologist Morris Edward Opler, “…the Chiricahua would
seldom say the regular word for bear. They would call it
‘mother’s sibling.’ It doesn’t like to be called by the regular
word. It gets after you when you say that.” 96 In other words,
the bear will cause illness if it is addressed directly with its
regular name. The Apache did not hunt, eat or use the skins of
95
Sarangerel (Julie Ann Stewart). Riding Windhorses: A Journey into the Heart of
Mongolian Shamanism. Rochester: Destiny Books 2000, 33.
96
Opler, Morris Edward. An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social, and
Religious Institutions of the Chiricahua Indians. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press 1941, 224.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

bear and avoided it as much as possible. According to one of

Opler’s informants, “If you come in contact with the track of a
bear, or a tree where the bear has leaned, or bear manure, or if
you sleep where a bear has sat down, or if you come in
contact with a bear by smell or touch, you can get sick.” 97
The reason for the avoidance of the word “bear”, no
matter the language, was, as E.P. Evans noted, because the
bear was “looked upon, not merely as rapacious brutes,
whose physical strength and voracity were to be feared, but
rather as incarnations of mysterious and malignant forces
capable of inflicting injuries by occult and magical influences,
and therefore not to be enraged or irritated in any manner.
For this reason,” Evans continues, “they were not called by
their real names, but were propitiated by flattering
epithets…” 98
Like many other sacred icons of other more ancient
religions, the bear, in Christian theology, represented the
Devil, evil, cruelty and carnal appetite. Evans describes one
relief on the door of a cathedral in Hildesheim, carved in 1015,
“which depicts a bear stand(ing) behind Pilate, whispering
into his ear and filing his mind with diabolical suggestions”. 99
While it may seem incongruous that the bear, known for
its size and savagery, has been worshipped for its Mother
Goddess aspects it is the loving relationship that the adult
bear has with its young that denotes this special association.
Tamra Andrews noted “Bears were almost always connected
in some way to the female life force, either being female
themselves and giving birth or being the offspring of a human

97
Ibid. 225.
98
Evans, E.P. Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture. London: W.
Heineman 1896, 8
99
Ibid, 88

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 Gary R. Varner

female. This quality reinforced the bears’ intimate connection

with fertility, renewal, and, often, the moon.” 100
The goddess Artio (“bear goddess”), worshipped in the
Berne (Celtic for “bear”) area of Switzerland during the 4th
century CE, was the protectress of bears against hunters. She
also protected humans from the wrath of the bear! Artio was a
goddess of plenty, which ties into the bear’s associations with
fertility and renewal. Bear amulets have been found in North
Britain and other areas and have been found in burials. A
small child was found buried near Malton in Yorkshire with a
tiny black bear-amulet 101 showing perhaps the belief that the
bear helped the soul on its way to the underworld.
Aside from the Apache, the bear was an important
spiritual totem to many Native American people. The bear is
associated with sacred and powerful water sites and was
regarded as a major deity and source of power. Bear doctors
could shape-shift from human to bear by swimming in a
special pool. Once in the water the doctor would emerge in a
bear form and could only change back into his human form
by submerging once again in the same pool. The bear has
many of the characteristics of water. It is symbolic of rebirth
and renewal; it is connected to the feminine life force and
fertility. The bear was thought to be the creator of geysers in
California; the spirit of the bear was believed to heat the water
for curative purposes, which were utilized extensively by the
local tribes.
In Lakota belief, the bear “is the friend of the Great Spirit.
He is very wise.”102 The bear instructed the shaman in
ceremonial secrets, song and medicines. To the Lakota, if a
100
Andrews, Tamra. A Dictionary of Nature Myths. Oxford: Oxford University
Press 1998, 25.
101
Green, Miranda. The Gods of the Celts. Glouchester: Alan Sutton 1986, 184.
102
Walker, James R. Lakota Belief and Ritual. Lincoln: University of Nebraska
Press 1991, 116.

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man sees a bear in his dreams or visions he must become a

medicine man. The Lakota believe that the bear is the only
creature that knows all things about the Great Spirit and is
totally conversant in the language of the shaman. The bear is
referred to as “the God the Bear,” and presides over “love and
hate and bravery and wounds and many kinds of medicines.”
He was also “the patron of mischief and fun.” 103
“The Bears” is one of the Oglala Sioux sodalities, a “dream
cult” made up of individuals who have had the same vision.
Called the Mato ihanblapi (“they dream of bears”) the
members would dress for their ceremonies as bears, parade
around the camp, growling like bears while they chased
people. According to Powers, these “bear dreamers” were
“astute curers”. 104
At one California Miwok site, a large standing stone called
the “Northstar stone” was used for ceremonial purposes. It
stands with several mortars (areas used for the grinding of
food and other materials) on one side, two on the top, and
with several incised lines that run the length of one side. It is
believed that this stone was a central piece used during bear
ceremonies thanking the Grizzly Bear and to welcome the
change of season from winter to spring. The mortars were
used to grind berries and other food items with the juices
running down the incised lines into a catchment at the
bottom. It is assumed that the Grizzly was lured into the area
and would eat from the catchment, performing its part in the
ritual. A bear “footprint” was carved into one portion of the
Northstar stone representative of a bear walking in a docile
manner, the back print overlapping with the print of the
forepaw. The footprint and incised grooves on Northstar are

103
Ibid, 121.
104
Powers, William K. Oglala Religion. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press
1982, 58.

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similar to other “rain rocks” found in Northern California. A

similar bear footprint carving is located in Northwestern
California and a large carving representing the claw marks of
a bear can be seen at Chaw’se, Indian Grinding Rock State
Park near Fiddletown, California.
The importance of the bear in Native American culture
and religion cannot be minimized. During an archaeological
excavation in 1966 in the Sacramento delta area east of
Oakley, California, a Plains Miwok burial of a small, five-year
old Indian girl was uncovered. The unusual aspect of this
burial was that the child was buried with a Grizzly Bear cub
of approximately the same size. It appeared to the excavators
that the bear cub was slain deliberately to accompany the
child to the afterlife. According to the excavation report, the
bear was positioned directly behind and to the side of the
child with one paw draped over the child’s body. 105 To the
Plains Indians the bear is believed to be the ruler of
underworld creatures so its association with death and the
underworld may have been instrumental for its inclusion in
the child’s burial.
The Athapaskan Indians of British Columbia believe the
bear to be the guardian of fire; however, it is the “Bear
Mother” that remains the most endearing characterization of
this animal. Christopher Manes wrote in Other Creations:
Rediscovering the Spirituality of Animals, that the Bear Mother is
representative of the Mother Goddess. According to Manes:
"Invariably, the feminine animal spirit represents a force
for good, even cultural heroism. In the Bear Mother stories....a
woman is kidnapped by a bear in the form of a man, who

105
Cowan, R.A., Clewlow, C.W. Jr & et al. “An Unusual Burial of a Bear and
Child From the Sacramento Delta”, in Institute of Archaeology, University of
California Los Angeles Journal of New World Archaeology, Vol 1, Number 2,
December 1975, 25-30.

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takes her to his village to be his bride. In her new life among
the bears, the woman learns their 'songs,' at the same time
teaching the bear spirits about human society. The woman
usually gives birth to several children by her bear husband
who grow up to become leaders or warriors." 106

1930s building façade with the Bear Mother.

Cats represent clairvoyance, watchfulness, mystery,

female malice and sensual beauty. In India, it was believed
that cats could take over the bodies of women at will. 107 On
the other hand, the Indian goddess of maternity and

106
Manes, Christopher. Other Creations: Rediscovering the Spirituality of
Animals. New York: Doubleday 1997, 162-163.
107
Tresidder, Jack. Symbols and Their Meanings. London: Duncan Baird
Publishers 2000, 59.

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protectress of children, Sasti, is a feline goddess that rides on a

cat. 108

The Egyptian cat-goddess Bast

Both Chinese and Japanese folklore view the cat as

symbolic of transformation. Scandinavian mythology says
that the goddess Freyja’s chariot is drawn by cats. In Egyptian
mythology the goddess Bast, the moon goddess, is cat-headed
and the cat also symbolized the protective aspects of the
Mother Goddess, Isis.
In Cambodia, the cat is associated with drought and is
carried in cages to rain ravaged areas where it is doused with

108
Mackenzie, Donald A. Myths and Legends: India. London: Studio Editions
1985, 153.

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water. It is believed that the cat’s howls will awaken the rain
goddess Indra so that she will stop the downpour. 109
Big cats have dominated the ancient religious traditions of
Mesoamerica. Appearing as a jaguar or puma or as a
composite jaguar human figure, the cat gods were associated
with caves, the night and the underworld, much as cats were
during the witch-hunting days of Europe.
One of the main deities of the Olmec people was the were-
jaguar, a half human and half jaguar being. The were-jaguar
was important for its rain making abilities. The Maya had the
most jaguar deities than any Mesoamerican people. They
regarded the jaguar as representative of the sun. Miller and
Taube noted that the Mayan jaguar was the nighttime sun,
and as god of the Underworld, it was also the Underworld’s
sun. 110 The jaguar image is frequently associated with
sacrifice.
Black cats are normally thought to bring bad luck—except
in England where they have the opposite effect. Images of
black cats in England are made into good luck charms.
Symbologist J. C. Cooper, however, noted, “As black it is
lunar, evil and death; it is only in modern times that a black
cat has been taken to signify good luck.” 111 Ancient Chinese
tradition speaks of the black cat as representative of
misfortune and, of course, Christian symbolism links the
black cat with Satan, lust, laziness and witchcraft.
While cats have caused some fear among humans for their
mystical character, it is the cat that has paid the price more
often than their human companions have. According to an
entry in the January 11, 1851 Notes and Queries British
109
Keister, Douglas. Stories in Stone. New York: MJF Books 2004, 71.
110
Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. The Gods and Symbols of Ancient Mexico and
the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson 1993, 104.
111
Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols. London:
Thames and Hudson 1978. 30

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periodical, “In Wilts, and also in Devon, it is believed that cats

born in the Month of May will catch no mice nor rats, but will,
contrary to the wont of other cats, bring in snakes and slow
worms. Such cats are called ‘May cats,’ and are held in
contempt.” 112 “May cats” seem to have been universally
disliked in England in the 19th century. Another Notes and
Queries entry on February 1, 1851 stated “In Hampshire, to
this day, we always kill may cats,” and in June another reader
wrote “…may Cats are unlucky, and will suck the breath of
children.” 113 This last superstition is still commonly found in
the Western world.
Cats are also invariably linked to the weather—and
generally not good weather. The approach of wind and rain
was said to be foretold by the way a cat washes itself or in
what direction it sits while grooming. Greek folklore from the
1890s said “…if a cat licks herself with her face turned
towards the north, the wind will soon blow from that
dangerous quarter.” 114 Witch-lore says that the cat familiar is
a rain-maker as well as a companion to the witch. Foretelling
the weather by watching a cat may not be foolproof however.
Another bit of weather-lore says “Cats with their tails up and
hair apparently electrified indicate approaching wind, --or a
dog.” 115
Witches have long been associated with the cat—the cat
being either an animal familiar or a form that the witch easily
transforms into. This relationship is an ancient one; the
Greeks and Romans told of a woman who had been changed
into a cat chosen as the priestess of Hecate, goddess of the
Underworld, sorcery and magic. In fact, Hecate is often

112
Notes and Queries, Vol. 3, Number 63, January 11, 1851, 20.
113
Notes and Queries, Vol. 3, Number 87, June 28, 1851, 516.
114
Inwards, Richard. Weather Lore. London: Elliot Stock 1893, 126.
115
Ibid.

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depicted as a cat. It is interesting that the cat is so universally

thought of in this manner as, in reality, there are more stories
of rabbits being associated with witches than cats. While there
is some court testimony in the 16th century concerning witches
shape-shifting into cats, many other animals were also
implicated such as dogs, frogs, cocks and hares. In 1587
twenty-four Aberdeen witches were tried and eventually
“They accused one another of unnatural practices, from eating
mutton on Good Friday to concourse with devils in the shape
of black cats and dogs.” 116
This belief in witches assuming the form of cats was not
restricted to Europe by any means. Folklorist Vance Randolph
wrote in his 1947 study, Ozark Superstitions that “A witch can
assume the form of any bird or animal, but cats and wolves
seem to be her favorite disguises. In many a backwoods
village you may hear some gossip about a woman who visits
her lover in the guise of a house cat. Once inside his cabin, she
assumes her natural form and spends the night with him.
Shortly before daybreak she becomes a cat again, returns to
her home, and is transformed into a woman at her husband’s
beside.” 117
In popular folklore, the witch was said to be able to
assume the form of a black cat nine times—to match the nine
magical lives that the cat is supposedly blessed with. Across
Medieval Europe, black cats were hunted down and killed—
usually by burning. This most often occurred on Shrove
Tuesday 118 and Easter.

116
Parrinder, Geoffry. “The Witch as Victim” in The Witch in History edited by
Venetia Newall. New York: Barnes & Noble 1996, 129.
117
Randolph, Vance. Ozark Magic and Folklore. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc. 1964, 268. A reprint of Ozark Superstitions published 1947 by Columbia
University Press.
118
Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent. It was a day that became popular
for divination among many other activities.

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In fact, notes Thompson, “the connection of the cat with

witches was no doubt the reason for the persecution and ill-
treatment of the animal in the seventeenth century.” 119
Cats have been fearfully linked to death, probably as a
result of their association with the witch trials but also due to
their ties to ancient predator animal deities around the world
and to ancient gods and goddesses of the Underworld.
In Estonian folklore, the returning souls of dead humans,
called “home wanderers,” or “revenants” could appear in
human or animal form. According to Estonian folklorist Eha
Viluoja, out of 92 reported instances of “home wanderer”
observations, cats (black of course) accounted for 17 of them.
Dogs were the primary ghostly object seen, accounting for 35
cases. 120
Any cat that jumped over a body awaiting burial was a
sure sign of bad luck and immediately killed. It was believed
that should a cat do such a thing the corpse would rise up to
become a vampire.121
Regardless if the cat is empowered with evil forces, it has
been used to affect folk-cures and to provide protection—in
rather strange ways. Folklorist Luc Lacourcière noted that in
French Canada it was not uncommon to attempt to transfer
disease from the human patient to an animal. In the case of
shingles, a skinned-cat was applied to the human body so that
the disease could be absorbed into the body of the dead cat.122

119
Thompson, C.J.S. The Hand of Destiny. New York: Bell Publishing Company
1989, 201.
120
Viluoja, Eha. “Manifestations of the Revenant in Estonian Folk Tradition”, in
Folklore, Vol. 2. http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol2/viluoja.htm 8/14/06
121
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Witches & Witchcraft. New
York: Checkmark Books/Facts on File 1999, 49
122
Lacourcière, Luc. “A Survey of Folk Medicine in French Canada from Early
Times to the Present”, in American Folk Medicine, edited by Wayland D. Hand.
Berkeley: University of California Press 1976, 212.

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Other treatments include making the sign of the cross with a

cat’s tail over an eye afflicted with a sty. This reportedly will
make the sty disappear. This treatment was used in such
diverse areas as Louisiana and England. 123 It was not
reported if the cat was living or dead when its tail was used
for this purpose. A broth, made from a black cat, was also
consumed to cure consumption.
The mystic power of the cat was continuously sought until
well into the 19th and 20th century and, most likely, into the
21st century as well. Folk-medicine practices around the world
abound in strange rituals to cure certain diseases or to warn
individuals away from potentially dangerous events. Many of
these today seem naïve and childish—as well as cruel for the
poor animals involved. In Oregon in the 1960s folklore
warned, “Never allow a child to play with cats or he will
become a simpleton.” A similar prohibition was reported in
Ohio in the 1950s, “If a boy plays with cats, it will make him
stupid, for the cat’s brain will go into him.” 124
Other dangers associated with playing with cats include
the very real possibility of women becoming pregnant
(recorded in Oslo during the 1930s). While some folklore
warns against being overly friendly with cats the reverse was
also true during the 1950s in the American Midwest. “If you
make enemies of cats during your lifetime,” it was reported,
”you will be accompanied to the grave by storms of wind and
rain.” 125
Other folk-medicine traditions include one from Germany
during the early 20th century that said that thieves could

123
Simpson, Jacqueline and Steve Roud. Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore.
Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000, 50 and Elizabeth Brandon. “Folk Medicine
in French Louisiana” in American Folk Medicine. Edited by Wayland D. Hand.
Berkeley: University of California Press 1976, 200.
124
UCLA Folkmedicine Record Numbers 10_4587, 11_4890.
125
Ibid, Record Number 5_5244

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 Gary R. Varner

become invisible by cutting off the tips of the tongue of black

cats and dogs, “wrap them in wax of an Easter candle, and
carry them under the left arm.” 126
A rather grisly tradition in Christian England included
sacrificing a cat to ward off evil forces when buildings were
constructed. Originally cats, and other animals as well as
humans in prehistoric times, were killed and buried in
building foundations as sacrifices to the gods and spirits to
ensure protection of the structure. Over time, the “sacrificial”
aspect was rationalized. Archaeologist Ralph Merrifield
wrote, “the cruel practice of killing a cat as a builder’s
sacrifice was revived by the notion that the body of a cat set in
a lifelike attitude in a hidden place would frighten vermin
from the building.”127 What the actual “vermin” were is
questionable however. Were rodents the focus of these efforts
or was it more the spiritual “rodent”—demons and witches—
that were the objects of such fear? In some instances a dead
cat was found with a single rat in its mouth or near a paw.
While this use of “charms” was widespread across
England from the 15th to 19th centuries it also occurred in
other locations such as Gibraltar and Sweden.
The importance that the ancient Egyptians placed on cat
amulets is described by Howey:

There are…bronze feline images of various sizes, some

engraved with necklace and scarab, others with necklace,
and eyes inlaid with gold; figures of cats represented in
various stones, in crystal, blue marble, glazed ware and
porcelain, exquisite groups of cats and kittens, cat amulets
126
Hoffman-Krayer, Eduard von and Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli, eds.
Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens. Berlin & Leipzig 1927-1942, vol.
2, 235.
127
Merrifield, Ralph. The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. New York: New
Amsterdam Books 1987, 186

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

of different sizes which had been suspended around the

owner’s neck in his lifetime, finger-rings of gold on which
are engraved the form of the cat, even a child’s wooden
toy, representing a cat with moveable jaw… 128

Toads and frogs. One either likes them or is repulsed by

them. Regardless of preference they have been incorporated
in magic and religion for thousands of years. Frogs have been
connected with witches because they were associated with
Hecate—the goddess of witches. Frogs were also sacred to the
Roman goddess Venus, who is another aspect of Hecate.
Heket, the Egyptian Hecate, was a frog goddess “who assisted
in fashioning the child in the womb and who presided over its
birth.”129 As a sacred midwife, Hecate was depicted in
Egyptian art as a frog or as a woman with a frog’s head.
Amulets of the goddess were simply in the image of frogs but
were inscribed, “I am the Resurrection”. 130 Babylonian
cylinder seals depicted nine frogs as a fertility charm, the
frogs representing the Ninefold Goddess that ruled the nine
months of gestation.
As Hecate’s amulets indicated that she is synonymous
with resurrection, so too is the frog which represents her. The
frog also came to be regarded as the protector of mothers and
newborn children in Egyptian society, and represented
fertility, new life, abundance and the embryonic powers of
water. The frog’s association with fertility was also accepted
in the Graeco-Roman world.

128
Howey, M. Oldfield. The Cat in Magic, Mythology, and Religion. New York:
Crescent Books 1989, 147.
129
Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt.
Lonson: Thames and Hudson Ltd. 2003, 229.
130
Budge, Sir E.A. Wallis. Egyptian Magic. New York: Dover Publications Inc.
1971, 63.

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 Gary R. Varner

The toad was also sacred to the Lithuanian Goddess of

Death and Regeneration, Ragana. As Gimbutas wrote, “If not
properly treated, the toad, it was believed even in the early
20th century, can be as dangerous as the Goddess herself.” 131
These dangers included spitting on the toad, which would
result in death for the spitter, making the toad angry enough
so that it explodes, releasing a deadly poison, and killing the
toad with one’s bare hands, which changes the killer’s face to
resemble that of the toad. “As a messenger of death,”
Gimbutas writes, “the toad can crawl onto the chest of a
sleeping person and suck the breath from his or her body,
causing certain death.” 132 However, the toad is also known
for its healing aspects. This is not contradictory at all as both
death and regeneration are qualities of Ragana and thusly of
the toad.
“The Goddess [of Regeneration] in the form of a frog or
toad,” Gimbutas tells us, “predominates in the temples, and
her icons or amulets…are found throughout the Neolithic,
Bronze Age, and even throughout historical times. Beliefs in
the body’s ‘traveling womb’ in the form of a frog occur widely
from Egypt, Greece, and Rome, to northern Europe during the
historical period and, in some places, to this day.” 133
Votive pits uncovered in Danebury and in Aquitane
indicate the ritual use of frogs and toads in Celtic traditions.
In Danebury, twenty bones of seven species of frogs and toads
were found in one pit and in Aquitane a 1st century BCE
cremation of toads was discovered. 134 A Roman cemetery
uncovered on St. Clare Street in London revealed a 1st or 2nd

131
Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess. San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco 1991, 256.
132
Ibid.
133
Gimbutas, Marija. The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old Europe.
San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco 1991, 244.
134
Green, Miranda. The Gods of the Celts. Gloucester: Alan Sutton 1986, 186.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

century deposit of eighty frogs or toads along with two

broken and two complete flagons suggesting that libations
were left along with the frogs and toads as an offering. 135
Frogs were sacred to the Celts for their powers of healing the
frog was the Lord of the Earth to the Celts and represented
the power of healing water. While frogs and toads may be
associated with witches, they are also associated with fairies
that may appear as frogs. Three guardian fairies that appear
as frogs protect a healing well in Shropshire, England. As
frogs and toads were utilized as votive offerings, they were
also used for individual spells to harm others. Archaeologist
Ralph Merrifield noted, “A black pipkin covered with a slate
on which the name ‘Nanney Roberts’ was written was found
buried in a bank on Penrhos Bradwen Farm, near Holyhead,
Angelsey, in the nineteenth century; it contained the skin and
bones of a frog, which had been pierced by several large pins,
and was clearly intended as the image-substitute of the
woman named.” 136 This particular frog was sacrificed as a
curse in relatively recent times.
Frogs were also associated with water and rainmaking in
Mesoamerica. As Rands noted “Frogs and toads are generally
thought to have a ‘natural’ connection with rainfall.” 137
During the chac-chaac rainmaking ceremony of the Maya, frog
“impersonators” would mimic their croaking to add power to
the rainmaking efforts. “Frogs and snakes,” Rands continued
“were kept in a pool at the feet of an image of Tlaloc [god of

135
Merrifield, Ralph. The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. New York: New
Amsterdam Books 1987, 36. Other offerings in the same pit included a heron,
shrews and voles.
136
Ibid, 155.
137
Rands, Robert L. “Some Manifestations of Water in Mesoamerican Art,”
Anthropological Papers, No. 48, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 157.
Washington: Smithsonian Institution 1955, 360.

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 Gary R. Varner

rain and lightning] and during a dance in the god’s honor

were caught in the mouth and swallowed.” 138
Perhaps the croaking of frogs did result in rain. Zuni lore
states, “When frogs warble, they herald rain. The louder the
frog, the more rain would fall. When frogs croak much, it is a
sign of rain.” 139
In Vedic myth, a giant frog supported the world, as
Saunders noted, this was “a metaphor for the primal state of
matter.” 140
Carved images of toads, like tortoises, were incorporated
in some of the massive altars of Postclassic Mayan temples.
These altars were usually placed in front of stelae and were an
early part of the Maya stela-altar complex. 141 That the toad
was regarded as an important sacred-fertility icon in Mayan
society cannot be doubted. “In recently discovered Early
Classic stucco reliefs from Balamkú, Campeche,” Miller and
Taube write, “there are full-figure toads with upwardly facing
heads. Seated lords are positioned in their mouths, as if the
toads were metaphorically giving birth to the kings.” 142
While frogs were thought to have a natural link to water
and to rains it was also believed to be responsible for draught.
In both Australia and North America, mythic tales were told
of a giant frog swallowing all the waters, creating drought
and famine.
Among the Cherokee Indians, it was believed in the past
that the “great frog” was responsible for solar eclipses as it

138
Ibid, 361.
139
Inwards, Richard. Weather Lore. London: Elliot Stock 1893, 145.
140
Saunders, Nicholas J. Animal Spirits. London: Duncan Baird Publishers 1997,
106.
141
Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and
Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson 1993,
168.
142
Ibid.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

attempted to swallow the sun. James Mooney tells us “in

former times it was customary on such occasions to fire guns
and make other loud noises to frighten away the frog.” 143 In
Mongolia, earthquakes were said to be the result of a giant
frog jumping across the land.
The frog in Apache lore was classified as a snake. Frogs
were not eaten, as it was believed that anyone who ate a frog
would “walk like a cowboy” [i.e. bowlegged]. 144
The frog was an important mythic figure to the Indian
tribes living in the Great Basin and appeared in various
locations depicted in rock art. The ability of frogs and other
small reptiles to crawl in and out of the cracks and breaks in
rocks or to jump in and out of bodies of water “is analogous
to a shaman’s entry into the supernatural by metaphorically
entering either a rock or a spring.” 145 Frogs, then, were
believed to be the messengers between our physical world
and the world of the supernatural. The frog was often carved
or painted on stone to represent the trance state of the
shaman. The image of the frog was symbolic of going
underwater and thereby of death.
An interesting aside is that many of the early Olmec
depictions of the were-jaguar may have been of toads instead.
The jaguar eventually became an extremely important
shamanic animal as well as a prominent god in Mesoamerican
religions.

143
Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
1995, 306. A reprint of the 1900 publication “Nineteenth Annual Report of the
Bureau of American Ethnology, 1897-98.
144
Opler, Morris Edward. An Apache Lifeway: The Economic, Social, and
Religious Institutions of the Chiricahua Indians. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press 1941, 332.
145
Whitley, David S. A Guide to Rock Art Sites: Southern California and
Southern Nevada. Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing Company 1996, 20.

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 Gary R. Varner

Frogs and toads were often associated with witches during

the Burning Times as witches’ familiars—or as forms that
witches were able to transform into. One witch trial held in
1665 for Rose Cullender and Amy Duny of Lowestoft,
England was concerned with the bewitchment of a child.
According to Robin Briggs, “One of the sick child’s blankets
was hung up and anything found in it thrown into the fire. A
toad obligingly appeared and exploded when put in the fire,
after which the suspect was discovered much scorched.” 146
Medieval Christians believed that toads were “familiars of
witches, symbols of avarice and lust, and tormentors of those
in Hell for these and other sins.” 147
Frog superstitions, of which there are many, include the
following:

“In some parts of the country a frog was supposed to

possess the soul of a dead child, and it was very unlucky
therefore to kill one. The origin…probably lies in the cry of
the frog if injured, which is almost human in its note.” 148

Others include the belief that cancer could be cured by

swallowing a young frog. Evidently, it was thought that the
frog could draw the poison of cancer into its body and
eliminate the disease from human victims.
To the Christians the frog represented resurrection but
also sin, evil, worldly pleasure, envy and heretics. But then,
most symbols originating in ancient times became symbols of
evil under Christian influence.

146
Briggs, Robin. Witches & Neighbors: The Social and Cultural Context of
European Witchcraft. New York: Viking 1996, 209.
147
Saunders, op cit.
148
Radford, Edwin and Mona A. Encyclopaedia of Superstitions. New York: The
Philosophical Library 1949,127.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Strangely enough, the toad has a much darker position in

European folklore than the frog. In sixteenth century, England
the toad was regarded as an emissary of the Evil One and
often was burned to death. Likewise, the people of Norway
believed that the toad was evil, or the representative of evil
and they cast unlucky frogs and toads into bonfires that had
previously been used by people to dance around and jump
over on St. John’s Eve. This act of toad killing was believed to
ward off trolls and other evil spirits that were active on that
night.
While the toad, like the frog, was regarded as a symbol of
resurrection, it was also believed to represent other, less
desirable things. In Iranian, Celtic and Christian lore the toad
represents evil and death. And we cannot forget that Judeo-
Christian lore tells of the plague of frogs that was visited
upon Pharaoh.
The toad, however, like many other sacred symbols, has a
dual nature. A general piece of folklore from the 1940s said,
“If a toad crosses the path of a bridal party on the way to
church, the couple will have prosperity and happiness.” The
Araucanian and Orinoco Indians of Chile and Venezuela
called the toad the Lord of the Water and the toad was
believed to watch over the preservation of water. Its link to
water, like the frog’s association to water, was a common
belief. In Lincolnshire, England, toads were kept in household
wells to ensure the water’s purity and much effort was taken
to ensure that the toad never escaped from its well enclosure.
Another common bit of lore from Herefordshire was “If
you wear a toad’s heart concealed on your person, you can
steal to your heart’s content without being found out.” I
wonder how many boys were amazed at being caught even
though they had a toad’s heart in their pocket?

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 Gary R. Varner

In 1892, a severe outbreak of flu ravaged Togo and it was

blamed on evil spirits. To expel the spirits and remove the
disease “they dragged a toad through the streets, followed by
an elder scattering holy water. By this means the epidemic
was concentrated in the toad, which was then cast into the
nearby forest.” 149
To explore even more in the remote past frogs and toads
were regarded as sacred and often were associated with
goddesses. Frog-woman hybrid figures were common in
Anatolia dating back to the 6th millennium BCE. Symbols of
regeneration, these figures had human heads and vulvas but
with a decidedly frog-like body. Such figures were etched and
carved in marble, alabaster, clay, ceramics, and stone since
early Neolithic times. Some of the earliest carved forms have
perforations that obviously imply that they were worn as
amulets.
Other animals such as the snake, owl, bat, the turtle and
the eagle have been regarded as clan and individual totems as
well and much of the world’s mythology and folklore has
originated from the people who have worshipped and feared
them.
“The snake is a main image of the vitality and continuity
of life,” wrote anthropologist Marija Gimbutas, “the
guarantor of life energy in the home, and the symbol of family
and animal life.”150 The snake means something different and
yet the same in many cultures and locations. The serpent is a
feared goddess of the river, a messenger and spirit being of
Native America, a water spirit and god of Africa. These are
similar characteristics for a universally important symbol.
There is an opposite view, however. The snake is also

149
Radford, op cit 241.
150
Gimbutas, Marija. The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old
Europe. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco 1991, 236.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

portrayed as Satan himself in Biblical lore. As historian Jean

Markale wrote, “Western religious thought has been almost
unanimous in making the serpent of Genesis into a concrete
representation of the tempter, that is to say, of Satan himself,
relying for support upon the Apocalypse where this ‘great
serpent’…is the image of absolute evil.” 151 The serpent had
been respected as a symbol of wisdom and life renewed for
thousands of years—until the Hebrews and then the
Christians waged successful campaigns to destroy it. “When
the Hebrews introduced a male god into Canaan,” says Mark
O’Connell and Raje Airey, “the female deity and the snake
were relegated and associated with evil.” 152 Later, the
Christian campaign was able to, as Page Bryant wrote,
“distort a positive and ancient pagan symbol to suit the
purposes of Christianity.” 153
Even before Christianity established a toehold the serpent
was viewed by the Hebrews as either possessed by Satan or
was Satan himself. In Jewish folklore, the original serpent
walked on two legs, talked and ate the same food that Adam
and Eve did. One day the serpent witnessed Adam and Eve
engaged in sexual relations, and he became jealous—
persuading Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. In punishment,
according to Hebrew legend, “its hands and legs were cut off,
so it had to crawl on its belly, all food it ate tasted of dust, and
it became the eternal enemy of man.” 154 However, the serpent
also was able to have sexual relations with Eve before he was
punished by God. Because of this the Israelites only became

151
Markale, Jean. The Great Goddess: Reverence of the Devine Feminine
From the Paleolithic to the Present. Rochester: Inner Traditions 1999, 6.
152
O’Connell, Mark and Raje Airey. The Complete Encyclopedia of Signs
& Symbols. London: Hermes House 2005, 186.
153
Bryant, Page. Awakening Arthur! London: The Aquarian Press 1991, 64
154
Unterman, Alan. Dictionary of Jewish Lore & Legend. New York:
Thames and Hudson 1991, 176.

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 Gary R. Varner

purified when they stood at Mt. Sinai and received the torah.
“Gentiles, however,” according to Alan Untermann, “have
never been cleansed of this serpentine impurity.” 155
Christian hatred of the serpent was not universal however.
In Armenian folklore, according to Anthony S. Mercatante,
“Christ himself is identified with Shahapet, a beneficient
serpent spirit who inhabited olive trees and vinestocks in the
ancient mythology.” 156
A graven image of a serpent suspended from a cross-like
beam was erected by Moses to protect the Hebrews from the
poisonous bite of serpents. Acting on God’s instructions,
“…Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it upon a pole, and
it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he
beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” 157
On the base of one of the ancient menhirs in Carnac an
image of five snakes standing on their tails was carved.
“When the site was excavated,” writes archaeologist Johannes
Maringer, “in 1922, five axes were found under the
engravings. The blades faced upward; obviously the axes had
been deliberately placed in that position. It is most likely that
even in Neolithic times the serpent was a symbol of life.” 158
Maringer believes that the serpent was closely associated with
deceased ancestors and the five serpents engraved on the
menhir probably indicated that five people were buried there
along with the axes.
The duality of meanings most likely originated in the
contrasting views of the serpent in Old European and Indo-
European mythology. In Old European lore (prior to 4500

155
Ibid.
156
Mercatante, Anthony S. Good and Evil in Myth & Legend. New York:
Barnes & Noble 1978, 65.
157
Numbers 21:9, KJV
158
Maringer, Johannes. The Gods of Prehistoric Man: History of Religion.
London: Phoenix Press 2002, 170-171.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

BCE) the serpent was benevolent, a symbol of life and fertility

in both plants and animals (including humans), protective of
the family and of domestic livestock. “Snakes are guardians of
the springs of life and immortality,” wrote Spanish scholar
J.E. Cirlot, “and also of those superior riches of the spirit that
are symbolized by hidden treasure.” 159 The poisonous snake
in Old European lore was, according to Gimbutas, “an
epiphany of the Goddess of Death”. 160 Indo-European
mythology (evolving between 4000 and 2500 BCE) contrasted
this view, regarding the snake as a symbol of evil, an
epiphany of the God of Death, and an adversary of the
Thunder God. This was the point in time that the Goddess
religion began to give way to that of the male dominated
religion of the Sky God.
Gimbutas goes on to say, “it is not the body of the snake
that was sacred, but the energy exuded by this spiraling or
coiling creature which transcends its boundaries and
influences the surrounding world.” 161
In the Classic world the serpent was the creator of the
universe, it laid the Cosmic Egg and split it asunder to form
the heavens and the earth. As Hans Leisgang wrote, “This
serpent, which coiled round the heavens, biting its tail, was
the cause of solar and lunar eclipses. In the Hellenistic
cosmology, this serpent is assigned to the ninth, starless
spheres of the planets and the zodiac. This sphere goes round
the heavens and the earth and also under the earth, and
governs the winds.” 162 “In Christian theology,” Leisegang

159 nd
Cirlot. J. E. A Dictionary of Symbols, 2 Edition. New York: Barnes &
Noble Books 1995, 286.
160
Gimbutas, op cit, 400.
161
Gimbutas, Marija. The Language of the Goddess. San Francisco:
HarperSanFrancisco 1991, 121.
162
Leisegang, Hans. “The Mystery of the Serpent” in Pagan and Christian
Mysteries: Papers from the Eranos Yearbook, edited by Joseph Campbell.

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 Gary R. Varner

continues, “this serpent became the prince of the world, the

adversary of the transcendental God, the dragon of the outer
darkness, who has barred off this world from above, so that it
can be redeemed only by being annihilated.” 163
This creator-serpent, the Great Serpent, was symbolic of
the sun, not evil but “the good spirit of light” as Leisegang so
aptly describes it. It is this Great Serpent that is cause and
ruler of the four seasons, the four winds and the four quarters
of the cosmos.
A white snake, like the salmon, was a source for wisdom
and magical power and was associated with the
goddess/Saint Brigit, also known in England and Scotland as
Bride. On February 1st, Bride’s Day the serpent woke for its
winter hibernation to bring in the change in seasons from
winter to spring. Mackinzie relates an old Gaelic charm:

“To-day is the day of Bride,

The serpent shall come from his hole;
I will not molest the serpent
And the serpent will not molest me.”164

The many serpent-like symbols found in ancient rock art

the world over testify to the importance of this animal in the
human mind. The zigzag and meandering lines symbolic of
water, the mysterious spirals found the world over which
mimic the coiled serpent all speak of the underlying mystery
that humans have felt towards the snake and the snakes place
in the mythos of the Otherworld and death. However, not

New York: The Bollingen Foundation/Harper & Row Publishers 1955, 26-
27.
163
Ibid, 27.
164
Mackenzie, Donald A. Ancient Man in Britain. London: Senate 1996,
188-189. A reprint of the 1922 edition published by Blackie & Son Limited,
London.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

only death, for many the snake represented life and the
renewal of life. The snake was the feared guardian of life and
the forces of life as well as the messenger to and from the
world of the dead. Snakes were believed to be symbolic of the
departed soul to the ancient Greeks. It was also valued as a
guardian of temples, treasuries and oracles, its eyesight
believed to be especially keen to allow it to effectively guard
against intrusion. Joseph Campbell noted that “in India…the
‘serpent kings’ guard both the waters of immortality and the
treasures of the earth.” 165
While many male anthropologists and archaeologists
argue that the serpent is symbolic of fertility (as a phallic
symbol), art historian Merlin Stone offers another view:
“[The serpent] appears to have been primarily revered as a
female in the Near and Middle East and generally linked to
wisdom and prophetic counsel rather than fertility and
growth as is so often suggested.”166
This statement is not entirely true. The god Ningišzida
(“Lord of the Good Tree”) was an important male deity in
Mesopotamia. As an underworld god, he was guardian over
demons and at least one Sumerian ruler regarded Ningišzida
as his personal protector. While primarily a god of the
underworld there is one myth (“Adapa at the gate of heaven”)
that has Ningišzida as one of the guardians at the gates of
heaven. 167 “The symbol and beast of Ningišzida,” according
to Black and Green, “was the horned snake…” 168

165
Campbell, Joseph. Creative Mythology: The Masks of God Volume IV.
London: Secker & Warburg 1968, 120.
166
Stone, Merlin. When God Was A Woman. New York: Barnes & Noble
Books 1993, 199.
167
Black, Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of
Ancient Mesopotamia. Austin: University of Texas Press 2000, 139.
168
Ibid 140.

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 Gary R. Varner

The snake and the serpent have been depicted as

goddesses and gods, as holy beings to be worshipped, as
dragons, as devils and as symbols of lust, greed and sin—and
of death. In mythic lore, Zeus appears in snake form to mate
with Persephone who thereafter gives birth to Dionysos, “the
god who in Crete, it so happens, was synonymous with
Zeus.”169 The serpent is “the emblem of all self-creative
divinities and represents the generative power of the earth. It
is solar, chthonic, sexual, funerary and the manifestation of
force at any level, a source of all potentialities both material
and spiritual,” writes J.C. Cooper, “and closely associated
with the concepts of both life and death.” 170
The Giants of classic Greek and Roman mythology
reportedly had snake-like legs as did the founder of Athens,
Cecrops. Cecrops, a semi-serpent, was considered an
innovator of his day, abolishing blood sacrifice, introducing
basic laws of marriage, politics and property and encouraging
the worship of Zeus and Athena. 171 Again, a duality exists
between these two creatures with snake-like characteristics.
The Giants were enemies of Zeus and were defeated by
Hercules on behalf of the gods of Olympus and Cecrops was a
champion for the causes of Zeus.
Recent excavations in the Kenar Sandal area in Jiroft, Iran
have uncovered additional serpent-legged figures. According
to the Persian Journal,172 the reliefs depicting two men with

169
Baring, Anne and Jules Cashford. The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution
of an Image. London: Arkana/Penguin Books 1991, 317.
170
Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols.
London : Thames and Hudson 1978, 147.
171
Cotterell, Arthur. The Encyclopedia of Mythology: Classical, Celtic,
Greek. London: Hermes House 2005, 84.
172
“New Stone Reliefs Discovered in Jiroft, Iran” in Persian Journal,
February 2, 2006.
http://www.iranian.ws/iran_news/publish/article_12873.shtml

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

“snake tails instead of legs” were carved on soapstone on a

“flat stone cliff.” At one time almost 5,000 years ago, Kenar
Sandal was an important trade city for the Persian Gulf
region, linking what is now present day Afghanistan,
Pakistan, Iran and Tajikistan. The serpent-men reliefs indicate
that this image has an ancient origin most likely outside the
classic Greco-Roman world.

Zeus conquers the Serpent-legged Titans

In support of the view that this mythic creature originated

in the non-Classic World are the serpent-men of the Indian
Underworld, the “demonic Cobras” called the Nagas.
According to Mackenzie “they are of human form to the
waist, the rest of their bodies being like those of serpents.” 173
The Nagas were demi-gods to the Indian serpent worshippers
and were, according to Mackenzie, “occasionally ‘the friends

173
Mackenzie, Donald A. India Myths & Legends. London: Studio Editions
1993, 65.

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of man’, and to those they favoured they gave draughts of

their nectar, which endowed them with great strength.” 174

Abrasax Gem Amulet

An interesting image similar to the serpent-legged Titans

and the Nagas is that carved upon the strange “Abrasax
gems”, magical amulets introduced in the second century that
mingled early Christian and Pagan themes. Originating in
Alexandria, the images most certainly were inspired by the
mystic powers of the man-serpent as represented by the
Titans.
It is interesting to note that Athens has even more
connections to serpent-men in the form of Erichthonius—the
first king of Athens. According to legend, this serpent being
was created from the semen of the smith-god Hephaistos.
Hephaistos had attempted to rape Athena but she
miraculously disappeared just in time. His semen, as it fell to
the earth, grew into the serpent Erichthonius. Ely offers an

174
Ibid., 66.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

alternative view: “In the days of Pausanias, Hephaistos and

Gaia were said to be the parents of Erichthonius.” This
version evidently arose from the more conservative elements
of Greek society that could not abide with the original
creation of the serpent-being from an act of rape. 175
In Mesoamerican traditions, the Plumed Serpent,
Quetzalcoatl, called “the wise instructor,” brings culture and
knowledge to the people and “takes charge or interferes in
creative activities” of the world. 176 It is Quetzalcoatl who
discovers corn and provides it for humankind’s nourishment.
While historical lore indicates that Quetzalcoatl was a man (in
fact, a tall, white man with a beard), he is symbolically
represented as a serpent on many temple complexes, the most
notable being at Chichen-Itza in Yucatan. During certain times
of the year the steps the lead up the pyramid temple cast an
undulating shadow that connects with the carved stone
serpent heads—bringing to life the Plumed Serpent.
The serpent also represents chaos, corruption and
darkness along with knowledge and spirit. It is this
knowledge that the Bible uses to evict Adam and Eve from
paradise and what brings the snake so much hatred. It is the
symbolism of the snake, that is so closely associated with the
Earth and the Earth’s creative powers that the followers of the
Sky God wished to destroy. According to Andrews, the snake
“threatened the world order established by the sky gods and
continually tried to return the world to its original state of
chaos.”177

175
Ely, Talfourd. The Gods of Greece and Rome. Mineola: Dover
Publications Inc. 2003, 161. A reprint of the 1891 edition published by G.P.
Putnam’s Sons, New York.
176
Bierhorst, John. The Mythology of Mexico and Central America. New
York: William Morrow and Company 1990, 145.
177
Andrews, Tamra. A Dictionary of Nature Myths. Oxford: Oxford
University Press 1998, 176.

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The serpent, in fact, threatened the order and control of the

Judeo-Christian religion. As Markale suggests, Eve disobeyed
the patriarchal priests and listened to the serpent, the serpent
being representative of the Mother Goddess. “This is a case,
pure and simple, of a return to the mother-goddess cult, a true
‘apostasy’ as it were, and thus a very grave sin against the
patriarchal type of religion that Yahweh represents.”178
Markale and others, most notably the French Catholic priest
André de Smet, believe that the original sin was the first battle
in the long struggle between the patriarchal religion of Yahew
and the matriarchal religion of the Mother Goddess. The
“curse against the serpent,” Markale writes, “…is against the
mother goddess herself.” 179
The Gnostic writers viewed the serpent in a different
manner. The Kabbalist Joseph Gikatila wrote in his book
Mystery of the Serpent:
“Know and believe that the Serpent, at the beginning of
creation, was indispensable to the order of the world, so long
as he kept his place; and he was a great servent…and he was
needed for the ordering of all the chariots, each in its place…It
is he who moves the spheres and turns them from East to the
West and from North to the South. Without him there would
have been neither seed nor germination, nor will to produce
any created thing.”180
The Ophites, a successor group of the original Gnostics,
venerated the snake. To the Ophites the serpent was made by
God to be “the cause of Gnosis for mankind…It was the
serpent…who taught man and woman the complete
knowledge of the mysteries on high” which resulted in the

178
Markale, op cit, 6.
179
Ibid, 7.
180
As quoted by Jean Doresse, The Secret Books of the Egyptian
Gnostics. New York: MJF Books 1986, 292-293.

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serpent being “cast down from the heavens.” 181 To this group
the snake was the “living symbol of the celestial image that
they worshipped.”182 According to Doresse, the Ophites kept
and fed serpents in special baskets and conducted their
meetings near the serpent’s burrows. Doresse wrote, “They
arranged loaves of bread upon a table, and then, by means of
incantations, they allured the snake until it came coiling its
way among these offerings; and only then, did they partake of
the bread, each one kissing the muzzle of the reptile they had
charmed. This, they claimed, was the perfect sacrifice, the true
Eucharist.”183 To the Gnostic Christians, serpent worship was
associated with the “restoration of Paradise, and release
thereby from the bondages of time.” 184
A similar ritual has taken place each August 15th on the
Greek island of Kefalonia. On this day, also known as the
feast of the Falling Asleep of the Virgin, in the small village of
Markopoulo, small snakes with a small cross-like mark on
their heads slither through a churchyard, emerging near the
bell tower and make their way toward the church. According
to witnesses, the snakes enter the church building through
bell rope holes in the wall; crawl over the furniture and even
over the worshippers as they sit in the pews. The snakes
continue onward to the bishop’s throne and, as a group, to the
icon of the Virgin.
After the service, the serpents disappear and not seen
again until the same evening a year later. The people of
Markopoulo look forward to the appearance of these
creatures as a sign of good luck and bountiful harvests. Only
two years in recent memory did not see the return of the

181
Ibid, 44.
182
Ibid, 45.
183
Ibid, 44.
184
Campbell, op cit. 151.

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snakes. One was in 1940. The next year Greece was invaded
by the Axis Forces. The year following their non-appearance
in 1953 saw the area devastated by a catastrophic earthquake.
Normally avoiding human contact during their visits to
the church the snakes appear quite tame and allow the
residents to handle them at will. According to local lore, the
annual serpent appearance dates to 1705 when Barbarossa
pirates attacked the village. The nuns who resided in the
village convent prayed to the Virgin to transform them into
snakes to avoid being captured by the pirates, or worse. When
the pirates finally gained access to the convent, they were
shocked to see the floors, walls and icons writhing with
snakes. The snakes have returned each year except for the two
previously mentioned.
The serpent, as a representative of the mother goddess, is
known from the serpent priestesses of Crete and various other
mother goddess locations from the Neolithic. The shrine at
Gournia, Crete yielded three figures of the mother goddess.
One that shows the mother goddess with a serpent curled
around her waist and over one shoulder.185 The Greek mother
goddess Ge or Gaia is often associated with the “earth snake.”
Twenty-one figurines of serpent goddesses have been
found at Poduri, Romania dating from 4800 to 4600 BCE
indicating that this goddess was not only an ancient one but
commonly worshiped throughout Europe and the Middle
East. Archaeologist Marija Gimbutas wrote “Their lack of
arms, their snake-shaped heads, and the snakes coiling over
their abdomens suggest that they represent the Snake

185
Mackenzie, Donald A. Myths and Legends Crete & Pre-Hellenic.
London: Senate 1995, 261. A reprint of the 1917 edition published as
Crete & Pre-Hellenic Europe by The Gresham Publishing Company,
London.

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Goddess and her attendants, only one of them has an arm

raised to her face, a gesture of power.” 186
“Undulating serpents or dragons signify cosmic rhythm,
or the power of the waters.” 187 The serpent has been
associated with water since time began. They appear in
Native American rock art throughout the continent symbolic
of messengers of the otherworld that traverse through
streams, rivers and time through the cracks in stone. It is by
no accident that the Plumed Serpent of Mesoamerica is closely
associated with the Cosmic Waters or that the Serpent Mound
in the Ohio Valley is located near a flowing river. It is also not
an accident that accounts of sea serpents are rampant in the
world’s maritime lore. In the Southwest, snakes were pecked
or painted onto rock surfaces designating good or bad water
sources. The snake was believed by Native Americans, as well
as to the people of Old Europe and the ancient Near East, to
bring rain when it is needed. Both the Hopi and Shasta
Indians carried live snakes in their mouths for ritual dances
used in rainmaking ceremonies188 and the Cheyenne also
danced with poisonous snakes in their “crazy dances”. “Crazy
dances” were performed to aid in the cure of a sick child, to
ensure victory in war or to obtain other blessings for the
tribe.189
Snakes have also contributed to weather folklore around
the world associated with rain. Nineteenth century folklorist
Richard Inwards noted, “the chief characteristic of the
serpents throughout the East in all ages seems to have been
their power over the wind and rain, which they gave or

186
Gimbutas, op cit, 343.
187
Cooper, op cit, 148.
188
Kasner, Leone Letson. Spirit Symbols in Native American Art.
Philomath: Ayers Mountain Press 1992, 113.
189
Mooney, James. The Ghost-Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of
1890. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press 1965, 273.

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 Gary R. Varner

withheld, according to their good or ill will towards man.”190

It was also possible to induce rain, according to Inwards, by
hanging a dead snake on a tree. 191
Mesoamerican traditions “have been recorded,” writes
anthropologist Robert Rands, “which directly connect the
serpent with surface water, rain, and lightning. …a few stray
facts regarding the relationship of snakes to the
anthropomorphic rain deities of the Maya and Mexicans may
be noted. In the Maya codices, the serpent…and water are
frequently shown together…As giant celestial snakes or as
partly anthropomorphized serpents, the Chicchans are rain
and thunder deities of the present-day Chorti. …In modern
Zoque belief, snakes serve as the whips of the thunderbolts.”
192

The snake with its fluid motions is a natural symbol of

flowing water. Native Americans and others saw this
symbolism in the meandering streams and rivers that flow
through their lands. They also saw the annual shedding of its
skin as a renewal of life and of fertility, a renewal of the
fertility that water also provides.
“The serpent is the foundation of the universe,” writes
Indian artist Jyoti Sahi. “Coiled around the naval of the
cosmos, it appears to be the dynamic centre of time and space.
The serpent seems always to be moving and yet always still,
like the oceans whose waves seem in perpetual turmoil and
unrest, but whose boundaries remain fixed, and whose depths
are eternal.” 193

190
Inwards, Richard. Weather Lore. London: Elliot Stock 1893.
191
Ibid.
192
Rands, Robert L. “Some Manifestations of Water in Mesoamerican Art,”
Anthropological Papers, No. 48, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin
157. Washington: Smithsonian Institution 1955, 361, pgs 265-393.
193
Sahi, Jyoti. The Child and the Serpent: Reflections on Popular Indian
Symbols. London: Arkana/Penguin Books 1980, 161.

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In ancient Indian mythology, the serpent becomes the

victim of mankind, “…in order to overcome the
wilderness…and make it orderly and cultivated…[man] had
to injure the serpent…” 194 Sahi says that this injury to the
serpent is a “sin” and that the story really “represents the
overthrowing of pre-Aryan serpent worship.” 195
In the ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur, the snake god
Irhan was worshipped. To these people Irhan was
representative of the Euphrates River. The mildly poisonous
horned vipers of the Middle East gradually assumed the
dragon form that we still recognize today.
A snake-dragon called mušhuššu, or “furious snake” was
worshipped in Babylon at least during the reign of
Nebuchadnezzar II (604 to 562 BCE). This creature with the
body and neck of a serpent, lion’s forelegs and a bird’s
hindlegs, was originally an attendant of the city god Ninazu
of Ešnunna. The snake-dragon was transferred as an
attendant of Ninazu to several other national gods through
the years, surviving as a protective pendant through the
Hellenistic Period. 196
The serpent was present in the liturgy and symbolism of
the Mithraic religion as well. Mithraism almost dominated
Christianity during the 2nd and 3rd centuries and many
Christian symbols are derived from this ancient religion. The
snake appears often in paintings and carvings of Mithras with
the serpent presented as a companion to the god. Some depict
the serpent seeking the flowing sacrificial blood of the bull
that was slain in Mithraic baptisms. This, according to writer

194
Ibid, 165.
195
Ibid, 166.
196
Jeremy and Anthony Green. Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient
Mesopotamia. Austin: University of Texas Press 2000, 166.

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D. Jason Cooper, “seems to indicate the snake is seeking

salvation.”197

Mithras and his salvation seeking serpent

Snakes are also associated with healing. The caduceus, the

staff with two intertwined serpents, is found not only in the
healing temples of Greece, but also in Native American,
Mesoamerican and Hindu symbolism. The snake with its
annual shedding of its skin was a logical symbol for life,
renewal and protection. In Celtic lands as well the snake was,
like the sacred well, associated with healing. To the Sumerians
the caduceus was the symbol of life. The caduceus was also an
important symbol to some Gnostic Christians who, according
to Barbara Walker, “worshipped the serpent hung on a
cross…or Tree of Life, calling it Christ the Savior, also a title of
Hermes the Wise Serpent represented by his own holy

197
Cooper, D. Jason. Mithras: Mysteries and Initiation Rediscovered. York
Beach: Samuel Weiser, Inc. 1996, 74.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

caduceus…” 198 According to Wallis Budge, “the symbol of

[the Bablyonian god of healing, Ningishzida] was a staff
round which a double-sexed, two-headed serpent called
Sachan was coiled, and a form of this is the recognized mark
of the craft of the physician at the present day.” 199 The Greek
god of healing, Aesculapius was also depicted in a statue at
Epidaurus “holding a staff in one hand, while his other hand
rested on the head of a snake…”200
In Africa the spirits of the waters are, simply said, snakes.
As they are symbolic of healing, they are also believed to
“call” to healers to whom they give wisdom and
knowledge.201 According to anthropologist Penny Bernard,
“the water spirits have been attributed a pivotal role in the
calling, initiation and final induction of certain diviners in the
Eastern Cape. Hence the implication that they are the key to
certain forms of ‘sacred’ knowledge.” 202
Tornadoes and waterspouts were believed to be the
physical appearance of the African serpent god Inkanyamba.
Inkanyamba was believed to be an enormous serpent that
twisted and writhed to and fro as it reached from the earth to
the sky. Tamra Andrews noted that the Zulu “believed that he
grew larger and larger as he rose out of his pool and then
grew smaller and smaller when he retreated back into it.” 203
In other African cultures, the snake is considered the spirit
of a departed human. Referred to as the ‘living-dead’ the

198
Walker, Barbara G. The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets.
Edison: Castle Books 1996, 131.
199
Budge, E.A. Wallis. Babylonian Life and History. New York: Barnes &
Noble Books 2005, 167.
200
Ibid.
201
Bernard, Penny. “Mermaids, Snakes and the Spirits of the Water in
Southern Africa: Implications for River Health”, op cit., 3.
202
Ibid., 4.
203
Andrews, op cit, 96.

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snake is prohibited from being killed, as it is representative of

the soul of a relative or friend that is visiting the land of the
living. 204
According to Sumatran and Norse mythology, the vast
Cosmic Snake that encircles the world in the cosmic river will
eventually destroy it. However from the destruction comes a
new world, a renewal of life. The old gods die with the
Cosmic Serpent but “Earth will rise again from the waves,
fertile, green, and fair as never before, cleansed of all its
sufferings and evil.”205
Perhaps in no other culture than Egypt was the serpent-
god so prevalent. The serpent represented both male and
female deities, both benign and malevolent. The snake-god
Apophis was believed to have existed before time in the
primeval chaos of pre-creation. Apophis was the enemy of the
sun god and attacked the heavenly ship of Ra as it sojourned
across the heavens. The daily battle involved other gods,
including Seth the enemy of Osiris, in a back and forth
struggle of power between light and dark and balance and
chaos. Each day Apophis was defeated, cut into pieces that
would revive and rejoin the struggle the next day. In his own
way Apophis was a symbol of renewal—renewal brought
about by the eternal conflict of the powers of the universe.
Apophis was associated with natural disaster, storms,
earthquakes and unnatural darkness that foretold the return
of chaos. As archaeologist Richard Wilkinson wrote,
“Although the god was neither worshipped in a formal cult
nor incorporated into popular veneration, Apophis entered

204
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. Garden City: Anchor
Books 1970, 216.
205
Davidson, H. R. Ellis. Gods and Myths of the Viking Age. New York:
Bell Publishing Company 1981, 38.

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both spheres of religion as a god or demon to be protected

against.” 206
The Egyptians worshiped ten other snake gods. These
include Mehen who helped protect Ra from the daily attacks
of Apophis, Denwen who was very much like a dragon and
had the ability to cause a fiery conflagration, Kebehwet who
was a “celestial serpent,” Meretseger called the “goddess of
the pyramidal peak” and who presided over the necropolis at
Thebes. Meretseger became an important deity of the
workmen who constructed the burial temples and chambers
and many representations of this serpent goddess have been
found in workmen’s homes and shops in the area.
Other serpent gods of the Egyptians include Nehebu-Kau,
“he who harnesses the spirits.” 207 Nehebu-Kau was regarded
as a helpful deity and was the son of the scorpion goddess
Serket. He was referred to in hieroglyph as the “great serpent,
multitudinous of coils” and was sometimes depicted as a man
with a serpent’s head. Other beneficent serpent gods include
Renenutet, a guardian of the king and goddess of the harvest
and fertility. She was also known as a divine nurse. The cobra
goddess Wadjet (“the green one”) was a goddess of the Nile
Delta and was associated with the world of the living rather
than the world of the dead. Wadjet was another protector of
the king and had the ability to spit flames as a defensive
measure. The serpent on the pharaoh’s crown was that of
Wadjet. Like Renenutet, Wadjet was also a nurse to the god
Hathor while he was yet a divine infant. Another fiery serpent
is Wepset. Wepset, meaning “she who burns,” guarded the
king, other gods and the Eye of Ra. It was written in ancient
texts that the Egyptian island of Biga was her cult center.

206
Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient
Egypt. New York: Thames & Hudson 2003, 223.
207
Ibid, 224.

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The last two Egyptian serpent deities are Weret-Hekau

and Yam. “Great of magic” was the name for Weret-Hekau
and she may be a composite of other serpent goddesses in that
she was also a nursing serpent of the kings and her symbol is
associated with the other uraeus goddesses. Yam was actually
a Semitic god, a “tyrannical, monstrous deity of the sea”,
according to Wilkinson.208 Sometimes depicted as a seven-
headed sea monster, Yam was a minor Egyptian god that may
have been feared mostly by sailors and fishermen than by
regular people of the cities. Yam was defeated in various
myths by the goddess Astarte, and the Canaanite god Baal
and the Egyptian god Seth.
Serapis, a deity of both the Greeks and Egyptians,
associated with Osiris, Hermes, and Hades, was introduced in
the 3rd century BCE as a state god for both Greeks and
Egyptians. Believed by the Egyptians to be a human
manifestation of Apis, a sacred bull that symbolized Osiris, he
was represented as a god of fertility and medicine and the
ruler of the dead to the Greeks. Serapis was also depicted as a
Sun god and occasionally with a serpent wrapped around his
body—most likely in connection with fertility.
That serpents were, and still are an extremely important
aspect of religious traditions around the world cannot be
doubted when even Ireland, a land totally devoid of snakes, is
so obsessed with the image of the serpent. “Is it not a singular
circumstance,” said 19th century scholar Marcus Keane, “that
in Ireland where no living serpent exists, such numerous
legends of serpents should abound, and that figures of
serpents should be so profusely used to ornament Irish
sculptures?” 209 Celtic scholar James Bonwick himself noted

208
Ibid, 228.
209
as quoted by James Bonwick in Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions.
New York: Barnes & Noble Books 1986, 173. A reprint of the 1894 edition.

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when he visited Cashel, Ireland in the 1880s that he saw “a

remarkable stone, bearing a nearly defaced sculpture of a
female—head and bust—but whose legs were snakes.” 210 It
was Bonwick’s belief that this ancient stone carving depicted
an “object of former worship.” The “popularity” of the
serpent image in Ireland caused Bonwick to write, “That one
of the ancient military symbols of Ireland should be a serpent,
need not occasion surprise in us. The Druidical serpent of
Ireland is perceived in the Tara brooch, popularized to the
present day. Irish crosses, so to speak, were alive with
serpents.” 211
Serpents were valued in Slavic countries up through the
19 century as good-luck symbols. Snakes were also valued as
th

protective charms in Sweden where they were buried under

the foundations of houses and other structures. Russian
peasants kept them as pets and, as in Poland; snakes were
given food and drink in exchange for their protective charms.
Snakes were associated with an ancient god of thunder in
Slavic countries. The thunder god was “responsible for
creating mountains and for hurling down bolts of lightning
also launched storms of life-giving rain into the earth beneath
him.” 212 Kerrigan writes “Awesome as his strength was,
pagan belief did not characterize it as being wielded
destructively: only with the coming of Christianity did his
powers become identified with those of evil.” 213
In some Native American lore, the snake was usually
considered an animal to be avoided—one of the “bad
animals” that was prohibited from journeying to the spirit

210
Ibid 174.
211
Ibid 168.
212
Kerrigan, Michael. “A Fierce Menagerie” in Forests of the Vampire:
Slavic Myth. New York: Barnes & Noble 2003, 124.
213
Ibid.

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world after death. 214 To the Lakota the spirit of the snake
“presided over the ability to do things slyly, to go about
unknown and unseen, and of lying.”215
Cherokee shamans prohibited the killing of snakes and the
Apache forbid the killing of any snake by their own people
but would not hesitate to ask strangers to kill them.216 The
Cherokee generic name for the snake is inădû’ and they are
believed to be supernatural, having close associations with
rain and the thunder gods, as well as having a certain
influence over other plants and animals. “The feeling toward
snakes,” wrote James Mooney, “is one of mingled fear and
reverence, and every precaution is taken to avoid killing or
offending one…”217 Certain shamans were able to kill
rattlesnakes for use in rituals or for medicinal uses. The head
was always cut off and buried an arms length deep in the
earth. If this was not done, the snake would cause the rain to
fall until the streams and rivers overflowed their banks. 218
Specific snake lore of the Cherokee indicates that some
serpents were not only associated with rain, thunder and the
supernatural but also were very unlucky. Mooney reported
that a large serpent was once said to reside on the north bank
of the Little Tennessee and the main Tennessee rivers in
Loudon county, Tennessee and it was considered an evil
omen simply to see it. “On one occasion,” he wrote, “a man

214
Walker, James R. Lakota Belief and Ritual. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press 1991, 71.
215
Ibid, 122.
216
Bourke, John G. Apache Medicine-Men. New York: Dover Publications,
Inc. 1993, 20. A reprint of the1892 edition of The Medicine-Men of the
Apache published in the Ninth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology
to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1887-88, Washington, pgs
443-603.
217
Mooney, James. Myths of the Cherokee. New York: Dover Publications
1995, 294.
218
Ibid, 296.

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crossing the river…saw the snake in the water and soon

afterward lost one of his children.” 219
Illnesses were often thought to be caused by snakes, and
even the act of accidentally touching the discarded skin of a
snake was believed to cause sickness, especially skin ailments
and perhaps even death. 220
The Apache avoided even mentioning the snake but
would sometimes use it as an invective. However, by doing
even this one courted disaster. According to Opler, “If a man
says in anger, ‘I hope a snake bites you,’ he will get sick from
snakes. ..Before this the snakes have not bothered him,
but…it’s bound to make him sick.” 221
When a snake is accidentally encountered on a trail, it is,
according to Opler, “accorded the greatest respect and is
referred to by a relationship term: …”My mother’s father,
don’t bother me! I’m a poor man. Go where I can’t see you.
Keep out of my path.” 222
Cherokee lore tells of strange snake-like creatures that
were obviously more than myth as no tale of heroes or
supernatural interventions are part of the tales. They are
simply told as observations and accounts of frightful
encounters between men and monster. One such beast is
called the Ustû’tlĭ, or “foot snake” which lived on the Cohutta
Mountain. Ethnologist James Mooney recorded stories at the
beginning of the 20th century about this monster and gives us
the following description:
“…it did not glide like other snakes, but had feet at each
end of its body, and moved by strides or jerks, like a great

219
Mooney, op cit 414.
220
Opler, Morris Edward. An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social, and
Religious Institutions of the Chiricahua Indians. Chicago: The University of
Chicago Press 1941, 228.
221
Ibid.
222
Ibid, 227.

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measuring worm. These feet were three-cornered and flat and

could hold on to the ground like suckers. It had no legs, but
would raise itself up on its hind feet, with its snaky head
waving high in the air until it found a good place to take a
fresh hold…It could cross rivers and deep ravines by
throwing its head across and getting a grip with its front feet
and then swinging it body over.” 223
A similar creature called the “bouncer” (Uw’tsûñ’ta) lived
on the Nantahala River in North Carolina. It too moved by
“jerks like a measuring worm.” According to lore this snake
like animal was so immense that it would darken the valleys
between rifts as it moved across them. According to Mooney
the Indians that lived in this area, fearing the snake eventually
deserted the land, “even while still Indian country.” 224
Another monstrous snake, called the Uktena, was said to
be as large as a tree trunk with horns on its head. Anyone
skillful enough to kill the Uktena would obtain a transparent
scale from the snake, said to be similar to a crystal that was
located on its forehead. To have such a scale was a blessing
which would bring excellent hunting, success in love,
rainmaking and life prophecy.
Some Native American people viewed the snake in
another way entirely. It was symbolic of the war-god who
also had powers over crops and vegetation. “As the emblem
of the fertilizing summer showers the lightning serpent was
the god of fruitfulness,” wrote Lewis Spence, “but as the
forerunner of floods and disastrous rains it was feared and
dreaded.” 225

223
Mooney, op cit 1995, 302.
224
Ibid, 304.
225
Spence, Lewis. North American Indians Myths & Legends. London:
Senate 1994, 112. A reprint of North American Indians published 1914 by
George G. Harrap & Company Ltd.

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That prehistoric Indians believed the serpent form

contained supernatural powers can be surmised by the
various serpent mounds constructed in the American
heartland. Three such mounds are those found in Adams
County, Ohio, St. Peter’s River, Iowa and another serpentine
mound which extends in sections over two miles in length,
also in Iowa. The Great Serpent Mound located in Adams
County, Ohio is believed to be the largest serpent effigy in the
world at over one-quarter of a mile in length and depicts a
serpent in the act of uncoiling. 226 This unusual earthwork
shows the serpent with an egg, perhaps the Cosmic Egg, in its
mouth. The culture that created the Great Serpent Mound is
unknown since no manmade artifact has been found in
connection with the site, although Adena artifacts consisting
of copper breastplates, stone points and axes, and grooved
sandstone have been found within 400 feet of the mound.
American folklore has a number of superstitions
surrounding the snake. Among these is the notion that a
snake cannot cross a horsehair rope but that horsehair placed
in a bucket of water will turn into a snake. “A spotted serpent
called the milk snake,” reports folklorist Vance Randolph, “is
said to live by milking cows in the pasture. I know several
persons who swear they have seen these snakes sucking milk
cows, and they say that a cow which has been milked by a
snake is always reluctant to allow a human being to touch her
thereafter.” 227

226
Silverberg, Robert. Mound Builders of Ancient America: The
Archaeology of a Myth. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd. 1968,
249.
227
Randolph, Vance. Ozark Magic and Folklore. New York: Dover
Publications, Inc. 1964, 257. A reprint of the 1947 edition of Ozark
Superstitions published by Columbia University Press.

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South West American Indian petroglyph of the snake with the cosmic
egg.

While the snake was often feared, American “hill folk”

also respected it. According to Randolph, rather than say the
word “snake,” like the Apache, “they say ‘look out for our
friends down that way,’ or ‘there’s a lot of them old things
between here and the river.’” 228
British folklore says, “if you wear a snake skin round your
head, you will never have a headache” and “snakes never die
until the sun goes down, however much they may be cut in
pieces.” 229 However, “if you kill one its mate will come

228
Ibid, 258.
229
Radford, Edwin and Mona A. Encyclopaedia of Superstitions. New
York: Philosophical Library 1949, 221.

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looking for you.” 230Another advises that to stay young—eat

snake!
In 19th century Gaelic folklore the serpent is more evil than
good. Campbell wrote, “A serpent, whenever encountered,
ought to be killed. Otherwise, the encounter will prove an evil
omen.
“The head should be completely smashed…and removed
to a distance from the rest of the body. Unless this is done the
serpent will again come alive. The tail, unless deprived of
animation, will join the body, and the head becomes a beithir,
the largest and most deadly kind of serpent.” 231
In other cultures, like many Native American ones, there is
a prohibition against killing snakes. Frazer wrote “In Madras
it is considered a great sin to kill a cobra. When this has
happened, the people generally burn the body of the serpent,
just as they burn the bodies of human beings. The murderer
deems himself polluted for three days.”232 In other areas of the
world, snakes were annually sacrificed in large numbers by
burning. This occurred at Luchon in the Pyrenees on
Midsummer Eve at least into the early 20th century.
Considered a Pagan survival, the ritual was led by the local
clergy. Frazer describes the event:
“At an appointed hour—about 8 PM—a grand procession,
composed of the clergy, followed by young men and maidens
in holiday attire, pour forth from the town chanting hymns,
and take up their position [around a wicker-work column
raised 60 feet in height]. …bonfires are lit, with beautiful
effect, in the surrounding hills. As many living serpents as
230
Simpson, Jacqueline and Steve Roud. Oxford Dictionary of English
Folklore. Oxford: Oxford University Press 2000, 2.
231
Campbell, John Gregorson. The Gaelic Otherworld, edited by Ronald
Black. Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited 2005, 121.
232
Frazer, Sir James. The Golden Bough: A study in magic and religion.
Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions 1993, 222.

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 Gary R. Varner

could be collected are now thrown into the column, which is

set on fire at the base by means of torches, armed with which
about fifty boys and men dance around with frantic gestures.
The serpents…wriggle their way to the top…until finally
obliged to drop, their struggles for life giving rise to
enthusiastic delight among the surrounding spectators.” 233
Serpents have been mercilessly hunted and killed by many
cultures the world over but it is possible, according to Jyoti
Sahi, that “all religions which have evolved the concept of a
really personal god…have emerged out of a tradition in
which serpents have been extremely important symbols of the
supernatural.” 234
Snakes with horns? They are common in Celtic crafts and
mythology and represent protection against all forms of
catastrophe—sickness, war and all of the horrors of death.
According to Miranda Green, approximately fifteen examples
of horned serpents can be found in Gaul while only a handful
more are seen throughout the British Isles. 235
The ram horned serpent almost always appears as a
companion to Celtic deities such as Cernunnos, who himself
is stag-horned. This monstrous snake appears on the
Gundestrup Cauldron on one panel with Cernunnos and on
another at the head of a military march. Miranda Green noted
that the ram horned snake appears on a carving at Haute
Marne accompanying a goddess who feeds the snake from a
basket on her knee and at Loire on a wooden sculpture with a
possible Cernunnos figure. The serpent slides down the god’s
arm with its head in a basket. “The repeated prosperity-
symbolism,” Green writes “shown in reliefs is significant: a

233
Ibid 655-656.
234
Sahi, op cit 166.
235
Green, Miranda. The Gods of the Celts. Gloucester: Alan Sutton 1986,
192.

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bronze from…Seine et Loire combines several Celtic images in

curious intensity; a three-headed god sits cross-
legged…[with] a ram-horned snake entwined round his
body.”236
The horned snake was also an important religious image
in other areas of the world. As noted previously, the
Mesopotamian god Ningišzida was depicted as a horned
snake, appearing on such items as ritual cups and city seals.
Images of horned snakes were commonly used in the
Mesopotamian world as magically protective charms.
In Mexico, Central and South America it is the jaguar
rather than the snake that is important in the indigenous
religious traditions.
Aztec shamans wore the hides, including the snout, hearts,
claws, tails, and fangs, of jaguars and were said to be greatly
feared because of the powers these objects transferred to the
shaman. 237
“In a tropical jungle where every rustle in the
undergrowth, every cracking twig may betray the presence of
a big cat, a belief in jaguar gods or spirits is only natural,”
wrote Walter Krickeberg. 238 The likeness of the jaguar was
often carved into valuable jade, quartz and basalt religious
objects used ceremonially or as offerings.
Large altars and lithic carvings were crafted as
representative of the jaguar body and face, often as gaping
jaws which symbolized both the heavens and the underworld.
Some believe that the jaguar was the totem animal of “the
corpulent people” who were the lower caste while the
“thinner people” who were the ruling class and the builders
236
Ibid.
237
Miller, Mary and Karl Taube. An Illustrated Dictionary of The Gods and
Symbols of Ancient Mexico and the Maya. London: Thames and Hudson
Ltd., 1993, 102.
238
Krickeberg, op cit., 11.

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 Gary R. Varner

of the great monuments valued the serpent. 239 This theory is

unlikely however in regards to thin or fat people but it could
be correct that these particular totem animals were valued by
different classes of people.
Realistic clay figures of jaguars were important ritual
pieces in Mayan culture and attest to the importance of the
animal if their cosmological view.

Reproduction of a Mayan jaguar figure.

239
Ibid., 13.

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V
Native American Use of Amulets

T
he use of amulets and charms, both as physical items
and for invocation and chants, is well known in Native
American tribal culture. As wandering hunters and
gatherers, it was very important for the Native American to
have some communication and influence with deities, spirits
and totems so that the basic necessities of life could be
satisfied. For the most part the Native American shaman was
the keeper of charms and amulets but the individual may also
have possessed certain items to provide luck, protection and
success in hunting and fishing. An example of such an amulet
is shown in the photograph on the next page. In this case, a
bear tooth had been strung on a necklace by a Woodland
Indian several hundred years ago and worn as a symbol not
only of bravery but possibly used to provide protection and
success in the hunt. These items were often thought to
provide a communications link with the gods or the spirits of
animals.
Nineteenth century anthropologist James Mooney
recorded his interview with John Wilson, one of the
participants in the Ghost Dance religion. Wilson possessed an
amulet that Mooney found of interest:
…on his breast, suspended from a cord about his neck,
was a curious amulet consisting of the polished end of a
buffalo horn, surrounded by a circlet of downy red feathers,
within another circle of badger and owl claws. He explained
that this was the source of his prophetic and clairvoyant
inspiration. The buffalo horn was ‘God’s heart,’ the red
feathers contained his own heart, and the circle of claws

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 Gary R. Varner

represented the world. When he prayed for help, his heart

communed with ‘God’s heart,’ and he learned what he
wished to know. 240

The inherent magical properties of unusual items such as

the buffalo horn were believed to offer luck and protection

240
Mooney, James. The Ghost Dance Religion and the Sioux Outbreak of 1890.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1965, 161-162.

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against adversity, trouble with evil, or health issues. Many of

the amulets used by people are natural objects with unnatural shapes
and/or color. The photo of the stone shown below is one such
example.

Others have a more direct link with gods and goddesses.

Figurines, carved from stone or fashioned from clay and most
often female in nature, are found in many archaeological
excavations. Many times they represent ancestors or
goddesses, fertility or some aspect of nature. They also act as
amulets. The photo on the next page shows five figurines
found at the ancient Sinagua Indian site of Tuzigoot in the
Verde Valley of Arizona. These figurines were actually
“planted” in the soil to ensure an abundance of corn and other
crops that were heavily relied on. In this way, these figurines
were prized amulets, important to the very existence of the
Sinaguans. They were used by the Sinagua people prior to
their disappearance from the area around 1400 CE.
Similar figurines were made by the Hohokam people as
well. Archaeologists believe that these figurines, such as the
Hohokam and the Tuzigoot figures, “is related to that of

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 Gary R. Varner

Mexico” and “are usually related, as they are around the

world, to fertility.” 241

Tuzigoot fertility amulets, Arizona.

Unusual natural objects were widely venerated by Native

American and other indigenous people around the world.
“Among the Onas,” wrote John Cooper in his 1916 account of
this South American tribe, “there is a marked tendency to
look upon natural objects as having once been men. “The
Yahgans carried around with them red pebbles when they
traveled inland…and the Onas treasure pieces of stone
shaped naturally something like an arrowhead…” 242
The Apache were fond of wearing amulets carved from
“lightning-riven wood,” generally pine, cedar or fir gathered
in the mountains. “These are shaved very thin and rudely cut

241
Gumerman, George J. and Emil W. Haury. “Prehistory: Hohokam” in
Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 9: Southwest. Washington:
Smithsonian Institution 1979, 79.
242
Cooper, John M. Analytical and Critical Bibliography of the Tribes of Tierra
del Fuego and Adjacent Territory. Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 63.
Washington: Smithsonian Institution 1917, 150.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

in the semblance of the human form,” wrote 19th century

ethnologist John G. Bourke. 243
According to Bourke these wooden figures were attached
to the cradle boards of children or the child wore them
around his neck. These amulets had significant powers, as
Bourke related:

The owner of this inestimable treasure assured me that

he prayed to it at all times when in trouble, that he could
learn from it where his ponies were when stolen and
which was the right direction to travel when lost, and that
when drought had parched his crops this would never fail
to bring rain in abundance to revive and strengthen them.
244

Numerous other amulets were used as well by the

Apache, including many used for the protection of children.
Morris Edward Opler who studied the Chiricahua Apache in
the 1930s noted:
To the amulets and pendants supplied by the shaman the
mother generally adds some of her own. The right paw of the
badger, with grass substituted for the bone, is hung on the
cradle to guard the child from fright. Such protection is
important, for fright lies at the root of a number of serious
illnesses. Humming bird claws and pieces of wildcat skin also
act as cradle charms. 245
The Apache shaman also carried turquoise which Bourke
referred to as “impure malachite.” “A small bead of this
mineral,” he reported, “affixed to a gun or bow made the

243
Bourke, John G. Apache Medicine-Men. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.
1993, 137.
244
Ibid.
245
Opler, Morris Edward. An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social, and
Religious Institutions of the Chirichaua Indians. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press 1941, 12.

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weapon shoot accurately. It had also some relation to the

bringing of rain…It was the Apache medicine-man’s badge of
office…and without it he could not in olden times exercise his
medical functions.” 246
Apache tradition stated that turquoise could only be found
if one traveled to the end of a rainbow after a storm and
searched in the damp earth at that spot. Perhaps the story of
finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow originated in this
Native American tradition.
Bear amulets have been found in North Britain and other
areas and, as they were in North America, have been found in
burials. A small child was found buried near Malton in
Yorkshire with a tiny black bear-amulet 247 showing perhaps
the belief that the bear helped the soul on its way to the
underworld.

Zuni animal totem, 19th century. Photograph courtesy Carnegie Museum

of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

246
Bourke, op cit., 139.
247
Green, Miranda. The Gods of the Celts. Glouchester: Alan Sutton 1986,
184.

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Indian craftsmen in the Southwest were responsible for

many beautiful ritual and amuletic objects, including carvings
of snakes, toads, and birds. Their techniques included acid
etching on shells, pottery, lost wax molds and stone art. One
of the most simple but striking amulet I have seen is the split-
twig animal figurine of a deer found in a cave overlooking
Marble Canyon in Arizona. It was found hidden in a
rockshelter and is believed to have been used for sympathetic
hunting magic.
Among the South and Central American Indians the
jaguar was the power of darkness and the messenger of the
forest spirits. It was also a form taken by shape-shifting
shamans in their quest for union with the gods.

A Southwest Native American vessel probably used by shamans to burn

sage or other incense.

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VI
Charms

O
ther forms of ancient charms and amulets, tools used
to affect a curse, are the small human form figures
commonly referred to today as voodoo dolls.
Originally known as kolossi in Greek, they are not nearly as
common as lead tablets but they are far older. Made of lead,
wax, bronze, clay, mud, and dough, these dolls have been
dated to the 10th century BCE. Actual voodoo dolls have been
found from the Imperial Rome era in a riverbed and a sewer.
It is believed that the use of voodoo dolls in Imperial Rome
began at around the same time curse tablets were being used.
In antiquity, acts of magic, including spell-craft through
incantation, were not considered as any form of opposition to
the established religion. Ancient Rome’s law code, called the
Twelve Tables, only prohibits evil incantations—not beneficial
spell-craft. Scholar Marie-Louis Thomsen wrote, “They were
not regarded as superstitious or forbidden, or laughed at. The
rituals called ‘magical’ were the ordinary way of dealing with
illness and misfortune and whatever disturbed the relations
between man and god. In the eyes of the Mesopotamians they
represented an old and divine knowledge and their
performers were learned men with a high social status.” 248
A sorcerer may yield tremendous power by using his or
her ability to make others ill to the point of death. Such ability
may be used intentionally or unintentionally but will result in
the same end. Anthropologist Beatrice Blyth Whiting, who
studied Paiute sorcery, noted in her 1950 study, “When a
sorcerer is angry, he may unintentionally kill someone in one

248
Thomsen, Marie-Louise. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient
Mesopotamia” in Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan
Societies. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2001, 14.

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of the following ways: he may think bad thoughts about the

individual without being aware of his thoughts; in a fit of
temper he may express aggressive wishes about an individual
without the intention of injuring him; or he may dream bad
dreams about an individual. In the latter case, the victim may
have dreams in which the sorcerer’s power appears.”249
Many individuals appear to have been accused of
witchcraft due to personality defects more than anything else.
One example recorded by Whiting was in the case of a man
named Tom who lived near Fort Bidwell in Oregon in the
1930s. Tom was regarded as “mean”; he supposedly beat his
children for little reason, was said to be “aggressive in
competitive games and was domineering and threatening in
his relationship with other tribal members. Naturally, he was
accused of witchcraft because of his lack of control and
disregard for societal norms. 250
Anyone who exhibited similar characteristics during the
Middle Ages was also regarded as a witch or sorcerer. Such
charges were a way to enforce cultural norms in behavior and
group cooperation.
There are, of course, instances where people have and do
desire to create harm and use many of the typical methods of
witchcraft to achieve their goal—through spell-craft.
Perhaps one of the oldest forms of spell-craft using
incantations is that of “metrical charms”—simple rhymes that
have carried over into contemporary cultures as nursery
rhymes.
The power of language, of particular words and sounds,
has long been valued by cultures which have not invested
their entire experience in obtaining knowledge through the

249
Whiting, Beatrice Blyth. Paiute Sorcery: Viking Fund Publications in
Anthropology Number Fifteen. New York: The Viking Fund 1950, 56.
250
Ibid. 61.

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 Gary R. Varner

written word. While I cannot think of a world without books,

it is, sad to say, the written language which has robbed
modern man of his ability to utilize his mind as once was
done.
Caesar reported that the Druids underwent 20 years of
intense education. A huge number of verses and oral history
was required to be mastered before an initiate could pass the
Druidic training. None of the required training could be
committed to writing. Likewise Australian aborigine societies
continue to educate their young in a similar fashion, as did
Native Americans at one time.
Incantations by verse were perhaps the first form of spell-
craft. Spence reports one such spell used to bind an individual
to a particular task. Called the “nine fulfillments of the fairy
woman” it ran as follows:

To lay thee under spells and crosses

under (pain of being struck by) the nine
cow-fetters of the wildly roaming,
traveler-deluding fairy woman,
So that some sorry little wight more feeble
and misguided than myself
Take thy head, thine ear and thy life’s
career from thee. 251

Another example of a spell called a fath-fifth or fith-fath

which supposedly causes invisibility is, according to Spense:

A magic cloud I put on thee,

From dog, from cat,
From cow, from horse,

251
Spence, Lewis. The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain. Mineola: Dover
Publications, Inc.1999, 62.

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From man, from woman,

From young man, from maiden,
And from little child.
Till I again return. 252

16th century illustration of witches and sorcerers.

The term fith-fath, pronounced “fee-fa” survived in our

nursery rhymes as the giant’s chant “fee-fo-fum” in Jack and
the Beanstalk.
Another example of an incantation is found in
Shakespeare’s Macbeth:

“Double double, toil and trouble…”

Other rhyming incantations were said to be used to

transform a witch into an animal, in this example it was used
to shape-shift into a hare:

252
Ibid., 60.

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 Gary R. Varner

I shall go into a hare,

With sorrow and sigh and mickle care;
And I shall go in the Devil’s name
Ay while I come home again.

As previously noted, the Roman Twelve Tables only

prohibited spells used to harm others, not those used for the
good of society. Fritz Graf, professor of classics at Princeton
University, sums up the intent of the Twelve Tables:
“The Romans evidently believed in the powerful efficacy
of certain vocal rites, the carmina, one could incantare or
excantare. But we do not know whether the negative value of
these terms is peculiar to them or whether it comes from the
context…The same law of the Twelve Tables also uses Carmen
in the neutral sense of verbal composition, according to
Cicero: ‘If any person had sung or composed against another
person a song such as was causing slander or insult to
another…’ As defamatory songs, these carmina also have a
destructive force…” 253
The use of sound to control weather, or at least to cause
rain, was practiced in the Ozarks in the United States up to
the early part of the 20th century. According to Vance
Randolph “Singing late at night is said to ‘fetch on a shower,’
as explained in the little rhyme:

Sing afore you go to bed,

You’ll get up with a wet head.” 254

253
Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press 1997, 42.
254
Randolph, Vance. Ozark Magic and Folklore. New York: Dover
Publications, Inc. 1964, 31.

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Egypt has had a long history of using magical

incantations. Some of the oldest and most complete magical
texts still in existence date to the first century BCE. Magical
names and characters were common but also the simple use
of long magical words repeated over and over.
Religion historian Richard Kieckhefer wrote “papyri
sometimes repeat long magical words, progressively abridged
with each repetition, such as:

ablanathanablanamacharamacharamarach
ablanathanablanamacharamacharamara
ablanathanablanamacharamacharamar

“And so forth, until nothing but the initial ‘A’ remains.” 255
At the same time, Kieckhefer noted, “magicians in the
Mediterranean world were devising other magical words like
‘abracadabra’ and ‘abraxas’ to use on amulets or papyri.” 256
“Abracadabra” is a widespread incantation normally used
today in cartoons or by persons not knowing its significance
that, according to Mare Köiva, “has gradually taken on the
meaning on the unknown and the unintelligible.” 257
“Abraxas” is an interesting word supposedly derived from
“the holy name of God.” The sum of the seven letters equals
365 or the number of days in a year. 258
The use of “magical words” became very popular during
the Middle Ages and have been linked to cabalistic texts.
Many of the written incantations were accompanied with
graphic designs such as circles, squares, crosses, images of the

255
Kieckhefer, op cit, 20.
256
Ibid.
257
Köiva, Mare. “Palindromes and Letter Formulae: Some
Reconsiderations” in Folklore, Vol. 8, December 1998. Published by the
Institute of Estonian Language, Tartu, 21.
258
Ibid., 29.

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sun, etc. These magic words were often arranged in circles or

squares, called palindromes, in which each letter and word
may have specific meanings. During the Middle Ages they
were utilized by the Muslims and cabalists but have been
found in Coptic scrolls as well.
Köiva notes “In the 18ths century at the apogee of the use
of the formula (in Estonia), the incantation was attached to
planks, clay tablets or plates that were put up on the walls of
houses or outhouses. At times of war and extensive fires such
incantations were burnt in order to prevent fire.” 259
This formula was used in Estonia for protection from fire,
rabies, snakebite, swelling, toothache, bleeding and to ensure
successful hunting ventures.
Like the early Greeks and Romans, the early Christians
also tolerated, if not embraced, neutral or beneficial magic.
The difficulty, as Kieckhefer relates, “was in telling whether a
particular practice did or did not involve appeal to
demons.”260 Demonic magic was never tolerated in Christian
or, for that matter, in any other society. “One of the most
common tests,” Kieckhefer continues, “was whether [a
particular practice]…contained unintelligible words that
might in fact be names for demons.” 261
While charms and spell-craft were considered “heathen”
practices (“heathen” a term applied to those living in
uncultivated, wild and forested lands—in other words,
“peasants”) it was not entirely so. James Scott, the Duke of
Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II and pretender
to the British throne, was arrested in the early 1680s and

259
Ibid., 23.
260
Ibid.,182.
261
Ibid.

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banished from the country. 262 On his arrest, a “pocket-book”

of handwritten “spells, charms, and conjurations, songs,
receipts, and prayers” 263 was recovered.
Among the items contained in the book were “magical
receipts and charms in French, written partly in abbreviated
form, accompanied by cabalistic figures. Two of these are to
deliver a person out of prison…” 264
The book also contained incantations to turn gray hair
black, protection against violent death and deliverance from
“pains.”
In many areas of the world, magic and spell-casting is still
a very important function in survival. The Qemant, an ethnic
Pagan-Hebraic group that lived in Ethiopia prior to the civil
war there, practiced “white” magic to counteract the power of
malevolent magic and witchcraft. According to anthropologist
Frederick Gamst who studied the Qemant, “magic is practiced
by all shamans, by certain knowledgeable peasants of any
ethnic group, and by some religious practitioners of the
Christian and Muslim faiths.” 265
Qemant sorcerers, who practice black magic, rely on
incantations and “objects of medicine” for their spells. All of
this may be counteracted by the shaman who practices “white
magic” using primarily the same methods.

262
He returned to England later in an attempt to take the crown by force
st
but was defeated and executed for treason in 1685 by John Churchill, 1
Duke of Marlborough.
263
Madden, Sir F. “The Duke of Monmouth’s Pocket-books” in Notes and
Queries, Vol. IV, No. 88, Saturday, July 5, 1851, 2.
264
Ibid.
265
Gamst, Frederick C. The Qemant: A Pagan-Hebraic Peasantry of
Ethiopia. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Case Studies in Cultural
Anthopology 1969, 54.

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VII
Stones as Amulets and Charms

T
he supernatural powers believed to be inherent in
stones have caused them to be used as charms for
thousands of years. They were worn to protect against
the anger of certain gods, to profit in business transactions, to
keep diseases and evil at bay, to heal and to gather the energy
needed to acquire abundance. It was a common practice in
Great Britain to scrape dust and particles from ancient stones,
including Stonehenge, and mix the dust with water to drink
as a remedy for various illnesses. While we usually think of
amulets and charms as small, portable objects, this is not
always the case. Standing stones weighing several tons have
been utilized as powerful amulets over time.
Charmed stones were used by the mightiest of rulers to
the commonest of the common. Two fourteen-stone chains
have been attributed to Naram-Sin, a famous conqueror and
ruler of the Akkadian Empire, and to the king of Babylon and
lawgiver Hammurabi. These two chains were composed of
lapis lazuli, green obsidian and jasper. 266 While the purpose
of the chains is not known, it is believed that they were
considered to possess powers to enhance the abilities of the
two kings to rule.
The Pima Indians who lived between the Santa Cruz and
San Pablo Rivers, in Arizona, reportedly used stone tablets,
which they had found in ruins left by earlier peoples, in
healing rituals. Frustratingly little information remains to

266
Thomsen, Marie-Louise. “Witchcraft and Magic in Ancient Mesopotamia,” in
Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Biblical and Pagan Societies. Edited by Bengt
Ankarloo and Stuart Clark. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001,
60.

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suggest where these tablets came from or how they were

used. 267 Other stone tablets have been found in many of the
Adena mounds in American Midwest — some of which
supposedly have Roman and Arabic figures or letters similar
to Phoenician characters. Researchers have theorized that the
true purpose of these tablets was to stamp cult designs on
bodies being buried or newly initiated members of the tribe or
for stamping designs on textiles. 268 They also may represent
religious items of an unknown purpose.
The belief in the magical protective powers of stones
continues, among some people, into the present day. The Iraqi
dictator Saddam Hussein, captured by American forces in
December 2003, was reportedly protected by a magical stone.
Iraqi lore says that Hussein once placed the stone on the back
of a cow, fired a shot at the cow, and watched as the bullet
swerved around the animal, leaving it unscathed. 269 While
many Americans scoff at such beliefs, none can dispute the
fact that he survived several attempts by American forces to
kill him with “bunker busters” and suffered only a bump on
his head when captured. It didn’t seem to protect him from
the hangman’s noose, however.
Many odd beliefs have survived into modern times,
despite all society’s effort to introduce science and
rationalism. In Utah, at least through the 1950s, wearing pale
blue stones around the neck was believed to relieve
headaches. Some also believed that these stones could prevent
or stop bleeding. It was a practice in the Ozark Mountains (in
Missouri and Arkansas), at least until the 1920s, to sew small

267
Spier, Leslie. Yuman Tribes of the Gila River. New York: Dover Publications
Inc., 1978, 283 (originally published 1933).
268
Silverberg, Robert. Mound Builders of Ancient America: The Archaeology of a
Myth. Greenwich: New York Graphic Society Ltd., 1968, 249.
269
Hider, James. “Even on the run, Hussein has Iraqis under his ‘spell,’” in The
Christian Science Monitor, August 6, 2003.

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stones into children’s clothes to protect them from common

childhood diseases.
In various locations throughout the world, the “evil eye”
was warded off by taking stones found on river and creek
banks, drilling holes in them, and placing them on strings
around the neck of children. Amber was worn around the
neck in many areas of the world including Spain, Kentucky,
Utah, Illinois, Ohio and the Pacific Southwest as a protection
against heart disease and as an aid in curing such physical
ailments as colds, flu, convulsions, goiter, whooping cough,
teething, lung ailments, sore throat, poisons, eye ailments,
neck swelling and to prevent sexual desire. Necklaces of
chalcedony (a broad class of mineral that includes carnelian,
agate and jasper) were worn around the neck to ward off or
bring recovery from insanity.
The belief that certain stones hold supernatural powers
seems to date back to the Stone Age. A belief in the
transference of diseases or evil to stones, or, through stones to
other persons, is found in ethnological and folklore accounts
worldwide. At one time, it was customary for people living in
the Indonesian Babar Archipelago to strike themselves with
stones and throw them away, in the belief that they could
transfer their fatigue to the stones.
Stones of different types were used universally to combat
illness. Fever was believed to be transferable to agate — place
an agate on the individual’s head and the fever would move
to the stone, and leave the patient relieved. A Scottish
treatment for fever states that the person should hold three
stones from a streambed in his hands and mouth while
quietly lying down. Lewis Spence noted in his book, The
Magic Arts in Celtic Britain, “the number of miraculous stones
existing, or formerly existing, in Scotland and Ireland ‘defies
description.’”

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Infertility has always been one of the most troubling

conditions that can befall a family — there is mystery in its
cause, and certainly a mystery in how it might be overcome.
Stones were often looked to for help. In Burgos, Spain, a
fountain dedicated to Saint Casilda was reported to have the
power to make a woman fertile; and if a stone was thrown
into the waters, a baby boy was assured. If a girl was desired,
then tiles were tossed into the fountain. In Armenia, it is said
that barren women would visit the rocky cleft in the mountain
pass at Varanta. Legends said that if she was to have a child,
the stone would open wide enough to let her pass, but she
would not get through if she was not going to have a baby. 270
Near the Scottish village of Ratho, seven miles from
Edinburgh, women used the Witch’s Stone, a large sloping
boulder (now destroyed) with ancient marks cut into it, to
encourage fertility; they would slide down the stone, in the
belief that this would assist them in conceiving. A similar
stone used in the same way is located in Kings Park,
Edinburgh. The stones were highly polished by the many
women who had slid down them over the years.
A similar tradition was practiced across the English
Channel, in Brittany, where, according to Michell, “the grand
menhir brisé was not just a possible lunar foresight but an
actual resort, annually on the first of May, for women in
search of offspring, which they hoped to achieve by bare-
arsed slidings along its fragments.” 271
The obelisk of Begig, located southwest of Madînat al-
Fayyûm Egypt, was also popular place of visitation for barren
women. Women wishing children believed that by touching

270
Lalayan, E. “Veranda: Family Customs,” in Ethnographic Review #2 (1897),
186.
271
Michell, John. Megalithomania. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982, 89.

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the obelisk, it would ensure their ability to bear strong and

healthy children.
This practice was also part of California Indian tradition. A
large “fertility stone” in an ancient Maidu village located in
present day Roseville, California has carvings of breasts and a
vulva which the Maidu girls would rub to ensure their
fertility. These massive fertility stones were believed to house
the spirits of ancestors, who would help the girl become
pregnant. In some cultures, these spirits would impregnate
the girl so that the spirit could be reborn once again. Similar
legends occur in Sioux lore, wherein the mother of Stone Boy
(a Lakotah cultural hero said to have been “miraculously
born”) swallows a pebble and becomes pregnant, and in the
Aztec myth of the birth of the god Quetzalcoatl. Interestingly,
folk notions regarding humankind’s origin from stone appear
to be repeated in stories about the origin of the gods,
themselves. According to legend, Chimalma, while she was
sweeping one day, found a piece of jade and swallowed it —
and became pregnant, giving birth to Quetzalcoatl, as a result.
“The Mexicans,” wrote 19th-century US Cavalry officer John
G. Bourke, “were accustomed to say that at one time all men
have been stones, and at last they would all return to stones,”
upon death. 272 Similar beliefs have been recorded in Oceania
where it was said that rocks gave birth to all things in the
world. In Africa, according to John Mbiti, “the Akamba have a
rock in the western central part of their country, at Nzaui,
which has a hole supposed to be the one through which God
brought out the first man and wife.”273

272
Bourke, John G. Apache Medicine-Men. New York: Dover Publications, Inc.,
1993, 141.
273
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy. Garden City: Anchor Books
1970, 121

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Archaeologist Campbell Grant wrote, “in many parts of

the West, isolated boulders are covered with the distinctive
pit-and-groove markings. Such carved boulders are especially
abundant in northern California, and in the Pomo territory
were known as ‘baby rocks’ and were used ceremonially by
women wanting children.” 274 McGowan notes that these
rocks in the Pomo territory were frequented by childless
couples, who would “grind off a bit of the rock in one of the
cupules and make a paste of the dust. A design was drawn on
the abdomen of the woman and some of the paste inserted
into her vagina. Intercourse at this time ensured that she
would become pregnant.” 275
The Kawaiisu Indians of California’s Great Basin area also
frequented a special rock to ensure fertility. The three foot tall
standing stone, known as “one who is a little pregnant.” due
to its shape, was visited by women seeking to bear children.
Kawaiisu women would break off small pieces of the rock and
swallow them, believing that the stone chips would
impregnate them.
A fertility amulet, also known as a pregnancy stone, was
commonly used in Italy. As Walton McDaniel recorded in
1948 in the Journal of the History of Medicine:
[The amulet was] in the shape of a womb…a
limonitic concretion or brown hematite, which, on
being shaken, produces a sound…the prospective
mother wears it nine months, fastened to the right
arm, but then, at the arrival of the first pains of
partition, she transfers it to the right thigh. Women

274
Grant, Campbell. Rock Art of the American Indian. New York: Promontory
Press, 1967, 31.
275
McGowan, Charlotte. Ceremonial Fertility Sites in Southern California: San
Diego Museum of Man Papers No. 14. San Diego: San Diego Museum of Man,
1982, 14.

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hire the use of these stones from a midwife, if they

do not possess one of their own as a family
heirloom. Although these amuletic objects might
seem to be somewhat pagan, grateful mothers do
not hesitate to deposit them as tokens of success, as
ex-votos in a Christian Church. 276
A folktale of the Yupa Indians of Venezuela speaks of a
Yupa woman who “found a stone from which she made a
phallus. By having relations with this stone she finally got
herself with child and bore a daughter.” 277 Women in New
Zealand would visit a boulder at Kawhia, called Uenuku-
tuwhartu. The boulder was credited with having the power to
cure infertility. One side of the boulder was regarded as the
male side and the other the female side; the woman would
clasp one side or the other, depending on the desired gender
of the hoped-for child.
Certain standing stones in Hawaii and Fiji, from six to
eight feet in height, were regarded as having phallic powers
and thus became fertility shrines. Andersen writes that two
such pillars near Puna, Hawaii, had been used in ritual
ceremonies since the earliest occupation of the islands. Those
in Fiji, according to early ethnologists, were regarded as
“consecrated stones” and were periodically given offerings of
food. These were described “as like a round black milestone,
slightly inclined, with a liku tied around the middle. The liku
is a band with a close-set fringe…and its presence accentuates
the phallic character of the stone.” 278
276
McDaniel, Walton Brooks. “The Medical and Magical Significance in Ancient
Medicine of Things Connected with Reproduction and Its Organs,” in Journal of
the History of Medicine, 3 (1948), page 543.
277
Wilbert, Johannes. Yupa Folktales. Los Angeles: Latin American Center,
University of Los Angeles, 1974, 92.
278
Andersen, Johannes C. Myths and Legends of the Polynesians. Rutland:
Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1969, 413.

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In some areas around the world, difficulties in childbirth

were avoided by wearing, or keeping close, stones the color of
the sea, such as beryl. Stones with holes in them were
especially prized and it was believed that suspending one
over a woman in labor would give her a much easier
childbirth and protect mother and infant against evil. In
Roman times, it was believed that a stone used to kill a
powerful animal (or a strong man) also had the power to
make childbirth easier. The stone was thrown over the house
where the woman lay in labor. 279
For those worried about the inability to conceive, one
possible solution was to collect stones from the property of
couples who had many children; bringing such stones to one’s
own household was thought to bring fertility with them. This
belief was still present in 1950s Arkansas. 280 In ancient Egypt,
it was a practice to make scratch marks on stones in the belief
that by doing so, pregnancy would be induced. 281 Other
stones were used in Greece, Albania and Germany to ensure
that the mother would have an abundant supply of milk for
the baby.
Conversely, rock crystal was used by the Apache Indians
attempting to prevent pregnancy. According to ethnologist
Morris Opler, “rock crystal is used as a medicine when a
woman does not want a child. The rock is ground up fine, and
some of the powder is put in a drink. There are prayers and a
ceremony connected with this, but I do not know them.” 282
Bourke notes that a “medicine arrow” worn as an amulet by

279
De Lys, Claudia. A Treasury of American Superstitions. New York: The
Philosophical Library, 1948, 216.
280
Parler, Mary Celestia. Folk Beliefs from Arkansas, Vol 3. Fayetteville:
University of Arkansas, 1962, 9.
281
Leland, Charles G. “Marks on Ancient Monuments” in Folk-Lore, 8 (1897),
page 86.
282
Lalayan. op. cit.., 186.

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Apache medicine-women was broken or ground into fine

powder and given to women during gestation. Whether to aid
the pregnancy or to abort it, he does not say. 283 The medicine
arrow was reportedly taken from the top of a mountain at the
foot of a tree that had been struck by lightning.
Ethnographic evidence indicates that Comanche shamans
used stones at least into the 1970s, if not later, in healing
rituals. Ethnologist David E. Jones wrote that a medicine
woman he had studied “applied the stone peyote drum
‘bosses’ to the patient’s face so that, through her powers, the
positive qualities of these stones — firmness and stability —
could be injected into the patient’s contorted face to heal
him.” 284

Shiva’s Lingam Stones

The Indian god Shiva is represented in sacred stones taken

from the River Narmada, in central-western India. The
Narmada is one of the seven sacred Hindu sites of pilgrimage
in India. Believed to be the most sacred icon of ancient and
modern India, these particular stones, ranging in size from
one inch to as large as six feet, are endlessly tumbled by the
river current, which makes them rounded and polished. Their
striations and coloring are peculiar to the region. Even a
pebble from these stones is believed to be an incarnation of
the God Shiva and is regarded as symbolic of his supreme
creative powers. The stones are often placed in special shrines
dedicated to the Lord Shiva and are symbolic of his fertile
powers. The Shiva Lingams are only accessible during the dry
season and are only harvested from the river by select families

283
Bourke, op. cit., 18-19.
284
Jones, David E. Sanapia: Comanche Medicine Woman. New York: Holt,
Rinehart and Winston Case Studies in Cultural Anthropology, 1972, 96.

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that are trained in recognizing them. The stones symbolize not

only male fertility but also the feminine creative energy. In
Hindu tradition, the lingam is regarded as the shape of the
soul and is associated with the Fifth Chakra. The stones are
not only regarded as energy generators, but also as healers.

An example of Shiva’s Lingam Stone.

The Powers of Holed Stones

It is an ancient and almost universal custom to attribute

special properties to stones that are naturally pierced with
holes. The Radfords noted, “in almost every country of the
world the same superstition prevailed, though there could
have been no collusion of the peoples, and no knowledge the
one of the other of the superstition. It is, again, the instance of
some curious instinct and fear of men of all colours and races

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leading them to one general belief or trust in an unseen

power.” 285
Passing through large, pierced stones is a ritual commonly
seen throughout the world’s folk medicine traditions. In
Greece and Scotland, women desiring children would wade
into the sea and then pass through large water-worn holes in
nearby rocks. This practice is known from the Middle East to
the Orient, with some similarities found in the United States
and elsewhere. It is seen as an act of passing through
dimensions, in an attempt to “pass on” or transfer illnesses
and to obtain power and health. “Pregnant women of
Kilghane in County Cork,” wrote Aubrey Burl, “passed
clothing through such a hole to ensure an easy childbirth.”286
Other traditions included men and women clasping hands
through stone holes to swear their troth. It has been suggested
that “the wedding ring…may represent the ultimate
reduction of the original idea, where finally only a finger is
passed through.” 287
There is evidence that prehistoric people would pass the
bones of their dead through holed stones that had been
erected in the entryways of chambered tombs. These tombs
were regarded as portals to the otherworld. Carved standing
stones were erected as recently as 750 years ago at Tiya, in
Ethiopia, to mark burial sites. The buried section of the stones
usually had holes in them to symbolize the passage of the soul
from life to death.
Another ritual, focused on life instead of death, was acted
out in modern times in Saintongue, France. Folklorist
285
Radford, Edwin and Mona A. Encyclopaedia of Superstitions. New York: The
Philosophical Library, 1949, 149.
286
Burl, Aubrey. Prehistoric Avebury. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979,
36.
287
Hand, Wayland D. Magical Medicine. Berkeley: University of California
Press, 1980, 148.

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Wayman D. Hand noted that the women of this village

“passed their newborn infants through holes in dolmens to
guard them against evil, present and future.” 288
Putting parts of oneself through certain monuments was
thought to prevent illness and evil and also to allow an
individual to obtain forgiveness of sins. A stone scroll at
Chela, Morocco, is placed about three feet from the ground so
that visitors may easily insert their hands in a hole situated in
its center. By doing so, they believe, they will have their sins
forgiven.
In the Scottish fishing village of Applecross, a stone circle
with a holed stone in the center was used as the community
meeting place for both Christian worship and “ritual of a
pagan nature.” Worshippers would place their heads through
the hole in the hopes of obtaining good omens. 289 The locals
used the holed stone so often for prophetic purposes that the
Presbytery in 1656 condemned the users.
Small stones with naturally-occurring holes in them have
been especially prized for their purported magical properties
and in many cases, they were believed to be linked directly to
the Goddess. In North Carolina, at least through the 1920s,
holed stones were worn by pregnant women to ease
childbirth and in Northumberland up to the early 20th century
holy, or holed, stones were placed around a horse’s neck to
protect it from disease. It was a common belief in the Ozarks
that stones with naturally-occurring holes could ward off
witches and evil spirits. It was also believed that such a stone
tied to the bedpost would prevent nightmares.
On the Isle of Sheppey, in Britain, it was the custom to
hang “such a stone, or even a beach stone, round the neck of

288
Ibid.
289
Lamont-Brown, Raymond. Scottish Folklore. Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited,
1996, 54.

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every child until it reached its first birthday, but never

afterwards,” 290 for continued protection from disease.

Two views of a naturally shaped and holed stone commonly used as an

amulet (stone is 2 x 3”).

290
Radford op. cit. 228.

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The Lakota Indian myth about Wohpe, who is an Earth

Mother figure, and Okaga, the South Wind, speaks of Wohpe
giving a magical holed stone to Okaga: “Here is a stone. Take
and keep it. When you see it, think of me. It will keep you
warm and if you wish a fire, rub it and fire will come from it.
When you wish to forget me, throw it from you and you will
remember me no more.” 291 In another version of this story it
is Waziyata, the North Wind, who gives Okaga a small black
stone that will accomplish whatever task he wishes and will
protect him when danger is near.
One of the most famous holed stone is that of Men-an-Tol,
near the healing well of St. Madron’s in Cornwall, England.
At least through the 18th century and most probably well
beyond that time, persons with back and limb pains would
crawl through the hole in hopes of a cure. Children with
rickets were also passed through the stone. For relief from
pain, the individual had to pass through the hole either three
or nine times, against the sun — or “widdershins.” Children
with rickets could only be cured if they were passed through
to an adult of the opposite sex. Local folklore states that the
Men-an-Tol had a protective Faery or Pixy in residence and it
was this creature that would cure those who passed through
the stone hole. In addition to cures, the benevolent Faery
would also undo the work of evil Faeries and reverse a
changeling into its human baby form. The November 28, 1868
issue of Notes and Queries reported that as late as 1749
offerings were being left at this holed stone. “Two pins,” the
article relates, were found on the top edge of the stone,
“carefully lay’d across each other.” Such pin offerings were
commonly left at holy wells to appease the resident Faery, so
we may assume similar beliefs were involved at Men-an-Tol.

291
Walker, James R., ed by Elaine A. Jahner. Lakota Myth. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1983, 68.

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Another important holed stone is the Tolvan Stone, also in

Cornwall. At the Tolvan Stone, children were passed through
the hole nine times, back and forth. To ensure that a cure had
been obtained, it was imperative that, on the ninth pass, the
child go round on the side where a grassy mound was
located. The last part of the ritual was to lay the child to sleep
on the mound with a sixpence under his or her head.
Smaller naturally-holed stones were hung in stables,
cowsheds and homes to keep them safe “from witches, and
were believed to protect horses and cattle from being ridden
at night to the sabbats.…”292 This practice was used widely
from Scotland through Cornwall to keep frogs and other pests
from entering homes.
Holed stones and sacred wells are two features that have
had the most universal and timeless following among
humankind’s ancient popular customs. Patterns of related
beliefs can be found from India to Indiana, and the fact that
they are so widespread indicates that a belief system existed
which surely pre-dates the erection of the huge megaliths.
New mothers in Armenia who had difficulty breastfeeding
frequented certain holy stones that were naturally shaped like
breasts. According to Lalayan, the women would be taken to
these sites, where they would drink the water that dripped
from the stone and wash their own breasts with the water.
Afterwards, they would pray and light candles in front of the
stones. 293

292
Merrifield, Ralph. The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. New York: New
Amsterdam Books, 1987, 162.
293
Opler, Morris Edward. An Apache Life-Way: The Economic, Social, and
Religious Institutions of the Chiricahua Indians. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1941, 405.

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Healing Stones

Stones were used to treat a variety of complaints and

illnesses including mumps, insanity, rheumatism,
consumption, and, of course, warts. Warts evidently have
been a bane of humankind from the very beginning — and
they were treated both at holy wells and at sacred rocks. For
the most part, warts were treated via the transference method,
by rubbing them with a pin and tossing the pin into a holy
well, or rubbing them with rock and tossing the rock away.
One ritual recorded in Ohio involved counting the number of
warts and collecting the same number of small stones in a
small bag. Then the instructions said to “go to the intersection
of a road, throw the bag over your left shoulder, and return
home by another way. The person who picks up the bag of
stones will get your warts.”294 Other varieties of this tradition
say that the warts are to be rubbed with the stones first and
that the bag should be tied with a red bow.
Another cure, also from Ohio, says to rub warts with a
stone and bury it at the first crossroads encountered. This
method was commonly used in Great Britain and Western
Europe as well. We see in these two examples that road
intersections, or crossroads, are important for the cure to
work. Why this should be held to be so important for the
treatment of warts in particular is unknown, but the
crossroads are indicative of a much more magical power.
Symbolically, the crossroads represent the meeting place of
time and space where magic takes place and where demons
also meet. It is a dangerous place.

294
Puckett, Newbell Niles. Popular Beliefs and Superstitions: A Compendium of
American Folklore from the Ohio Collection of Newbell Niles Puckett, ed. by
Wayland D. Hand. Boston: G K Hall & Co, 1981, 498.

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A Scottish antidote called for the warts to be washed in

water collected in natural basins found in “old ‘layer’ stones.”
These “layer stones” are assumed to be sedimentary rocks.
After washing, the warts would disappear.
Mumps were given a special treatment. According to
writer Lady Wilde, nine black stones had to be gathered
before sunrise and the patient brought to a holy well with a
rope around his neck. It was imperative that no one speak
during the journey to the holy well. Once there, the patient
was to “cast three stones in the name of God, three in the
name of Christ, and three in the name of Mary. Repeat this
process for three mornings and the disease will be cured.” 295
Bothered by insomnia? Among the “Pennsylvania Dutch,”
during the first two decades of the 20th century, it was said
that sleep was sure to follow if the insomniac put a small
round stone, found lying on a fencepost, under the pillow. 296
One wonders whether, as good neighbors, people were in the
habit of placing round stones on fence posts just in case a
needy person might pass by. A “sleeping stone” and a
“waking stone” were also used in the 19th century.
Reportedly, if a small number of sleeping stones were hung
around a person’s neck, the person would sleep straight
through for three days and nights. The waking stone, on the
other hand, would keep an individual awake without any ill
effects and was said to be excellent for night watchmen.
Nine stones taken from a stream were used to bring down
swelling of any kind, including stings. A different stone was
taken each day for nine days and returned to the stream after
its use. Similar treatments were common in both Chile and

295
Wilde, Lady. Irish Cures, Mystic Charms & Superstitions. New York: Sterling
Publishing Co., Inc., 1991, 24.
296
Fogel, Edwin Miller. “Beliefs and Superstitions of the Pennsylvania Germans”
in Americana Germanica (Philadelphia), 18 (1915), 268.

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ancient Rome. The number nine is frequently associated with

healing and divination lore around the world. Nine was
connected with potent magic. Hopper noted that the number
nine “invokes the favor of the triple triad of the angels and at
the same time enlists the power of the devil.” 297
Likewise, the number three has held a special value in
various rituals. Three is one of the most powerful numbers of
religio-magic traditions. In the British Isles, it was common to
use three stones in healing rituals. William Black noted in
particular that wise-woman Margaret Sandieson took but
“thrie small stones and twitched her head thrie tymes with
everie one of them”298 when she treated an ill woman. A
similar method was also used in Scotland.
Storaker reported a cure for illness that involved having a
woman healer heat three small stones, drop them into water
and then have the patient drink the water. 299
Bonwick noted that in Ireland, “down to a late period,”
people would pour water on the surface of stone “temples”
and drink it, “that the draught might cure their diseases.
Molly Grime, a rude stone figure, kept in Glentham church,
was annually washed with water from Newell well…babies
were sprinkled at cairns in Western or South Scotland down
to the seventeenth century. Some stones were kissed by the
faithful, like the Druid’s Stone in front of Chartres Cathedral,
once carefully kept in the crypt.” 300

297
Hopper, Vincent Foster. Medieval Number Symbolism: Its Sources, Meaning,
and Influence on Thought and Expression. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc.
2000, 123.
298
Black, William George. “Folk Medicine: A Chapter in the History of Culture”.
London: Publications of the Folk-Lore Society #12, 1883, 118.
299
Storaker, Joh. Th. “Sygdom og Forgjo/relse I den Norske Folketro.” Norsk
Folkeminnelag No. 20. Oslo, 1932, 32.
300
Bonwick, James. Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions. New York: Barnes and
Noble Books 1894, 217.

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Stonehenge may be the largest “healing stone” in the

world. Geoffrey of Monmouth wrote in the 12th century that
the megaliths had gained a reputation for the healing of many
diseases. Again, the combination of water and stone becomes
evident as Geoffrey notes that the stones were washed and the
water used in baths for the ill. The healing attributed to
Stonehenge was accepted well into the 17th and 18th centuries.
Similarly, the “12 o’clock” stone, a large standing stone in
Cornwall, was reputed to cure children of rickets — as long as
they were not illegitimate or the offspring of “dissolute”
parents.
Other healing stones from the past include the Red Stone
in Perthshire, which was used to cure distemper; and the Lee
Stone, owned by the Earl of Douglas, that kept plague away.
The Lee stone was “rented out” for a hefty sum that was paid
as a security deposit for its safe return. Other stones include
the Murrain Stone, which was used into the 1890s and was
dipped into water that was given to cattle in order to cure
murrain (a term given for any infectious disease of cattle) and
hydrophobia; and a charm stone from Ireland which was
renowned for healing wounds — as long as it never touched
English soil. This stone was taken by basket from patient to
patient and rubbed on the wound to effect healing.

Thunderstones

Thunderstones are stones found throughout the Old

World that are associated with lightning strikes.
Thunderstones, in reality, were Stone Age301 tools, such as

301
These “thunderstones”, or hand axes, were created at least 500,000 years ago
and continued to be used in parts of Africa until approximately 50,000 years BCE.
The “Stone Age” generally is defined as beginning approximately 2.5 million

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

hand axes. Some accounts state that they are always black in
color with white streaks running through them — as,
apparently, some axes were. They were deemed to have great
power for healing and giving strength. They were used in the
treatment of jaundice, lameness, cataracts, convulsions,
consumption, goiter, and snakebite, in childbirth and, carried
on the person, to relieve rheumatism. Neolithic stone axes
must, indeed, have mystified people who came along later;
they did not look like something that would have occurred in
nature, and it would be impossible to explain how they came
to litter the landscape. Inevitably, they were endowed with
supernatural powers that even aristocratic churchmen would
extol:
He who carries one will not be struck by lightning,
nor will houses if the stone is there; the passenger
on a ship traveling by sea or river will not be sunk
by storm or struck by lightning; it gives victory in
law-suits and battles, and guarantees sweet sleep
and pleasant dreams. —Marbodaeus, Bishop of
Rennes, 12th century. 302
The uses for these stone-axe “thunderbolts” in the Old
World were numerous; they were tossed into wells to ensure
a continuous supply of good water; they were placed in cattle
troughs to protect cattle from disease; and water in which the
stone had been boiled was used as a treatment for
rheumatism.
These artifacts were probably seen as supernatural objects
as long ago as the Iron Age, when memories of stone tools

years ago and lasting in some parts of the world yet today. See the appendix for a
time-line that illustrates the prehistoric periods and associated megaliths.
302
Merrifield, op. cit., 11.

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 Gary R. Varner

had already faded away. 303 In France, prehistoric stone axes

were referred to as “witches fingers,” lending them an
obviously sinister quality. Small projectile points that were
found during the Middle Ages were similarly viewed as
supernatural in origin; people called them “elfshot,” on the
premise that they were arrow points made and fired by elves.
Folklore in Surinam says that, should one bathe in water
containing a black thunderstone, enormous strength would be
obtained. In fact, it is said that a man may become so strong
that he can kill another with one blow — if the stone is dark
enough. The darker the stone, the more potent it becomes. 304

The Lore of Mystical Stones

Stones, in themselves steeped in myth and hidden

meaning, are inextricably linked to sacred water. Ancient
standing stones and sacred waters have a common ancestry.
Their existence is intricately interwoven.
“Rain rocks“ utilized by Native American shamans were
intended to control the weather, especially rain and snow, and
they were prized as well for their ritual ties to the Grizzly
Bear. Standing stones erected by ancient Britons are perched
high above important water sites in Ireland, such as the five-
stone circle at Uragh, County Kerry, situated above the
Cloonee Lough Upper and Lough Inchiquin. Large rock
outcroppings decorated with carvings and painting rise high
above similarly hallowed water sources in the American
West.
Individuals still feel an inspiration to create rock
monuments on or near water. A rather mysterious creation of

303
Ibid., 15.
304
Penard, A.P. and T.E. Penard. “Popular Notions Pertaining to Primitive Stone
Artifacts in Surinam,” in Journal of American Folklore, 30 (1917), 260.

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several dozen rock cairns was recently found along a sand bar
on the American River in the middle of Sacramento,
California. Obviously, these cairns are not an ancient
construction — as the ebb and flow of the river in flood
conditions would have destroyed them. Who created them,
and why, is unknown but we can presume there was a certain
primeval urge to create a special, physical link between the
human and the spirit world, associated with the nature of
water and stone.
Also in California, at Panther Meadows, mid-way up Mt.
Shasta’s 14,000-foot slope, rock cairns are in use even now by
Native Americans who still regard the site as a spiritual
center. Rock cairns have been used since time began, around
the world, to mark migration trails of game, places of death or
burial, landing sites for seamen, water sources and holy sites.
The Cree say that when someone creates a small cairn out of a
few rocks, “it grows, no one knows how, rock by rock.” 305
In Finland, the Stone of Pain was situated at the confluence
of three rivers and the “spirit” of pain was believed to reside
there. Pilgrims would visit the spot to request relief from their
painful physical conditions. The combined power of the three
rivers and the stone were construed as creating an ideal
source for healing. “Stones of Pain” were actually cup stones
that are widely found in Finland and around the world. These
“cups” were shallow depressions carved into stone and were
referred to as “Stones of Pain” as they were believed to absorb
illness and pain. The Stone of Pain mentioned above was a
specific cup marked stone located in a particularly important
area.

305
Kehoe, Alice B. and Thomas F. Kehoe. Solstice-Aligned Boulder
Configurations in Saskatchewan. Canadian Ethnology Service Paper No. 48.
Ottawa: National Museums of Canada, 1979, 37.

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Water is associated with ancient stone circles, too, such as

those found on or near Pobull Fhinn on Loch Langass in the
Hebrides, Uneval, Kintraw, Argyll, Kockadoon, Co. Mayo,
and Killadangan, Co. Mayo (all in the British Isles), among the
hundreds situated around the world.
Sacred stones in association with specific holy wells are
also common. One such well-stone combination is found at
Whitstone, England. Whitstone is a name derived from a
white rock located on the south side of the nearby Whitstone
church. R.A. Courtney, a noted pre-World War I antiquarian,
wrote, “The Church is dedicated to St. Nicholas, and in the
churchyard is a well commonly known as St. Anne’s well. It is
said to never have been known to fail; and it would show that
the Church is but the successor of the sacred white stone; the
water from the well being used for baptisms. It may be
remarked that the saint of the Church is a male, the well a
female; and, if my theory is correct, the stone represented the
lingam, the well the yoni.”306
The Hupa Indians of Northern California ritually washed
certain standing stones called “story people” in the belief that
the act of washing them could change the weather.307
Similarly, the fishermen on the Isle of Skye washed certain
stones to improve weather conditions. W. Winwood Reade, in
his classic book The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the Druids, wrote,
“in a little island near Skye is a chapel dedicated to St.
Columbus; on an altar is a round blue stone which is always
moist. Fishermen, detained by contrary winds, bathe this
stone in water, expecting thereby to obtain favorable winds; it

306
Courtney, R.A. Cornwall’s Holy Wells: Their Pagan Origins. Penzance:
Oakmagic Publications, 1997, 30.
307
These stones were situated in rows. Heizer wrote, “when frosts come in the
fall…a man or a virgin takes a basket of water with incense root and washes all
these stones, praying…that gentle rain may come and that the frost may go away”
(see “Sacred Rain Rocks of Northern California”).

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

is likewise applied to the sides of people troubled by stitches,

and it is held so holy, that decisive oaths are sworn upon it.”
308

An account of a “Pagan idol” from the Irish island of

Inniskea, off the coast of Mayo, wrapped in flannel, was given
in the Notes and Queries issue of Saturday, February 7, 1852:
A stone carefully wrapped up in flannel is
brought out at certain periods to be adored; and
when a storm arises, this god is supplicated to send
a wreck on their coast.
Though nominally Roman Catholics, these
islanders have no priest resident among them; they
know nothing of the tenets of that church, and their
worship consists in occasional meetings at their
chief’s house, with visits to a holy well called
Derivla. The absence of religion is supplied by the
open practice of pagan idolatry. In the south island
a stone idol called in the Irish Neevougi, has been
from time immemorial religiously preserved and
worshipped. This god resembles in appearance a
thick roll of homespun flannel, which arises from
the custom of dedicating to it a dress of that
material whenever its aid is sought; this is sewed
on by an old woman, its priestess. Of the early
history of this idol no authentic information can be
procured, but its power is believed to be immense;
they pray to it in time of sickness, it is invoked
when a storm is desired to dash some hapless ship
upon their coast, and again it is solicited to calm

308
Reade, W. Winwood. The Veil of Isis, or Mysteries of the Druids. North
Hollywood: Newcastle Publishing Company, 1992, 228.

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the waves to admit of the islanders fishing or

visiting the main land. 309
Can we make a connection with this flannel cloth made by
a priestess to adorn a sacred stone and the strips of cloth that
still adorn wells and trees that are held sacred? The
association of the stone and the holy well is, again, indicative
of many sites throughout the British Isles. The stone is also
anciently associated with sacred wells and this account may
record one of the truly authentic Pagan practices that
survived in Ireland into the 19th century.
“Rain rocks” were utilized by shamans as tools to control
rain and weather. Rain rocks in Northern California were
inscribed with meandering lines, grooves, cupules and
carvings of bear claws and paw prints.
The Shasta Indians in the Klamath River area carved long
parallel grooves on rain rocks to make the snow fall, and
cupolas to produce rain. To stop rain, they covered the rain
rock with powdered incense-root. According to rock art
researcher Campbell Grant, the Hupa Indians of California
“had a sacred rain rock called mi. By this rock lived a spirit
who could bring frost, prolong the rainy season, or cause
drought if he was displeased.” 310 The Hupa would cook food
next to the rain rock and provide a feast for the spirit to
ensure that the spirit would continue to help them.
Rain rocks were fairly universal among early cultures. In
Australia‘s Northern Territory, it was “essential” for certain
types of rocks to be scratched to ensure rain.311 Although they
are rarely found in Southern California, a five-foot rain rock

309
Tennent, Sir J. Emerson. Notes and Queries, Vol. V, No. 119, Saturday,
February 7, 1852, 121.
310
Grant, op. cit., 31.
311
Mulvaney, D.J. The Prehistory of Australia. New York: Frederick A. Praeger,
Publishers, 1969, 172.

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marked with hundreds of small, drilled holes has been

discovered on the slopes of Palomar Mountain in northern
San Diego County. The site was a proto-historic Luiseño
village, known as Molpa. 312 Just below the rain rock is a small
spring, which was a steady source of water. Because the
decoration or alteration of rock material is difficult to date, we
cannot determine when the use of “rain rocks“ began. We do
know that the Tolowa, Karok and Hupa tribes on the North
Coast of California used rain rocks to control the weather at
least from 1600 CE, and the practice continued into the early
1800s — and may in fact continue today. 313
The use of special stones to create rain appears to be a
fairly universal practice. Rain-stones were used by the
Samoan Islanders, Australian aborigines, by people in Central
Africa, Japan, and Great Britain, as well as in North America.
In most cases these stones were dipped into or sprinkled with
water by priests or shamans and were treated to elaborate
rituals. Sir James Frazer wrote that in northwestern Australia,

“the rain-maker repairs to a piece of ground which is set

apart for the purpose of rain-making. There he builds a
heap of stones or sand, places on the top of it his magic
stone, and walks or dances round the pile chanting his
incantations for hours, till sheer exhaustion obliges him to
desist, when his place is taken by an assistant. Water is
sprinkled on the stone and huge fires are kindled. No

312
True, D.L., C.W. Meighan & Harvey Crew. Archaeological Investigations at
Molpa, San Diego County, California. University of California Publications in
Anthropology, Volume 11, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1974.
313
Clewlow, Jr., C. William & Mary Ellen Wheeling. Rock Art: An Introductory
Recording Manual for California and the Great Basin. Los Angeles: Institute of
Archaeology, University of California, 1978, 21-22.

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 Gary R. Varner

layman may approach the sacred spot while the mystic

ceremony is being performed.” 314

In North America, the Apache Indians in Arizona would

carry water from specific springs and throw it on the top of a
certain rock. “After that,” Frazer continues, “they imagine
that the clouds would soon gather, and that rain would begin
to fall.” 315 Rain-stones were used in similar ways during
times of draught in ancient Rome as well. The stone called
lapis manalis was kept near the Temple of Mars and “dragged
into Rome, and this was supposed to bring down rain
immediately.” 316
Just what is the power in these stones that is believed to
cause rain? In most instances, the stone was thought to
contain the spirit of divinity or act as a conduit to the divine,
who could be supplicated via the stone.
A Chinese tale recorded by Pu Songling, in the 17th
century, tells of a “Rare Stone from Heaven.” The stone,
described as “one foot in diameter, exquisite from all angles
with picturesque ridges and peaks,” had the ability to forecast
rain. According to the tale, “whenever it was about to rain,
clouds would emerge from each of its holes, which looked
from the distance like new cotton stuffed in its openings.”
Many sought to get their hands on this stone, and all
experienced disaster when they tried to possess it. 317
Stones were used in many parts of the world to control not
only rain, but also wind. In New Guinea, a “wind stone” was
struck with a stick; the strength of the wind would vary
depending on how hard the stone was struck. “In Scotland,”
314
Frazer, Sir James. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion.
Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions Ltd., 1993, 76.
315
Ibid.
316
Ibid., 78.
317
Songling, Pu. Selected Tales of Liaozhai. Beijing: Panda Books, 1981, 133.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

says Frazer, “witches used to raise the wind by dipping a rag

in water and beating it thrice on a stone, saying:

I knok this rag upon this stone

To raise the wind in the divellis name,
It shall not lye till I please againe. 318

Frazer also notes that at Victoria, British Columbia, “there

are a number of large stones not far from what is called the
Battery. Each of them represents a certain wind. When an
Indian wants any particular wind he goes and moves the
corresponding stone a little; were he to move it too much, the
wind would blow very hard.” 319
Both in the United States and Britain individual stones in
association with water traditionally are said to cure illnesses.
If you suffer from cramps while swimming you should pick
up a few stones, spit on them and throw them into the water.
A Norwegian technique to cure an illness is to take a stone
from a hill, one from a field and a third from a crossroad
(without touching them with your bare hand, though), heat
them and drop them into water. The individual then must sit
over the water, with a blanket covering his head. 320 In
Ireland, unusually shaped stones found near holy wells are
believed to be imbued with healing power. When an
individual was too ill to visit the well, one of these stones
would be borrowed in hopes of obtaining a cure.
Stones also were seen as containing spirits and could be
the homes of Rock Babies, Faeries and other citizens of the

318
Frazer, Sir James. The Magic Art and the Evolution of Kings, Vol. 1. London:
Macmillan & Co Ltd., 1955, 322.
319
Ibid.
320
Storaker, Joh. Th. “Sygdom og Forgjo/relse I den Norske Folketero” in Norsk
Folkeminnelag No. 20. Oslo, 1932, 31.

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 Gary R. Varner

Underworld. Relating folk beliefs in Norway, Storaker wrote,

in 1928:
It was once believed that one could see the soul
of a person as a small flame burning with a clear
light. Such a light is often seen from stones. But
usually, such a light from the stones is believed to
be lit by the spirits living in the stone, and it is
burning during the night. When the spirits of the
stones appear like that, they are given the names of
goblins, gnomes or subterraneans. The light looks
like the light that is often seen at mounds, and
which is called mound-light or spirit-light. 321
Apparently, even Storaker was not quite sure how rational
he wanted to be in reporting on this “spirit-light” or “mound-
light.” He speaks about the lights without apparent question
or irony, even while he treats the original premise of souls
appearing as flames in stone as simple “old wives-tales.”
Storaker also noted that, “occasionally one would see a light
burning in some stone, especially at the darkest time of the
year. The light came from some creatures that had lived in the
stones.” If the location was examined carefully, Storaker
wrote, sometimes a small, round stone would be found which
could be used by a “wise woman” to cure an illness. 322
Similar tales are also found in Wales. On Innis-na-Gore, in
the early 20th century, there was a large rock around which a
“mysterious light” would suddenly appear in the night. The
property owner decided to blow the rock up in an attempt to
determine the source of the light. What he found, according to
the story, was a Druid “enchantment,” that is, a Druid waiting

321
Storaker, Joh. Th. “Naturrigerne I den Norske Folketro” in Norsk
Folkeminnelag No 18. Oslo, 1928, 12.
322
Ibid., 14.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

to be released from the stone. The story states that a local

priest did away with the object before release could be
obtained.
In his work, Celtic Folklore, John Rhys speaks of a stone that
gave light. He repeats a bit of folklore about a shepherd boy
who became lost in the mist on a mountain while tending his
flock. He met an “old fat man” who was really a Faery. The
two walked on until they came to an oval stone, which the old
man lifted up and tapped three times with his walking-stick.
Upon the last tap, the stone produced light that varied in
brightness from white, to gray to blue. The Faery, with his
glowing stone, led the boy on and on until they came to the
Land of Enchantment where the boy stayed a year and a day
among the Faery-folk.
Spirits who inhabited stone were a subject in folktales in
Belgium, as well. Spence noted a “particularly fearsome ghost
story…in which it is related how certain spirits had become
enclosed in a pillar in an ancient abbey…” 323 And fearsome
“eating ghosts” that would eat the soul of a passerby were
believed to inhabit certain long stones in the Banks Islands in
the Caribbean. Likewise, the Faery were said to inhabit, or
“ensoul,” the standing stones of Brittany. It is likely that the
Faery were also assumed to be the spirits of dead ancestors
awaiting their next incarnation. Icelandic folklore speaks of
trapping ghosts under rocks, where they remain until
someone removes the stone. (This is certainly one method to
“ensoul” the stone.324) A ritual still conducted every year in
Shebbear, Devon, is called “Turning the Devil’s Boulder.” To
ensure that the village remains protected, the villagers meet

323
Spence, Lewis. Legends and Romances of Brittany. Mineola: Dover
Publications, Inc., 1997, 52.
324
Simpson, Jacqueline. Icelandic Folktales and Legends. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1972, 135.

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after nightfall each November 5th with crowbars to turn over a

large boulder that reportedly had trapped the Devil. The
ritual is believed to be an ancient one. It is obvious that the
boulder did not originate in the area, as no similar type of
stone exists there; it appears to have been transported over
some distance for some ritualistic purpose—or the stone was
naturally disloged from its original resting space and moved
by glacial action.325
The concept that human spirits existed in stone is one that
has had a wide following from the Mesolithic Azilian culture
to a contemporary Mesolithic society — the Australian Arunta
people. These two cultures believed that the spirits of the
dead could be preserved in decorated stones.
In Europe, the Mesolithic (or middle Stone Age) era
extended roughly from 10,000 to 4,000 years ago, ending with
the introduction and widespread practice of agriculture. The
Azilian culture was spread across northern Spain, England,
France, Belgium, Holland, and Switzerland. A hunter-fisher
society, the Azilian left little evidence of their religious
traditions except the river cobbles that they engraved or
painted with circles, points, lines, and human figures.
We do not know specifically what these cobbles meant to
the Azilian; to some scholars, the markings on them suggest
they represent an early form of markers, or possibly a
notation of lunar cycles; but the similarities to the Aruntas’
stones are too striking to ignore. Every Arunta tribe has a
storehouse that protects their “churingas,” painted pebbles,
referred to as their “far distant ones.” 326 The “far distant

325
Glacial action is probably responsible for many of the odd stones found around
the world that appear out of geologic context, however that does not mean that
these stones were not later altered or used in ritual or religious observances or in
the practice of folkmedicine.
326
Spence, Lewis. The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain. Mineola: Dover Publications,
Inc., 1999, 88.

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ones” are the male and female spirits of their ancestors,

carefully arranged in the cave storehouses of the tribe. “The
churinga,” according to Maringer, “is regarded as the
embodiment of the dead person whose spirit and qualities are
transferred to the present possessor.”327 In a cave in
Switzerland, 133 Azilian stones were found broken. If these
were “ancestor stones,” researchers conjecture they were
intentionally broken by an enemy group who, in effect,
destroyed the souls of a tribe’s ancestor population — an act
of spiritual genocide. If they were a kind of cultural or
economic archive, this act of vandalism may have represented
the destruction of a people’s most sophisticated attainment.
A secret society existing on New Britain, New Guinea
would award each newly-initiated member a stone in the
shape of a human or animal. The stone was believed to absorb
the soul of the member and if the stone was broken, the
individual was certain to die. 328
The souls of the departed were also believed to enter
stones in Hawaii. MacGregor noted the following in his 1932
ethnographic field notes:
“When a person died and his spirit entered a
stone, he was a tupu'a. People went to them and
laid their troubles before them and they were
assisted.” 329
Since its founding, the Christian Church has condemned
“stone worship” — not simply because stones were stones,
but because the particular stones represented other gods and

327
Maringer, Johannes. The Gods of Prehistoric Man. London: The Phoenix Press
2002, 128.
328
Frazer, op. cit. 680.
329
http://www.hawaii.edu/oceanic/rotuma/os/MacGregor/McReligionStones.

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supernatural powers, competitors to the God who had

decreed “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”
As MacKenzie wrote, “the original Zeus was evidently
worshipped as a stone pillar — the pillar which enclosed his
spirit, or the spirit of his earthly representative, the priest
king.” 330 Likewise, the Earth Goddess was represented by a
standing stone which was visited at certain times of the year,
during certain phases of the moon, by women “who prayed
for offspring.”
Standing stones and stone circles, however, have a long
tradition of being associated not only with gods but also with
the Faery and the devil. Lewis Spence wrote in his 1945
publication, The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain, “standing stones
in Brittany and other parts of that country are associated with
fairies, who are thought of as inhabiting or ‘ensouling’ them.”
331 Spence notes that the Faery probably represented “the

spirits of dead chieftains once worshipped ancestrally.” 332 In

some cultures, the Faery are spirits waiting to be reborn. In
Scotland it was said that the devil would appear in the center
of any stone circle if one walks around the circle three times
“against the sun” at midnight.
The Tolcarne Troll, a little old man dressed in a tight
leather jerkin and hood, is reported to live inside the rock in
an outcropping of greenstone on a hill above a church in
Newlyn, Cornwall. Local tradition places his origin to the
Phoenicians. Other names for him include “The Wandering
One” and “Odin the Wanderer.” 333

330
MacKenzie, Donald A. Crete & Pre-Hellenic Myths and Legends. London:
Senate, 1995, 184.
331
Maringer op. cit.
332
Spence, The Magic Arts in Celtic Britain, 1999, 88.
333
Evans-Wentz, W. Y. The Fairy-Faith in Celtic Countries. Mineola: Dover
Publications, Inc. 2002, 176.

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Native American lore is also rich in tales of divine stones.

Walker recorded the following account from an old Lakota
shaman:
“Tunkan is the spirit which fell from the sky. It is a
stone. It knows all things which are secret. It can tell where
things are when they are lost or stolen…” When children
vanished, “the mysterious stones were consulted to learn
what had become of the child.” 334
The Lakota utilized special shamans, called Rock
Dreamers, to communicate with the Tunkan spirit. In the best
case, the stone would tell the shaman where lost objects were,
or, if they had been stolen, the identity of the individual who
stole them. Some shamans use clear, round stones that are
normally found on anthills to locate the bodies of the dead or
to determine if an individual is still alive. The shaman asks
the spirit of the stone to locate the person so that the family
will be able to find them, or come to terms with the death.
Rock dreamers were believed to take on some of the
characteristics of stone, as well, such as being impervious to
bullets. Because of this protection, the Rock dreamers were
responsible for “war medicine.”
Perhaps the most unusual magical stone is the Blaxhall
Stone situated on the Stone Farm in Suffolk, England. The
Blaxhall Stone grows. Reportedly, a hundred years ago, it was
the size of a small loaf of bread, and today it weighs in at five
tons. It is said to still be growing. Growing stones are also
part of Hawaiian lore. According to folklorist Martha
Beckwith porous pebbles found on the beach of Koloa on the
island of Hawaii “were supposed to grow from a tiny pebble

334
Walker, 1991, op. cit., 112.

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to a good-sized rock and to reproduce themselves if watered

once a week.”335
While stone worship is clearly out for Christians, stone
lore has been used in Christian theology as examples of
recommended Christian behavior. The 13th century Aberdeen
Bestiary, written and illustrated in England around 1200 CE,
speaks of “terrobolem” and how these stones indicate that
man and woman should remain aloof from one another:
“On a certain mountain in the east, there are
fire-bearing stones which are called in Greek
terrobolem; they are male and female. When they
are far from each other, the fire within them does
not ignite. But when by chance the female draws
near to the male, the fire is at once kindled, with
the result that everything around the mountain
burns.
“For this reason, men of God, you who follow
this way of life, stay well clear of women, lest when
you and they approach each other, the twin flame
be kindled in you both and consume the good that
Christ has bestowed upon you. For there are angels
of Satan, always on the offensive against the
righteous; not only holy men but chaste women
too. “336
Saints and Stones
Certain sacred and healing stones have become
assimilated into Church lore and associated with particular
saints. One example is St. Fillan, who was a 7th century

335
Beckwith, Martha. Hawaiian Mythology. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press
1970, 88
336
McLaren, Colin, translator. The Aberdeen Beastiary. Aberdeen: Aberdeen
University Library MS 24, 1995.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

follower of St. Columba (known primarily for his holy well in

Scotland). Into the 18th century, invalids would throw white
stones on the saint’s cairn as part of a ritual performed in their
search of healing. This particular well also was said to move
on its own and to cure insanity and other illnesses. The well is
still frequented today. Those seeking a cure walk around the
well three times and then throw a pebble into the well.
St. Fillan was the son of a princess of Ulster, who later
became St. Kentigerna. His father was Prince Federach. Fillan
was born with a stone in his mouth, a freak event which
enraged (or horrified) his father. Prince Federach grabbed the
infant and tossed him into a nearby lake (again the association
between saints, water and sacred stones). A local Christian
bishop just happened to be nearby (aren’t they always, in
these tales?) and rescued the baby. Out of gratitude, Fillan’s
mother became a Christian. 337 In time, Fillan and his mother
became missionaries and traveled to Scotland where he
established a priory in Auchtertyre at what is now Kirkton’s
Farm. One of the miracles for which St. Fillan became known
was his ability to have his left arm and hand light up in the
dark so he could read at night. Because of this, his arm has
been preserved as one of the relics of that age in Glen Dochart,
Scotland. (We do not know if it continues to serve as a
flashlight or not.)
The most famous relics of St. Fillan are eight healing
stones left to the monks at his priory. Like many talismans
around the world, the stones are representative of body parts
and are used by pilgrims to effect healing of the head (and
sight, hearing, headaches, etc.), stomach, back and limbs.
These eight stones are kept in an old mill at the priory site
where, each Christmas Eve, they are given a new bed of straw
and reeds from the river. Pilgrims are allowed to pick up the
337
http://www.simegen.com/writers/nessie/stones.htm.

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 Gary R. Varner

stones and rub them on afflicted body parts in hopes that St.
Fillan’s healing powers will work for them as well.

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VIII
Amulets for Health

A
mulets, charms and talismans have been used to take
away illness and provide protection of the mind and
body since antiquity. As described elsewhere in this
book, amulets in the form of stones have a universal
application and a universal appeal and have been used to
treat illnesses as well as to avoid them.
Called lithotherapy, the use of stones in the treatment of
diseases has included minerals, precious and semi-precious
gems, coral and pearls, and stone-like objects said to have
been produced in the bodies of both real and mythical
creatures.
The madstone reportedly was recommended as a cure for
both snakebite and rabies. There is still debate concerning
what the madstone actually was. One example was said to
have been found in the head of the cobre de capello and,
when applied to a snake bite or poison arrow wound, would
draw out the venom and then drop off the wound. Other
forms of madstone include the famous Lee stone. According
to legend, Sir Simon Lockhart of Lee fought the Saracens in
the late 12th century and acquired a pebble set into a stone.
“According to the story,” writes Thomas Forbes, “water into
which this talisman had been dipped would relieve fever,
stop bleeding, and work other cures.” 338 The Lee penny is
known to have existed into the 19th century and was still used
to treat dog bites. It had gained such a reputation for its

338
Forbes, Thomas R. “The Madstone” in American Folk Medicine: A
Symposium. Edited by Wayland D. Hand. Los Angeles: University of California
Press 1976, 16.

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 Gary R. Varner

healing powers that during the reign of Charles I it was

borrowed by the city of Newcastle to combat the plague. The
townspeople had to put up a bond of £6,000 to ensure its
return.
Another healing amulet with a wide reputation is a large
brown seed called the “petrified deer’s eye” or ojo de venado.
The seed is similar to a buckeye and in carried in Mexico to
ward off evil spirits, which cause “bad air”, or mal aire. Such
“bad air” causes paralytic twitching and is brought on due to
sudden exposure to rapid temperature changes or over
heatedness caused by fits of anger. This condition has been
linked to the Aztecs who believed that illness was caused by
evil spirits present in the air.
An old tradition from California dating to the 1890s states
that one should always carry a buckeye to ensure continued
good health. This tradition continued well into the 1960s. A
similar folk-medicine tradition existed in the Ozarks in the
1930s.
The wearing of amber was widely believed to prevent
convulsions in children in 1950s Spain and folklore collected
from Utah in the late 1960s indicate that amber beads worn
around the neck also protected one against colds. Other
illnesses said to be avoided with amber amulets include
croup, goiter, whooping cough, pulmonary ailments, sore
throat, asthma, enlarged thyroid, heart disease, nosebleed,
and toothache among others. A word of caution, however, as
amber amulets were also recommended to stop sexual desire.
Paine noted that amber, when rubbed, produces a slight
electrical charge and a distinctive aroma which most likely
contributed to the healing powers it was believed to hold. 339
“No doubt the early peoples, who gathered Adriatic and

339
Paine, Sheila. Amulets: Sacred Charms of Power and Protection. Rochester:
Inner Traditions 2004, 89.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Baltic amber and distributed it and its lore far and wide,”
wrote Donald Mackenzie, “discovered this peculiar quality in
the sacred substance.” 340
Amber, like coral, shells and pearls, was thought to have
originated in the seas and were closely associated with a
goddess who, like Aphrodite, had her origins in the deep
waters.
Jade is another amuletic stone widely used for its healing
and protective properties. Jade has been used in India to cure
reptile bite, although it is unknown how many of those bites
were actually from venomous snakes. Jadeite was commonly
used in folk-medicine in 16th century England for treating
poisons. Anecdotal information indicates that by wearing
jade, one can avoid kidney problems for a whole year. The
Chinese would wear wristlets of jade to strengthen the arm
and jade is reportedly a bringer of good luck and longevity.
In Mongolia, village shamans wore small amulets in the
form of miniature blacksmith tools in their healing rituals.
Coral is another substance used in protective amulets.
Children wore pieces of “male and female” coral around their
necks to be protected from the evil-eye in the 1940s. In Italy,
coral pendants and red vests are still used to protect babies
from the evil eye. In the 1880s coral was thought to “preserve
and fasten the teeth of men” and was widely used to ease the
pain of teething in children.
Coral traditionally has been regarded as the sea-tree of the
Mother Goddess and the giver of life and fertility in waters.
Coral was regarded as being the “life substance” of the
goddess in ancient Egypt. In Greek myth, coral is grown from

340
Mackenzie, Donald A. Ancient Man in Britain. London: Senate 1996, 164.

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 Gary R. Varner

the blood of Medusa. 341 In Spain, amulets of coral were

believed to protect children from convulsions.
Copper is an ancient amuletic material that is still
commonly used today to ease arthritic pain and to provide a
number of health benefits. Copper bracelets are sold through
television advertisements as cure-alls for pains and illnesses
and sell for as much as $150 each. They can also be bought in
New Age shops and drug stores around the United States for
as little as $1.50. Scientific tests on copper wire and bands of
copper have shown no effectiveness in healing but amulets
require faith more than scientific evidence to produce results.
While copper was, and still is, most often recommended for
arthritis and rheumatism, it has also been worn as a protective
device against snake bite. Other uses include children wearing
a copper penny around the neck until the child is old enough
to talk to avoid speech defects. In addition, bee stings were
said to be neutralized by placing a copper coin on the area
stung. Those penny-loafers most likely carry old superstitions
with them as well.
An old practice from the first few years of the 20th century
included taking the copper pennies off the eye-lids of the
deceased and using them as amulets against rheumatism.
The Egyptians undoubtedly used copper for magical
purposes before they began to use it for jewelry and weapons.
Many sacred wells and waterways received copper offerings
and many of these wells still carry names such as “Penny
well” and “pin well” which reflect these offerings.
Other, more mundane items that we use everyday have
also been used as charms and amulets to prevent and cure
illnesses and body pains. Folklorist W. J. Witemberg recorded
in 1918 that an informant in Canada “gave to the author, to

341
Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols. London:
Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1978, 42.

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add to his collection of charms and amulets, a dried and

hardened potato which he had carried on him for a year as a
cure for rheumatism. A fresh potato, he explained, had to be
put in one's pocket at the end of every year.” 342
Likewise, strings of garlic and onions were worn to remain
healthy and should one carry an old lemon with them, it
would also ensure good health.
Italian-Americans in the 1950s continued an ancient
tradition to combat the evil eye. They wore small metal male
hunchback figurines to combat this dreaded sorcery. It was
believed that sickly female hunchbacks could cause the
disease and the male hunchback figurines were able to
combat it successfully.
In Germany during the 1950s crayfish eyes were credited
with supernatural power and they were frequently made into
amulets in the shape of the cross with 3 to 5 dried eyes or
“stones.” This concretion is not unlike that of the bezoar stone
and is taken from the stomach of river crayfish. These crosses
were frequently hung around the necks of children to ensure
good health. It is unknown if this tradition continues today.
There are as many amulets, charms and talismans as there
are ailments, despair and desires in the world. Leo Kanner
wrote, “In short, heaven and earth and all three kingdoms of
nature and God and a world of spirits and ghosts are
involved in the subject of medical folklore.” 343

342
Wintemberg, W. J. "Folk-Lore Collected in the Counties of Oxford and
Waterloo, Ontario." Journal of American Folklore, 31 (1918), 135-153.
343
Kanner, Leo. "Medical Folklore." Medical Life, 38, pt. 2 (1931), 523-527.

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 Gary R. Varner

IX
Contemporary Use of Amulets & Charms

C
rosses, the Star of David, the Egyptian ankh, the St.
Christopher medal and the Wiccan pentacle are
commonly worn amulets in contemporary society.
Other more natural items also continue to be used to ward off
evil, ensure health and fertility and bring luck.
Charms and amulets continue to be popular items even in
the 21st century. They are used in much the same way and for
the same reasons as they were in prehistoric times.
Horseshoes are one of the most common forms and are often
found on gates and fences and nailed to barn doors in the
American west where horse ownership is widespread.
The origin of this tradition is an interesting one.
Horseshoes, traditionally made from iron, thus effective
against the Farey and Elves, are symbolic of courage, strength
and power. Ralph Merrifield wrote in his study, The
Archaeology of Ritual and Magic, “Horseshoes were not the only
domestic charms then considered to be not merely ‘lucky’ but
quite specifically antidotes to witchcraft.”344 Nailing a
horseshoe to the barn door was believed to prohibit a witch
from taking and riding a horse or cow to the midnight
sabbats. This custom is found around the world in most
agricultural societies or settings.
The horseshoe was also nailed to the masts of fishing
vessels to protect them from storms. The horseshoe, however,
must be hung with the ends pointing up in order to hold luck

344
Merrifield, Ralph. The Archaeology of Ritual and Magic. New York: New
Amsterdam Books 1987, 161.

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

in or, as the Radford’s noted, to confuse the devil in his

normally circular travels so that he must then “take a
retrograde course.” 345
“’That the horseshoe may never be pulled from your
threshold!’ was one of the good wishes or ‘sentiments’ of the
last century,” wrote Frederick Elworthy in 1895, “and throws
some light upon the unwillingness of my neighbour…to
permit any disturbance of the protectors behind his door.” 346
In Tibet, charms made from twisted wool and paper serve
the same purpose as horseshoes in the United States and
Europe—to keep demons and witches away from horses and
pony’s. The charms are tied over each horse stall to provide
needed protection.
The rabbit’s foot is another “lucky amulet” that was
common during the 1950s. The origin of the lucky rabbit’s
foot may lie in the “belief that young rabbits are born with
their eyes open, and thus have the power of the Evil Eye, and
can shoo away the Evil One.” 347
Writing in the 1940s, folklorists Edwin and Mona Radford
stated, “a rabbit’s foot is the most potent charm of the
American negroes, who, it is said, turn white with fright at the
loss of one.” 348 However, they then go on to relate that the
use was, at least in the 1940s, common in Britain and used by
“hundreds of mothers” who placed one in their children’s
“perambulator” when taken out for a stroll to protect against
any possible accident. Thousands of rabbit feet were made in
the United States and exported to England carrying an
advertisement stating that the foot was “the left hind foot of a

345
Radford, Edwin and Mona A. Encyclopaedia of Superstitions. New York:
Philosophical Library 1949, 151.
346
Elworthy, Frederick Thomas. The Evil Eye: The Classic Account of an Ancient
Superstition. Mineola: Dover Publications, Inc. 2004, 218.
347
Radford, op cit, 195.
348
Ibid.

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 Gary R. Varner

rabbit killed in a country churchyard at midnight, during the

dark of the moon, on Friday the 13th of the month, by a cross-
eyed, left-handed, red-headed bow-legged Negro riding a
white horse”. This last statement had a convenient disclaimer
— “this we do not guarantee.” 349
Thompson notes “Pepys mentions in his Diary, that he
wore a hare’s foot to avert the plague, and seems to have
placed more faith in the amulet than in all the vaunted
remedies that were recommended for that terrible scourge.”
350

A ritualized use of amulets occurs throughout the Old

World, from the United Kingdom through Eastern Europe
and the Mediterranean. The belief that trees are somehow
supernatural beings is universal. Ozark lore says that agents
of the Devil propagated the ironwood tree and that the
sassafras tree does not grow from seeds, but rather they
“somehow sprout from grub worms.” 351 The belief in “Devil
Trees” was common in Africa and the Malay Archipelago.
However, these trees are receptacles of evil rather than
sources of evil. Like the holy wells in England and elsewhere
where people tie strips of cloth and ribbon, known as
“clooties”, to nearby trees, these Devil Trees are also sought
out for this purpose. In both cases, the purpose is the same, to
tie a piece of cloth that belongs to an ill person to the tree so
that the disease is transferred from the human to the tree. The
view that clooties may transfer ones disease to the host tree is
common throughout the world, however another view is that

349
Folk-Lore 19 (1908), 296.
350
Thompson, C.J. S. The Hand of Destiny: Folklore and Superstitions for
Everyday Life. New York: Bell Publishing Company 1989, 182. A reprint of
the 1932 edition published by Rider & Company, London.
351
Randolph, Vance. Ozark Magic and Folklore. New York: Dover
Publications 1964, 261 (A reprint of Ozark Superstitions published by
Columbia University Press 1947)

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those who have been healed have left these tokens to the
well’s spirits in gratitude. This practice is still very much alive
today and this author saw such offerings at St. Madron,
Sancreed and St. Nectan’s Falls in Cornwall in September
2000.
Clootie wells are common in Scotland, Ireland and
particularly in Cornwall. However, wells called “Rag Well”
are found in Dublin Ireland, Newcastle and Benton, both in
Northumberland showing a wide distribution in Great Britain
outside of Cornwall. In fact, this particular form of offering
appears to be widespread throughout the world from Britain
to Turkey to Mongolia. While some Clootie Wells are believed
to function only as “wishing wells," most Clootie’s are in
reality healing wells. A common practice at the Clootie Wells
in Scotland is that an individual wishing a cure must
approach the well from the southeast, and drink three
handfuls of water while wishing for the desired cure. At this
time, a piece of cloth is attached to the tree. Should anyone
remove the cloth, the troubles and illnesses of the pilgrim
would be transferred to the person removing the cloth. When
I visited several clootie wells in Cornwall there was no
evidence that offerings had been removed, obviously the
cautionary tales were well taken. Native American people,
such as the Kitanemuk living in the Tehachapi Mountains,
were also prone to leave offerings at sacred sites. They too
believed that death would be the result for anyone stealing
from the shrines. 352

352
Blackburn, Thomas C. and Lowell John Bean. “Kitanemuk”, in Handbook of
the Indians of California: Volume 8-California. Washington: Smithsonian
Institution 1978, 568

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Clootie tree, Cornwall, England.

Many of the cloth strips that I saw as votive offerings at

holy wells in Cornwall were red or weathered pink in color.
Logan wrote that red cloth was left for a wide variety of
magical purposes:
“It is the color which is believed to resist the power of evil
spirits…” 353
Sheila Paine described one site in Central Asia with clootie
trees: “Where the Mongols razed the ancient oasis cities of
Central Asia, holy sites are marked by a tree bedecked with
rags, such as the Forty Mullahs’ Hill of Kunya Urgench in
Tuekmenistan, littered with bones and skulls believed to be
the remains of its massacred inhabitants. A spindly tree below
the hill is almost obliterated by rags, and surrounded by

353
Logan, Patrick. The Holy Wells of Ireland. Buckinghamshire: Colin Smythe
1980, 116

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women hanging up more, as prayers for conception, white in

hope of a boy, coloured for a girl.” 354
Crucifixes are commonly seen adorning women around
the world—as well as men from certain ethnic backgrounds.
But the cross has been used as a sacred symbol for thousands
of years. They have been used for decorating the beaded
saddle blankets of Native Americans as well as important
symbols from ancient Babylon, throughout Africa and Asia
and into Celtic and Hindu cultures.
Cooper noted that the cross “is the cosmic symbol par
excellence” representing the world center and a point of
communication between the heavens and the earth. 355
The cross is a common motif in Native American art and
symbolism, much as it is in many other cultures. Generally
speaking, the arms of the cross represent the four cardinal
directions. They represent the cosmic axis between heaven
and earth; they also represent the dualism of nature.
In the Mayan world, the tau, or “T” cross is the Tree of Life
and the Tree of Nourishment. The cross also represents the
four winds and fertility. The cross is one of Quetzalcoatl’s
symbols as well.
In many Native American traditions, the earth has gone
through several rebirths, with the earth and all of the
creatures and plants on it evolving in periodic spurts of
creation. To Mesoamericans, there are five suns, or eras of the
world, four of these have already passed.

354
Paine, Sheila. Amulets: Sacred Charms of Power and Protection. Rochester:
Inner Traditions 2004, 142.
355
Cooper, J.C. An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols. London:
Thames and Hudson Ltd. 1978, 45.

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 Gary R. Varner

Crow Woman’s horse blanket, Sioux ca. 1890. Photograph courtesy

Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The four suns previously destroyed were the Sun of Night,

which represented a sterile world of darkness and
hopelessness; the Sun of Air, represented by Quetzalcoatl and
indicative of pure spirit; the Sun of Rain and the Sun of Fire
were the third and fourth eras. The Suns of Night and Air are
the two higher eras and the Suns of Fire and Rain represent
the two lower eras. The last Sun, the Sun of Movement is also
known as the Sun of Quetzalcoatl and represents a time when
man and spirit merge.
Mesoamericans, like other indigenous cultures, believe in
a concept of unity and harmony between man and nature. The
Aztecs believed that when the human era, known as the “Sun
of Movement” ends, the spiritual growth of man will have
been completed and humankind will join God.

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The cross has been utilized in Mesoamerican symbolism to

represent both Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc. To the Nahuatl the
cross represented solar power with the four points in the
center of the cross symbolizing the meeting of man and the
heavenly spirit. The center also symbolized the meeting place
of “opposed principles.”
The Nahuatl believed that in the center of existence the
“supreme reality” resided. This “Law of the Center” was the
basis of Toltec symbolism, which focused on Quetzalcoatl and
his cross.
The cross also figured in preventive folk-medicine. The
Ojibwa in Canada tattooed the cross on each cheek to prevent
toothache and believed in a cause and effect relationship
between the cross and good health.
When the Native American messianic Ghost Dance
religion began in the late 1800s, the cross was often
embroidered on “Ghost shirts” which were worn both in
ritual and in battle. The Ghost shirts were believed to make
the wearer impervious to bullets or other harm as well as to
provide invisibility. Other symbols were also painted on the
Ghost shirt or on the person in the form of circles and
crescents. According to James Mooney a 19th century
ethnologist, these symbols represented the sun, the moon and
the morning star.356
The relationship between the cross and the “holy” or
“magical” is quite obvious and universal. Paine wrote:

“…when established religions begrudgingly took

cognizance of pagan amulets,” noted Paine, “Islam
annexed the hand as a symbol, Christianity took the cross.

356
Mooney, James. The Ghost Dance Religion. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press 1965, 68.

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 Gary R. Varner

Yacatecuhlti, the bearded patron god of travelers and merchants with his
walking staff “cross,” depicting the four directions.

“The positioning and application of the cross is diverse.

Often it carries associations with the Church, though that
the cross can be considered an amulet in the Christian
context is debatable: God protects, not a symbol. However,
a beleaguered Christian household in a society of Muslims
or animists certainly believes that the cross they have
placed on their roof, or painted over their door, acts as an
amulet. Likewise, a crucifix made by the local
blacksmith—well known to possess magic powers—will
be hung on their wall to protect them.” 357

Other Christian amulets include the many saint’s medals

of the Catholic church such as the St. Christopher’s medal.
While the St. Christopher medal is worn to protect people on
their travels, others, such as St. Anthony of Padua and St.
Roch, were worn to protect cattle from witchcraft and people

357
Paine, op cit.,167.

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from the plague. In Belgium during the early years of the 20th
century, religious medals were worn in the belief that they
aided in the regulation of menstrual cycles.
The amulet shown below, a silver piece carried by
followers of Maria Lionza, an indigenous goddess of
Venezuela, offers the wearer love and good fortune. Religious
medals, whether Christian or pagan, serve the same purpose.
The cult of Maria Lionza dates back to the 16th century but is
heavily influenced by Catholicism and followers of Santeria.

Religious amulet used by followers of Maria Lionza, Venezuela.

We can’t, of course, forget the lucky penny! Most all of us

have tossed a penny or coin into a fountain or pool “for luck”
or to make a wish. The tradition of tossing coins into

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fountains and wells is an ancient one and still continues

today. It is doubtful that many of us realize just how ancient
our practice of tossing coins into “wishing wells” and ponds
is. To some the act of tossing coins into holy water increases
the power of the water to combat evil and to grant wishes.
Pliny the Younger wrote of the many coins glittering in the
shallow waters of one of the Italian rivers. The obvious intent
is to give up a possession of some value in exchange for
something desired—be it health, wealth, love or some other
item of value. Originally, it was an act of sacrifice. The coins
we toss in a fountain today may not have the same value they
did in far earlier times but the act is the same—even if the act
of tossing the coins has become automatic rather than thought
out.
In many areas of the world, coins are worn like jewelry
and for the same reasons—as amulets protective against the
evil eye. “Coins are a major feature of much traditional
costume of the Balkans, Russia and Eastern Europe,” writes
Paine, “covering headdresses and bib fronts.” 358
Coins continue to be impaled on tree trunks as offerings to
the tree spirits and gods and are often removed by other
pilgrims and used as amulets. In the 1930s, Pennsylvania
Germans would lay silver coins on wounds to prevent
discoloration and contemporary folklore of the 1970s in the
American southwest suggested that when a knife is given as a
gift one should also give coins to prevent the person from
being accidentally cut with the knife.
And, of course, dreaming of coins is a sign of good health
and tradition dictates that if a coin is placed under the pillow
of a small child it will grow to be successful.

358
Paine, op cit., 96.

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In some cultures, coins continue to be placed on the

eyelids of the dead to prevent the spirit from reentering the
body after death.
Coins may also buy a new bride years without children in
Eastern Europe. The more coins she places in front of a
picture of the Virgin Mary the more years she will have of
married happiness without children.

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Afterword

A
s shown in this book, people in every age and culture
have sought out both everyday items and those rare
and unusual creations of nature to obtain peace of
mind, protection and good health—not to mention financial
success.
Many times the items used are difficult to identify but
most of the time they reflect natural but unusual items such as
buckeyes, certain types of minerals and stones. Other times
they are exquisitely made representations of gods and
goddesses and religious concepts.
The extreme age of these sacred objects speak of the dawn
of abstract thought, of the earliest attempt of humans to
communicate and influence the gods and goddesses to ensure
that the individual, the clan, the tribe was able to survive
successfully against terrible odds.
The amazing thing about this story is that so many
amulets and charms continue to be used in the same way and
for the same purposes that they did in prehistoric times. It is
man’s attempt to find solace in a world not in his control,
even though he likes to think it is. But really, does it hurt to
carry a buckeye or an unusually shaped stone or a “lucky
penny” in the quest for safety, good health and happiness?
For hundreds of thousands of years most people have said
that it is simply insurance; after all we need all the help we
can get!

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Baroja, Julio Caro. The World of the Witches. London: Phoenix

Press 2001

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180
 Gary R. Varner

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Index

A C
Africa, 12, 43, 51, 73, cairns, 136, 140
90, 123, 144, 163,166 California, 18, 55, 56,57,
Ainu, 51, 52, 123, 124, 140, 141,
amber, 121, 157, 158 143, 157
American River, 140 Canada, 52, 63, 159,
amulets, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 168
13, 17, 20, 21, 28, 29, cat, 51, 58-66, 102, 113
30, 31, 35, 43, 48, 55, Celtic, Celts, 14, 26, 42,
66, 67, 73, 81, 104, 55, 67, 68, 72, 89, 93,
106-109, 111, 116, 101, 102, 121, 148,
119, 156-163, 168, 151, 166
169, 171, 173, charm wand, 27
Apache, 53, 55, 70, 95, charms, 6, 9, 13, 14, 17,
96, 99, 107, 108, 109, 19, 20-25, 28, 29, 30,
126, 127, 145 36, 43, 60, 65, 94,
Australia, 69, 113, 143, 102, 104, 111, 112,
144, 149 117, 118, 119, 156,
Aztecs, 102, 123, 157, 159, 160, 161, 162,
167 173
Cherokee, 69, 95, 96
B Cheyenne, 86
Babylon, 11, 66, 88, children, 9, 12, 13, 14,
119, 166 17, 20, 26, 58,, 59, 61,
bear, 51-58, 104, 109, 66, 95, 96, 108, 112,
123, 139, 143 121-124, 126, 129,
bewitchment, 15, 71 132, 133, 137, 152,
burning, 13, 18, 24, 29, 157-160, 162, 172
62, 71, 100, 147 Christian, Christianity,
6, 9, 21-23, 25, 28-33,
35, 40, 54, 60, 65, 71,

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72, 74-77, 81, 82, 83, dogs, 17, 31, 53, 61-65,
84, 88, 89, 94, 117, 113, 156
118, 125, 130, 150, dragons, 48, 77, 79, 86,
153, 154, 168-170 88, 92
Christian magic, 28-33
clootie, 163-165 E
coins, 159, 170-172 Egypt, 9, 12, 17, 19, 25,
copper, 98, 159 27, 31, 38, 59, 65, 66,
coral, 156, 158, 159 67, 91-93, 116, 122,
Cornwall, 132, 133, 137, 126, 158, 159, 161
151, 164, 165 elderly, 16, 17
cosmic egg, 76, 98, 99 England, 36, 38, 60, 61,
creation, 82, 83, 91, 64, 65, 68, 71, 72, 77,
139, 166, 173 132, 141, 149, 152,
Crete, 79, 85 153, 158, 162, 163,
crippled, 17 165
cross, 18, 21, 30, 64, 75, Ethiopia, 15, 118, 129
84, 89, 94, 113, 116, Euphrates river, 23, 88
160, 166, 168, 169 evil, 3, 6, 12, 13, 14, 16,
cunning men, 31 20, 25, 29, 32, 33, 35,
cuse tablets, 36-39, 111 42-44, 48, 50, 54, 60,
curses, 12, 18,, 31, 36, 63, 65, 71-74, 76, 77,
37,38, 39, 40-42, 67, 91, 94, 95, 100, 106,
83, 111 111, 119, 121, 126,
Cyprus, 37, 40 130, 132, 157, 161-
163, 165, 171
D
evil eye, 10, 11-20, 27,
daggers, 43, 44, 45, 48 121, 158, 160, 162,
deformed, 16, 18 171
demons, 10, 26, 28, 29,
33, 35, 48, 50, 65, 78, F
80, 92, 117, 134, 162 Faery, 53, 132, 148, 151
Devil, 11, 28, 34, 54, 62, familiars, 21, 28, 61, 71
79, 115, 136, 148, fertility, 14, 30, 55, 66,
149, 151, 162, 163 69, 76, 78, 87, 92, 93,

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106, 107, 122-126, H

128, 158, 161, 166
healing, 25, 31, 47, 68,
figurines, 85, 106, 110,
89, 90, 119, 127, 132,
160
134, 136, 137, 138,
flood, 97, 140
140, 146, 153, 154,
folk-medicine, 17, 64,
155, 157, 158, 159,
157, 158, 168
164
foot snake, 96
healing wells, 164
frogs, 17, 26, 41, 51, 62,
heaven, 76, 78, 84, 91,
66-73, 133
102, 145, 160, 166,
G 168
Hebrides, 141
Germany, German, 25, Hecate, 61, 66
47, 64, 126, 160, 171 herbs, 21, 29, 30, 43
geysers, 55 horns, horned, 17, 78,
Gnostic Christians, 83, 88, 97, 101, 102, 104,
84, 89 105
god, goddess, 6, 10, 12, horseshoes, 13, 14, 23,
14, 20-22, 25, 28, 31, 25, 161, 162
35, 37, 39, 48, 51-68, Hupa, 141, 143, 144
70, 73-83, 85, 88-95,
97, 101-106, 110, I
111, 116, 119, 123,
illness, 14, 28, 31, 32,
127, 130, 135, 142,
35, 43, 51, 53, 96,
150, 151, 153, 158,
108, 111, 119, 121,
160, 167, 169-171,
129, 130, 134, 136,
173
140, 146, 147, 154,
Great Basin, 70, 124
156, 157, 159, 164
Greece, Greek, 17, 22,
incantations, 14, 23, 24,
25, 28, 36, 40, 42, 52,
29, 35, 36, 84, 111-
61, 67, 78, 79, 82, 84,
114, 116, 117, 118,
85, 89, 90, 93, 111,
144
117, 126, 129, 153,
India, 12, 58, 78, 80, 87,
158
88, 127, 133, 158
green, 91, 92, 119
Iowa, 98

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Iran, 72, 79, 80 May cats, 61

Ireland, 93, 94, 121, Mayan, 60, 68, 69, 87,
136, 137, 139, 143, 103, 166
146, 164 meander lines, 77, 87,
iron, 13, 14, 23, 33, 48, 143
50, 138, 161 Mesoamerica, 60, 68,
70, 82, 86, 87, 89,
J 166, 167, 168,
jade, 102, 123, 158 Mesopotamia, 12, 78,
jaguar, 60, 70, 102, 103, 88, 102, 111
110 Mexico, 12, 14, 102,
Japan, 51, 59, 144 107, 157
Miwok, 56, 57
K Mongolia, 53, 70, 158,
164
kolossi, 111
mountains, 25, 51, 52,
kris, (weapon) 48, 49, 50
94, 96, 107, 120, 122,
L 127, 148, 153, 164

Lakota, 55, 94, 132, N

152, 181
Nahuatl, 168
lead tablets, 36, 40, 111
Native American, 55, 57,
M 86, 87, 89, 94, 97,
100, 104, 107, 109,
madstone, 156 110, 113, 139, 140,
magic, 10, 12, 14, 20, 152, 164, 166, 168,
21, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, Northstar stone, 56
30, 31, 32, 40, 43, 45, Northumberland, 130,
48, 54, 61, 62, 66, 77, 164
81, 93, 102, 105, 110, Norway, 72, 147
111, 113, 116, 117,
118, 120, 130, 134, O
136, 144, 152, 159,
offering, 68, 84, 102,
165, 168, 169
125, 132, 159, 164,
magic wand, 25, 26
165, 171

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

Ohio,18, 64, 86, 98, religion, 22, 28, 29, 32,

121, 134 38, 40, 50, 51, 54, 57,
Oregon, 64, 112 66, 70, 76, 83, 88, 92,
Otherworld, 77, 86,129 101, 104, 111, 116,
142, 168
P ritual, 6, 13, 29, 30, 31,
pagan, 6, 9, 21, 25, 28, 32, 35, 40, 41, 44, 51,
30, 31, 33, 40, 74, 81, 56, 64, 67, 84, 86, 95,
94, 100, 118, 125, 100, 102, 103, 110,
130, 142, 143, 168, 111, 119, 125, 127,
170 129, 130, 133, 134,
Paiute, 111 136, 139, 141, 144,
Palomar Mountain, 144 148, 149, 154, 158,
Plains Indians, 57 163, 168,
poor, 17, 26, 64, 96 rock art, 47, 70, 77, 86,
prayer, 28, 29, 30, 32, 143
38, 40, 52, 118, 126, Roman, 12, 17, 36, 61,
166 66, 67, 79, 80, 115,
117, 120, 126
Q
S
Qemant, 15, 118
Quetzalcoatl, 82, 123, Sacramento, California,
166, 167, 168 57, 140, 175
sacrifice, 29, 60, 65, 68,
R 79, 84, 100, 171
San Diego, California
rabbit feet, 162
144
rain, 59, 60, 61, 64, 68,
Sancreed, 164
69, 86, 87, 94, 95, 97,
Scotland, 14, 77, 121,
108, 109, 115, 139,
129, 133, 136, 145,
141, 143, 144, 145,
151, 154, 164
167
serpent, 17, 26,73, 74,
rain rocks, 57, 139, 143,
75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80,
144
81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87,
Reformation, 32, 33

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 Gary R. Varner

88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 110, 119-156, 158,

95, 97, 99, 100, 101 160, 173
serpent gods, 85, 90, 92, superstition, 29, 61, 71,
93 98, 128, 159
Serpent Mound, 86, 98 Sweden, 65, 94
serpent-men, 80, 81 swords, 29, 47, 48, 50,
shaman, shamanism, 53
26, 40, 43, 53, 55, 56,
70, 95, 102, 104, 108, T
110, 118, 127, 139, talisman, 6, 14, 17, 154,
143, 144, 152, 158 156, 160
shape-shift, 53, 55, 62, Tennessee, 95
110, 114 thunder god, 76, 94, 95
snake, 22, 25, 26, 61, Titans, 80, 81
68, 70, 73, 76-79, 82, toads, 66-73, 110
83, 85-91, 94-99, 101, tortoise, 69
102, 110, 117, 138, totems, 51-104
156, 158, 159 tree, 16, 24, 30, 53, 54,
snake-dragon, 88 75, 78, 87, 89, 97,
sorcerer, 10, 37, 111, 127, 143, 158, 163-
112, 114, 118 166, 171
spells, 6, 9, 10, 20, 22, Turkey, 164
23, 28, 29, 30-32, 36, turquoise, 108, 109
37, 38, 40, 42, 68, Twelve Tables, 111, 115
111, 112, 113, 115,
117, 118 U
springs, 38, 76, 145
Underworld, 40, 53, 55,
St. Nectan, 164
57, 60, 61, 63, 778,
standing stones, 119,
80, 102, 109, 147
125, 129, 139, 141,
Ur, 88
148, 151
steel, 47, 48 W
stone, 6, 13, 14, 35, 42,
56, 65, 70, 73, 80, 82, Wales, 41, 147
86, 94, 98, 106, 107, wands, 25-17, 63

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 The History & Use of Amulets, Charms and Talismans

weapons, 32, 43, 44, 45, 23, 24, 30, 31, 33, 35,
47, 49, 50, 109, 159 36, 38, 40, 42, 43, 50,
wells, 38, 40, 72, 132, 60, 61-66, 68, 71,
133, 134, 138, 141, 112, 114, 118, 122,
143, 146, 159, 163, 130, 133, 139, 146,
164, 165, 171 161, 162, 169
Wiccan, 25, 27, 161 witch bottles, 23
wind, 61, 64, 76, 77, 86, women, 9, 13, 15-17,
132, 141, 145, 146, 21, 26, 31, 36, 48, 51,
166 58, 64, 122, 124, 125,
wise women, 31 127, 129, 130, 133,
wishing wells, 164, 171 151, 153, 166
witch, witchcraft, 6, 10, word-square, 22, 23
11, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19,

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 Gary R. Varner

About the Author

Gary R. Varner has written several books and numerous

articles on folklore, mythology, ancient traditions and
contemporary issues. His articles have appeared in
international journals, such as the British magazine on holy
wells and waters, Living Spring Journal and the German
periodical, Magister Botanicus. His books have delved into
sacred wells and holy waters, the Green Man, gargoyles and
ancient iconography, Native Americans, mysterious creatures
and megalithic sites around the world, among others. He is a
member of the American Folklore Society as well as the
Foundation for Mythological Studies.
Readers are invited to visit the author’s website at
www.authorsden.com/garyrvarner.

189